Chad and I have known each other almost our entire lives. We first met one another in elementary school, we held hands through middle school, and we dated for a couple of years in high school. Even through the months and years that we weren't dating, we were the best of friends. After high school, we went along our own paths to see where life would take us. Like a good old country love song, four years later we found our paths crossing again... we found ourselves reconnected and our relationship rekindled, the spark was still the same. After dating for ten more years, we said “I do”, in 2014. Through the years, we have endured a lot together; the death of a sibling, loss of jobs during the recession, moving, and family struggles. Through the peaks and valleys that we have endured together, one thing remained that same, our friendship and unconditional love! It is truly something so beautiful to reflect on what we have been through, and to see that we have carried friendship and unconditional love since we were just young children, to where we are now as married business owners/partners.

Our business partnership began in 2016 when we started Ego Soap Company, a men’s grooming line. Our mission had never been to just make soap, but rather, we were on a mission to find natural ingredients and formulas that would aid and treat common skin conditions. Reading through our customers stories and testimonies saying that our soaps and oils have enriched their lives by changing and healing their skin conditions (such as eczema, rosacea, psoriasis, and acne) is truly the answer to why we work so incredibly hard to build and offer the best line we can! It is such an honor to bring those solutions to so many! Shortly after launching Ego Soap Company, we added hand poured candles to our catalog. They were instantly a huge hit and customers were asking for more, but the men’s line limited us. With these two passions becoming more and more fruitful, a new vision sparked! We began dreaming up the opening of a local bath, body, and beauty store. Our focus was to offer brands that are clean, highly effective, and not found anywhere locally to our community. After years of planning, dreaming, and research, this is where you can find us today. In a sweet little shop on Sherman, called Holaday & Co.

We live in an age where consumers are becoming more aware of what is in the foods we ingest and products we apply to our body. Skin is the largest organ of the body and absorbs everything, so it’s important to understand what we are feeding our skin.

While organic food has been a trend for many years, more recently beauty customers are being compelled to use products labeled natural and organic, which is understandable. Mankind has created enough harmful chemicals to scare us all. However, just because an ingredient is natural or organic doesn’t guarantee a benefit for your skin. Surprisingly enough, there are a lot of natural and organic ingredients that are actually detrimental to our skin’s overall health. In addition, there are many cosmetic companies selling products with ingredients that either aren’t legitimately natural or contain natural ingredients that can be problematic for skin. This can prove to be a challenge for the customer as well as a business owner. Even the most dedicated to “clean beauty” are at risk of being deceived.

The beauty industry in the United States is one of the least regulated consumer categories. Europe has banned over 1300+ cosmetic ingredients while the United States has only banned 30. It is legal in the U.S. for companies to use chemicals known to be harmful and/or ingredients that have never been evaluated for safety. The FDA doesn’t consider it misbranding for companies to label products as “natural,” even if they contain toxins like coal, tar, asbestos, and the list goes on.

Because of this low standard for health and safety, the responsibility to filter out the “good” from the “bad” falls on the individual. Just because a product is or isn’t organic doesn’t determine its negative or positive effect on the body or environment, so it would be inappropriate to say that only natural and organic ingredients are the “best” or furthermore, the only option for your skin. While there are many ingredients natural and manmade that are not ideal for skin, there are also a large range that are exceptional.

It can be overwhelming to shop when the rules seem very unclear. Even as a business owner with first hand experience making and buying products, I have run into challenges with companies who claim to be “clean” which we’ve had to later phase out of our store because they just didn’t meet our standard of safe and healthy. When there are so many terms of classification (natural, organic, synthetic-free, plant-based, cruelty-free, vegan, artificial, manmade), it is better instead to focus on which ingredients are in each product. And most important of all, know thyself i.e. be aware of your own sensitivities.