Two Nurses Teach Women to Ditch Chemicals in Beauty Products
These nurses are ahead of the trend to halt the use of potentially harmful chemicals in consumer products--and now they've written a book about their story
CHARLESTON, S.C., Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Walmart wants to do it. And so does Target. Procter & Gamble is taking steps, as is Johnson & Johnson. But for Charleston-based all-natural skincare company L'ATHENE—founded by two nurses with more than 20 years of experience working with burns and severe dermatological conditions—offering skincare products without potentially harmful chemicals is simply business as usual. And now L'ATHENE's founders have written a book that not only tells their story, but that also advises women how to get radiantly healthy skin, without chemicals.
"People know to read food labels, but they don't always think to read the labels on their skincare products," says Nan Brown, co-founder with Lil Bogdan of L'ATHENE. "If they knew what they were actually putting on their face—the same harsh chemicals used to clean garage floors and restaurant ovens—they wouldn't be so surprised that they're not getting the results they want."
"As nurses," adds Bogdan, "we knew that using natural ingredients means better results for your body, and so we set out to teach women that the same was true in skincare products." In developing their line of pure, nutritional skincare as an alternative to the standard chemical-based skincare on the market, L'ATHENE became one of the first medically based natural skincare companies in the U.S. Their products are now distributed to hospitals, doctor's offices, and spas around the country.
Last year, some of the biggest retailers in the U.S. announced plans to pressure consumer product manufacturers to phase out using a host of potentially toxic chemicals.
"It all started because consumers wanted safer ingredients on the shelves for personal care products," Brown notes, citing news reports.
Brown adds that the anti-chemical movement has made more progress in the food and beverage industry. Both Coke and Pepsi have recently stopped using brominated vegetable oil in their beverages, Starbucks agreed to ditch a red dye made of crushed insects, and Kraft pledged to replace the artificial dyes in its macaroni and cheese. Fireball whiskey made headlines recently when some European countries recalled the liquor because of its propylene glycol content.
"People don't want these chemicals in the food they eat," says Brown, "so why should they settle for having them in their skincare products?"
In their recently published book, Nurse Your Skin to Health, Brown and Bogdan share their story of working as registered nurses for some of the most well respected hospitals in the country. They tell how their quest to help Brown improve the health of her own skin led the nurses to discover that many of the expensive products on the market today may actually be causing skin more harm than good. And that's how their dream to start an all-natural skincare company to help women maintain the healthiest skin possible was born.
"As nurses, we're used to educating people about making healthy choices," Bogdan says. "We want people to be smart consumers and question the ingredients used in their skincare so they can choose products that will best help them create genuinely healthy, great-looking skin."
Additional Photos of Book Jacket and Authors Available upon Request – Click here
To Purchase the Book – Click here
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141119/159601
SOURCE L'ATHENE
Share this article