Meet: Bo Hendgren, founder of Absolute Essential

I’ve been using Absolute Essential products for years now, and have full trust in their authenticity as well as their efficacy, to the point where even my toddler son and my dog are receiving treatment with them!
I first met Absolute Essential founder and company director Dr Bo Hendgen at her home in Muriwai several years ago, and was immediately in awe of her knowledge and her willingness to share it with the world. Utilising 20 plus years of training and knowledge in Osteopathy, Naturopathy, and Aromatic Medicine, the inspirational Bo is primarily involved in the sourcing, designing and formulating of authentic, pure products – no tricks or gimmicks – and is still hands on at her clinic in Beresford Street one day per week.
Since founding Absolute Essential in 1988 she has stayed true to her beliefs, telling me over coffee at nearby Benediction a few weeks ago “we’ve always sold products we are proud of - from its origin at fair trade source to its application on your person and in your home. I like to enhance the quality of people’s lives by providing the best, most effective therapeutic natural products possible. This means we raise the bar on ourselves, daily.”
She says that a lot of the products in the Absolute Essential range come directly from her clients’ needs, “as they’ll come to me for osteopathy and maybe nutrition advice, but need something to take home to help with their problem too. When more and more people come in and leave with the same blend I usually start to see a place in the market for it, and hand blend a new product from there.”
Her focus has always been on genuine organic therapeutics, although she has a few beauty-focused products in her range that she saw a need for “as so many people have a beauty regime that is way too complicated. You don’t need to use six products every night to look good, just a couple of quality ones and a decent drink of water!” They come as an all organic Natural Beauty Essentials pack, which includes Rose Hip Oil to nourish and support the skin’s natural elasticity, Rejuvenating Face Serum for night time nourishment and Rose Tone & Cleanse, an excellent skin toner and balancer that also makes for an effective make up remover and contains absolutely no alcohol. They also have products that soothe inflamed skin and treat extreme dryness, as well as an oil that addresses scarring.
If you haven’t experienced this range before then I sincerely recommend that you do: it’s pure, it’s beautiful and it’s New Zealand made… it doesn’t get much better than that!