Low Toxin Living and Cleaning with Branch Basics: Allison Evans, Co-Founder of Branch Basics

Podcast Introduction and Guest Welcome 0:00

Your genes hold the answers to your family's overall health. I'm Dr. Paula Kruppstadt and on the Get to the Root with Hope for Healing podcast, I sit down with experts in genetics, functional medicine, and family care to explore what's really going on beneath the surface so you can stop guessing and start healing. From personalized insights to practical tools, we bring you whole family wellness that starts at the root. Welcome to the Get to The Root podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Paula Kruppstadt, and I am so excited to be hosting Allison Evans.

She is one of the co-founders of Branch Basics. Thank you, Dr. K, I'm so excited to be here. I feel like you and I have had so much overlap over the years and we have so in common and share so many passions. So I am really honored to part of the show. Yeah, well, something that we espouse here at Hope for Healing as a functional medicine practice is toxin-free living. And I'd love for you to tell me how Branch Basics got started and your role in that. Yes, I would love that. So I grew up here in Houston, Texas, and my mom, you know, only wishes she knew the things that we know now, because you're going to cringe as I tell you all the that she did with me in the home I grow up in.

And then it's no surprise why all my labs were crazy and symptoms were. But let's see, the doctor, my pediatrician promoted soy formula, which of course she made with tap water and used a microwave and a plastic bottle. Are you cringing yet? And then I'm, you know, I was addicted to eggs and conventional milk. And so of course it was Eglin's best and just whatever conventional there was. We wondered why I had body odor at like six years old and my mom sold perfume. So our entire house was full of endocrine disrupting chemicals.

I have my first period at 13 and then never had a period again. So my mom takes me to an endocrinologist here in Houston and they said, um, you have the worst case of polycystic ovarian syndrome we have ever seen.

Allison's Early Health Struggles and Toxic Exposures 2:06

And I remember asking the nurse practitioner, I said is there anything that I've done to get in this position or is anything I can do to out of this? And she said absolutely not. It is purely genetic. There is nothing that you can with your lifestyle that will prevent this or that we'll help this. And so I just owned it. I said, okay, then I'm the girl who will never be able to conceive naturally, because that's what I was told. And the girls with the worst PCOS. The only hope for my skin is Accutane.

Of course, I did two rounds of AccuTane, are you cringing yet? Yes. You just feel so sad for this girl, right? You want to grab her and take labs and fix deficiencies and clean out her house and her diet and give her hope. But I had none of that. So fast forward to college and my body just unravels. I'm on my birth control, of course, because that was the only option. And now I am in pain. So I'm traveling the country trying to figure out why I am all of a sudden having horrible tension in my back and shoulders, basically seeing like juvenile arthritis specialists.

I Am doing rolfing and acupuncture and physical therapy, but I m also on painkillers and muscle relaxers. And antidepressants and sleeping pills, along with the acupressure. So during this time, you're kind of introduced to some alternative therapies. You mentioned that acupuncture and the raw thing. So what's happening in the background that you even knew about those or was exploring those in addition to all these toxic things? That's a great question, actually. I think God, I don't know, throwing me a lifeline, that I was so desperate and I lived I was University of Texas at Austin.

I lived in an apartment and as I would walk home from class in horrible pain, I will always pass this one acupuncturist and I think I just walked in one day and said I don't know anything about what you do but can you help me? I mean I'm in tears. And he became kind of my solace. I would lay on his table twice a week and I will fall asleep, which is impossible for me. Even at night to fall a sleep, I had to take sleeping pills, but I get on that table and all the needles and would just like start drooling.

And it was, that was amazing. But in the end I'm trying all of this stuff and on all these drugs and my body is just slowly getting worse. So I was doing steroid injections. You name it. Everything from east to west. So the last thing that was thrown out was early stage MS. And that's when my aunt, who was my co-founder, Marilee Nelson, she comes into picture. Of course, I thought she was just this hippie that lived out in the Texas hill country. Didn't use a cell phone, made her own food. How weird is that?

