Episode 107: Kate Assaraf
Join Lori as she talks with Kate Assaraf, Founder and CEO of Dip Sustainable Hair Care, to discuss how beauty choices can spark environmental change. Most of us never realize that simply changing our choice of shampoo and conditioner can make a real difference. Discover why it’s time to switch to this impactful brand and be part of creating a greener, more beautiful world!
Here are the things to expect in this episode:
Kate’s inspiration for creating a sustainable hair care brand
How Dip started and its positive impact on the planet
The hidden truths about plastic waste and fast fashion
Why Dip is a smart choice for conscious consumers
Practical tips to reduce waste
Dip Website: https://dipalready.com/
Dip Surfrider Shampoo for a Cause: https://dipalready.com/products/surfrider-colorsafe-shampoo-fragrance-free?_pos=1&_sid=cc68fb926&_ss=r.
Dip Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dipalready
Dip TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dipalready
Kate’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-assaraf-b25a741a7/
Episode Transcript
you're listening to the positive impact philanthropy podcast, where we share the journeys of everyday philanthropists as they incorporate philanthropy into their lives. Philanthropy is the personal journey, and through the stories
00:37
we will share here, we hope that it sparks
Speaker 1 00:39
something in you and how you can make your own philanthropic impact in the world. I'm your host. Lori kranzer, attorney, philanthropic advisor and legacy giving strategist. Together, we're going to explore what it looks like to be an everyday philanthropist and make a positive impact in the world. Before we get started, make sure to subscribe to the podcast.
00:57
We never miss a new episode posted
Speaker 1 00:59
on Wednesdays. Now I'm excited today to share the story of Kate Assaraf, she's the founder and CEO of dip. Welcome Kate.
01:07
Hi. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 01:09
It is our pleasure. So Kate, tell us more about who you are and what you do Sure.
Speaker 2 01:15
My name is Kate Assaraf, I am the founder of dip, sustainable hair care, so the bulk of my business is getting people to move from luxury hair care over to bars. So they're they're plastic free, but they perform like pure ology or Bay Keras. So for me, I used to spend around $500 a year just in luxury conditioner because my hair is thirsty and my conditioner bar can replace 12 tubes of that. So whether you're not plastic like motivated to go plastic free, it at least alleviates so much cost in your wallet. And my goal was to just get people to reduce how much they buy and how often they have to buy it.
Speaker 1 01:57
So that's nice. We've spoken in the past a few women that also work in sustainability and, and I think this may be the first time we're talking about sustainability in beauty products or or skin care, hair care. So can you share more about what that looks like and what you went through in the process to get to what you're doing now? Sure.
Speaker 2 02:17
So what's kind of tricky about my line is that it's not really about it's kind of like messes people up when I say this, like, my goal is not to sell a lot of shampoo and conditioner bars. My goal is to get people more aware of what is happening with plastic and using my brand to get people into refill stores around the country, like this refill movement. If you don't know what it is, it's there's stores. It's an it's an emerging market of stores that are popping up in communities all around the country where you just bring your empty containers and fill them instead of buying your trash every time you buy something new. So a big piece of that is, is really recognizing that the environmental movement and sustainable movement is is not done by one brand. It is done by a network of people at the ground level, really educating others in their community about like what is effective and what is vetted and what really lives up to its promises and can help an individual make real. I would say sustainable choices, but I mean sustainable sustainable choices, and that they are long term change. And so
Speaker 1 03:25
I think a lot of people really align with that and really understand that and share your background. And because not everyone has the background that you have to develop this direct product. So can you share how what that journey looked like, and how you got to where you are?
