This is a call – to all businesses, all makers of goods, everywhere.
Stop being afraid.
Stop thinking you have to protect your information to the detriment of your consumers.
Stop hiding anything.
Tell us things. Be honest. And, most of all, tell us what’s in our products, and in what quantities.
Your success will be dependent on the trust you gain from your consumers. And I promise you – I PROMISE YOU – that if you’re honest, forthcoming, and share as much information as YOU HAVE, your customers will repay you with heartfelt loyalty and trust.
Internet marketers – for as weird as they can be sometimes – have been screaming this from the rooftops for years: Give Your Best Stuff Away. You know what? It works.
Your best stuff is knowledge. It’s empowerment. It’s information.
If you give your best stuff to the consumers, they WILL repay you with commitment and love. Two things the majority of you DO NOT HAVE right now.
And to you, dear readers, I want to ask you a question:
If you were given exact measurements and information as to what was in your products, would you, in fact, stop buying those products in order to make them yourself? Or would you buy them out of trust … and, even better, convenience?
(Let’s pretend that there are no scary ingredients in the products when answering this question.)
Sure. Some of you would make them at home. But you know what else? You’d remember the brand. You’d remember the company. And you’d talk about it.
Information is BEGGING to be Free
One of the biggest arguments for proprietary information is that if everyone knew how to make, say, a brand of cookies at home, no one would buy them. Everyone would make them.
To that, I say PHOOEY. We all have a certain amount of hours in our days, and sometimes we just want to freakin’ reach into the cuboard and grab a cookie.
Not make them from scratch.
We will buy exceptional, quality products because sometimes it’s just easier that way.
The second huge argument is that competitors will steal a recipe and then resell the exact same thing for less money.
To that, I say if you are overpricing your products, there’s no reason why you should be the leader. Greed, dear companies, gets you nowhere in this day and age.
If you want to live in the fantasy that because you spent millions of dollars in R&D to develop some kind of miracle product that no one else should ever have the rights to match or replicate, then that’s fine. But let me clue you in on something: We don’t buy miracle products anymore.
We know better.
We buy health. We buy safety. And we buy honesty.
Most of all, we know that anything you pretend is secret, we can do with other ingredients in our homes – if you don’t want to tell us the truth.
But you know what else? You know what really takes the cake? We don’t like cheaters. We don’t like people who steal. And if you’re the first to furnish the information on what, exactly, is in your products and at what levels, we will know the product is yours and we will be far less apt to buy anything from anyone who has usurped it.
This is the power of the internet, dear businesses. Use it to your advantage.
Put ME Out of Business
I mean that.
If you give us exactly what’s in your products, I won’t have any reason to write this blog anymore. You will – in fact – put me out of business.
Your best defense to this sweeping tsunami of people who want to make their own products because they don’t trust you is a good offense.
And that offense is not more money into packaging. It’s not doing things the way you always have. It’s NOT hiding information.
Get with the system here, buddies. Win the game. Be transparent, truthful, and committed to your goals.
If you need a reminder, these goals are: To provide quality skincare/health products to consumers to help solve their problems and better their lives.
If your goals are: To make GOBS AND GOBS of money, then maybe you’re … you know … wrong. Maybe you should go into speculative oil trading, and stop gambling with our health.
A Challenge to Personal Care Companies
I’m throwing down the gauntlet.
Tell us what’s in our products. When you say there’s chamomile essential oil in my lotion, I want to know exactly how much. EXACTLY. I don’t want to wonder if you’ve waved a small bottle of essential oil over a huge batch of product so it can be listed on the ingredients.
If you use phenoxyethanol, tell me how much is in my product, so I can make an informed decision as to whether or not I should be concerned about it.
Tell me the exact amount of what’s in the products I sincerely want to purchase, so I’m not wary of them.
Any company who’s brave enough to do that – here – either in the comments or via email, I will not only feature exclusively in a blog post, but I will solemnly swear to buy your product – no matter what. At least once. (And ONLY once, if you use potentially harmful ingredients in it, but I will buy it once, because I promised.)
