The one radical decision that changed my life forever.

If you ever purchased one of our products online, you probably opened the box to see the statement "We are Nature" printed in the box. This is not just a tagline we chose for our packaging, but it's actually the core of why Circular Bodies was created. I wanted to share a bit about that story with you. 

When I was in college I learned about the concept of zero waste living and, faced with the reality of taking massive trash bags from my house to the bins every week, I decided I wanted to try it. I started with one prompt: if I wanted to eat something that came in plastic packaging, I would learn to make that myself, using ingredients I could buy in bulk. 

If I wanted pasta... I would buy flour and make it. If I wanted crackers... I would blend chickpeas and rice and make it. If I wanted plant milk... I would buy cashews, oats, hempseeds, and make it. If I wanted chocolate... I would buy cacao, dates and cocoa butter and make it. You get the picture!

This movement started with a desire to go zero waste... and soon became an obsession with ingredients. Making things myself made me realize that most packaged products have added preservatives to make the foods shelf stable. In this process I realized it made no sense for me to eat food that had added preservatives when I could make it at home with real food ingredients. 

What I did not realize though, is how this quite radical decision around packaging would change my life. My body inflammation was gone, I lost weight, saved money, had more energy, and learned how to properly cook food I enjoyed. I was thriving. 

Until one day, my roommates sent me out to buy house cleaning supplies. It was my first time having to buy cleaning products, as part of our roommate chore rotation. I went to my local CVS and looked for the products in the list: mirror cleaner, laundry detergent, dish washing soap, bleach. For every product I tried to put in my basket, I was faced with a realization: I had put so much care into what I eat, and yet, my house was being cleaned with products with ingredient labels that sounded like a horror story. I left the store empty handed, and in disbelief to have discovered a huge paradox that existed in my home without my previous awareness. 

As soon as I got home, I went to my bathroom and was faced with a second wave of shock: it wasn't just the cleaning products in my house, but my shampoo, conditioner, face soap, body soap, lotion, makeup... everywhere I looked I found another product I used daily on my skin that was filled with the same ingredients I so eagerly tried to avoid in my food. 

The next day I went to Whole Foods to look for clean skincare and cleaning products. To my dismay, the ingredient labels of shelf stable "natural" products was just as bad as the ones for food, if not worst. Unable to find products made only with ingredients I would eat (or at least ingredients that exist in Nature), I realized I was about to start a completely new journey, of learning how to make all my skin and home cleaning products... from scratch. 

It took me years. Product by product, trial and error, learning about ingredients, falling in love with herbs, understanding what was actually good for my skin and what was greenwashing. 

The main lesson I learned when formulating skincare came from my journey with food: A supplement, processed ingredient or isolated vitamin can't give us what whole, complete foods can. Fruit without water and fiber is sugar our body doesn't properly metabolize. Sunflower oil that has been processed with heat and solvents does not hold the nutritional value of eating raw sunflower seeds. Store bought bread made with processed white flour and 20 other preservatives does not benefit our body like an organic sourdough bread made with natural fermentation and freshly processed whole grain flour. In skincare, the same applies. Our body doesn't process retinol synthesized in a lab and added to our skincare the same way it does when it comes from fish and eggs. I actually learned that skincare and diet are highly complimentary, and that skincare ingredients are best when found in nature and that have been used by our ancestors to care for their skin. 

So I formulate our products with the belief that just like we should prioritize eating whole foods for nutrition, we should prioritize using whole ingredients on our skin. Ingredients that have their benefits, vitamins and properties preserved, with minimal processing, because if we are a part of nature, our skin recognizes natural ingredients, which are made with the same wisdom that we were created: the wisdom of the Earth. 

When I make the statement that we are Nature, I mean it. We are not a processed, fragmented part of nature. We were created by the intelligence of nature, and we thrive when our bodies are in connection with the other parts of creation. When we eat whole foods grown locally, when we sunbathe and put our feet on the ground, and... when we nourish our skin with ingredients that are whole and are preserved in their most natural form, we thrive.

Circular Bodies did not start as a skincare brand. It started with my personal realization that we are part of the cycles of the Earth, and we are in our best health when we embrace that. 

I no longer make everything I use from scratch. But I learned to purchase from businesses that help make my life easier, while aligning with the same values I hold dear to my heart. Hot sauce fermented with local peppers in a glass bottle? Yes. Cheese made from cows my neighbors fed and tended to? Yes. Tinctures make with herbs from my friend's garden? Yes. The radicalization of my lifestyle was crucial for me to understand the world I wanted to create for myself and live in - and that is what led me find and learn to support businesses that upholds the same values and are building this reality with me.

I haven't been to a CVS in over 10 years.. and my house is the cleanest it's every been! We can't change our whole life in a day, but we can always take a step in the direction of the alignment we believe in. So I ask you: What small step do you choose to take today to build the life that your heart feels most aligned it?