School is back in session for our kids and it has been fun to see them reunited with friends and eager for the new adventures this school year will bring. 

On the first day of school we brought all of the usual school supplies: paper, pencils/pens, tissue boxes and sanitizing wipes, but we also packed our own arsenal of body care staples in their backpacks. Read on to hear how we are taking Zoe Organics back to school! 

Zoe Organics Everything Balm 

Lips and cheeks need a lot of TLC when you are a kid and Zoe Organics Everything Balm is about as handy a balm stick as you will find. With simple, but super effective natural ingredients, it will take on those school day skin issues with ease. And true to its name, it does a little of everything, so keep it close for bug bites to scrapes too. 

Zoe Organics Breathe Balm

I'll be honest. The mom in me always braces for the viruses that spread like wildfire in a classroom. We boost vitamin D and elderberry syrup, but chances are, you will go through several rounds of coughs and sniffles during the school year. Just like our hero Everything Balm in the handy stick, we combined the power of the Everything Balm base with a soothing essential oil blend that supports easier breathing and rest. It's easy and mess-free to apply, which makes it a favorite for the kiddos. 

Zoe Organics Dr. Shannon's Skin Balm

Playground scrapes and bruises are inevitable. Face-plants off the monkey bars, tripping and scraping hands and knees on the blacktop, and other such mishaps are just a part of an active childhood. We know it hurts and we teamed up with our favorite pediatrician to create just the right blend of active botanicals and creamy, soothing goodness to combat playground wounds. 

Zoe Organics Bath Wash

Do you ever feel like a broken record? Wash your hands. Wash your hands! Did you wash your hands? One of the best ways to prevent those back to school germs from spreading is frequent hand washing. But harsh, antibacterial soaps can be really rough on skin (and contain nasty ingredients!), leaving it dry, chapped and even stinging. Zoe Organics Bath Wash comes in a handy little travel size that fits into backpacks and purses, so you can avoid the harsh chemical washes when away from home. The creamy, rich lather is made from organic oils and contains no harsh surfactants. 

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Are you ready to take Zoe Organics back to school with you too? You're in luck! Because tomorrow we are having a Back to School FLASH Sale! Save 20% site wide (excluding gift sets) from 6 am PST to midnight PST. Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when the sale is live and to get the code!

A few weeks ago, Organic Authority published an article, What Real Natural Beauty Brands Want You to Know About Big Beauty. It was a very well-written piece by Liz Thompson, with quotes from some of my dear friends and brand founders in natural beauty. As I read through the article, it caused me to reflect on what Natural Beauty really is, and why we started in the first place. I wanted to spend a few minutes adding my thoughts because I think this is an important conversation to have as the natural beauty industry continues to grow and evolve.

Zoe Organics products became available in May of 2010. I was making products and running the business from my kitchen. I was a young mom with a toddler, preschooler and was pregnant with my third. I believed that natural and organic products could be so much more than what was currently on the market. During the first few years in business, I connected with some of the brand founders that today have thriving businesses. They also started in their kitchens or studios, researching and sourcing the best natural and organic ingredients they could find, making them with utmost care in small batches.

We had a common goal, to educate consumers on the benefits of natural and organic ingredients and provide something different than the conventional products that dominated the market. When we began, green beauty was still very young and good products were hard to find. You could take our products at face value, and when you called the number on the website, you could speak with the brand founder, who was also the formulator (and likely every other role within the company)!

In 2013, our friends La Bella Figura started A Night For Green Beauty, which would, for the subsequent three years, be the leading, highly anticipated green beauty event, bringing together the best premium natural indie brands into an intimate setting. It wasn’t a “show”, but a premiere social gathering, complete with flower crowns, champagne and tables covered with the most beautiful natural and organic products.

We, collectively, evangelized and promoted each other’s brands. We recognized that together we were a force that could bring about change. And indeed it did. Our efforts began to pay off and gain momentum as consumers eagerly made the switch to natural – now that products that were safe, beautiful and performed well were available. And sales picked up.

Fast forward seven years, and the opportunities have multiplied. The challenges have as well. We all agree that without the growth and consumer demand for natural products, we wouldn’t have the opportunities we do today. But we also feel the pressure from brands who have jumped on the bandwagon when it became trendy to do so. Brands that have big budgets and celebrity followings, and are far more motivated by the bottom line than their environmental or social impact.

But despite all the noise that has entered this evolving industry, I believe what set us apart then is what continues to set us apart today: our steadfastness to what we believe in, and the reasons why we started in the first place. As I read all of the quotes from the brand founders in this article, I was encouraged and re-energized. As long as there are brands fierce with purpose and commitment to quality and authenticity, there will be Real Natural Beauty.

Header photo: Olly Joy on Unsplash

Illustrations: The Chalkboard

Product photo: La Bella Figura

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