Stop being afraid.
Give away your best stuff.
We are ACHING for knowledge, we are DYING to trust you, and most of all, we WANT to love you.
You just have to give us a reason.
Readers, What You Can Do
Send this request, send a link to this blog post, send your deepest desires to the companies who sell products you want to love, but are afraid to. Tell them your desires. See if they care.
If they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to be afraid of.
Tweet this post, Facebook it, send it everywhere, so we can reach the people who really, deeply, truly need to be reached.
Want to change the world? Want to change the secrecy and scare behind the personal care products business?
This is one small way.
And – most of all – right here in the comments, you need to tell these companies exactly how you feel. You need to let them know that you’ll repay their authentic commitment to the freedom of information with your loyalty.
Tell them.
Tell them.
Eventually, they’ll have to listen.
Food For Your Soul: Perfect Imperfections
This whole conversation made me think of when I was on a quest a couple of years ago to find some non-toxic, or as few toxins as possible, sunless tanner. I was pregnant and I wanted to “hide” my stretch marks when wearing a bathing suit.
I went into a drugstore, which will remain nameless, and asked one of the cosmetic clerks about the sunless tanners, and she brought me over to one of the high-end shelves, (the ones with the price hidden under a little plastic flap) and said “This tanner is completely safe and it’s made with thermal spring water from France.”
ooh, la la.
I flipped the bottle over and started reading the ingredients, including four parabens right close to the top of the list, along with some other nasty chemicals.
I mentioned this fact to the clerk, and she actually said, “No, it doesn’t.” I tried to hand her the bottle so she could read for herself, and she responded with, “But it’s made with French thermal spring water.”
I just put the bottle down and turned around and left.
Crunch Betty, i know you didn’t want to toot your own horn, but you should! your post about the activated charcoal scrub made me want to use it, and the post conveniently had ingredients and directions to do so. but instead i, and many others, bought the scrub from you. we’re here specifically because we want to make our own products, and we still decided to buy from you. i decided to buy from you because 1) the recipe had a lot of ingredients that i do not have and have never worked with, 2) i know that i want to use it before i’ll have time to figure everything out and make it, and most importantly 3) to support you! because i respect and appreciate your work and effort, and i want you to do more of it, so i can have more things to put on my face. 🙂
also, your post about the scrub was the best marketing: a testimonial and information from a _trusted source_. big companies have to pick strangers off the street and conduct blind tests to get us to believe anything they say about their own products (and i don’t necessarily believe that those people aren’t actors), so they should be jealous of the loyal support that you have.
Shannon —
I really, truly hope that you can make it happen. Every now and then, you hear of startups where they actually ARE able to attain what you’re talking about.
As in many things in life, balance is everything. Don’t you dare start out low-balling your ingredients, products, or TIME SPENT MAKING THEM. This is the downfall for a lot of people. I know it was for me, when I started my own soap making mayhem. At first, it was just a few bars for people I worked with. Then they’d tell friends, and the friends would make an order. Then one day, someone I worked with broke my brain by ordering no less than 12 complete gift baskets, 7 bars of soap in each, and gave me a deadline. Suddenly everything I loved about it was a chore. Suddenly, I didn’t know what my profit margin was. I had only ever charged what I thought I would personally realistically pay for the product. I realized then, it wasn’t enough to cover all the overhead. Thankfully, that one man (named Ken. Ken rules.) who ordered all of those was very understanding of my situation. The guy made me an excel spreadsheet and plugged in all the formulas necessary to calculate the actual cost for everything I did, taking different oils and materials into account, and then he insisted on paying the higher prices that the spreadsheet would spit out. It was right around that time, I got completely burnt out. I felt like I worked for the worst boss in the world, and sadly, it was me.
A few things you may need to accept along the way towards your company:
– If you do not set out to make money, you never will. If this is going to be your primary income, you have to tackle this monster in a way that will make sense for you.
