My guest today is Lindsay Herron, co-founder and CEO of Buckaroo Organics in Bozeman, Montana. She and her husband make products designed to prevent, heal and soothe skin irritation. “It is a dream job for me,” says Lindsay. “Feeling passionate and dedicated about the work we get to do is such a gift.” In her former career, Lindsay worked as a Mental Health and Licensed Addictions Therapist. She built two practices serving rural areas in Montana. Prior to that she worked as a bilingual counselor serving Hispanic women and domestic violence victims in Raleigh, NC. What she has learned through her work, is that at the core, she loves people. She learns new things everyday and appreciate lessons that are both positive and negative. She enjoys quality time with her family, skiing, and camping…”anything outdoors where I can unplug from technology and connect with the important things in life!” www.buckaroo-organics.com
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Skin and Laundry Products for Baby: Organic, Simple, Safe
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Lindsay Herron
Date of Broadcast: May 21, 2015
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world and live toxic free. It is Thursday, May 21st, 2015. It’s a beautiful day in Clearwater, Florida.
I’m feeling a little out of breath at the moment because I decided that while the opening song is playing that I would exercise. And so I’ve been sitting here doing arm exercises because one of the things about getting toxic chemicals out of your body is you just need to get your lymph system moving. Your lymph system doesn’t move unless you move your body. It doesn’t have a pump like your heart. And so your lymph fluid just sits there in your body, not moving waste out unless you move. And so I just decided that I was just going to move my body during the opening song.
Anyway, I’m here breathing now, but I think that that’s a good idea. I’m going to just continue to do this. And if you feel like you just want to get up and move while you’re listening to the opening song, when you listen to this show tomorrow or the next day and whenever, just do so. I’m just looking at different ways to get exercise into my life even if only a minute at a time.
But that’s not the subject of today’s show. Today, we are going to talk about skin and laundry products for baby, and my guest – this is a new business, my guest is a lovely woman who has three children. And she wanted to have some simple, safe, organic products that she could use that would be safe for her children’s skin. And so she created her own.
Her name is Lindsay Herron. She’s the co-founder and CEO of Buckaroo Organics in Bozeman, Montana. Hi, Lindsay.
LINDSAY HERRON: Hey. Good morning.
DEBRA: Good morning. How are you today?
LINDSAY HERRON: I guess it’s morning here, maybe it’s almost afternoon there.
DEBRA: It is just past afternoon here. But people are listening all over the world, you know? And so it could be anytime, anywhere.
LINDSAY HERRON: That is true. I am very, very honored to be here today.
DEBRA: Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me.
So tell us your story about why you started this and how it all happened.
LINDSAY HERRON: When we got started, anyone that starts something, it was an idea at least for us that came organically, to say the least. We had kids and with having children, I became aware of lots of things that I hadn’t previously been aware of – what kind of stroller I needed, what kind of food we should be eating. All of these things got thrown at me.
And what I really found was this hyperawareness to have the best environment for them to create a healthy environment for their bodies to grow. And so I dug in and started reading and doing research. And I also happened to be married to a chemical engineer that is also very health-conscious.
So by nature, we had that going for us before that. And then when we had babies and we started registering for things, we registered for cloth diapers and we were growing our own food.
We noticed that there were a lot of things that you had to do for cloth diaper care. And with that came detergents. And so our whole evolution of our product line and our mission statement and all of that really stems from our laundry detergent from being a cloth-diapering mom.
What we found is that we needed specialty laundry detergent and it couldn’t leave any residue and all of these things, this laundry list of things that came with that and all this care. And when I dug into the detergents that we need to be using, I found, first of all, that they are very expensive. I also became a bit knowledgeable of laundry detergents that are on the shelves and was also pretty shocked about things that were in it, and then also finding out a lot of health concerns that are linked to a lot of these chemicals that are on shelves that really, I didn’t feel like anyone was talking about in my circle.
And so we started there.
DEBRA: That’s an excellent place to start. So from that beginning then, how did you – I’m always interested to know how a person who isn’t a big business person, how do you start a small business like this to make a non-toxic product?
LINDSAY HERRON: Well, I’m on a learning curve every single day.
