DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And our last word in business today is: Organic Beauty.
That's what Austrian entrepreneur Horst Rechelbacher, Rechelbacher wanted to promote when he created the hair and skincare line Aveda. Rechelbacher died over the weekend at age 72 at his farm in Wisconsin. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer three years ago.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Rechelbacher was a young European hairstylist visiting Minnesota in the 1960s when he was in a car accident. To pay off his medical bills, he took a job cutting hair in the Twin Cities. And there he stayed, cooking up plant-based shampoos in his kitchen to use on his customers.
GREENE: Aveda was among the first to use organic ingredients for hair and skin and among the first to test them on human subjects. Rechelbacher said he wanted his products to be safe enough to eat.
MONTAGNE: The company's popularity got noticed by cosmetics giant Estee Lauder, which acquired Aveda in the late 1990s, and now Aveda products are sold in more than 7,000 salons and spas worldwide.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
GREENE: And I'm David Greene. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