You like make your own. And she starts talking to me about toxins. And I mean, obviously, I had heard that word, but this is 2006, no one was talking about toxins back then. Yeah. She starts explaining that most of our symptoms are not actually genetic in nature, the genes load the gun, that our choices, our environment, or lifestyle pull the trigger. And if our DNA is a piano, we can decide if the music is beautiful or ugly based on our lifestyle choices. And so I'm thinking she's crazy a little bit because no one has ever talked to me about, she is asking me questions about my diet, about home care products, my laundry detergent, whether I have a pesticide, someone that comes and sprays regularly.

If I've been exposed to mold and I am thinking, lady, what does this have to do with my pain? Right. All of a sudden, I also think, wait, this is stuff I can actually control. Like, so what if she's right? Like what, if there's things I could do? So I get off my Splenda and my Diet Coke and, my birth control and My Accutane. I stop using Windex. Stop using all of these perfumed products all over my body. Open up my windows. Use a HEPA vacuum. Doing all these crazy things, right. And I noticed a huge shift in my pain almost within a few weeks.

Like it was pretty crazy. Um, and I thought this woman is onto something, like there is something here. So I graduated from UT and my best friend was living with me at the time. And she's now my other co-founder. I have two co founders and she is watching my body transform. She's like, Alison, I don't, whatever your aunt is telling you, it's working. This is crazy! So we went to go live with Marilee in 2008 for the summer and that's when everything changed. What's the name of your other co-founder for our listening audience?

Kelly Love is my other Co-Founder. So Merrilee Nelson is in her mid seventies and Kelly is 40. She's my age. We each have four kids and yeah, the three of us are who started the company. I'll veer off for just a second because all of this only makes sense within the context of Merrill Lee's story because Merill Lee had two catastrophic events in life that opened her eyes to the power of food and the Power of Environment. The first, she was told she needed a kidney transplant in her 20s. She lived here in Houston, She was pre-med at Rice University.

she had exploratory surgery and the doctors were like, your kidneys are basically in failure. The only thing you can do is have a Kidney transplant. Did she need dialysis immediately? And she said, and she has all respect for doctors.

Discovering Toxins, Lifestyle Changes, and Healing 7:42

Something rose up in her and she looked at them and after her surgery she woke up and got this news and said, I'm so glad you're not God and that I am not limited to what the medical community knows today and I will heal. And so she said no and ended up learning about food as medicine. She went on a very strict, medicinal, unique, specific diet and within 10 days all of her kidney numbers were normal. It was a complete miracle. Beautiful. Amazing. She has not been on a drug since, she has her kidneys.

So fast forward to the early 90s, her son was exposed to chlordane, which is a now banned pesticide. He was at school. he went to school that morning, he was obedient and bright and athletic and coordinated.He was picked up from school, that day his tongue was blue, his lymph nodes were swollen up like BBs.he couldn't spell a three-letter word. His immune system and his brain were so damaged, the doctor said he will be a bubble child, give him 26 shots a day. There's no way he can recover. There were other kids who were also damaged teachers as well.

And did they have that pesticide exposure? Did they apply it at the school that day or something? They applied it the night before and there was a huge flood. If there is a thunderstorm, the kids were all put inside of the theater and the water rose up and all exposed. Yeah. Oh my. It was horrific. Okay. But that same feeling rose up in her. And she looked at the doctors and she said, my son will recover. This is before we understood about neuroplasticity of the brain. Um, this was before the internet and AI and Google and all the things.

But sure enough, she went back home, She created a safe space of her house. She took out all of things that they said he would react to, but he was still reacting. He couldn't come inside the house for more than about 15 minutes because he'd get really agitated. You had to whisper because everything was like a scream. Yeah. So she was laying out on their cots one night, they slept outside, okay? And she prayed, she said, Lord, what is it? She had this vision of this box in her house. She'd put all of her favorite perfumes and cleaning products and all the things that he would react to and she put it away inside a closet.