DEBRA: I understand.
LINDSAY HERRON: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was a counselor and just went to school to be a mental health and addictions counselor. My husband works in the energy industry. And really, I would say, everyday, what motivates us is our passion and mission to make a change.
And also, we had this idea. Our laundry detergent is very unique and we can talk about that at some point. But really, I feel like God gifted us this idea and then has opened a lot of doors along the way to help us get it started.
We’ve had a lot of people that are experts in the industry, a lot of lawyers and patents attorneys, and things that we are not experts in, come our way. And also, it takes a lot of initiative to do research and be knowledgeable about what we’re doing and passionate, and be able to answer questions, and connect the dots, and be willing to ask questions that I know a lot of people don’t seem very smart.
If I only have to ask them once, so when I ask a question that seems very ground-level for certain experts in this industry, I’m appreciative when I have people that are willing to mentor me and bring me along in marketing strategies and packaging industries and things like that where we had to bring it all together at the end of the day.
DEBRA: Yes, it really is a big thing. I’ve been in my field for more than 30 years and there are times when I think, “Oh, I should just create some products.” And then I look at what goes into creating products, and I think, “I think I’ll just write about products,” because it really is such a huge thing, and especially, you’re not just selling them online, you’re selling them to stores too?
LINDSAY HERRON: Yes, we’re in stores. The thing that I’ve learned too is there’s a lot that goes into it, but it is doable if it’s honest and authentic. So when we go into somebody’s store, there are strict regulations in a lot of these health food stores and coops and things like that. And if your product is true and if the ingredients are true and things that are in it and your labeling, it’s actually a reasonable process if the leg work has been done.
And so that’s also been helpful for us too. Each of our products, we’ve spent a lot of time on really making sure that they’re polished and ready to go. And once that foundation is laid, then things start moving – at least, that’s been our experience.
DEBRA: Yes, you’ve done a really good – not really good, you’ve done a really excellent job of your products. And we’re going to talk about your products. We’re coming up to the break, so I don’t want to start talking about them right now.
But you’ve done such an excellent job of ingredients – we’re going to talk about your ingredients – and your packaging and everything. There’s an excellence about them that even when I just went to your website, my first impression of your website has that excellence about it. I just wanted to call you right up and say, “Come on my show” because I could see the thought that went into the ingredients. And we’re going to talk about that.
Let me just ask you, your husband is a chemical engineer? Does he work developing chemicals?
LINDSAY HERRON: He doesn’t anymore. He works as a consultant in the energy industry for risk for energy and training in risk management. So at one point in college and right out of college, he worked with – I’m missing what it is, but it’s when you go into hospitals and you get a liquid nitrogen. That’s what it was.
So we lived in Houston for a while. And for almost six years, he worked in that industry with the liquid nitrogen for a private company and working with hospitals and then switched and moved into more of a consulting role for trading power. So he’s moved a bit in his career, but the basis is that chemical engineering part.
DEBRA: So he has – when you’re working on developing your products, you had the knowledge of your husband as a chemical engineer?
LINDSAY HERRON: Yes, and really that came in to play with our laundry detergent.
DEBRA: I want to hear more about that when we come back. We’ll talk about – I want you to tell us about laundry detergent chemicals and what you learned about what you didn’t want in your laundry detergent. And we’ll talk about how you came to develop your own formula.
You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Lindsay Herron. She’s the co-founder and CEO of Buckaroo Organics in Bozeman, Montana. They make skin and laundry products for baby that are organic, simple and safe. You can go to their website at Buckaroo-Organics.com. And we’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Lindsay Herron. She’s the founder and CEO of Buckaroo Organics and their website is Buckaroo-Organics.com.
Okay, so Lindsay, when you started making your laundry detergent, what did you not want to put in it and why?
LINDSAY HERRON: Well, the first thing I started with was sulfate and phosphates. But like I said, we started with that cloth-diapering detergent, and previous to that, I think over the years I haven’t been super tuned into my laundry detergent. I think for years, we spent so much time on food, our food sources and pesticides and things like that. And then, like I said, once we had babies and we started cloth-diapering, we really started to hone in on what are all these products.
