This week I want to talk to you about our packaging. Yes, packaging! I want to explain why I chose to use bottles and tubes over jars. It makes a difference! So many products come in jars and I can understand why in one way; it’s easy and convenient to open a jar top, remove the product and apply it. Believe me, that would make my life a bit easier, too. :-)

With jars, you don’t have to deal with pumps and flips caps and orifice sizes, right? Super easy! But here’s the thing and maybe it’s an aesthetician thing, but many of us learned early in our career to only work with products that have packaging where you don’t actually touch the product. Do you know why that is? GERMS! Because every time you dip your finger into a jar to remove product you are introducing the microbes on your fingers to the said product. And these microbes can potentially contaminate your skin care product. Don’t even get me started on jars for diaper balm or ointment. Yuck!

Being a line dedicated to safe and natural ingredients, and understanding that natural preservatives are more delicate and not as robust to fight off microbes as easily as their synthetic counterparts, we decided a “no jar” policy is the safest way to protect the integrity and safety of our products. And that’s why we use only bottles and tubes for all of our products!

We have big news: All of the Pleni Naturals products have been MADE SAFE certified! And we will continue to create new products that also meet MADE SAFE strict standards to bring you the safest products possible!

Having the MADE SAFE seal means that our products are made with safe ingredients without known carcinogens, behavioral, reproductive, and neuro toxins, hormone disruptors, heavy metals, pesticides, insecticides, flame retardants, toxic solvents, or harmful VOCs! It goes above and beyond to further examine ingredients for concerns for whether they build up in our bodies, don’t break down in the environment, and for general and aquatic toxicity.

In short, it means that we are committed to our MADE SAFE seal and creating products without ingredients known to harm human health or the environment.

So why is this important? Unfortunately, there are tens of thousands of chemicals in use right now in products we use every day; very few of them have been studied and some have been linked to some serious health problems.

Combined with confusing marketing claims like “green” or “eco” (which don’t actually mean anything about how safe or healthy a product is!), this means that people have been stuck trying to figure out which products are actually safe and which ones aren’t – which is almost impossible!

The MADE SAFE seal solves this problem and makes it easy to find trusted, certified products that are made without known harmful chemicals.

With this seal, we’re joining a movement to change how products are made in this country: safer and healthier. By buying MADE SAFE, you can help us bring about this change. Together we can eliminate toxic chemicals altogether!

Look for this seal on our products and on our website, as well as on www.madesafe.org.

Cheers to shopping safer!

July 8, 2016 marks a day I have been looking forward to all year! With my two little ones in tow, I went back to my hometown of Chicago to visit family. I’ve been missing them so much and so have my kids - this trip was so long overdue!

For the first week in Chicago we stayed with my twin sister. Guess which one is me?

My sister and her husband had their house built for them and it was completed in November 2015. This was my first time seeing it! Isn’t the view from their family room amazing?

No, not the view of the kids playing on their Kindles, all of the windows and the nature! It was everywhere! We saw little bunnies and a fox family running around the yard everyday. I was in heaven. After coming from "city living" we had such a blissful time running around with so much space. And of course, to commence the beginning of our stay, my twin sister purchased a trampoline for us all to jump in! High fives to Grandpa and my sister's husband who assembled it. We had way too much fun in there. See?

My suggestion is if you have kids and the space for it you should go out and purchase a trampoline asap!

We were on-the-go nonstop the entire trip. It was the best kind of chaos! Especially cousin chaos. I have no idea what is going on in this photo but it sure looks like a perfect example of chaos to me :)

And after a long day out having fun, the kids relaxed and had their baths. Guess what products they used to get clean and moisturized? That’s right! Pleni Naturals! PS How awesome is my sister’s tub and how cute are these kids?!

I noticed when we arrived in Chicago my sweet little niece had some dermatitis on her skin. Good thing I brought the Pleni Naturals along! I am so happy to say that after two weeks of using strictly Pleni Naturals products, my niece’s skin cleared right up! Yeah! Love that little lady...look at her sparkling blue eyes!

The second week in Chicago we stayed with my parents. We slept in the house most nights but my mom thought it would be fun to pull out the camper so the kids could have a "camp out" in the driveway.

The kids LOVED IT. Major hit. The kids begged to sleep in the camper every night! I also suggest if you have the space to "camp out" at home you should do it at least once before summer ends!

Of course the trip wasn't without some challenges. The first night my daughter told me she was leaving and going home so she could sleep in her bed. My son slept with me for the first week of our trip and could finally sleep on his own the second week. Sometimes the cousins argued. Sometimes my kids didn't cooperate. However, the biggest challenge was the camp I signed my kids up for didn't work out for us. The reason why this was a challenge is because I was supposed to WORK while the kids were at camp! Yikes! Good thing my mom and dad came to the rescue! They took the kids out for a few hours here and there so I could get some work done. The rest of the time, I worked after the kids went to bed. This did put a bit of a damper on playing Rock Band with the adults after the kiddos went to bed but we did get a few sessions in. What band member do you like to play? I always want to be the singer!

