Acreana extracts the cannabidiol properties of marijuana from copaíba and creates a regenerating cream for the skin

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A 30-year-old Acre native, born in Cruzeiro do Sul, in the Juruá Valley, Giovanna Cruz, is revolutionizing the national beauty market and has a chance of reaching abroad very soon with the invention of a cream, with a patented brand and duly registered in Anvisa (Health Surveillance Agency).

This is “Regenera Cabocla”, a multifunctional cream made with an Amazonian blend that has been available for sale on the website www.caboclada.com.br and in 9 physical locations around Brazil since June 2023.

This turmoil in the beauty and personal care market in Brazil and around the world has been evidenced by the movement of giants, such as the acquisition of Avon by Natura. At the same time, there is a bubbling activity of small brands that position themselves in niches and rely on the digital environment — and sometimes only on it — to dialogue with the public. Giovanna Cruz’s company from Acre is one of them.

The cream she created activates the endocannabinoid system (CB2) through the properties of the terpenoid Caryophyllene (C15), present in copaíba, a gigantic tree native to the Amazon, predominant in the forests of Acre, whose essence has aromatic notes of earthy pine and lemon, popularly known for its effects.

The oil extracted from the tree’s stem has been used, since time immemorial, by the natives of the forest, as an antibiotic and natural healing agent, both externally and internally in the organism of mammals, including humans.

From an aesthetic point of view, the product promotes relaxation, deep hydration, nutrient replacement and is a super antioxidant for the skin, scientifically identified as the largest organ in the human body, as it has a regulation and immunity function, in addition to protection against external agents and temperature control, is exposed to some risks, including skin cancer – the second most common in Brazil.

A study published in the Journal of Dermatological Science revealed that CBD can help reduce inflammation, making it effective in treating conditions such as acne and psoriasis. CBD is a powerful antioxidant, helping to protect the skin against damage caused by free radicals and delaying the signs of aging. Research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation showed that CBD can reduce oil production, contributing to the prevention of acne. CBD helps regulate the skin’s oil production, promoting balance and adequate hydration. This is especially beneficial for those suffering from conditions such as dermatitis and rosacea.

Giovanna Cruz is the daughter of an Acre journalist and granddaughter of traditional Ayahuasca users, from whom she inherited concepts of how to deal with forest essences.

Giovana Cruz’s international path in the beauty segment began to be paved when she won first place in an acceleration program for startups mentored by B2 Mammy in partnership with Google for Startups with the company she created, Caboclas 4i20.

Giovanna was the winner of the 14th edition of the Pulse Batch startup acceleration program, an action by consultancy firm B2 Mammy in partnership with Google for Startups to support businesses founded by mothers and women.

The competition had the participation of 200 companies voluntarily registered in the program, and which were evaluated and selected in two “sieve” stages, which narrowed down first 50, then three participants until the ten finalists were named. The B2 Mamy house offered personalized help from industry experts, independent capital support, design, marketing and leadership training, product credits and early access to new products and tools from Google itself as a reward.

Those classified for the final phase of the program were able to present their pitches to an evaluation panel, which was attended by members of the American consulate, as B2 Mamy receives significant support from the US Embassy and Consulates in Brazil, through the POWER (Providing Opportunities for Women’s Economic Rise) —something like “offering opportunities for women’s economic growth”, in an acronym in English that forms the word ‘power’.

Giovanna was a beautician in her hometown, Cruzeiro do Sul, and thus her first interest in the world of cosmetics was born.

“My knowledge of Amazonian plants was an inheritance I received from my grandparents. What made me delve deeper into the study of medicinal plants was the spagyria nutrition course that I took after an intense experience in ayahpasqueira communities”, Giovanna told ContilNet.

One of these ayahuasque communities in Juruá is in the municipality of Rodrigues Alves, where she spent at least a year living in the community. She is the daughter of journalist Jorge Natal, who was her mother’s boyfriend, Sulamita, in her youth. Jorge Natal’s father, Aquiles Cruz, 90 years old (although with Alzheimer’s), born in Brasiléia (AC), descendant of Peruvian Indians, has been using Ayahuasca (or Daime) since he was a child.

Giovana Cruz, on her mother’s side, is also the granddaughter and daughter of rubber tappers who lived in the Juruá forests and who only arrived in the city as adults. She was the first in her family to leave the municipality of Cruzeiro do Sul to live in the Southeast region of the country, in the Triângulo Mineiro. There she had her first wedding, in Uberlândia, and there she came across a biodiversity that was connected through the repetition of some species with those native to her original region, the Juruá Valley, in the north of the country.

“The biodiversity of the Cerrado and the Amazon are not that different,” he said. “You can show me a plant just once, and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life,” he added.

How the company Caboclas 4i20 was born, which already has international recognition and produces 25 items of aesthetic products.

