Ben & Anna

Ben & Anna is a German natural-cosmetics brand based in Kassel, founded in 2017 [7]. It makes vegan personal-care products — deodorants, toothpaste, hair care, lip balm and body care — sold mainly through drugstores, and is built around plastic-free packaging and the avoidance of aluminium salts in deodorant. The brand is owned and operated by JM Nature GmbH [10] and remains active, with a live shop, current social channels and distribution across Germanyand the United Kingdom.

The name comes from two real people, Anna and her husband Benjamin ("Ben"), though the company's public account of who founded it differs from the version documented by German trade press — a point detailed below.

By the brand's own marketing, Ben & Anna began with "a couple from Berlin who, after long searches and trials, decided to develop the world's best all-natural deodorant" [9]. German editorial coverage records a more specific story. Anna, unable to find a vegan deodorant she liked, mixed her own at home from baking soda, olive oil and essential oils. Her brother-in-law Marcus Fritze and his business partner Marco Hülsbeck, both from Vellmar near Kassel, eventually tried the recipe and set up a company to develop it commercially and handle distribution [5]. In a profile by the organic-lifestyle magazine Schrot&Korn, Hülsbeck recalls: "My business partner at the time and I had a good friend: Anna. She made deodorant herself with baking soda, olive oil and essential oils" [4]. The brand is named for Anna and Benjamin; in this account they are the namesakes rather than the operating principals, and their surnames are not publicly disclosed. Both versions appear in coverage, and the company continues to present the simpler "couple from Berlin" narrative in its own materials.

The founding year is given as 2017 by three independent German editorial sources, which date both the launch of the deodorant line and the establishment of the company to that year [7]. A web-search summary citing June 2016 has surfaced, but no verifiable source supports it.

The first products were sodium-bicarbonate deodorants — the "Soda Deodorant" sticks — developed with a cosmetics expert and a certified natural-cosmetics manufacturer, and offered in scents such as Indian Mandarine and Persian Lime.

The legal entity behind Ben & Anna is JM Nature GmbH, registered at the Kassel district court under HRB 17057 and based at Angersbachstraße 20 in Kassel [10]. One third-party article (erfahrungsportal.de) refers to the company as "Tiwala GmbH" in its title, but the article body and all other sources — the brand's own legal notice plus commercial registries — confirm JM Nature GmbH as the current entity; Tiwala may be a former name or an error [7].

Reported leadership varies by source. The company's legal notice lists Marco Hülsbeck and Marcus Fritze as managing directors [10], while the Schrot&Korn profile names Marco Hülsbeck and Sara Brede in that role [4]; Brede appears to have joined as an additional co-managing director. The company reports a team of about 16 people.

Ben & Anna positions itself in what it calls "the gap between conventional drugstore products and overpriced premium organic cosmetics" [6]. Its stated aim is products "that work just like your old favorites – only without the plastic, without the chemicals and without the extra cost," summarised on its site as "full performance, fair prices and a bathroom without plastic waste." The company frames this with the line "no sacrifice, only progress," presenting sustainability and everyday performance as compatible rather than competing. In keeping with that positioning, the brand says its products are stocked in every German drugstore chain.

The range grew from deodorants into a broader personal-care line covering toothpaste (with and without fluoride, including a charcoal-black variant), hair care, lip balm and body care such as hand creams, shower gels and bath salts. Recurring ingredients include sodium bicarbonate, organic shea butter, coconut oil and olive oil.

Several products are shaped by the plastic-free goal. Deodorants are sold in paper tubes with refill cases, and lip balm likewise moved to paper-tube packaging. Concentrated "shower flakes" are shipped as tablets that the user reconstitutes with water at home, removing the water weight from transport. According to the company, formulations exclude microplastics, parabens and phthalates, and deodorants are made without aluminium salts.

The products carry several independent certifications. Per the UK ethical-brand directory Live Frankly, the deodorants are certified by NATRUE — described there as one of Europe's strictest natural-cosmetics standards — and the other toiletries by COSMOS Natural; the brand is also certified by the Vegan Society and registered as cruelty-free by PETA [8].

Plastic-free packaging is central to the brand's stated approach: paper tubes, refillable formats, FSC-certified paper, and glass and recyclable aluminium for refills. The company says manufacturing is kept within Europe to shorten transport routes, with production described as primarily in Germany and the Baltic region, and reports that co-founders travel by train for journeys under eight hours. It also states that it pays living wages with monthly bonuses to its direct employees and supports the non-profit initiative Project Wings together with an international ocean-cleanup project [4].

Ben & Anna is active. As of mid-2026 it operated a live e-commerce site, maintained current Instagram, TikTok and Facebook accounts, and sold through retail and distribution partners across several markets — every German drugstore chain plus other European countries including Croatia, and the United Kingdom via Pravera. JM Nature GmbH remains a registered, active company.