Speaker 2 03:38
Yeah, absolutely. My journey. I've been in hair care or in beauty for about 20 years, so I have been in every facet of it, from product development to marketing to being behind the scenes on like television broadcasts to just coming up creative strategy and branding. I've literally done it all. And when it came down to just creating my own brand, a big part of my DNA, just as a human being, is, is the philanthropy side. A lot of people don't know that there are people with these kinds of circumstances, but when I was little girl, my mom lost the house, and we were living out of her car for a little bit of time, and eventually we moved into church funded housing. And part of being in that church funded housing, which, I mean, the rent was so low of someone who didn't have housing could afford it, we had to go and volunteer as part of our as part of our Housing Agreement, in a place that received donated clothes and housewares. So from the time I was eight till I was 14, we lived under these circumstances where, when you see those clothing bins out in the wild, where people just donate clothes, and like we were on the receiving end, and we would sort them into sizes. We would sort them into male, female or whatever, and then our specific organization. Education would have battered women come in, and we would create packages for them and their children to go home with, and that was also how I was able to have clothing when I was a kid. So I'm very, very attached to making sure that my business supports organizations out there that need funding, because you never know the trickle down effect of like, where that funding goes and how to impact someone. I mean, I'm was the beneficiary of people donating clothes and also, and also supporting that particular church that gave us a place to live. So that's not a story I tell often, but it's a story I think that's worth telling because it sets the foundation for how I run my company,
Speaker 1 05:41
well, it to me, I can tell that this is something that inspired what you do, and I absolutely see how that pattern may have been incorporated in maybe
05:53
in your personal life and your family, but
05:54
also in the way that you are.
05:56
You have built what you're doing and also your
05:58
two areas that you're supporting. And
Speaker 1 06:00
so thank you for sharing that. And so I wonder, is that the moment that really inspired you to start to think about how you can give back, or did it come maybe later and you pulled from your past?
Speaker 2 06:11
Well, it's always been, it's always been part of who I am. So that was eight to 14, and then when I went into high school, I started the community outreach club in my high school. And also I was, like, my high school friends, like, didn't really know that was my circumstance, because I situation very well. And so I able to become resourceful and learn how to make my own clothes. Eventually I made my prom dresses and stuff. But then into high school, I started community outreach club, and that, again, was like taking, taking. I grew up in kind of a wealthy town in New Jersey, I was, but I just kind of slid into the mix and pretended I was with everyone else. But I encouraged kids from the high school to go to the soup kitchen and volunteer there, so we would go and do lunches. People were excited because I got them out of school during the day, but I, but that was, like, a big part of just it. It's something my mother put into me, and I just have always continued to do that. Then I don't know how to explain it like it just if that's part of who you are and what you see like that. It's always, they always say, look for the helpers. Like, I'm happy to be that. And I turned my company into that kind of engine because I knew I could do more for the plastic crisis if I was a company, if I was a company, instead of just an individual, donating in other ways. So the big contributions we make are to Surf Rider, because they change plastic laws. They a lot of their efforts are sending people to Congress to fight to change plastic laws, and that, to me, is the most effective way to change what I care about the most. And then every time we have a really crazy good sales day, I'll go on support someone's random GoFundMe. It's, it's just like a kind of a fun thing for me to do. If you're in that mindset of, like, Hey, I'm in a position to help others like, you should exercise that. Yeah.
Speaker 1 08:01
So I'm curious about the focus on the plastic. Where did the
08:06
idea of porting come from?
Speaker 1 08:10
When you're working with beauty brands? Is of what you saw, like the wastefulness, because there's so many different ways you can go with sustainability.
08:16
So I mean, it's how you started to focus on that.
