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| | Aluminum in The Crystal Deodorant Stone Many people are concerned about aluminum in anti-perspirants because of its possible link to Alzheimer's disease. The crystal deodorant stones and sprays have become very popular in recent years, but most people don't realize that they are made up of the very thing they're trying to avoid. I reveal the secrets here. | | Chemical of the Day Blog
New Entries coming next week | | COTD: Parabens Remember if you are in the Salt Lake Area, you can come by and visit our Bubble & Bee store in Bountiful next to the fabulous Garden Day Spa & Salon! 297 N 200 W Bountiful, UT 84010 (801) 560-7899 Check out the pics of our store on our facebook page! | | Dear Stephanie,
Ya know, we get the question all the time: "Have you thought of making _____ ?" The answer is, most likely, yes. We love what we do so we have given thought to so many things... a baby line, makeup, sunscreen, toothpaste, perfume... the list goes on. They're all things we're planning on making at some point. But until we grow a little more we can only come out with one product at a time.
We have a lot in the works right now, so we thought we'd give you a status update and share with you the steps it takes to come out with one of our USDA certified organic products. (So here it goes!)
Toothpaste (coming March or April) Toothpaste is launching soon! We have the formula figured out...now, it's just a matter of getting the right packaging. Most toothpastes come in a plastic tube that's sealed at one end. When they make it, the tube is open on the sealed end, it's filled, and then heat-sealed shut. The heat sealing machine that we'd need to do this is pretty expensive, [*ATTENTION* now taking donations! (J.K.)] so this isn't a possibility at this time. There are coated aluminum tubes that we could crimp closed...but those that are available are pretty small. The largest is a 3.5 oz tube...which isn't a lot of toothpaste. BUT, we've found an airless pump that is supposedly able to handle high-viscosity products like a toothpaste---we've ordered it and are just waiting for it to come in so we can give it a try! We're really excited about the toothpastes...they're going to be the purest, most organic formulas on the market today...Period. We're still open to your flavor suggestions, so take the survey and give us your ideas! We expect that it will be ready to go in March or April, once all the testing, design and production are done. Sunscreen (Not gonna happen for a while) Our plans for a sunscreen came to a screeching halt this month. To have an SPF on a product, the government requires you to go through a protocol of testing to prove the SPF claim. You have to test the product on numerous human test subjects...that testing is around $5000. We thought, okay, well, we'll save up for it and get it done. But then we spoke further with the testing company. Yes, the basic SPF test is $5K. But once that is done, you have to do your OTC testing. Sunscreen is considered an over-the-counter drug, so you have to put it through another protocol of safety testing...and this is another $25,000! So, we'll have to come up with $30,000 just for the testing, not including the cost of the ingredients, bottles, and labels. So...that project has been put on hold for a while. We're investigating some other options right now...we'll keep you posted. In the meantime, check out my recommendations here. Makeup (probably this year) We started this project last year, and things have been moving along with it slowly. Our goal is to create a line of cosmetics colored solely with natural vegetable-based pigments, not the "mineral" pigments so widely used now, and have it all be USDA Certified Organic. We had a major breakthrough with the formulation over the weekend and made our first mascara, eyeshadow, and finishing powder. (In fact, I'm wearing the mascara and powder as we speak.) We have some adjustments to make with the formulas to get them just perfect. Then, we'll start with the testing and packaging design phases. I expect that the makeup line will be launched by the end of the year.
Baby Line (Toward the end of the year) We do plan on coming out with a baby line at some point. Did you know...Most of our products (shower gels, soaps, body butters, etc) are appropriate for infants and children? The baby line will come probably further down the line.
Perfume/Body Sprays (Just in time for summer) We've had a lot of requests for this lately. We're thinking a line of body sprays with some of our signature fragrances...coconut lime, raspberry, lavender orange, peppermint vanilla...Take our survey and let us know what you'd like to see. More Face Products (In the works now)
We have a number of new facial products in the works, including an exfoliating facial scrub/masque made with organic raw honey and a line of toners. We are pretty much through the formulation phase and are working on the packaging design. We expect these items will be available by Summer. How a New Product Comes to Be There are a number of steps that we have to take before coming out with a new product. First is the formulation stage--this is when we experiment and come up with the formula for a product. Then, there's testing--we use the products, test them on skin, see how they work and get feedback from others. Then, there's the packaging and design. We have to find a bottle, jar, or other container for the product, as well as a reliable supplier. We order samples of the bottles and test them all. Once we've decided on a suitable packaging option, Stevie "B" designs the label and packaging, going through many different design renditions. When we've finally got a design that everyone around here likes, we send it out to be printed, or print it in-house. Then, we order all the ingredients and everything we need and Peggy makes the first batch. Then we experiment with our equipment and figure out how to make larger batches. We document every step and batch to meet our USDA requirements. We label the products and then Steve takes the photos. We upload the photo to the website, decide on pricing, write the product descriptions. Then we design and write the newsletter and start promoting. All of this on top of the business we're running already--so now you know why it takes some time.
We thank everyone for their support, all the way back to late 2007 when we started this company. We appreciate everyone's kind words, suggestions, and feedback and look forward to continuing to bring you the best, safest, most honest organic personal care products and knowledge for years to come. Sincerely, Stephanie and The Bubble & Bee Organic Team (801) 560-7899 | | | | |
Recently one of our Chemical of the Day articles was featured in Utah Stories Magazine as a "Chemical of the Month" feature. After a local chemist read the article, he challenged Stephanie's stance on the ingredient phenoxyethanol (a common preservative used in supposedly "natural" products) and wrote in to the magazine. 
National Organic Standards Board Tells USDA: "Stop Organic Body Care Fraud!"