And so when we started looking at water waste systems and residues that are left behind fragrances, things that when you smell your clothes, they smell good (and I grew up in a family where my mom had this laundry detergent that always smelled good, the sheets smelled good), then when I really dug in to that, I realized that that’s not necessarily a good thing at all. When there’s fragrance on laundry detergent or on your clothes that residue has been left behind and then cleans the fabric that’s sitting on your skin all day and then, obviously, not good for cloth diapers.
And so I started with fragrance and then moved into sulfates and phosphates. And then the list just started going on different chemicals.
And also, when I was reading ingredient lists, especially on liquid detergents, oftentimes, the first ingredient can be water and then it moves right into some kind of sulfate and they’re everywhere. And then phosphates too are being limited in certain states just because the toxic aftermath that they have on our water systems and ecosystems. It’s choking off different waterways and aquatic life too.
When we think about using laundry detergent, the amount that we use every single day, it’s insane on a massive level of what’s being wasted back out into septic tanks and different, various water exit systems.
DEBRA: Yes, it is. It very much is.
So then how did you go through the process of finding the ingredients that you then decided to use because they’re pretty unusual ingredients for a laundry product?
LINDSAY HERRON: I do have an unusual – yeah. And sorry, to the first question that you asked me, I think that was a lot of information. I’m just super passionate about everything that we’re doing, so I jumped in there if I’m overwhelming with some of this stuff.
So when we looked at all of that, I thought there has to be a better way. There has to be something different. I needed it to not be a plant-based detergent or a derivative of a plant-based that has been altered in some way because you can’t use that with the fibers in certain cloth diapers.
DEBRA: Let me ask you a question because I’m not a mom. I haven’t done the cloth-diapering thing although I totally believe in it and if I was a mom, I would do it. But since I haven’t done it, it sounds like you’re saying that when you’re doing cloth-diapering, they give you some instructions about what kind of detergent to use. Is that right? And what are those instructions? Where did they come from?
LINDSAY HERRON: Yes. Well, I’m not exactly sure where they come from. I’m imagining we also come from a town that is the founder here, her name is Kim, and she is the founder of GroVia diapers. And she’s done a brilliant job with her cloth-diapering business. They’re a very big brand in the cloth-diapering world. So she has also just testing that’s been done on her cloth diapers.
So this care list comes with how to wash them, how to strip them, which means that you clean the fibers because there’s an ammonia build-up, and then there’s a list of laundry detergents that have been deemed safe so far. And so then, these laundry detergents kind of post and then there are things that you shouldn’t use on these fibers because the residue clings to them and then clogs them, making them less absorbent for what they need to be functional for.
And cloth-diapering, even if you haven’t done it, moms that do know, it’s an investment. The cloth diapers are upfront, they’re an investment. And if you care for them, you can reuse them for our children. And we have three. And so they do last. And they’re so eco-friendly.
But yes, the instructions, they can be a bit overwhelming at first once you get started. And then it’s easy once you keep going.
So that’s where we started, not wanting that plant-based derivative that could potentially clog the fibers. And so I got a hold of the soap nuts. Have you heard of those before?
DEBRA: Absolutely! I’ve been using them for years. I think I used the first soap nuts that ever came out.
LINDSAY HERRON: Okay. Well, I get excited talking to people about soap nuts because it’s something that I think is a big part of talking about our laundry detergent. If people haven’t heard of them, they’ve been around for a long time.
DEBRA: Well, talk about them.
LINDSAY HERRON: Well, so the soap nuts that we get are grew in the Himalayas. We import them from Nepal. It’s where they come from. And then they’re certified organic here in the States. It’s a berry that grows on a fruit tree actually. So it’s not a nut. And the husk of the berry is made up of pure saponin or a soaping agent. And so once the berry is de-seeded and dried, you’re left with a husk or it looks like an acorn. I mean, you know, but just to talk about them.
And then that husk is pure soap and is biodegradable and works brilliantly to clean things without leaving a residue or a scent behind.