There, in contact with the plants, Caboclas4i20 began to be born, an autonomous cultivation experience in the beds of the farm where he lived for a success story in the well-being and health market. Giovana and her ex-husband managed an area of ​​5 thousand square meters, “in practice, with a hoe”.

After the divorce and the birth of her two daughters, Janaína and Maria Joana, Giovana took on the challenge of entrepreneurship, combining the knowledge of her land with the new possibilities that the forest of Minas Gerais presented to her and created her first product prototypes. organic body care products.

Taking risks, with the help of friends, she sold her products at local fairs for around three years until she devised and developed the formula for her most sought after product, Regenera Cabocla. The product promotes relaxation, deep hydration, nutrient replacement and is a super antioxidant, capable of reducing expression lines and inflammation in the skin. The cream activates the endocannabinoid system (CB2) through the properties of the terpenoid Caryophyllene (C15), present in copaiba.

Giovana also acts as Public Relations representative and COO (chief operating officer) of Xah com Mariaz, an initiative dedicated to female and feminist economic empowerment by RENEA (National Network of Anti-Prohibitionist Feminists).

Caboclas 4i20 produces at least 25 items. “Each cosmetic has a different base, but they all have in common the blend of Amazonian plants: copaíba, açaí and dragon’s blood,” she said. The base of the product is cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabinoid substance found in the leaf of Cannabis Sativa, the marijuana plant, but Giovana Cruz proved that it is possible to find the formula in copaíba, cloves and other plants.

Both large and small health and beauty companies are committed to following changes in society that are reflected in consumption, such as the search for more natural, personalized products that communicate values. According to market research provider Euromonitor International, Brazil is the fourth largest beauty and personal care market in the world — from hair and skin cosmetics to perfumes and oral care products.

The country is behind the United States, China and Japan (the data is from a 2019 report, relating to 2018). In the fragrance category, Brazilians are in second place, behind only Americans.

Five companies account for 47.8% of the Brazilian market, according to the same report: Natura & Co, followed by the Boticário group, the Unilever group, the L’Oréal group and Colgate-Palmolive Co. The number of companies registered with Anvisa in 2018 it was 2,794, according to the Brazilian Association of the Toiletries, Perfumery and Cosmetics Industry (Abihpec). Giovana Cruz’s company from Acre is already among them.

Between 2013 and 2018, there was a 24.5% growth in the value of retail sales in reais, even though there was a 0.3% drop between 2014 and 2015; for 2023, Euromonitor International’s forecast was for an increase of 20.6%. Data presented by Abihpec comparing Brazilian GDP with sector indexes show losses in 2015 and 2016 not yet compensated by the recovery in 2017 and 2018 — although the recovery occurred at a higher pace than in the rest of the economy.

According to data from the Forbes Daily Newsletter, Cannabis-based cosmetics represent a revolution in the benefits of cannabidiol for the skin. Cannabis is becoming a star in the beauty and personal care sector, gaining space on the shelves of major brands and in many people’s daily care rituals.

Large and recognized companies such as, for example, The Body Shop, Colgate-Palmolive and Avon are already adopting this trend and developing innovative products such as those from Giovana Cruz, which take advantage of the therapeutic benefits of cosmetics with cannabinoids.

She talks about her experience with Ayahuasca in the community of Rodrigues Alves

Giovanna Cruz, known on social media as Gi do Acre, even as two children, is also an athlete, beautician and founder of startups Caboclas. She says that since she was a child she has had access to Amazonian medicinal plants. A knowledge passed down through generations, since before your great-grandmother. “Not to mention my godfather who is a true wizard of the forest”, she reveals, referring to Francisquinho, a leader of the ayahuasque community in Rodrigues Alves, a city close to Cruzeiro do Sul.

Following the movements to legalize marijuana, with California, in the United States, being a major reference, Giovana began to have access to information that there was an oil from a native Amazonian tree that has the same medicinal effect as Cannabis. It was the copaiba.

From then on, she developed a line of 25 products in which this oil was the main raw material. Giovana worked for five years producing by hand until sending the first sample of the best-selling product to a laboratory, in order to test the information that the oil enhanced the medicinal effect of Cannabis. “It was then that we proved, in the laboratory and with the approval of Anvisa, that the substance C 15, or caryophyllene, interacts with the CB2 system in a similar way to Cannabis”, he said.

In 2022, Giovana took an online cannabis entrepreneurship course and developed a startup business model. From this first training, she went to Expocannabis Uruguay, to test her MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and there she met and closed key partnerships that allowed her to be pioneer in bringing cannabinoid therapy to Brazil without a medical prescription.

“I am proud to have patented Blend CBDA, composed of four genuinely Brazilian active ingredients that interact in the mammalian organism in a similar way to Cannabis.”, he said.

Giovana already collects a good number of exciting reports from people who have benefited, surprisingly, from the healing and antibacterial effect of the cream on injuries and burns. “Apart from the aesthetic reports of improvement in skin elasticity, lightening of blemishes and anti-inflammatory effects”, emphasizes the founder of Caboclas.