You see Aveda in your shower every day. You keep Hand Relief on your desk at work. You visit with your Aveda artist several times a year at your cut or color appointments. We’re part of your life, and we like it that way!

However, there are probably a few things you DIDN’T know about your favorite brand (that’d be us), so we’re sharing five of our favorite facts with you.

1. Our HQ is located in Minnesota, just a few miles from Minneapolis. How’d we end up here? Our founder, Horst Rechelbacher, was in a car accident while visiting Minneapolis and decided to settle here. He was a hairdresser and set up a salon here and the rest is history! Aveda was officially founded in 1978.

2. The first Aveda product ever created was Clove shampoo. Legend has it that it was created in a sink OR a bathtub. Either way, we still love this iconic favorite.

3. We’ve been cruelty-free since our founding in 1978. We do not test on animals and never ask others to do so on our behalf. Our products are “people-tested.” Being a cruelty-free brand is an important part of our mission to care for the world we live in and for those we live with.

4. The bestselling products on Aveda.com are Shampure shampoo (a classic!) and Be Curly Curl Enhancer.

5. We were the first beauty company to use 100% post-consumer PET in our packaging in 2002.

And two bonus facts, just for fun:

We have 50,000 Aveda Artists working worldwide, and we’re always amazed and inspired by their creativity and talent.

The Aveda Mission guides us in everything we do – it informs every decision we make, from product packaging to the fact that we compost everything from our onsite cafeteria, Organica. It’s also one of the things our employees are the most proud of.