Inspired by the Ancient Greek wisdom of herbal therapy and following traditional family recipes, Fresh Line was established in 1992 as a small family company, starting with a shop in Athens. The company produces more than 300 natural products for face, hair and body based on a wide variety of essential oils, herbal extracts, natural butters and clinically-proven active ingredients. In all Fresh Line points of sale, one can also find the Fresh Bar, a pioneer concept of products sold by weight at any desired quantity, including certified face masks that are preserved in coolers, shower gels, body milks, body butters & imaginative soaps that are served fresh in-store. Today, the Fresh Line team counts more than 100 people. It operates its own 6,000m2 production unit in Athens and an extensive network of 250 points of sales in 12 countries with devoted friends all around the world.
Before the arrival of ready-made cosmetics, women in Greece, both in Ancient & Classical eras, concocted a multitude of recipes deriving from the rich Greek nature, to treat several hair & skin conditions. Many seeds, herbs, flowers buds, vegetables and fruits indigenous to Greece found their way into beautification & treatment mixtures for the whole family. Roses, elderflowers, anemones, sage, garlic, rosemary, lavender and chamomile are just a few examples of ingredients that were used for the preparation of soothing balms, olive oil based soaps, pomades, pastes and vinegar solutions. Scents were made by boiling flowers, herbs and spices and mixed with a base of olive oil. Greeks were also known to create beauty products from natural pigments, plant roots, red wine and mastic, an aromatic resin only native to the island of Chios. The excellent quality of Greek herbs and spices reflects the country’s long periods of sunshine and the complexity of its landscapes, allowing the growth of 7500 different species of plants, out of which 850 grow only in Greece. However, the use of honey & olive oil have been undoubtedly, the cornerstone of Greek culture. Their use for skincare dates all the way back to 5000 BC and both are still principal ingredients in contemporary Greek beauty products, for their precious moisturizing, nourishing & antioxidant properties. Today, Fresh Line uses over 80 natural ingredients and preserves in its portfolio authentic homemade products made with inherited handmade techniques.
The history of Herbal Therapy & Aromatherapy leads us to Ancient Greece, where healing & relaxation techniques were widely spread. Famous ancient Greek practitioners, philosophers and physicians recorded the beneficial effects of hundreds of scented plants & herbs. Dioscurides' work, "De Materia Medica" (fig.1), can be considered as the most important pharmaceutical source of the Ancient World and was used throughout the Middle Age, Renaissance and in later centuries as a dictionary for medical practitioners. It formed the basis of herbal therapeutic knowledge and surpassed all previous herbal writings, analyzing the multiple properties of over 1000 natural substances. Hippocrates, the most celebrated physician of Antiquity, and father of modern medicine, was a firm believer of treating the patient holistically, emphasizing the link between mental and physical processes. The Hippocratic approach to therapy was humble and gentle, based on the healing power of nature, fresh air, exercise and good nutrition. According to this principle, the body contains from within the ability to re-balance and heal itself with the proper use of herbs, thus Hippocrates recorded the use of about 400 herbs with therapeutic and preventive attributes. Another influential Greek philosopher, Theophrastus , a brilliant student of Aristotle, listed the biological classifications of plants in his work Historia Plantarum. Herodotus was the first to establish the precise methods of hydro-therapeutic practices and believed that good health could be promoted with aromatic baths and oil massages.