Question Thyme: Kim Smith, Co-founder of KLORIS CBD

What are the key things to look out for when choosing a CBD brand to use as an individual or to partner with?

In short, excellence and transparency. CBD as with all wellbeing products should not be mediocre in quality, confusing in messaging or shy in disclosing information. For example there’s a common misconception that the limit for THC is 0.2% but that actually only applies to the source material, not the finished product.The correct allowed threshold for THC is actually only less than 1mg of THC in the entire container (this works out to 0.01% in a 10ml bottle, less in larger containers). There are a lot of products on the shelves that don’t adhere to this. (All KLORIS products are THC free)Also any ingestible CBD products (for example CBD oil drops) which are not listed on the FSA’s Register should be removed from sale. This applies to the specific product, under the specific brand name. Trading Standards will begin to enforce this shortly. So the two key questions to ask are proof of THC levels per product (in the form of an independent laboratory certificate for each batch) and in relation to ingestibles confirming that the products are listed on the FSA’s register of CBD products.

How do you know if a brand is reputable?

Historically it was about the brand’s ethics to self standardise - for us, that always meant to offer more information than was ‘required’ in the form of lab results, offering free demystifying and well researched articles on all things CBD and so on.Last month KLORIS was absolutely thrilled to have been awarded probably the highest stamp of quality available currently within this space. The Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society stated that our CBD products have met their ‘Standards for Excellence’, and we are one of only a very small number of brands to have done so to enter their list of recommended products for practitioners.This means KLORIS products succeeded comprehensive guidelines for what the Society considers a good CBD product when doctors are looking to recommend an Over-The-Counter CBD product rather than an expensive prescription product.This is a huge step forward for the CBD sector and for us as a brand. We are thrilled that our commitment to creating effective products has been recognised. We are so excited for what is to come for CBD and KLORIS in the future!

Why do strengths vary on different products, and what does this mean? (i.e. for oral products compared to topical)

Just like other skincare or health supplements that vary in strength (example like Vitamin C or D) the same is true for CBD. This can be for a number of reasons such as price points, customer preference, and what has been deemed most popular / effective depending on the delivery method.For ingestible products comparing percentage strength is generally most useful - for example oil drops labelled as 1500mg in 30ml would be the same strength per drop as a 500mg product in 10ml - both would be 5% strength.

For topical products, much lower concentrations are considered effective doses, generally 1-2%. Everyone is different and thus needs different amounts, it's been widely reported anything in the region of 15mg plus per ingestible dose is helpful to most people. You can ingest up to 70mg per day according to the FSA’s advice, this can be in different formats and multiple doses depending on your preference.

Some people love the drops because they are in control of the dosing. Some people love our high strength balm as they just want to use CBD for topical skin relief. Our brand new patches have been a huge hit because people like the simplicity and the fact it is so straightforward, one patch = 24 hours use with a precise dose. Some (Like me) love a mixture of it all depending what time of the month it is and what I am taking it for. There is no one size fits all.

What can you and can’t you say about CBD skincare?

 We know CBD is a potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, speeds up healing and regulates oil production… all things that are obviously great in skincare. It is still a relatively new ingredient in terms of skincare so it doesn’t have the same volume of data that other hero ingredients such as retinol or Vitamin C has (yet!) but what has been found so far in terms of topical use is hugely exciting!