Sublime Skin Care
About three years ago, Joy Fuller and Ginny Meyer began scrutinizing the labels on their household skin-care products. The more they read, the more concerned they became. Most of the lotions in their bathroom cabinets — despite the products' reassuring claims to soothe, nourish, heal or revitalize — contained worrying toxins.
"My husband's shaving cream had propane in it," says Fuller. She also noticed that parabens and sodium lauryl sulfate (aka SLS) were ubiquitous ingredients. "They've found parabens when they go into cancer tumors, [and] SLS is just a cheap way to get foam. I sold cosmetics for about 15 years, and when I really look at all the things I was exposed to, I'm a little horrified."
The pair started making nontoxic skin-care products for themselves and family members "as a little test. We thought, gosh, these really feel good. We were so pleasantly surprised, I began sharing them with other friends. They loved them and raved about them as well."
Those homemade gifts quickly evolved into Just Good Stuff, a specialized range of organically sourced skin-care products with basic ingredients. At first it centered on two distinct lines of body butter: one with "heavier, more emollient" shea, preferred by Fuller, and the other with "lighter" mango, preferred by Meyer. Soon came lip balm, moisturizers, soaps, a shave bar made of kale and clay, and lip tints.
"A lot of natural products that are out on the market don't even choose tints that are safe for the lips. We choose wonderful ingredients. We don't use fake things," says Fuller. "Truly, you could eat most of our products."
As "girls that like to look for a bargain," the pair made a commitment to keeping their products affordable. The shave bar is only $3, and the body butters are around $12. And though Meyer has reluctantly decided to leave the company to maintain a better work/life balance, Fuller will continue without missing a beat. That means Just Good Stuff will continue to be found right where it's always been: places like Pilgrim's, Main Market Co-op, Huckleberry's and Sun People Dry Goods.
