THE BRAND
When John Masters started styling hair just out of high school in 1975, the health risks posed by inhaling and handling harsh salon chemicals were barely a passing concern. After embracing organic foods, he began investigating the dangers of chemicals such as ammonia and sulfates, staples in most hair dyes and highlighting treatments.
"I believe synthetics have a place in this world, but not in or on the body," says the 44-year-old Niagara Falls, New York, native. His credo found, Masters moved his salon into his Manhattan apartment, stopped giving perms, and started dabbling in alchemy.
Using nontoxic bases, Masters developed his own line of hair-care blends from essential oils, plant extracts, and health-food staples - organic apple-cider vinegar formed the basis of his original hair rinse.