Apple + Broccoli Hair & Body Wash - Use a dime size amount and this will definitely be enough wash for short hair plus enough suds left over to wash your little one’s entire body. Long hair may require a bit more hair and body wash, but at the end of the day what you are getting is a tremendous amount of super creamy and fun bubbles to work with! You can also use the wash as a bubble bath. We recommend putting a full cap size amount of the wash in running water and wait to have your babes enter the water until the bubbles have finished filling up the tub. Then the kids can climb in and make fun beard bubbles like this:)

TUB SKIN CARE TIP #1: if you have a little one with sensitive skin, I don’t recommend bubble baths. I know, how boring! But the reality is the bubbles against sensitive skin can cause dermatitis to flare up and this is less fun than no bubbles in the bath, am I right?

TUB SKIN CARE TIP #2: still on the subject of sensitive skin, have your little one with sensitive skin take regular baths in tepid water (no bubbles) and let them play and soak in the tub for about 20 minutes. Only wash and rinse the hair and body right before you get them out of the water. Immediately follow up with a moisturizer, like our Cucumber + Grape Baby Oil for all over the body and our Berry + Olive Baby Balm to spot treat extra sensitive spots. Following this routine, you should definitely see an improvement in your child's sensitive skin!

Now back on the subject of rinsing, this hair and body wash rinses out SUPER easy! Many natural hair and body washes leave a film on the skin and hair that is hard to rinse out. Not this one! I know this may be a small thing, but not having to struggle to get the hair and body completely rinsed after washing it is one less thing mama (and dad) has to do! We aim to please here at Pleni Naturals… ;)

Cucumber + Grape Baby Oil - This baby oil comes with a convenient pump, and how many pumps to use depends on the size of the baby/child’s skin. Around 1-3 pumps per body area is a good starting point. We recommend applying the baby oil right after bath to seal in moisture for super soft skin.

SKINCARE TIP: If your little one suffers from really sensitive skin with inflamed eczema patches, choose an oil moisturizer over a lotion formula. Lotion formulas irritate already inflamed skin and typically the child will say (or cry), "This burns!". If your little one has sensitive skin but doesn't have any visible inflamed areas, a lotion formula should work fine, as long as it is dermatologist tested and safe for sensitive skin types. 

APPLICATION TIP #1: warm the baby oil by rubbing the hands together vigorously back and forth and then apply the oil to baby’s skin for an extra soothing and pampering experience.

APPLICATION TIP #2: after warming the baby oil in the hands, apply it to the baby’s skin in long, rhythmic strokes. Linger the touch on baby's hands and feet and massage each sweet little finger and toe. Spend the time to do this to relax baby and create a deeper bond! I still give a massage after bath time to my kids who are not babies anymore! They love it (and I get to keep my aesthetician massage skills in tact!).

Berry + Olive Baby Balm - Oh this balm! Super addictive! Use the balm to spot treat any area on baby’s skin that is affected by rash, dry patches, eczema, etc. Plus it can be used as a barrier on cheeks and lips in the colder months with harsh weather and also around the mouth to prevent the nasty drool rash. I also like to apply a small amount of the balm to the face before sunscreen to make the application a bit easier. Plus, the balm contains many powerful antioxidants (from our fruit and veggie ingredients, of course) and can help boost protection in addition to the sunscreen.

This balm is also loved by the mamas! Especially on the lips and hands to keep them super soft and protected. I personally have one balm at my vanity and one in my purse at all times!

APPLICATION TIP #1: the balm is a semi-solid and its texture can vary depending on the temperature (i.e. more firm texture in the colder months and a thinner texture in warmer months). In the colder months you may need to place the balm tube near a warmer space before application so it is easier to dispense the balm from the tube.

Just a reminder that all Pleni Naturals products are dermatologist tested | allergy tested and super safe for babies and kids! Plus the Pleni Naturals products are certified vegan, cruelty-free and MADE SAFE®!

If you have any questions about the Pleni Naturals products and how they can help your family, feel free to ask in the comment section below!  If you would rather not share below you can always email me at allyson@pleninaturals.com.

Skincare is my passion and I am so grateful to be able to share my skincare experience and products with you!

Thank you for visiting! My name is Allyson Owens, and I am the Founder of Pleni Naturals, a natural and organic skin care line full of healthy fruit and veggie ingredients!  I live in beautiful northern California with my two small kids, wonderful husband and 15 year old cat.

Skin care is my passion and I have been in the “beauty biz” since 2001. I know a lot about skin care through my time as an aesthetician and my years as a skin care educator and skin care product developer. It was actually through luck I fell into product development work and it became the dream job I never knew I wanted! Once you start developing skin care you can never stop. Although not always glamorous and a ton of hard work, making skin care products brings me a tremendous amount of joy and I feel so lucky to be able to do this kind of work.

But why did I want to focus on fruits and veggies? Because they are wholesome, nutritious, and packed full of beneficial vitamins, omegas and antioxidants. Plus, what we put ON our body goes IN our body, and I don’t know about you, but I would rather have juicy red raspberry seed oil going on my baby’s body than some nasty chemical! It is also important to me that Pleni Naturals has a social cause, and it is our mission to inspire a lifelong love of fruits and veggies through our natural and organic skin care products (and our garden education partnerships-more info here). It is our hope that the fun, colorful and silly fruit and vegetable characters found on our packaging provides a deeper connection for kids and the fruits and vegetables they eat.

I feel confident our products will delight you and your family with their wonderful fresh scents, texture and performance. In time, I hope to gain your trust as an expert in skin care, and you can always count on Pleni Naturals to deliver what it promises--always wholesome, always effective, natural skin care.