Speaker 2 08:19
It was just kind of something that my lap, really, when I was pregnant with my first son in 2014 my brother handed me this book called boys adrift, and it was really like, book about something I wouldn't choose for myself, but it was like, how to reason his son to be a productive member of society, something like, I was like, Okay, I'll read it, because he already had two sons before I did. And one of the chapters in there was about like video games, and another one was about that fathers and sons don't go out and read nature signs to hunt anymore, as they had throughout human history. And then the one of the chapters was just on plastics and endocrine disruptors and what the author this was like. Now we're 2025, and people are talking about this a lot, but 11 years ago, people were not talking about this. The people were talking a little bit about accumulation of plastic, but they weren't really aware at that point that it wasn't getting recycled. And they definitely weren't aware that microplastics were in our bodies and our bloodstream, our brain, all the tissues. And so this the the author, Leonard sacks, talked about how plastic runoff from the Potomac River was actually causing male fish to lay eggs, and the time they'd ever seen that kind of change in biology. And I found that that little piece of information is not what the book was about, but I found it so jarring and so frightening, because my mom and my stepdad were both anthropologists. They were like university professors and, like, they taught a lot about biology and evolution. And it seems so strange that evolution was happening so fast. Nobody mean, like, this is a very fast evolution when you kind of. Learn about the plastic crisis. You're like, every look it, kind it, it starts to haunt you. You're like, oh man. Like people are, people think it's being recycled at the time. People are now kind of wiser and more educated about that now, but they think it's getting recycled, and it's really not that much of it is. And then they they think it's perfectly fine, like, that's how they're choosing to consume their water is through plastic, like plastic water bottles or were encouraged everywhere at the time. And then you just kind of see, like this other, this wave of just rare plastic is attached to our food by and our beauty supply and and I know that scaring people into buying something doesn't work, so I was like, what if I approach this plastic crisis in a more fun way and made something that people found joy in change instead of instead of purpose in the change, instead of scaring them being like, if you don't use this, you're gonna have like plastic in your bloodstream. And so I found that the most effective way to create change was to find the real aligned with what was changing, the plastic movement, and that was the refillary owners around the country. I think
Speaker 1 11:10
it was amazing. I know, just for myself, we started replacing a while ago, all our plastic storage
11:16
containers to glass
Speaker 1 11:20
potatoes, because it's everywhere. Plastic is everywhere. What? So before I get into to more about dip, I really am interested in the plastic situation. And then what other things can people, I know beauty and are a big thing, but what other things can people be aware of regarding the plastic in their everyday lives.
Speaker 2 11:41
Just because it's true to my heart, is clothing clothing. It used to be that people donated quality clothes to these donation centers where I grew up, having to sort with them. I can't imagine what it's like being in a a being a recipient of clothing donations. Now, when fast fashion exists, I mean, when you think about the volume of clothes being produced and the surface area of your skin and the amount of plastic exposure you're getting just from cheap plastic polyester clothes like that, is actually a big concern for me, both in the accumulation by the planet to health effects of it. And then these people that are on the receiving end of everyone quick to donate. Like people think they're doing the right thing by donating these clothes, but like, those clothes don't have, like, the kind of legacy where that they used to have. People were donating, like, cottons, linens, like, really, really, more earth friendly fibers.
12:42
So do you have any tips
Speaker 1 12:45
that people can do to start to reduce their consumption or usage of things with plastic? And what can they do? Yeah.
Speaker 2 12:53
So I think as far as clothing like keep what you have and wear it till the wheels fall off, basically, maybe just kind of have a policy with a deal with yourself, that you add your cart, you leave it for a month and see if you still want it a month later, or two weeks, whatever, whatever feels like a long time that extends that impulse purchase. But the other thing is, like, find your local refillary, because they'll have substitutes for everything, whether you know it's plastic free, or whether it has like the liquids, like liquid detergent, hand soap, all these things are free of endocrine disruptors. So those are the two big and biggest and easiest, and I think most fun ways to kind of just steer yourself towards reducing plastic. I don't think anyone needs to make any big, drastic changes, like just kind of these baby steps. And I think the cart thing is, is kind of fun. It's like a fun game I play with myself, because I'm not immune to wanting stuff either. I want I want to like shop too, absolutely. Well, I
13:56
have my daughter now. She's a teenager.
Speaker 1 13:59
She can only buy new things if she sells some of her things. So she it winds up being with her and the on Depop that a lot of these other teenagers are, they're exchanging things, so she'll get on Depop and she'll sell things on Depop. And so, yeah, so we haven't gone to a store in a long time,
14:17
which is actually a nice
Speaker 2 14:19
thing, yeah. And if someone's listening, I don't want them to feel bad for shopping in a store by shopping in a store. I don't shame anyone for shopping like and buying new stuff and like, because you know when you're shopping too much, there's that feeling, you can feel that nag in your in yourself, or like on your shoulder if you're shopping so like, I just don't want anyone to think that I'm immune to impulse shopping too, because I'm not,
Speaker 1 14:43
oh yeah, I think and, but it may making better choices of the types of fabrics to purchase and and carpet in your house or things like that,
14:55
is crazy. Yeah. So let's get to dip.
