Why Just Natural Skin Care?

       What little girl doesn’t love a huge bottle of bubble bath, especially with princesses pictured on the front?  Heck, what big girl doesn’t love a huge bottle of bubble bath, especially with the promise of 15 minutes all to myself?  Unfortunately, my bubble bath days ended about three years ago, when I pulled my screaming daughter out of the tub only to find her skin raw and bleeding.  This event began a night full of research focused on the chemicals in my bath products.  I began by reading the ingredient lists on the back of the products that were presently in the shower. 

       What stood out to me?  Every single one of the products in my shower (face wash, body wash, shampoo and bubble bath) had sodium lauryl sulfate at the top of its list.  I won’t make far fetch claims that SLS causes cancer, because I can hear my husband sigh and say, “Everything causes cancer, Dana.”  So let’s not be dramatic here, but look at the facts.  You’re not going to die from using Suave, but your skin, especially your hands, may be dry, cracked, red and irritated.  Let’s think about it.  Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a known skin irritant, and our hands suffer the most.  Why?  We use our hand to wash our face with this detergent.  Though we use a different product for our hair, we scrub the same primary ingredient into our scalp, while continuing to irritate our hands, and we haven’t even begun to wash our body.  Research is being done on the products in our skin care, but since the FDA does not regulate cosmetics, that research will not necessarily change the ingredient list on our favorite shampoo.  The FDA monitors many products on the market, but not the cosmetic industry.  

       Considering this information, how do we make knowledgeable choices for our families without taking on the weight and guilt of perfectionism.  I hesitate writing an article like this, because I fear adding to the pressure and guilt that so many mom’s bear each day.  So I encourage you, use this information for what it is…information.  With that being said, I am glad that our family has shifted to using more all-natural skin care products, because our skin is no longer screaming and neither are the children.  We began by switching to natural soap and organic shampoo.  Eventually, we completely switched to natural soap for all our cleansing needs (face, hair, and body).  In regards to lotions, that was the last thing to change.  Bath and Body Works’ lotions smell amazing, but my skin never felt refreshed or replenished.  Hence began the exploration of oils and the creation Sass E. Sisters’ amazing body butter.    

As you can see from the above photo, we are ready to supply your all-natural skin care needs.  If you are interested in moving towards more all-natural skin care products, check out our web store at www.sassesisters.com. 

Why Sass E. Sisters Began

     After reading my last blog, some of you may be wondering why I'm not still selling mushroom soup.  Not only do I not know which mushrooms are poisonous, I don't think mushroom soup would be on high demand.  Creating just natural skin care began for primarily two reasons. 

     The first and primary reason is related to my priorities and available time.  I'll start at the beginning.  I'm one of those people who rest actively.  I could spend all day at the lake swimming, kayaking or swinging from a tree.  On the other hand, David enjoys turning a movie on and falling in and out of sleep during his rest days.  After a couple of movies, I would be on the verge of insanity and madder than the dickens for having to watch these movies.  (By the way, David has never made me watch anything.)  Since I wanted to be with the family, and this is what they wanted to do; I would sit, watch and boil to the point of eruption.  

     I realized one day, sitting and watching TV with my husband did not make me a better wife.  In fact, it may have made me a worse one.   I then decided I was no longer going to be embittered by my families veg-out-rest-day ritual.  I resolved to use that time to pursue hobbies that are of interest to me.  

     That is when I began playing with different all-natural skin care recipes, learning how to make natural soap and exploring the uses and benefits of various essential oils.  With homeschooling during the day and discipleship studies at night our schedules are delightfully full of investing in the apple of God's eye...His Church.  But I have these nuggets of time on the weekend and at the end of the day, when everyone is in bed, that I am free to create.  Therefore, Sass E. Sisters began from a hobby, which has grown into a business.  Stay posted for reason #2 as to why I started selling just natural skin care products instead of mushroom soup.

Like what your read?  Support small business by letting us know and sharing the blog with your friends.  