And she decided to remove it. And that next day they were inside and he said, mom, what did you do? I feel like I can stay in the house. She didn't say a word. she thought, I'm not even going to say anything. There's no way. But she went to the grocery store the next and she was passing the cleaning product aisle. and She was like, that's it, all of the smells on the Cleaning aisle, you know, All those products are not Even used, but they're leaching out. That box was his cleaning aisle because he was a canary in The coal mine.

He was so sensitive. So that was really the crux of his healing. And it really helped her understand this low-level chemical soup that we create by bringing all of these things inside of our home. They're leaching out the parts per million, parts for billion. When we have sensitive children or the elderly, someone that's immunocompromised, they are reacting to these low, low levels. So he ended up being the first homeschool child to get into the U.S. Naval Academy. He graduated top of his class.

Fully recovered. Flew secret missions for the US Army. It was just amazing. So, he has three kids. In his 40s. That's the house that I'm entering in 2008. She has then been consulting for 20 years. So now it's my turn. And that summer, I, my whole body was like thriving. I mean, eating real food for the first time in my life, breathing fresh air without synthetic chemicals and fragrances and detergents and lotions, all the things that I never thought were affecting me. Did Kelly go with you that summer?

Okay. So, you know, we say you have to either be sick or smart to wake up to wellness. Okay, so I'm the sick one and Kelly's just the smart one. But sure enough, she goes out there and she has horrible menstrual cramps, dry eyes, itchy skin, and all of it leaves. She has not had cramp ever. I mean, if she would take Midol and if would be doubled over and couldn't go to class for two or three days, She's not have cramped since 2008. It's amazing. Her body odor went away. When you're unpacking this, especially about Marilee's son and his story, that's the classic, you know, when we talk about people with multiple chemical sensitivities and what you talked to about the genetics.

So one of the things we do here at Hope for Healing, because it's like how we partner with families who don't necessarily want to vaccinate their children or they've experienced vaccine injuries or When we hear that, we know that the body's ability to detoxify is greatly impaired. It's called glutathione or the precursor for that something else called N-acetyl L-cysteine. And so, and we can give that IV, orally apply it topically, but as you're unpacking this and you are giving people hope, Yes.

And hearing these stories, that's always so encouraging. So let's go back. Summer 2000. You guys do genetic testing. I mean, what Marilee would have done, would I would've done to have those tests done that showed, hey, this kid, if you're going to vaccinate,

Marilee's Healing Stories and the Birth of Branch Basics 13:00

like we got to spread it apart for this child. Like look at their you know, look at their genetics, like the MTHFR. I mean, I'm homozygous and that. There's just so many things that we now know which is amazing. So yeah, so that's the summer that I went and it changed my entire life. And Kelly and I thought we have to get Marilee's brain on the internet. mean I was spending tens of thousands of dollars. was miserable for years. on all these drugs. thought I could never have babies. and all of a sudden I go out there for eight weeks and just eating real food and breathing fresh air.

So that's why we started Range Basics. We wanted to prevent people from one day saying, why didn't somebody tell me this? So yeah. The beautiful thread through all of this is the spirituality because we look at God as our healer. He is, the author and the finisher of our faith, but he's our Healer. And Mary Lee was listening, she was to the Holy Spirit, you were too. And your aunt, who you thought initially was kind of a whack job, the hippie, and then to see all the healing took place. Okay, so this sets the stage for Branch Basics.

Fast forward. Well, actually we're going back to 2006. What happened and how did it evolve? And I love that you said about that about the Lord because I mean that I loved it. I can use platforms to just really glorify him because yes. He was weaving this entire story. In fact, the name Branch Basics is based on John 15, 5, I am the vine and you are the branches, because that's what we wanted to do. We thought, Lord, this is actually about getting back to your medicine. The air that you intended for us to breathe, you know, The diet that You intended us have, fish and meat and beans and grains and nuts and seeds in their purest form, we eat that today and we call it a cleanse.

