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Bodisafe’s cosmetics: Natural and chemical-free
RICHARD WEINER
Legal News Reporter
Published: December 22, 2016
Health-conscious people generally watch what they put in their bodies, but very few people pay attention to what they put on their bodies—even though cosmetic formulas may contain more harmful chemicals than are in many foods.
So said William Marthaler, formulating cosmetic chemist and founder of Akron’s Garden Art Innovations, developer of Bodisafe cosmetics.
Most cosmetic formulas are composed of at least 30 chemicals, many of which are dangerous, said Marthaler, and most are half water as well, which is a waste of consumer money, he said.
All Bodisafe products are composed of only shea butter, jojoba oil and castor oil, in different formulations, and natural color.
“We are working to get down to two ingredients,” said Marthaler.
The company sells foundation, concealer, finishing powder, lip and cheek color, eye and brow color and night cream. The latter was their first product, said Marthaler, and took about 150 tries to get right.
“The average woman puts 350 chemicals on her body in a day,” said Marthaler. “About 60 percent of those chemicals cross the skin and get into the body.” Some of those have proven harmful effects, including carcinogenic properties, he said.
Beyond that, he said, are any number of hidden problems. For instance, a person may have a gluten-free diet, but may unknowingly be putting gluten into her system through cosmetic applications, he said.
Marthaler and his partners have been working on creating safe, low-impact cosmetics in their space at the Akron Global Business Accelerator since 2011, and have reduced the number of ingredients in their makeup to three, plus color, he said.
This has resulted in Bodisafe and its predecessor line, GlamNatural, to be the first of cosmetics to be certified by the Natural Products Association (NPA).
Both Marthaler and his primary business partner and funder took up the cause of natural cosmetics because of personal negative experience. Marthaler had a severe reaction to some chemicals early in his chemistry career, forcing him to change the emphasis of his chemistry to something “safe”—cosmetics, he said.
“But when I started to see how many dangerous chemicals—parabens, preservatives, dry cleaning fluid, carcinogens, and more—were in cosmetics, I decided to try to develop something safer,” he said.
His partner, Robert Dorman, saw his wife pass away from cancer and was very enthusiastic about the project from the beginning, said Marthaler.
Although a direct cause is impossible to determine, Marthaler said that nearly 90 percent of cancerous breast tumors contain one or another chemical that can be found in most cosmetic formulations. Research in this area is ongoing, he said, and “the literature is mounting,” he said.
Much of that research can be found on Bodisafe’s website at http://www.bodisafe.com.
The company has been expanding its base of distribution but started selling locally at stores like the Kent Coop, The Mustard Seed and Stark County’s Fishers Foods grocery store chain, among other places, and is now being distributed nationally.
“We came across Bodisafe when we were looking at Akron cosmetic companies, doing research to try to bring in healthier cosmetic alternatives,” said Natalie Marquardt of Fisher’s new Better For You stand-alone health food department. “And then the NPA certification brought their products to the forefront.”
Fisher’s brought Bodisafe into their stores in May, Marquardt said, and since then “the product has been doing very well. They supply educational materials and research references, and these products are especially for customers who look for that type of product.”
That sentiment is echoed by Abraham Nabors, who is technically the head of education for the Mustard Seed natural foods grocery chain, although he said that he “does a little bit of everything” for the family-owned stores.
“Bodisafe’s products are for the customer who comes in looking for a certain kind of product than for a cheap price point,” he said—although, at about $20 per product, Nabors also said that Bodisafe’s pricing is not out of line with top-end cosmetic products.
“We put a lot of emphasis on consumer education,” said Nabors, adding that “the more people are able to understand the concept, the more sales grow.”
Nabors said that the Mustard Seed directs questions about Bodisafe and natural cosmetics to the Skin Deep website at http://www.ewg.org/skindeep.
The company is expanding its sales throughout the country from its relatively small space in the Accelerator, which houses office, lab and manufacturing, said Marthaler.
“We want to improve women’s health by giving them safe, natural cosmetics,” he said.
For more information, and to find Bodisafe products, visit the company website.