Dissatisfied with the results of your commercial skin care products?  Try our all-natural skin care products at http://www.sassesisters.com.

Teach Us to Want 

Many of you may be familiar with Jen Pollock Michel's book, Teach Us to Want; or according to my sister, the apple book.  I journeyed through this book with two of my soul sisters.  We wept. We laughed. And we dreamed together.  It was there, in that time and space with children rolling on the floor and crying in those sweet sister's laps, that I found a safe place to dream.  Through this exploration of desire and ambition, grace to want was seen through the acceptance in my sisters' eyes.  I had known this grace to want from my experience with begging to home-school.  But sometimes, you experience things that you just don't have words for yet.  And God wanted me to learn how to want His way.

I remember my mom telling me, "I'm not quite sure what I want to be when I grow up."  These words passed from her lovely lips soon before retirement from her position as a well-respected high school math teacher.  I love that she still dreams.  I remember way back in elementary school, summer's spent setting up a mushroom soup shop with my sister and the Sander's girls, our next door neighbors.  In high school, I started a detailed car washing business.  And after I had my first child, I tried my hand at baby blanket making.  I have heard some people call this the entrepreneurial spirit.  I don't know what it is, but sometimes I just feel crazy for the many ideas that flood this brain.  

Many people think that I named the store in honor of my two sweet daughters that frequently assist me at the local festivals, but I did not.  The name Sass E. Sisters is in honor of the sisters in my life (young, old, familial and spiritual) who have encouraged, aided, and inspired creativity and entrepreneurship.  In the picture, I am the second from the left, and the other ladies are some Sass E. sisters, who have helped launch the business.  Holly (far left) is my biological sister, soul sister and photographer.  Jenni (third from left) is my ETM teammate, soul sister, and photographer.  Jess (far right) is my sister-in-law, ETM teammate, soul sister and quality control manager.  She is willing to test any product I ask her to.  I would never have started Sass E. Sisters without the encouragement and support of these ladies and many others.

Join the sisterhood of Just Natural Skin Care products at http://www.sassesisters.com.

GRACE TO WANT

Sass E. Sisters was created out of a growing understanding of grace and prayer.  Let me start at the beginning, we had moved to Indiana near the end of Melissa’s 2nd grade and Andrew’s 1st.  We were on a mission to help restore life and vitality to the church at Whitestown by training and modeling grace and love to them.  But through this time, I myself received grace and love from my Father in an unexpected way.  I had been praying for 3 years to have the opportunity to home-school our special needs daughter, Melissa; but secretly I wanted to home-school all of my children. Yes, I wanted to join the weir-do’s, but was scared that I would permanently screw up my kids.  The move was perfect timing.  It allowed us to “play school” without all of those haunting thoughts.  Seriously, how much damage could I do in 2 months, especially since they had already taken the tests.   While in Indiana, we lived in a gymnasium, which also functioned as our school.  The kids thought we were living the dream…school, home, gym…AWESOME.  Though I should have bought stock in Kleenex, this year solidified my desire to become a home educator.  The first year of home-schooling (especially if the children have already become accustomed to public school) can be intensely tiring.  We were all on a very steep learning curve.  The two months quickly passed as did the summer, and we were making plans to return to NC.  David had not changed his mind.  He still had every intention of registered the children as soon as we returned, but I kept praying.  The funny thing is that I felt guilty over my prayers, because I wasn’t certain of “God’s will”.  Praying for what I want…was that right?  Do good Christian beg for what they want, even when they are not certain it is the right thing to want?  Nonetheless, I begged.  Our trip home from Indiana was delayed by a month or two, so David gave me the green light to home-school the children another year, with the understanding that we would annually re-evaluate.  I was ecstatic!  We are presently on year number 4 of our home-schooling adventure and are loving it.  Fortunately, God gave us a wonderful group that we get to learn with each week (CC of Andrews).  During this time, I experienced for the first time since marriage the grace to want.  How does this relate to Sass E. Sisters?  More on that in the next post.