DEBRA: Brilliantly. I think brilliantly is the word because the first time I used soap nuts, I was shocked at how soft my cotton clothing was. It just was soft in a way that I’ve never experienced it before. And I think that one of the things that people don’t realize is how much detergent clings to the fabric. And so you have that whole residue just scratching your skin all the time.
When I first went to your website, I thought, “Oh, she’s doing the skin care products, but she’s also doing the laundry.” I didn’t really know that you started with laundry. I thought the laundry was so that you were focusing on baby’s skin and that the detergent wouldn’t scratch their skin. But you started with the laundry.
LINDSAY HERRON: We did start with the laundry. And our products, we’ve had a few people say, “They don’t just fit really all together.” and I’m like, “What our company has come about is when we found gaps in the industry and found gaps on the shelves, we sought to create something different.” So we have a respiratory rub, and we have a laundry detergent and we have things that we didn’t feel were super acceptable on the shelves including our packaging (it’s all biodegradable).
And so it doesn’t have maybe a sequential look when you look at our whole product line, but we’re really targeting that hypoallergenic skin care of products that are possibly not out there to fill those gaps.
DEBRA: I really got it that you were about hypoallergenic skin care. When I looked at your website I thought, “That’s what they’re doing. They’re looking at every aspect of what might help or harm a baby’s skin and providing something for that.”
And we’ll talk more about your products when we come back. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Lindsay Herron. She’s the co-founder and CEO of Buckaroo Organics in Bozeman, Montana. And her website is Buckaroo-Organics.com. We’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Lindsay Herron, co-founder and CEO of Buckaroo Organics. And her website is Buckaroo-Organics.com.
So just to finish off about your laundry detergent, or laundry – what do you call it? ‘Laundry powder’, laundry something?
LINDSAY HERRON: Well, it’s called soap berry studs, but we just call it a laundry detergent.
DEBRA: Yes, I just wanted to differentiate that it actually isn’t a detergent. Detergent is less a specific word that has a specific meaning. It’s different from, say, soap. And even what you’re doing is even different from soap.
Anyway, what I want to say is usually, if you buy soap nuts, in the beginning when I started using them, you just bought whole soap nuts and you put them in a little bag, three or four of them in a little bag. And then you throw the little bag in the wash. That’s to keep the bits of soap nuts that start breaking down contained in the little bag.
But what you’ve done is you’ve made a laundry product (I’ll just call it a laundry product) that takes those soap nuts and adds other ingredients to them. So why did you do that? Why did you decide to add these other things and grind up the soap nuts and make it into this kind of product? Why should I use your product instead of just plain soap nuts?
LINDSAY HERRON: Wait, what’s different about ours? Okay, so yes, it is a powder. So what we did is we found that the soap nuts themselves weren’t working really well with our hard water system, our hard water, and so we made it something to break that surface tension of the water so that the water itself could do the job and the soap nuts could aid in that.
And so Brad reformulated it. He knows all of the chemical reaction when it hits the water. But I’ll do my best. So he reformulated it to powder it, so that it added those elements of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate to de-scale your machine, soften up water and be able to let the water itself really do its job in conjunction with those soap nuts.
DEBRA: That sounds really good. I can hardly wait to try it.
LINDSAY HERRON: He gets all scientific about it and I do my best.
DEBRA: No, you did really well. So then other laundry products do you have are wool dryer balls. And why wool dryer balls?
LINDSAY HERRON: Well, I have been using them for about 10 years. And then when our company really took off and we started filling these gaps, I thought, “Mine weren’t breaking down a bit,” I thought, “We should do something different.”
And as you said before, we were targeting that hypoallergenic market. And when people actually found us, we have been shocked that the amount of skin sensitivities and allergies that people have to laundry soap and laundry detergent and whatever they’re using. Then we’ve had people crying at our table at tradeshows about how they feel like they’re allergic to themselves and they haven’t found anything that works like our laundry soap.
And so then we found that people are using dryer sheets and still struggling. And so throwing in a fabric softener sheet that coats your clothes with all sorts of residues and your machine and your dryer wasn’t really effective. And so we thought, “Okay, let’s go back to work to really create this holistic laundry room that gives you a great laundry soaping agent and then also helps you to put in your dryer and reduce static all naturally. And then you can add essential oil to these wool dryer balls.”