– Before you do a goshdarn thing, or make a goshdarn product, understand that your price will almost never compete with mass marketed products of similar purpose. They can automate so much of everything you have to do by hand, and that means less time, and that means less overhead cost. Be fully prepared to offer a reasonable, rational explanation to your future prospective customers about exactly what it is that they are paying for. As much as I want to believe that people really will be happy to pay more for a product, there is a reason that Walmart is the biggest corporation in the world. It’s low prices. It’s the bottom line. And yours will almost always be higher. Justify it so that customers can take that leap of faith with you.
– If you start the business, and then decide to expand to keep up with demand, be very careful who you hire! You need to ensure that they have the same standards that you do if you want to reach your goal of not selling out. This is how companies start falling away from any ideal the founder may have had. It’s just too many cooks in the kitchen. If you do hire staff, again, be prepared to justify everything you do with some solid reasoning. Maybe they won’t have your ideals at first, but if you can get them on the next clue train, they won’t find it hard to get there.
– If your business is very successful, are you prepared to sell it? Give up all artistic input and otherwise? My guess is no, since you have the ideals that you do. But, be aware that this happens all the time in this industry. Just today, I saw a Kashi cereal commercial talking about how they’ve kept out all the icky bad ingredients for the past 25 years. What they don’t tell you is that they are now owned by Kraft Foods. They also fail to mention what Kraft has been up to for the past 25 years. Making claims like this is what is referred to as “green washing”.
– Lastly, I understand that you want to put customers ahead of yourself. You’ve no idea how deeply that speaks to my soul; it’s a way of life for me, to put others ahead. I think selfish people are difficult to relate to because of this. However, before you begin, you must draw a few lines in the sand. At what point will you tell a customer that their request is too ridiculous? How would you make it up to someone who has an issue with the product or company? What do you do if someone requests a custom blend of something, and then refuses to pay or even return your emails? Sometimes, you will have a customer that truly doesn’t deserve everything that they will ask for. You will need to recognize them, and have a plan of action before it comes down to the wire and you make a decision based on an emotion.
I know you didn’t ask for my .02 — but I have all this change rattling around in my pocket and it had to go somewhere. Please feel free to disregard hon. I hope you do get something started that will help you AND the people who would support your items.
I’ll totally buy anything you put guava in. 😀
I’ll take as much change as you have to give me. I’m in completely unknown waters with this crazy-starting-a-buisness idea. I could use every cent. Haha
And I’ll make you something with guava, whether this buisness ever gets off the ground or not. 😀
Britt, I know your comment was for Shannon but it was pretty amazing and really helped me clarify some muddy plans that I’ve been slogging through for awhile now. I bet the same goes for a lot of other people who read it. In other words, Thank you for your .02 🙂
This post came at the right time for me.
I’ve been thinking about starting a, albeit small, natural body products buisness for awhile. It’s something that I’m really passionate about and it’s one of the few potential careers I’ve considered that really hits home and feels “right.” Do you know what I mean?
One of the ideas about this future buisness that I was tossing around was including recipe cards with my products when they ship to consumers in case they’d like to make it themselves.
I thought some more about it and you’ve helped me decide that this is a good idea. Because you know what? Even though I love to make my own products (and rarely purchase any these days), if I bought something from a company and it came with an exact list of the ingredients, amounts, and instructions to make it, you know what I’d do? I’d buy it again. Because a company like that deserves support.
If I ever get it up an running (I’m hoping sometime this year) I’ll let you know. 🙂
See. You are awesome. THAT is awesome. That’s how you earn trust.
If I actually cared enough to get into selling my products “for real,” I would always and ONLY do it that way. However, I battled some demons with this scrub that I just sold (fretting about profit margins and money) and I don’t want to go there on a full-time basis. For me, once money is introduced into the equation, it’s far too easy to become greedy, or secretive, or selfish.
I can promise you – with all my heart – that when you get it up and running, I WILL buy your products.
You pave the way, lady. Pave it good.
MWAH!