That should be table stakes, that should baseline. And the oils, the scents, they should therapeutic like they were in biblical times, but now they're adulterated. The single word fragrance has 3,100 chemicals in it. So I'll go back to where we just left off, and I just had to say, it's really all about getting back the way He intended us to live, He intends us breathe, The mindset that He intend us have to not live in fear. Jehovah Rafa and Jehova Jireh. So anyway, I love it so much. Yeah, I'm gonna add one more thing to that because it's, you're speaking my language.

One of the verses that I love from Timothy is that God hasn't given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but a power and love. And I loved this part, a sound mind, because that's where we go. That's were we goes as moms, as grandmas, wives, women, men, and we live in fear and listen to what the medical community says, but that's where you have to open it up and say, wait a minute, there's a time and a place for Western medicine. If I fracture my leg, I want to go to a tertiary care medical center where they're going to take care of my broken leg.

And, but they're not going to talk to me about how to nourish my body and how. So, all right, take it away. Listen, our medical system for emergent care is one of the best, we spend the most on healthcare than any other country in the world. And we rank last in terms of health and that's because of symptoms and not prevention. So I went back to the original doctor that I had been to in high school just to get a scan of my ovaries because I'm now engaged and my husband says, hey, let's just go see what he says about the fertility side, right?

And I am still in my, even though merely that entire summer had really poured into us about faith and spirituality and believing that we are healed in the name of Jesus. I mean, all these things, I still really battling this idea that, oh, never be able to conceive naturally. It was a real big identity crusher for me. So I go back to that doctor and sure enough, he comes in with my sonogram from six years prior. He's holding them both up. And he says, what did you do? I've never seen anything like this.

The cysts are gone. I mean, I was in a medical textbook. These cyst were all over my ovaries. And I said, I actually got off birth control. I started eating real food. Got rid of my artificial sweeteners and my strong chemicals at my home. Stopped getting my nails done all the time. Just all of the things. And he said listen, you just need to keep doing what you're doing. Never seen this in my practice. So, sure enough, amazing. A couple years later I woke up and I had the second natural period of life.

Merrily kept saying, Allison, if you continue to pour the good in, your body is gonna wake back up and what God does and I hope anyone who's listening right now that is dealing with anything with fertility or infertility can really hear what I'm about to say. A lot of times our reproductive organs are the first things to shut down and they're the last things that come back online and that as a protective mechanism. And so the closer that we can get and further down toward our healing journey, all of a sudden, God's like, okay, actually, you're strong enough to carry life and to continue to procreate.

So Mary Lee kept telling me that. She's, like I promise you, just wait, wait. You're going to have your period again. Sure enough, one at 13 and then one my next real one was at 26. Wow. Yeah, we tried three times and got pregnant four times. And have four babies. That's so cool. What you just said about infertility, one thing, a condition here that we treat here for healing that has everything to do about biological toxins is chronic inflammatory response syndrome, which is biotoxin illness. But the toxins that I'm referring to are ones made by living organisms.

Endotocins from, I call it gram-negative poopy water bacteria in your house. And then something called actinomycetes which tends to cause acne, dandruff, lipomas, halitosis, periodontal disease, and then of course, mycotoxins, which is actually a much smaller percentage of what makes people sick than what people realize. Not necessarily the lead, the cadmium, arsenic, mercury, antimony, all the adulteration that we see in the perfumes and products.

Faith, Fertility, and Environmental Health 19:30

But infertility is such a huge factor. So once they've removed everything from their environment and they're feeding themselves properly, you are so right. And the biggest factor that we've seen lately is COVID because the spike antibody, the viral mRNA of people have been faxed to the reproductive organisms, but we actually have ways to help the body purge, we call them zombie cells. So, and I think using branch basics products is going to people propel their recovery. Say my little piece here.

No, I love that. And that's what I said. There's so much synergy between what we do. The body is so unique. So when you're looking at healing and you think about that rain barrel and the drop by drop, those micro doses that we are exposed to, the things we put in on and around our bodies every day, that really what's driving the issues that were seeing today. Like I've said, genetics obviously, as you know, plays a huge role But we have so much power, there's so hope. And so it's about waking people up and helping them understand how they can just take that load off the body and those little bit of doses, especially in the things that we do every day.