Have you used them before? You guys probably know about this.
DEBRA: No, I know about them, but I haven’t actually used them. I don’t use dryer sheets either. I just throw things in the dryer. So how will they help my drying experience?
LINDSAY HERRON: Well, first of all, I’m going to send you some, Debra. You need to be on this wool dryer ball train with us.
DEBRA: I want to be.
LINDSAY HERRON: They’re coming your way today. So you use it in packs. We sell them in packs of three or six. And the way that you use them, they’re very low maintenance. You don’t have to care for them or do anything. You throw them in your dryer. Quantities of three would be smaller loads or medium-sized loads. And then the six is for TMA loads or the laundry that I do – you know, shove as much in there as I can and get it done. I would use six dryer balls for that.
So you’re tumbling them with each load of laundry to soften your clothes naturally, reduce static. They’re safe for people with wool sensitivities. They’re handmade with a felted center. They last a thousand loads. It’s also in our mission to create this chemical-free laundry room, we needed it to be affordable.
So our laundry detergent is 18¢ a load. And then the wool dryer balls last up to a thousand loads. So it’s something that’s really cost-effective for families – not just babies. You can use this laundry combination for anyone really.
DEBRA: Wow. I wonder how much you save using your wool dryer balls instead of those fabric softener sheets.
LINDSAY HERRON: I would have to churn some numbers. I haven’t used them in years just because we’re chemical-conscious, but a lot I’m sure.
DEBRA: A lot, just a lot.
LINDSAY HERRON: I know sometimes my mom even throws in two.
DEBRA: You want to get your mom some of those wool dryer balls.
LINDSAY HERRON: She switched over, but we’ve had a number of conversations of just [inaudible 00:32:30]. And like I said, a lot of times, people are – not addicted, but they really have those comfort feelings with your laundry smelling a certain way. But in fact, if we can shift that mentality a bit to understand that those chemicals are sticking on your skin all day, I’m hoping that that’s part of our goal too, to help create awareness about that.
DEBRA: This is just a really important point because one of the most toxic things – I think a lot of my listeners know that sound, but I’ll say it again anyway. One of the most toxic things we can be exposed to is fragrance. It’s an endocrine disruptor. It’s got all kinds of thousands and thousands of chemicals that go into these fragrances. They can disrupt your endocrine system.
And when they’re there in your sheets or your fabric softener sheet or whatever, on your clothing, it’s just going in your body as you’re sleeping all night. It’s going in your body as you wear your clothes all day. And it’s just one of those toxic exposures that we can just do without. Fragrance is not essential to life especially synthetic fragrance.
So if you could just replace all the fabric softener dryer sheets with your wool balls, I would be very happy.
LINDSAY HERRON: I’m working on it.
DEBRA: Okay.
LINDSAY HERRON: Yes, that is the point.
DEBRA: We need to have a fabric softener sheet wool ball exchange campaign.
LINDSAY HERRON: Yes. I’ll turn them in at the end of the day or something. It would eliminate so much. When you think about, like I said, the amount of laundry detergents that goes through homes every day and these fabric softener sheets –
I mean, we all wear clothes. It’s everywhere in our homes – our sheets, our curtains, everything we wash. I just thought this is one step in this laundry room alone that trickles out into our household. Every interaction that we have during the day is touching clothes, touching like if you wash your car, whatever you’re spraying. There are just a lot of things that, like you said, come from fragrance, but also come from directly from that laundry room. And so understanding what’s in there is so important.
DEBRA: It’s so important. We’re coming up on a break here, but I just want to say one more thing. Yesterday, I happened to be in a public place and I took a deep breath and I got this huge breath of somebody’s laundry fragrance who was standing in the room. And it’s just like you’re in a room with a hundred people, how much laundry fragrance is that?
So on to the break. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Lindsay Herron, co-founder and CEO of Buckaroo Organics at Buckaroo-Organics.com. And we’ll be right back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Lindsay Herron. She is the founder and CEO of Buckaroo Organics in Bozeman, Montana. Great website! Your website is beautiful as well as your packaging and your products.