One of the reasons (of many) I haven’t started it yet is the issue of profit margins. For me it’s not an issue of becoming greedy or selfish once money is introduced, it’s an issue of feeling guilty for making a profit. Everything I plan on selling is something that can be made at home by regular people. How do I justify charging people for that? That was the first reason I thought of the recipe cards, because if I tell them how to make it, then they’re paying for the pre-made version that comes with a bonus recipe which potentially gives them a life time of that product at the cost of ingredients.
I would be far more likely to undercharge than to overcharge. That’s an issue because I’d like to eventually turn it into my sole means of support. I just need to figure out a good balance between making a reasonable profit that has the potential to support me one day (assuming the buisness grows) and still being completely reasonable for the customer.
Like Brit said companies aren’t people. Companies are faceless money making machines.
That’s not what I want. I’m passionate about a company with a face. A company with a name. A company that cares. A company that puts its customers above itself.
That’s my dream anyway. If I can’t make that happen, I won’t start this buisness. I’m not willing to compromise and risk turning into one of the people I despise.
Being in the industry, I can tell you that there are a LOT of companies who pride themselves on using awesome ingredients, and will not give out information *because* they do not want to get caught in a bad situation: Awesome product, company tells how they made awesome product, competitor wants to make awesome product, competitor sells their own version of product. At that point, if the original company really WAS overpricing anything, you’re right. They should get their butts handed to them, because that is capitalism. But… what about when the competitor cuts corners, but can still release advertisements claiming that they use the “same active ingredients” as the original product? Then you’ve got an even bigger mess. And unfortunately, tons of people calling up both companies demanding explanations for that specific advertisement. This turns into a 30 minute phone call and when you have that many people calling in, and only so many people answering those phones, I guarantee you will get short tempers. Which, eventually, will piss off a customer and BAM there goes the sale.
However, I understand the spirit with which you wrote this post. And a large part of me wants to agree with you! In fact, a large part of me DOES agree with you. But for me, the big bad guy isn’t always the product companies. The big bad guy is the government. There have never been any regulations for cosmetics ingredients when it mattered…. companies have lobbied for that for almost the past hundred years in the USA. For this reason, we are in the situation we are today. It makes any company out there ready and usually willing to drive a truck through any loophole they can find. It makes government agencies toothless, but giving them teeth is equally terrifying. For instance, the EPA will stomp out anyone attempting to repel bugs with natural means, like essential oils. How do they do it? They state you can’t say anywhere on your product packaging what it is intended for. Get creative, rephrase things, but the bottom line is if you’re not willing to play their “give us all your money NOW if you want this to stay on shelves”, you’re boned. But large companies like SC Johnson are more than willing to buy a ticket for the ride and dump chemicals on everyone and their mother, and charge them money for the pleasure.
The facts (as I see them) are that the government will only seek to employ itself further. It will never give up control over something that it currently controls. The point of its existence is to ensure it keeps existing. It is not concerned with a chemical that causes flipper babies. It doesn’t care when entire towns are shut down due to “accidental” chemical dumps outside a Monsanto manufacturing facility. It doesn’t care when companies fill all of our food and water with a dangerous non-naturally-occurring form of fluoride, and then horrible things happen to everyone and everything ingesting it, all up and down that food chain. None of these things are regulated, and the real sin is money. I think the big fight, the big deal, the big issue that you may be driving at is really “How do you make a government care? How do you make money shut the hell up after all the talking that it does? How do you inspire empathy, social responsibility, and the desire to do what is right?”.
I’ll be in my basement wearing my tinfoil hat if you need me. <3
My love for you has never been ginormous-er.
You made absolute, complete sense here. And I’m on the government-is-bad-in-its-current-form bandwagon, too.
Y’know, the truth is, I never thought – ever – that there would actually be a company brave enough to disclose what they make and how they make it. When I wrote this, I hoped there might be one, but it was more to get a discussion going about people’s attachment to money instead of their interest in the trust and welfare of their consumers.
I just want everyone to stop being so effing afraid of disclosing secrets. I’m sick of it in the government, I’m sick of it in the personal care industry … sick of secrets. And sick of people being afraid.
