As more and more beauty brands add CBD to their formulas, we caught up with Kim Smith, the co-founder of KLORIS – one of the UK’s most talked-about CBD brands and creator of superior-grade CBD oils – to find out her thoughts on the future of CBD.
Why did you decide to create KLORIS?
As with so many CBD brands the start of the journey was a personal one. Somewhere along the way of changing careers and teaching myself new skills, moving house, the little matter of creating a brand-new life and having some pretty serious physical injuries, I became anxious. I would lose sleep thinking about everything, from all the kids in the world who need help (motherhood is great for switching on that involuntary tap of compassion you can’t turn off, even if you want to) to work, money, the planet and everything in between.
So I wanted to find ways to help myself. I started to look at nature, (it was quite easy as we were living in the countryside!), learning and studying plants and I discovered CBD with the help and knowledge of my partner and KLORIS co-founder, Pedram, and his super-smart plant scientist relatives. Over the course of a couple of years working together, with lots and lots of research, we launched our own CBD line.
Who would you recommend CBD to?
Any humans. In fact, any mammals – basically any living being with an endocannabinoid system.
For those that are new to CBD, what dose would you recommend?
It varies for everyone and it takes a minute for the individual to find their personal dose known as the ‘sweet spot’. People always want a quick and simple answer to this one but there isn’t one. We are all unique and everyone’s ‘sweet spot’ can be different but it isn’t that hard to find – the rule of thumb is to start low and slow, build up over the course of a couple of weeks and listen to your body and mind as you go, checking in on how you feel.
Taking it both in the morning and evening 30 minutes or so before bed can be really helpful. After three days you may wish to increase/decrease the number of drops based on your results. For me, I started on roughly half a pipette morning and night, but no one size fits all and that is half the fun with CBD – I find it helps you really listen to yourself to become more connected to your body and responses. Interestingly, by law we are not allowed to advise on dosing for specific uses.
What are the common misconceptions about CBD?
People get confused between overall hemp and CBD specifically. Things like cannabis sativa seed oil and hemp oil are just the oil pressed from the seeds (often cold pressed). This part contains zero CBD.
CBD (AKA ‘cannabidoil’ in the ingredients list) is not the oil pressed from hemp seed but a far costlier compound extracted from the other areas of the plant and thus contains other properties.
The other misleading thing I’ve noticed is brands that use CBD within their cosmetic products proclaiming to use special forms of magic isolate CBD and isolate “crystals”. Don’t believe all you read! All cosmetics that contain CBD in the UK have to use isolate (rather than broad spectrum, which you’ll find in the oral drops). Isolate is simply pure CBD with the other cannbinoids/compounds removed.
Does it create any side effects?
The side-effect profile for CBD is super low, so not really, but as with any supplements, if you’re taking medication or unsure, ask your GP first.
Do you think CBD will continue to be a trend in 2020?
It’s only just getting started. By 2025, it’s predicted to be a £1billion per annum industry in the UK, which far eclipses other traditional vitamins and supplements. That figure is the same value as the entire UK herbal supplement market. CBD is here to stay. I don’t know why exactly – that’s not my place to say, but perhaps people keep returning to it when they feel positive effects and feel good knowing it’s a natural route.
Do you think the CBD market needs to be better regulated?
Yes! I cannot stress enough the standpoint the whole KLORIS team have on this. The Centre for Medicinal Cannabis’s findings this year show we need to have the market clean, safe and transparent. We welcome regulation. [KLORIS actually publish all of their lab reports online and go the extra mile to do both national and international lab testing, so users can be confident of no heavy metals or pesticides in the final product.]
What’s next for KLORIS?
It has been a very conscious decision not to launch with a million different products – each one takes time to get just right. We only want to present the very best ways for people to enjoy CBD. We have some really exciting things in store. There will be more sublingual/edible and topical products from us in 2020, coming very soon!