Anyway, let’s talk about your skin care line because, again, you’ve just got these incredibly simple, pure ingredients. So tell us about the ingredients and also what you’ve made from them.
LINDSAY HERRON: Sure! Well, thank you for the compliments, by the way. And the goals with our ingredients were to pick intentional ingredients and group them together so that they were healing what we needed them to heal without all of the other chemical jargon in there that is potentially bogging down our immune system.
So the goal is to give the body something topically on the skin that helps boost the immune system and let the body heal itself. And so when I really, like I said, dug into some of these gaps on the shelves, I was thinking the first two ingredients that are definitely bogging down our immune system. It’s petroleum or petro atom based in some of these [inaudible 00:40:05].
So we sought out to pick ingredients. We looked for something different. And a lot of our stuff has essential oils in them. And so we did a lot of reading and research on essential oils that target skin irritation such as eczema, psoriasis, rashes, things that irritate the skin after wearing clothing, sunburns. And then, of course, being a pregnant mommy at the time, our Mother Hen, which is our organic body butter (which is probably one of our bestsellers) is simple ingredients, but are targeted to keep the elasticity in the skin using frankincense, myrrh, lavender and then shea butter based.
So does that answer your question?
DEBRA: Yes. But tell us more about the different products that you have in your line because I’m looking at a whole page of different, interesting things.
LINDSAY HERRON: Yes. Okay, so we do have that belly butter or body butter. And that is targeting again just stretching skin and/or it’s been – my brother who works with a lot of cardiologists that’s scrubbing water all day, these guys love that Mother Hen product just because it’s so nourishing to the skin and it isn’t water-based.
We have Tough as Nails, which is a skin treatment with antifungal properties as well. And that’s serum-based. So it’s an oil-based product that you use very little of. My husband had a big skin graft surgery and so he needed something for scar tissue on his hands and then in the inside of his arm. And so we created this product that’s also been used for a facial treatment for acne. I’m getting new feedback on this product every single day. This Tough as Nails product has been really great for a lot of people.
We have three different balms. We have a cloth diaper bottom balm, which would be something like a diaper sticker, something that you’d use, but it’s healing and then just really simple ingredients targeting that killing off yeast and then also sealing up the skin and letting it heal itself.
We have a Sleepy Spurs Rub, which is a unique rub in and of itself. It uses a blend of essential oils that relaxes the body. It decreases anxiety and helps increase sleep, originally created for colicky babies and getting babies to sleep through the night.
We’ve also seen a huge increase in women using this product on the insides of their arms, the inside of your forearms for hormone balancing or big hormone changes and maybe menopause times or sleep time. Stress triggers a whole different release of hormones too sometimes. The Sleepy Spur [cross-talking 00:42:55]
DEBRA: And then you have a respiratory rub.
LINDSAY HERRON: Respiratory Rub. We’ve had a lot of problems with respiratory rubs actually. When I dug into respiratory rubs, I learned a lot about essential oils even in some of the natural products. There are three different kinds of eucalyptus and eucalyptus can be really hard on infant kidneys. And so we used a form of eucalyptus that’s called Eucalyptus Radiata and it’s really mild on babies’ kidneys.
So that one is definitely targeted more towards – it’s definitely a baby product as well just because it’s dosed appropriately for infants using essential oils. It also uses a combination of – you know, when you’re talking about children, 12 months, there are only certain essential oils that are safe to use on them. And so it’s limiting in respiratory rubs and so. That’s that one.
DEBRA: And then you also have these fizzy things for the bath.
LINDSAY HERRON: Oh! Our Fresh Farm Fizzies, we live on a property and have chickens and animals. And so all of our products have cheeky Montana names. But the bath fizzies are a bath bomb that you drop into the bath and they fizz up. They come in an adorable, recycled egg crate. And there are little eggs inside. They’re individually packaged. You just drop them in. They all smell like lavender (again, being baby-safe). And they have also nourishing sea salts in them. And then, we use lavender for a calming effect and also lavender can be so soothing for the skin.
