The Story Behind Dolphin Organics {& a giveaway}

BonBon Break

 


My husband grew up on a small farm in Norfolk, England and only ate fresh vegetables that his father either harvested or traded and eggs and meat from their livestock.   I distinctly remember spending summers with my grandparents in South Carolina picking green beans, watermelon and okra from my Granddad’s back field and enjoying the most delicious peaches and plums right off his trees.

It was only natural that when Nigel and I met in 1998, we made a conscientious decision to shop together for local fruits and vegetables.   Shortly after, we became much more aware of the potential problems with meats and dairy and pretty much made a switch to eating only organic or local grown foods when we could.   We were young and carefree and felt confident we were taking great care of ourselves.

Then, in 2008, Nigel’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  During her treatment, her oncologist shared a list of products and ingredients she should stay clear of due to the high levels of carcinogens or unknown toxicity levels.  We were shocked to realize that most of these ingredients were in our own bathrooms, and even worse, sitting in our children’s bath and nursery.

Two years later, Nigel’s father died of cancer.  This was all shocking to us since he was a lifelong farmer who ate only what he grew and traded. Our question was how? How could two seemingly healthy grandparents living in rural England fall ill with cancer? It made us think very critically about our lifestyle and what we could do to be even healthier. We quickly realized that while everything we were putting in our bodies was safe and natural, the same could not be said for what we were putting on our bodies.

As parents of twin girls, we wanted to raise our children in a healthier environment and decided to use only natural and organic products with them. We found that most big brands contain many artificial ingredients, and that many products whose labels claim to be natural and organic also contain numerous artificial and potentially harmful ingredients. We couldn’t find any gentle products which actually worked for our girls.  We decided that the best way to get the products that we wanted was to make our own.

A big part of creating our new brand was talking to some very important people: the moms who would be buying our products. We call them Dolphin Moms™. We spent countless hours talking to them about the kinds of products we wanted to make and asked them for their ideas. In talking to our Dolphin Moms, we quickly became aware of the challenges other parents were facing in finding safe and gentle products.  We wanted to alleviate the confusion and offer parents a brand that they could trust.

The result was Dolphin Organics™. A line of personal care products for babies and young children made with natural and organic ingredients and free of any harsh chemicals including parabens, sulfates, dyes, petrochemicals or artificial fragrance.  Even our label is clear and honest, showing you exactly what we put in there. Unlike most brands, we chose to base our line in certified organic aloe rather than water. We knew that children’s’ delicate skin would benefit from the aloe base loaded with 75 nutrients, 12 vitamins and 18 amino acids and 20 essential minerals.

Now our girls are old enough to read the labels, and at their age, the word that bothered them the most was “baby”.   Even though they no longer wanted to see baby on the bottle, we wanted to have the same pure and gentle ingredients inside.  They were swimming, running around more and just getting dirtier, but we weren’t ready to switch them to adult products.

We decided Dolphin Organics needed to be a brand that families could grow with.  We began researching ingredients that could add functionality while staying true to our mission to avoid all harsh chemicals.   We wanted to help young girls like ours begin to make healthy choices about what they used every day, and our daughters wanted products that were fun and trendy.

The solution? We expanded Dolphin Organics to include DO Naturals, our new line for girls of all ages.   The line adds only what is needed for older children – a little more conditioning and detangling for hair and gentle neutralizing for all the days in the chlorine and sun.  What we didn’t add was artificial coloring and fragrance, petrochemicals and other questionable ingredients we were finding on the tween and teen shelves. With DO Naturals, we’re introducing a green lifestyle for young girls that can be fun and carefree.

Similar to our Dolphin Moms, we have enlisted a core group of teenagers and young adults from across the country to help shape DO Naturals into a brand that offers everything young, forward-thinking girls are looking for in their skin and hair care products.  Both our Green Divas™ and our Dolphin Moms will continue to be an integral part of the expansion of our brand as we strive to provide safe and effective products for the entire family.

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 ~:::Something special for you:::~

Dolphin Organics is giving away a beautiful box of their products including their  shampoo / body wash, conditioner, bubble bath and lotion in the fragrance of your choice (Fragrance Free, Simply Citrus, or Norfolk Lavender) as well as their fragrance free mineral sunscreen!

How to Enter

To enter, simply leave a comment below telling us which fragrance you would prefer. For additional entries, leave additional comments telling us that you have followed Bonbon Break on Facebook , Dolphin Organics on Facebook and/or shared this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter. FIVE possible comment entries per person!

The Small Print Details: This giveaway is limited to US readers. It begins on Monday, October 15, 2012 at 12:00AM EST and will run through Sunday, October 21, 2012 11:00 PM EST. At that time, we will use Random.org’s Integer Generator to choose a winner. The winner will be announced on the Front Porch of our next issue. The winner will be contacted via email and if a response is not received within 48 hours, a new winner will be randomly selected.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED.

This is an advertorial post sponsored by Dolphin Organics.