If just a handful of companies put their trust in the consumers, so the consumers could repay that trust, think of how it would start to gain momentum?
I’ve spent nearly all of my life distrusting big corporations (and the government). I’m tired of feeling that way. I’m tired of turning faceless, nameless people into my “enemies” because they’re working toward an agenda (money) that’s not in my best interest.
Really, this is just a call for companies to REALLY start thinking about whether they care about the people or not, and giving them pause to show us all that they DO care about us.
I want peace. Harmony. All that hippie stuff. So, in the spirit of what we talked about the other night, I’m taking the personal responsibility to try to reach out to companies so that MAYBE can happen.
Will it? Don’t know. But at least I tried.
Hey, man. Someone’s got to try. I can dig what you’re saying about a nameless, faceless enemy… I know it’s tiresome. There’s a lot in this world that’s just flat out tiresome.
Companies are not people, though. People can and will care about people… but a company is just a group of capitalists willing to do whatever is necessary to turn a profit. It’s a bloodless beast only making decisions discussed by three people at a very large table. (Don’t get me wrong… I’m not saying capitalism is wrong. I’m saying everything is wrong once you introduce people into it, because they screw it all up. Even socialism looks great on paper.)
It’s easier (for me) to handle thinking about it when I remember, there isn’t a personal enemy here. It’s just not profitable for a company to think of me, personally. And that sucks. THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE GUAVA FLAVORED EVERYTHING.
But I love that you try. It means you’re not dead inside. <3
Interesting about ingredients science says are “safe.” I will totally admit to being a huge skeptic, but I simply don’t believe every study that comes out saying things are safe. I remember a great customer I had when I used to work in natural foods who was skeptical also – because he was living with the livelong consequences of his mother being told it was “safe” for her to use Thalidomide while she was pregnant. People, scientists, make mistakes all the time. They can be bought. My other concern is that just because a certain amount of something is safe doesn’t mean that when you use 10 products a day with a “safe” amount in each one that combined that ingredient is safe. I’d simply rather not take the chance.
Betty, I would totally applaud companies being open and honest. I’d still probably make most of my own stuff because I’m cheap as hell and I can’t see that changing, but I’d be really impressed and more likely to purchase when I needed something or to recommend or purchase as gifts. Who knows I might get lazy and buy more – I know I do that with some companies I trust, like Badger Balm, sure I could make it, but I like to support them!
Er, I meant that people in general, not only scientists, make mistakes and can be bought!
@Lisa – I think you will find we are not few. Personally I haven’t done much research on parabens, primarily because I don’t wear commercail make-up or lotions of any kind. My skin is far to sensative. I know that there is some concern over parabens, even those that the Government has deemed safe in certain quantities. There are also concerns if you use more than one product with parabens in them since each is formulated with the maximum safe amount. It is a question of whether or not it is worth it to the consumer to take the risk for the reward.
Given the studies that have found parabens in Breast Cancer Tumors and my family history with breast cancer I cannot say that parabens are worth it for me personally. I understand they are a preserative, but I would rather use natural products that need no preservatives (honey salt scrubs are a perfect example). I don’t mind mixing my own when I need it. My daughter (who is a teen) and I disagree over makeup on a regular basis. I don’t like most of what is in makeup and why can’t we just accept ourselves as beautiful the way we are?
You are exactly right treehugginmomma, we are not a few!! I will avoid all chemicals when possible, I can remember the names of the parabens and I will avoid them all…simply because I don’t need them. I can use/make something else!! Not worth the risk to me or my family.
That said, I prefer to know the ingredients in a product, but maybe don’t necessarily need to know the quantities. I trust the companies that disclose ALL of their ingredients and I will look up the names of the ingredients if I don’t recognize them and make a decision from there. I visit EWG’s Skin Deep website regularly. I have found that since I chose to no longer use products with chemicals, especially for my young children, I have been able to find many quality choices…you just have to look in the right places or make it yourself! So thank you Betty for being here and to all the nay-sayers, she is on the right path! Letting the companies know we want more information may just push them to give us as much as they can.