DEBRA: I’m just looking at all of these things. I’ve been looking at product labels and ingredients for 30 years and you just have one of these lines that is just so simple and pure. When I look at things that are more complex and synthetic, I just say, “This is so not needed because look, you can do it in such a simple way.”
And I had another guest on who had a similar line of products, but they weren’t baby-oriented. They were adult-oriented. It’s very simple. He just started out with soap because he wanted to make something that people could clean their skin with. They’re just really exceptional soaps. But then he went the next step and made soap nuts laundry product. His is different than yours. He’s just actually selling soap nuts because he wanted his customers to be able to not have their skin be irritated by the laundry. So it’s that same combination of caring for your skin by how you’re cleaning it and having natural things to put on it, to heal it, and also having that really pure laundry. I think it makes a huge difference. I think that people are having so many skin problems because just from their laundry products.
And so I think you have just an outstanding combination here, just really wonderful.
LINDSAY HERRON: Thank you so much.
DEBRA: Yes, you’ve thought it through really, really well.
So we only just have a couple of minutes left. Any final words you’d like to give us, something you haven’t said yet?
LINDSAY HERRON: I just appreciate you having us on. I also just want to let people know, we’ve just partnered with a new company. So we have a program online. It’s called Give 5 Save 5. And so in our effort to create eco-friendly products, we’re also donating 5% of our company profits to clean water projects specifically targeting children and families that don’t have access to clean water.
So we’re just really excited about some of the projects coming down the pipes being only a year old. We’ve had a lot of moving pieces going. This is a side of our business that I feel extremely passionate about. And things have really lined up in the last few months.
So the company that we’re partnering with is called One at a Time. They’re based out in California and I’m just so excited about what hopefully we can do as we start to grow to have an impact to get some people some clean water and families and then also help these youths, empower them to be better and do things in the world as well.
And so again, that’s our Give 5 Save 5 program. That never goes away. So when you check out, you enter Save 5, and we take off 5% off of your total and then we will match that 5% to clean water projects.
DEBRA: That’s so excellent. You just have thought of everything from every direction.
LINDSAY HERRON: I spent a lot of time doing this. I really, really love my job right now. And that’s just been such a gift. I mentioned that before. Just being able to do what I love each day and be creative with it and make it our own, and help people, it’s so much fun every day.
DEBRA: What’s your favorite thing to do with your kids?
LINDSAY HERRON: I mentioned that in my little write-up. I love to do anything outdoors. We live in what I feel like one of the most beautiful places. We live right in the heart of Big Sky Country in the mountains. We don’t have cable and we don’t have some of these technology distractions. And so we have animals and we try to do lots of stuff outside and just connect and keep our bodies moving. And I’m really trying to instill that in our children as well.
And so we try to camp and hike and go hunting and they’re shooting guns and doing all sorts of Montana things. And so I really love to spend time outside with them although we do live in winter most of the year.
DEBRA: Isn’t it cold a lot? We have here in Florida, it’s summer for six months of the year. And so do you have winter for six months of the year?
LINDSAY HERRON: We do! We have winter for more like nine months of the year. But we ski and we hunt and we do sled and snowmobile and do some of those fun things, just different kinds of outdoor things.
And growing up here, you get conditioned to. I mean, I’ve lived in a lot of different places. If you live somewhere warm, you get conditioned to warm weather. But you live cold, you figure it out. They play in their snow suits.
But I do love to spend time with my kids. They’re such a huge part of what we do and why do the things that we do. And we’re so grateful to have this opportunity to talk with you guys today. Just everything that’s come our way in the last year has been amazing.
DEBRA: Well, thank you so much for doing the work that you’re doing because you’re really setting a good example of what can be done. All the best to you! And we’ll keep talking about your products and see if I can send you some customers your way.
LINDSAY HERRON: Well, you’re getting wool balls. They are coming to you. You’ve got to try these things out.
DEBRA: I want to try your laundry soap too.
LINDSAY HERRON: Okay, I’ll send you a little care package and you can see what you think. I’m excited for you to try them since you haven’t before. And again, I just appreciate this.
DEBRA: Thank you so much. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. You can go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com and listen to all the past shows. I think we have more than 300 now. So ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com. Be well.
