BI PRO

BI-PRO is a Swedish skincare line built around bee-derived ingredients — its name comes from bi, the Swedish word for bee. It is owned by Octean AB, a family-run company based in Kungsbacka on Sweden's west coast, and grew out of the beekeeping of its creator, the pharmacist and product developer Dan Magnusson. The range centres on a resin salve whose recipe the company traces to Gotland folk medicine, alongside hand, foot and skin creams sold mainly through Swedish health-food shops and pharmacies.

The brand remains active, with a current product range and pricing published on Octean's website; in 2025 the parent company was named Entrepreneur of the Year in Kungsbacka.

⚑ Thinner sourcing. The article relies largely on the brand's own statements (T2–T3). Glowpedia is seeking independent sources.

According to Octean, BI-PRO was created by Dan Magnusson, who worked as a pharmacist and product developer and was also a beekeeper [2]. His interest in bees grew into one of the larger beekeeping operations in the country, eventually exceeding 100 hives across the Halland region. That hands-on connection to bees became the foundation of the line, and the company frames beeswax not only as an ingredient but as a way to support hive health.

The dating of the brand is not entirely settled within Octean's own material. The BI-PRO brand page describes a skincare line that has developed products for hands, feet and skin "since its start in the 1970s," while elsewhere dating Magnusson's beekeeping to 1986 [2]. The signature product's lineage is older still: the company attributes the original BI-PRO Salva recipe to ett Gotländsk folkmedicinrecept — a Gotland folk-medicine recipe — and a retailer description tied to the brand's heritage states that essentially the same resin salve appeared, under the name Kådsalva, in a medicine book used at the court pharmacy of King Karl X Gustav in the 17th century [4].

The company is a family business. Magnusson founded Octean AB together with his daughter Hanna Magnusson, who serves as chief executive [1].

BI-PRO is one of several brands owned by Octean AB, a family-owned company headquartered at Norra Torggatan 15 in Kungsbacka. Octean's wider portfolio is weighted toward health supplements — names such as Original Silicea, formoline L112, AktivSvea and Iron vital — with BI-PRO Skincare as its skincare line [1]. The group reports a small staff of around six employees plus consultants and operates a Danish subsidiary, Octean Pharma, established in 2019 [1].

BI-PRO presents itself under the tagline "Caring Swedish Skincare," and its Swedish positioning, omtanke till naturen, places care for nature at the centre. The company describes the line as developed for Nordic climate conditions and "equally gentle for all," and sums up its stance with the phrase "for the love of our skin, our nature and our pollinators" [2]. Because the products rely on beeswax and honey, they are not vegan.

The line's anchor is BI-PRO Salva med kåda, a resin salve marketed as a multipurpose product for dry and chapped skin on the face, hands and feet. Around it sits a small range that includes a Protecting Hand Repair Cream, an Overnight Foot Repair Cream, a Liniment Intense Hot and Cold, and an Exfoliating Foot Scrub.

Octean's own description of the salve's composition differs slightly between sources. An article on the company's site lists the ingredients as beeswax, spruce resin, sunflower oil, coconut oil, castor oil and vitamin E [3]. A retailer description, by contrast, lists clinically documented resin extract together with shea butter, sunflower oil, olive oil and pine oil [4] — a discrepancy that most likely reflects different formulations within the BI-PRO range rather than a single recipe. The common thread is tree resin, which the company says has documented antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties and is effective against bacteria such as staphylococcus and klebsiella, as well as yeast and mould [4]. Octean also states that the salve's effectiveness has been proven through clinical studies over 50 years and cites hundreds of thousands of satisfied users [2].

The brand's environmental messaging is tied directly to its beekeeping origins. BI-PRO is described as a supporting company (stödföretag) of Naturskyddsföreningen, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, with stated commitments to bee conservation and biodiversity [2].

BI-PRO remains an active, single-market Swedish brand. Its product range and pricing are current on Octean's website, and the parent company was named Entrepreneur of the Year in Kungsbacka in 2025 [2]. No Wikipedia entry or major editorial press coverage was found; third-party mentions are confined to Swedish health-food and pharmacy retailers, consistent with a small regional brand rather than one with an international profile.