Speaker 1 15:01
I started it,
15:04
especially for those that are listening
Speaker 1 15:09
and so how you've grown it and where you see it going.
Speaker 2 15:17
So I started dip because of my frustration with the plastic free options that were out there, not only were they to me like they weren't up to my standards for hair care, but they were also marketed in a very preachy, unfun way and and from what I know from just growing up being a woman, I don't know unfunny women, it's like really hard for me to find someone without a sense it's really hard for me to find like, like a girlfriend without like that doesn't want to joke around and laugh, and so I find it strange that all the marketing for eco friendly stuff is so dismal, and why? But I just don't think if you're trying to the people that are already kind of like using bars like that. I guess that marketing works for them, but if you're trying to inspire other people to join the movement, you got to make it feel like a party and make it fun. And so, of course, I was just products out there that was, that was something I worked really hard on. Dip is the result of 40 iterations before it became exactly what it is right now, and the perfect version of everything. But I wanted to make it fun. I wanted to make it save people a lot of money that were switching from luxury haircare. And I wanted to make it so that one family didn't need to buy multiple bars. And because I don't think it's cool to have, say, your family of five, and there's five different curl patterns and, like, how are you supposed to store all that in the shower like you can't. So it's me for some it's me for a family or set of best friends or roommates that can, like, share and and I'm not trying to, like, upsell people to oblivion, which is kind of the norm in business right now. And so that's, that's basically how, how I built it, and how I wanted it to to feel someone purchased it. I wanted them to feel good, and I wanted them to not. I actually don't mention plastic very much in the marketing at all, and that's intentional. Whether it's plastic free or not.
Speaker 1 17:15
It's great care. And then, how do you track the results of the business like so with looking at the reduction in the waste, potentially, you're not talking about plastic so much with your audience, but I'm sure that you are looking at
17:32
that on the back end. So I'm, I'm curious about what
Speaker 2 17:36
so So I needed my conditioner bar, especially the the shampoo bar is like two to four months for most people to use, but the conditioner conditioner bar is my middle finger to the beauty industry and the over consumption of it. One conditioner bar will last most people a year. Some people last eight, depending on the hair. And what is so cool about that is that some people, especially curly haired individuals, like they go through conditioner like crazy and so and not only do they have, like conditioner, then they have curl creams, and then they have serums and all these other things, like the dip condition, a lot of those things. So the impact that a conditioner bar has on someone with curly hair who uses a lot of products, is huge. Like, it saves bottle after bottle after bottle. Like it could, it could replace 10 different plastic serum me things, and that is something that's like, a big like, badge of happiness for me. But as far as like, specifically, how the plastic in that, I just know it's there, because I can see the repeat purchases and the cadencing of how and it's amazing, right?
Speaker 1 18:47
And as you continue, as you have longer history to look back, you can say, well, if, if it was replaced by a bottle of conditioner, and they're buying X amount per year, and they're buying X amount of the bars, then doing simple math, you can see how much you're reducing waste. That's great. And what do you do about the people that, like my husband, that doesn't feel he's clean unless he's covered in thick white Yeah? How do you in your messaging to educate your audience on switching over.
Speaker 2 19:23
I I kept the thick white foam, and I kept seeing I kept that expectation in the bar was like the I obsessed over making the experience very, very similar, as similar as I could get. It for feel and for lather, and then for slip on the conditioner, like all of those things, because it's so hard to get someone to change, and it's hard if someone's already tried a competitive brand that they were, like, really unhappy with and so but usually when people switch to dip, they they stick with it. And marketing is also intentionally unisex, so. A 30% of our customers are men. Like, it's, it's actually wild, because you don't think of luxury hair care or something that, like men will buy into or but, but a lot of them love the simplicity of it, the fact that it does lather the way they expect. And also, we do have, like mer, would say, masculine sense, like tobacco and Driftwood is one of them. It's like, so beautiful, but also cool girls in Brooklyn by that one and and then wild sage and vetiver is also, like, very neutral and clean.
Speaker 1 20:31
Oh, amazing. Okay, so getting now to your to the business, and the growth of the business, and I know you have a family and everything all combined, and your sustainability values. Where is this all heading?
