Health And General Life Care: [Bath_and_Body] Bath & Body Product Business Tips?

No, because you are still using natural ingredients. If you are using a synthetic preservative, which is highly recommended, you can still call your product 'all natural'. I've read articles that claim that all ingredients are natural because they all begin as a natural product (not that I agree with this because I think that mineral oil and other such ingredients should not be called all natural even though they are a derivative of oil), so it's all in how you want to present your products. Honesty is the best policy. For instance, my SpaGanics Body Meringues are all natural, with 88% organic ingredients. I make sure to specify the percentage. Then my packaging reflects what is in the product. The other 12% includes the emulsifier (derived from corn), the preservative, and silicone oils to retain moisture. I believe the packaging or the claims should be fact based, so if you have an all natural product with 1% synthetic fragrance and .5% preservative, I would have the packaging say '98.5% all natural ingredients', then if your customers question, you can explain that for their safety you use a preservative to prevent the growth of mold and bacteria, which could be more harmful than the preservative itself and the other 1% is the beautiful fragrance.

It is good to provide an alternative with essential oils for the person who wants to be true to nature and I think the trend will move toward this direction in the near future. I love both fragrance oils and essential oils and sometimes I use a combination of both. I do wish that the industry would stop using the word 'Aromatherapy' for products that contain any type of synthetic fragrance oil, I find that misleading. Many of the major companies tend to do this.

Unless you have a huge amount of capital to start, you may need to start as a neighborhood by neighborhood business. Try sending a free 1/2 ounce sample to each house (you can save on shipping and get face time by hand delivering) within a 1 mile radius, then grow from there. Myself, I take 1 day per week that the shop is closed and do my 'business' stuff. Then my business stuff does not interfere with having my shop open, which sometimes the two can conflict.

It's a hard industry to break into, but it is fun and enjoyable and much better than computer programming (which is what I used to do)! Good Luck.

Stacy L. Grengs, CMT
www.ilbelladea.com
----- Original Message -----
From: mmrose00
To: Bath_and_Body@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 8:12 PM
Subject: [SPAM]Re: [SPAM][Bath_and_Body] Bath & Body Product Business Tips?

Thanks Stacy,

This was very helpful! I live in a HUGE city and the problem is
making my line stand out for the others as so many people are doing
the natural thing here.
But my question is...once you add fragrances, does it now exclude the
product from being called natural?

--- In Bath_and_Body@yahoogroups.com, "Stacy Grengs - il Bella Dea"
<stacy.grengs@...> wrote:
>
> Enlist the help of friends and family. Supply them with little
sample vials and a card to pass out to people they meet. Getting
your name out is the biggest hurdle I have found. If you make
quality products, at a reasonable price (meaning not too high or low)
you will have return customers and that is the best way I found to
get my business to grow. I have not had much success with newspaper
ads, but that could be the area I am in.
>
> I too started with just essential oils, but then migrated to a line
of Aromatherapy products and synthetic fragrance oil products,
because they are fun and in demand. My base ingredients are
basically the same, meaning all natural, but I actually sell more of
the synthetic fragranced products. I guess it is what people are
used to. Older people tend to migrate to the essential oil/all
natural/old fashioned type products.
>
> This is just my opinion, from my experience. I live in a small,
farm community, so things may be a little unusual here.
>
> Stacy
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: mmrose00
> To: Bath_and_Body@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 1:46 AM
> Subject: [SPAM][Bath_and_Body] Bath & Body Product Business Tips?
>
>
> Hi All,
>
> I have always had a great love for bath prooducts and have
decided to
> venture into the world of Body products! I plan on start a
business
> creating the very things I have enjoyed purchasing.
>
> I have been doing my research and wanted to know from others what
their
> challenges were in starting their bath and body businesses. And
are
> there any tips, books, class recommendations that you would share
with
> a newbie like myself!
>
> I plan on sticking with essential oils, but find it a bit limited
for
> customers that may be looking for "fruity" fragrances.
Suggestions?
>
> Thanks a bunch! :)
>
> Michelle
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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