I am also amoung the consumers who take the time and trouble to research products and ingredients. 🙂
@LisaLise – Read your name really fast, I read it as Lisa Lies. Just food for thought. Now I will not buy a product that I do not know what is in it. I will take it upon myself to research the ingredients and decided for myself based on all the information available (not just the Government Recommendations) to decide if I want to buy it. To assume the consumer is to stupid to understand is to lose many consumers.
In many instances I make my own because I do not have faith in the company that they have disclosed all the ingredients or that all the ingredients are necessary. If they disclosed the ingredients (all active and inactive and buy products) I would be happy. If I then wanted to know the amount of something then I would contact the company.
Crunchy Betty once again you are right on the pulse of the fed up consumer who is making thier own to safegaurd their bodies. You share all your recipes yet you also sell the premades. Some people just like the convinience.
Hi @treehugginmomma. You are among the few who take the time and trouble to research ingredients. I can only applaud this. I’m a little curious about your thoughts on parabens. 🙂
YES! That’s the point I wanted to make, but couldn’t figure out how to work it in without sounding like I was bragging.
See, with ZERO dollars in marketing, ZERO dollars in advertising, and just one post on my little blog, I sold 50 orders in less than 2 weeks of that scrub. Even though everyone knows exactly how to make it at home.
Not only that, but it was a scrub with some really odd ingredients that most people probably don’t know much about. BUT, I gave information, and full disclosure, and PEOPLE WANT THAT.
It’s a shining example of the fact that IT WORKS to be honest, truthful, and have trust in the people who are buying your wares.
I understand, but I don’t quite agree…
Telling people exactly how much of any given ingredient is in a product doesn’t benefit them if they aren’t aware of the safety levels (not to mention the recommended levels for any given concentration of any given ingredient). Just telling people what the ingredients are often requires explanation (one of the reasons I started my blog – to explain in detail about the different ingredients I use).
Here’s a fun, true-life example: The recommended max level for any paraben mix is 0.8% of the product. If you don’t KNOW that this is already the level cosmetics companies have been using, then the information becomes cause for confusion instead of knowledge. Now, double this up by 20-50 (because you’re seeing anywhere from 20-50 ingredients in any cosmetics product) and you have a very long list of things that people have to check out, read up on and familiarize themselves with before they can buy ANY product.
I list every ingredient by each product on my website and encourage people to contact me with any questions they may have. I rarely get questions like “what are the recommended dosage levels for this exact concentration of siberian ginseng?” I get questions like “Are you sure there are no parabens in this?”
Here’s a serious kicker: the following PARABENS are OK, APPROVED, TRIED AND THOROUGHLY TESTED FOR COSMETICS USE: Methylparaben, ethylparaben, butylparaben, propylparaben. There are only 2 parabens that are still being tested: isobutylparaben and isopropylparaben. Does it help that I told you? Can you remember every paraben I just listed? Did you know that 2 of the parabens listed above were NEVER under suspicion for anything at all? Are you still trying to avoid products with parabens in them because it’s easier to leave them out than to have to remember all those names? This is what the industry (and I) meet on a daily basis. How do you get people to understand and believe that science HAS tested and approved parabens if they’re not willing to accept what science says in the first place? It’s ridiculously frustrating to try and impart knowledge to people that don’t want knowledge but would rather focus on rumour and misinformation. This, I think, is why you are not seeing full disclosure from any company, and probably never will.
Somehow I knew this would become a discussion about parabens, and I never intended it to.
But since it has, here’s my take on parabens: They’re hotly debated, and the research has shown that some of them do, in fact, accumulate in different parts of the body. Whether that’s harmful or not, I no longer care. I really don’t.
The fact of the matter is, parabens got a bad rap; it’s never going to go away. Many consumers don’t want them in their products. And it’s the consumers who are, ultimately, in charge of whether or not a product is purchased.
