Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 8, Number 10, 1 October 1991 — Kukui nut valued as skin and hair product [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kukui nut valued as skin and hair product

By Ann L. Moore A Hawaiian tradition is being perpetuated by the Hawaiian Kukui Nut Company in Waialua on Oahu's North Shore. Hawaiian kukui oil as a base for skin and hair products. Hawaiians have long known the value of kukui nut oil as a skin humectant. Even today a newborn's first "bath" is often a rubdown with kukui oil. The beautiful complexions of many a Tutu wahine ean be ascribed to the effects of a lifetime's use of the oil. The company's own line of oil-based skin products is carried locally by the Bishop Museum's Shop Pacifica and shops in Outrigger Hotels. Owner Dana Gray sings the praises of Hawaiian kukui oil for skin care, and points out its potential as a new industry for Hawaii. "Tourism is fine, but this is a product that gets exported and brings money into the state's economy," says Gray. "Cosmetic chemists are very sophisticated consumers, most with Ph.Ds. When they formulate a product, they need oils whose properties are constant. A formula can't change from batch to batch." Gray says there is a demand for the Hawaiian kukui and macadamia oils. If the demand is to be met, he says, "We need people to plant and grow the jtrees, people to harvest them, and eventually more plant workers." Gray took in $300,000 his first year in business. Just three years later, in 1990, he grossed $1 million. "You ean see the potential market for Hawai'i," he says. And the market timing is right, Gray adds. "It's 'The Greening of America.' People are concerned about biodegradability. They are more natural-

produc t-consc ious. " Yet Hawaiian kukui oils as a cosmetic base are just the start, Gray says. "There are facial scrubs being developed that will use part of the plant we now throw away. Research at the University of Hawaii and by private companies is most encouraging. The plantextracts market is booming, and Hawaii is ideally situated, geographically, for this market. "A Hawaiian kukui nut tree ean be harvested after just three year's growth," explains Gray,

"and an acre of wild trees produce a crop that sells for $7,000 a year 'wet in the shell.' "We don't know what the trees would do if planted, watered and fed," exclaims Gray. "But just imagine it!"

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Owner Dana Gray of the Hawalian Kukui Nut Company, Waialua, O'ahu.