Safeway goes au naturel with new In-Kind personal care products

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There are no parabens, petrolatums or phthalates. No sulfates or synthetic colors.

So it’s somewhat of a surprise that natural personal care products, which trumpet the ingredients they don’t include far more than the ingredients that they do, often cost a lot more than traditional ones.

The new In-Kind line is designed to change that perception. Developed by national food and drug retailer Safeway, In-Kind recently introduced 30 products that use natural ingredients, such as grapefruit and mint extracts and coconut and rosemary oils.

Items range from body washes and shampoos to facial cleansers and soaps. They cost $3.99 to $12.99, which is at least 20% less expensive than comparable brands, said Joe Ennen, Safeway’s senior vice president of consumer brands.

The goal, Ennen said, was to take an aspirational product category and make it more affordable -- ‘to deliver department-store quality at grocery-store prices.’

Available at Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Dominick’s and other stores in the Safeway chain, each product is 90%-95% natural, meaning it doesn’t contain petrochemicals, pesticides and other ingredients that may irritate skin or damage the environment.

-- Susan Carpenter