Austin Moms Blog has teamed up with Baby Earth to host an educational event for families called, “It Takes a Village”. Our events our not possible without our sponsors so we invite you to meet our title sponsor for It Takes a Village, Dolphin Organics!
You find out you’re pregnant, you celebrate with your partner and share the fantastic news with family and friends. Now it’s time to dive into the sea of information out there on feeding and sleeping tips, car seats, strollers and carriers and every bit of baby gear you can imagine. The one often overlooked purchase is probably one of the most important – what goes in baby’s first bath. Because a baby’s skin is up to five times more porous than adult skin, it is extremely critical that we take great care as to what we rub on our children every day as much of what you rub onto your baby’s skin every day ends up in her bloodstream.
Now you’re standing in the aisle overwhelmed at the myriad of choices of baby shampoos and creams. Where does one start?! The first thing to do, no matter how pretty the bottle, how good it smells, who founded the company or the price, flip the bottle over and look for third party certifications. Did you know that ANYONE can put a body care product on the market in the US without any testing done whatsoever?! Yes, that’s right. The FDA does not regulate personal care products. So, start with products that have been certified by third-party organizations. This way, you can ensure that the claims the company is making have in fact been verified. Our Dolphin Organics line is certified to NSF/ANSI 305 by QAI. This is the organic standard for personal care products just as USDA is the organic standard for food. Dolphin Organics is also certified cruelty-free and vegan by PETA, and although not required, we have undergone extensive testing to ensure our hypoallergenic claims. We wanted to be positive our line would be safe for even the most delicate newborn skin. For children two years and older, our DO Naturals line is a Dolphin Mom favorite!
The one requirement that does exist for labeling is that the ingredients must be listed in order of volume. In other words, the first few ingredients make up the bulk of the formula. Beware when you see a list of synthetic ingredients and unrecognizable terms leading the way with the “natural” extracts buried at the bottom of the list. The more obvious ingredients to avoid are SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) and Parabens. However, often the real hidden risk lies in vague ingredient listings such as “Parfum” or “Fragrance”. Here, companies don’t divulge all components of their fragrance so yet again, natural extracts may well be masked by synthetic fragrances and artificial dyes. Dolphin Organics uses only 100% pure and natural extracts and oils for our subtle scents. There are absolutely no perfumes and harsh chemicals in our yummy smelling Lavender and Citrus. In fact, we’ve made it very easy for you to read our ingredients with a larger font and a simple three column format that tells you exactly what is organic, what is natural and most importantly – nothing artificial.
Our commitment to being a truly sustainable and eco-friendly company goes beyond what is in our bottles. In addition to being certified by QAI and completely non GMO, our entire line is 100% biodegradable. All packaging contains post-consumer recycled materials and are completely recyclable. It is important that our company make as small a carbon footprint as possible. We aim to remain as sustainable in our business practices as possible. We also keep a virtually paperless office, workers telecommute when possible, and we have cut our travel to trade shows in half.
We know finding the right product can be a daunting task. Try not to get overwhelmed. Even if you don’t choose Dolphin Organics, try and educate yourself as much as possible on ingredients, certifications and testing. Some great resources for moms are the EWG Cosmetic Database http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ and Katy Farber’s safemama.com
Dolphin Organics founder Ayo Hart is also happy to answer questions that she can and direct folks to the answer if she doesn’t have it. Moms can email [email protected] anytime.
Austin families can login and enjoy 25% off their first order using code AUSTIN25 through July 31, 2015.
Get your tickets to It Takes a Village, HERE! See you on the 27th!