You wake up after having slept on sheets the entire night. And if you are someone that is using conventional laundry detergents with synthetic fragrances, instead of your body going into that rest and restore and repair and natural detox that the Lord has put in place for us to have in the night, it's spending so much of its energy detoxing the chemicals that we're breathing in and we are absorbing through detergent, you know, on our clothes and in our pillowcases. So that's why we were so big about Just how can we take this burden off the body?

No matter what your symptoms, your diagnosis are, if we can lighten the load, the bodies does know how to heal. And it's going to run in that direction of healing. It's the same with anyone. If someone decides, I'm going treat this with prescription drugs or a surgery or whatever it may be. No judging at all, do what you need to do. But we always say, if you start really cleaning up the things you're putting in on and around your body, it's only gonna catalyze that process of healing. It's gonna support, only going to help.

And so that's what we wanted to. We first started off with Branch Basics offering everything from infrared saunas to organic mattresses to Austin air purifiers. I mean, HEPA vacuums, everyone was overwhelmed. They thought, where do we start? And we said, okay, we're gonna focus on cleaning. Everybody does it. It's one of the biggest exposures to toxic chemicals that we have on a daily basis. In fact, do you remember that study out of Denmark? It was that 20 year study, I think 6,000 people. And they said that the exposure to conventional cleaning products was equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes every day.

I mean, wild to think about. And sadly, we're bringing these products in, in efforts to create a clean environment when in fact, these disinfectants, they're not necessary. They're obliterating not only the bad, but the good bacteria that's keeping us well. It's just kind of rethinking, like, what does it mean to clean? What does that mean, to have a house that's really health promoting? what is it means to Have a relationship with germs. That's not, you know, a phobia that they're all bad because now there's an epidemic of gut issues.

And I think it has a lot to do with our overuse of sanitizers and disinfectants. You're absolutely correct. I'd like to thank Fagran Genomics for sponsoring our podcast. Without knowing what your precision genetics are, you don't have a roadmap. So please log on to our website, schedule a welcome call, and see what the Wellness Blueprint can do for you. That's the premier and proprietary genetic panel that Fogran has allowed us to create. Yeah. So, and there's so many ways you can, I mean, people say, what about raw chicken?

Listen, understand, but you could use hydrogen peroxide and vinegar sprayed in different bottles back to back is actually has the same killing power as Clorox. There is just really not a need. My kids, we have not used disinfectants in this house. We don't use hand sanitizers. my kids are literally never sick. If I drop them off at a nursery or a Sunday school and people have hand, foot, and mouth, they don't get it. And so it's because they are coming back to a home and they have a diet that is really building them up.

We don' have to live in fear of our kids catching the next thing. I'll tell you what, I've done genetic testing on my kids. They don''t have clean deck. They have a really, lots of reds, Lots of snips in my kids' jeans. It's not like they were given this really strong deck to begin with. And I just, I'm saying this because I want to give parents that encouragement and that hope that there is, if you're breathing, If you have breath in your lungs, there Is the ability to heal. That's right, that's, right.

And yeah, it was like what you said at the very beginning, you know, the jeans load the deck, but the environment pulls the trigger and food is 80% of the battle and then what do you bring into your home? So I happen to have in front of me the little insert that comes in with the branch basics, safe cleaning, made simple. Toss the Toxins Course. Yes, it is free. It's on our website and it's basically our TOSS THE TOXINS COURSE is the thing that I'm probably the most proud of that we've ever done because Marilee has consulted as environmental and dietary health consultant for 40 years and she goes through the same process with almost every single client, whether it be someone with a child with severe behavior disorder, a husband who's having horrible asthma attacks, And so basically this Toss the Toxins course is essentially like working with Mary Lee and going step-by-step through your home.

The water, the plastics, food, emotions, laundry room. I mean, you're really, and you can start wherever you want. There's several modules and so you don't need to be overwhelmed because overwhelmed is a toxin. You need have grace for yourself and start where it most excites you. But that course available for free on our website. Great. Alison, tell us about your foundational branch basics product. So how's that work? Yes. We sell a 32 ounce liquid concentrate, and that's really kind of like the mother product, that took us over a year and a half to formulate over 100 iterations.