If the industry keeps trying to push parabens on people – “safe” or not – they’re going to ultimately lose business. It’s, like, if all the food companies decided to put brussels sprouts in everything they make. If you don’t want to eat brussels sprouts, you’re not going to buy the food. Period. No matter how “not bad” they are for you.
Frankly, I see this draconian attachment to parabens as the industry not making an effort to research more natural, BENEFICIAL preservatives because they’d rather run around looking down at the “stupid, missinformed” consumer (or blogger). It’s more about being right than meeting consumer demand.
It’s tired.
Ok, I hear you. I didn’t intend this to be about parabens in particular– they are just a great example of what I was trying to explain. I’m not sure if you remember, but there was something similar to the current paraben-situation with artificial sweeteners some (many) years back. Saccharin was suddenly all over the media and blacklisted – causing the food industry to scramble to find replacements. As far as I remember, the replacements have since been banned too, and saccharin – after further in-depth testing – is back on the market and no longer deemed unsafe. My point: either they couldn’t find a good enough replacement, or maybe, just maybe, there was nothing wrong with the saccharin in the first place and they were just waiting for all the bru-ha-ha to die down. (I honestly don’t know the answer to that one)
I’m all for continuing to test and find new, better and beneficial ingredients, and I’ll be quite honest – I still haven’t re-introduced parabens in my own products. At present I am working with a plant based preservative that is looking very promising and I’m not done seeing how it performs just yet. I may stick with it – I may not. It’s not really fair though, is it? I mean, here’s a situation where we actually have some FACTS (about parabens), but everyone is choosing to ignore them. I have no reason to doubt the European Scientific Community (who brought 2 of the ‘doubtful’ parabens out of the doghouse in dec 2010), so to me, it is quizzical that parabens have suddenly become the Skoda of preservatives – I just don’t get it.
PS. I truly don’t think the industry thinks of consumers as stupid or misinformed. I think they are struggling with trying to deliver incredibly complicated information in headline form – because MOST consumers just want the headlines. Sad, but true.
PPS: Thanks for starting a riveting discussion! 🙂
Sorry if I sounded snippy – it really wasn’t you. I’m still having a pretty visceral reaction to the articles/discussions on parabens on Personal Care Truth. I read every single word that was written – in the articles and in the comments – and walked away feeling angry, looked down on, and no better for it. It did NOT clear up any “misconceptions” I had about parabens; it simply made me want to avoid them more, as it appeared their proponents were mean, judgmental, angry, and self-righteous. It didn’t make me trust them (parabens) more; it made me trust them less.
So, in terms of “most consumers only want headlines,” I tend to agree that’s true – or was more true, anyway, in the past.
The thing is, the consumers who want MORE than headlines are the ones who will eventually influence the buying of the masses. We’re the vocal ones. We’re the curious ones. We’re the ones who’ll help the industry stay honest and real.
But it doesn’t have to be a fight. It doesn’t have to be “us against you.”
I think if the industry started looking at catering more toward those of us who are passionate about knowing exactly what we’re putting on our bodies, why, and whether or not we really NEED to be putting these things on (or in) our bodies, it will bring the quality of products up exponentially, it will make for a healthier populace, and it will foster trust within the whole system.
There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, there’s everything right with that.
Yeah?
You said it!
Funny thing– it was my own experiences with commercially made products that got me started making my own in the first place. So, as I have written in an earlier comment, I really don’t think there’s all that much we disagree on…
(Still do enjoy discussing things with you though!)
Actually there is still contradictory evidence that Sacharin is in fact bad for people and more and more of it surfacing, but the industry has spent much money making those findings look unimpotant. I cannot have Sacharin or any artificial sweetner and not even the newest stuff “made” from “sugar” it all causes me to become violently ill and requires time in the hospital and it is in everything from cough medicine to every pack of gum out there and no longer properly labeled. But again I as a consumer knowing that it is in products and that I cannot have and do not want my children have it do no buy products with it in it, I just wish it would be disclosed in the way it used to be (on the front of the label) so I didn’t have read every single ingredient label looking for the artificial sweetner.