Speaker 2 20:47
In a weird I'm not really chasing growth, and that seems to make people uncomfortable when I say that, Oh my God. If this month and next month and the next month I sell the same amount of dip every month, I would be totally happy I support my team and my family, and we're we're as a team, like, there were now a team of nine people, and it's like, it's amazing and but if I had to say where I'd really like to grow it, would we have this kind of fantasy internally? We just talked about last week, do like, a big check initiative where we're, like, when these donations, we have, like, a big, silly check that we bring places. So the way I'd really like to grow is on the giving side, if, as the brand is better, like, we can give more and that, and that was always part of the plan, like and and the idea that there's so many people out there struggling, and also nonprofits are struggling in this bad economy. If we can use what our energy to make, to make things or others, it's just, it's just part of who what we want to do, and the whole team is aligned on there, and that feels really nice.
21:59
Yeah, absolutely. I'm curious, because
Speaker 1 22:03
you had an experience when you were growing up that changed the way that you view life and or how to your family now.
Speaker 2 22:16
So my my children, there's like a community beach clean since they were able to walk, even if they're just pantomiming like kids do, like dragging rigs across, that they've been involved in the charity events. They they do beach cleanups. They are very aware of sustainability and the earth and just giving in general, because we lead as as parents, we lead by example. And I think it's really important that that you, instead of telling people stuff all the time, that you do it, because I can't, in the digital age, lots of people are like, telling or there's, you need to donate to this. You need to do this. You need to and it's actually like, it's, it's actually much cooler to do the thing to donate. And today we donated here that's like, like, let people have their free will on whether they want to join that cause. Something we did within dip wood for the LA fires. Like we we donate to literally so many things. So like, western North Carolina, after the floods, sent a bunch of people enzyme sprays because they couldn't shower. Bars were not helpful to people in North Carolina, but what was is we have this enzyme, which is a shower in a bottle, so you can use it for like three weeks and never have to shower. And so we sent those there. But for the LA fires, I put this thing out into through all our emailers. I there was a customer whose house, his family's house burnt down, and he had children. And I was like, just as a surprise, we did. I took his GoFundMe, I put it out. It was like, you don't need I suggested 11 or $12 we'll match that with a gift card for you. And people went above and beyond. Some people donated $200 and we matched them with a gift card. Some people did 50 and we just matched their gift card because so I couldn't do it all myself. We led by example. I think we donated 500 to that cause, but like, then suddenly the impact was so much bigger, just because we did burned a little bit more calories, like spreading the word, and I think as a brand, it's just fun for us to do that
Speaker 1 24:22
so too, and I think it's a great way to segue our last question is, what do you consider your legacy to be?
Speaker 2 24:32
So I think, I think my legacy, legacy as a business owner, I've proven that this model works, company that does good in the world and and send out big checks like Surf Rider at the end of this year, we will have, we will have committed $50,000 rider, like, it's not a little bit of money, it's a lot of shampoo you got to sell to amortize that. But it's, it's possible, and it's and it's fun, and it makes some people talk about like being lost and finding purpose, and like, I found my purpose in using my company to just do things bigger than I could on my own, and then hopefully my legacy as a mother is my my kids continue that path and and they're in a much better living situation than I was growing up. And you don't you never know whether the struggle is what make, builds character, or is it like nature, nurture like you just don't know what it is, because we're all kind of being parents for the first time. I hope that my my kids see this and and continue that path that they're already on. This is
Speaker 1 25:40
amazing, Kate. Thank you so much. There's so much good stuff in here, certainly in different ways, probably could continue this conversation in a different path. Love to share. Find out more information about you.
Speaker 2 25:56
Sure, I'm pretty quiet entrepreneur, but you can find me on LinkedIn for Kate, under Kate Assaraf, and then for dip. The website is dip already.com D, i, p, A, L, R, E, A, D, y.com, and that's also our socials. Is at dip already on Instagram and tick tock.
Speaker 1 26:14
Thank you. We're going to put everything in the show notes, including some of the Surfrider and some other things that you may mention will all be in the show notes, so people can go and check them out. Kate, thank you so much for joining us and how you're using your upbringing and your and your professional pathway to build something out that is going to hopefully positively affect many generations to come. So thank you again. Thank you.