Why Cleaning Products Matter for Whole-Home Wellness 26:30

People ask us all the time, how did you guys come up with this formula without a chemistry background, no background in formulation? I always say we had no business starting a business. We had NO idea what we were doing. And I'm like, God, I don't know. I mean, truly. Because we care about every single ingredient. There's really not a product on the shelves, even at Whole Foods, that would pass our test because we're looking at the tiny ingredients at end of the list. Like I said, every drop matters.

When you're using something all the time, So that concentrate is diluted in different spray bottles. We have an all-purpose, a bathroom, and a streak free. And there's different dilution lines on the bottle. So it makes it really easy to fill it with water, but they do arrive empty unless you're buying it like Target. If you are buying your products at Target, which were available on Target now, they're already pre-filled, but the point is you're never repurchasing the spray bottle. You're just filling it up with concentrate, and that can clean everything from your floors, your stains, produce, baby bottles, eye makeup, I mean, everything.

And it can also be used as a laundry detergent. We also make a laundry powder and we do dish tabs and an oxygen boost, which is basically like a scouring agent. So yeah, we kind of have a whole line that really streamlines your entire process. That's fantastic. When we take care of the sickest of sick, getting rid of toxins is imperative. I love that you offer this toss the toxins course free. It's beautiful. Allison, thanks so much for joining me today. This is This is so life-giving to people.

You have the simplicity of the product where you just fill it up and there's not a bunch of thinking that goes into it. That just is the best way to meet people where they're at. When cleaning floors, this is kind of a weird off thing. If someone has a laminate and they're going to clean their floor, how do you recommend doing that? Yes. That's actually a really good question. And you want to things like, you know, MDF, which is the type of wood that's kind the shaved chipped wood, things that are very synthetic, I should say.

You want be careful not to use a high amount of concentrate because it can actually release things, like the formaldehyde within the product. So something like a laminate floor, you really just want to use a very small amount, almost like the window and glass dilution. So if you were to have a whole bucket of water, You're really putting like almost just about half a teaspoon. And you're kind of thinking, well, what's the point? I might as well just use water. It's amazing. When you have really powerful surfactant, it essentially is like bridge between the water and the dirt, and it's like magnet.

And so it really does make a huge difference, even if you're using a tiny amount. So yeah, just a little bit and a bucket of water is enough for a laminate floor. Fantastic. Do you recommend that people have a vacuum first? Oh my goodness. Yes. You know, so much of the particulates that we are exposed to are not actually volatile organic compounds. They are semi-volatile organic compound. So that's called an SVOC and those actually ride on dust. versus being something that out gases over time, which is a volatile one.

So things like our furniture, I mean, all the things we're bringing inside of our homes, unfortunately, there's so many chemicals today in our rugs and our furnishings and mattresses, and those chemicals actually ride on dust. So if you can keep your home as free of dust as possible, you're significantly reducing the amount of pollutants that you are exposed to every day. I say this to moms that have conventional car seats. Number one, it would be great to have a car seat that does not have any flame retardants.

But if your in a position that can't switch your carseat, vacuum that carseat all the time. Because if don't have dust, that flame retarded really has nothing to latch onto. So keep your places dust-free as possible. That is a great tip. I've never heard that. And being a pediatrician, that's something I need to know. Yes. Yeah. You think about all the kids that have food particles in their car seat, and nobody's going and vacuuming them. No. So being an neat freak is great idea. All right. Wow.

Great news. I love learning. That's one of the advantages. The flame retardant thing, Dr. Krebstad, is probably one the biggest passions that I have right now because these companies do not need to actually add flame retards to mattresses and car seats and pajamas in order to get their fire rating status. They are doing it, honestly, because it's easier. It's an ease of manufacturing. But those flame retardants studies show directly impact the brain. They lower IQ, they cross the blood-brain barrier, and they affect fertility.

So flame retardants are a big deal. If you can spend the extra money to find the car seat without the flame-retardant, the mattress without it, our kids are spending almost all of their days in those two items. Yes, so impactful. It's so different from the time that I grew up. I know. When you're reflecting back on Merily, Merilly is a little bit older than I am, I'm in my early 60s. I think about what I grew up with and then what you grew with. You were right in the middle of the disposable diapers, the Tupperware, melamine, pesticides, herbicides, and now we've come full circle, stainless steel, glass, of course glyphosate, which permeates everything.

Yeah. Well, Allison, where can people find out about branch basics? So we, I actually run our Instagram alongside by, um, best friend and co-founder, Kelly Love. And so we are on there all the time because that's really what we set out to do. We set it out. To educate, we're an education company first and we were a products company second. So you will find in our newsletters and our instagram and I'll toss the toxins course. I do a ton of podcasts. So you can just find us. If you put branch basics in your search bar, we'll pop up.

Branch Basics Products, Floor Cleaning, and Dust Reduction 33:00

And then of course, if you want to buy our products directly online at branchbasics.com and now also nationwide at target and target doc. Congratulations on dad. Thank you so much. Yes, so Allison, thanks for your time today and thanks, for educating our audience and what you just said, education and establishing trust. And your story is so encouraging to where you've been and where what, you been blessed with four kids and a thriving business. One thing we didn't touch on at one point, wasn't there an ingredient that it almost took branch basics down.

And then tell me about that too, before we go. No, that's great. In 2015, gosh, we were doing about a million in sales, which was incredible. We never thought that we would... Kelly and I thought, you know what? We're going to marry some men who have great jobs and we'll just be able to educate. We were so naive. I mean, we really had no idea what we were doing and now God is so good. But anyway, We we're working with a formulator and she was based out of Florida and She had created this cleaning, this concentrate that was really like a body soap and a cleaner, kind of an all in one like Dr.

Bronner's and it was used. by Marilee and all of her chemically sensitive clients and patients and everyone in kind of in that network for years. In fact, it was the only soap that Douglas could use as he was recovering my first pleasant. So she used it around her home on his body. It was completely fragrance free. People that were reacting to things like seventh generation and could not be around stuff like that could use this concentrate. So we started third-party labeling it and there was the last ingredient on the list.

It said plant-based enzymes, minerals from plant based enzymes or something. And so we kept pressing the formulator. We're like, what is, What does that actually mean? Cause people, we want transparency. And we keep telling people to read ingredients. However, We are not being transparent enough with that one ingredient and she just would not budge. So we thought, okay, this is fishy. Something's going on here. and we pulled product from the shelves. We were just in tiny little retailers around the country.

But we thought, you know what, we need to formulate our own product. we want to know sourcing, every single plant and mineral, where everything is coming from. So thankfully, after doing tons of third-party testing, that original formula was completely safe. It had been used by so many people on their skin, and it could get in babies' eyes. It was great. In fact, to be honest, I still use some of the leftovers, but we just decided this is not fully transparent. We want to have our own ingredients, our product.

So that's what I was saying when I said for a year and a half, we tried out new formulas. And I tell you what, the formulators kept saying, y'all want a unicorn. There's no way that we can create a product that doesn't have sodium benzoate or potassium sorbate, or all these other safe ingredients.

Company Transparency, Product Reformulation, and Closing Remarks 36:00

we ended up coming up with the current formula and it's been wonderful. But yeah, that is what happened. We ended just saying, we can't demand that our customers read labels when we are not even being fully transparent with every ingredient, which is why we always say, turn that bottle around, question things, do not believe everything you read on the front of the label. Yeah. Well, the integrity of your company is that's one of our core values, integrity and so that transparency. And so, that comes through loud and clear and I love that about your.

Well thank you. So, Alison, thanks again for joining us today. Thank you so much. This was such an honor. I honestly, I've been wanting to cross paths with you for years. So thank you. It's a blessing for me too. Thanks so For a free consultation, visit our website at GetToTheRoot.com with a number 2 and schedule a welcome call. We'll see you soon.