Giving Thanks

This year has been a whirlwind and personally it is hard for me to believe that Thanksgiving is here and before you know it, the first of the year.

And, even in this hectic business and holiday cycle, it is important to take a step back, evaluate what is happening and be thankful for the really important things in life.

As the owner of Absolutely Natural, my biggest thanks go to our loyal customers. You are the reason we set our standards so high and never compromise on quality. The thousands of letter we get are proof positive our insistence on being the best is working.

One of my biggest thrills is talking to our customers some of whom I have “known” for almost 20 years. I recently had the privilege of meeting Maureen Hafner who has been a favorite of mine since 1999, when she found our products in Waikiki Beach. We attended the I-Spa show in Washington D.C. and Maureen and her husband came by and we had a lovely visit. It was great putting a face to the voice.

I am so thankful for our dedicated staff and all the hard work they put in to make these wonderful products. They know how much I appreciate them one and all. Lindsey who is our project manager and Vice President of the company; Danny who heads our production area and soon to be in sales; Todd, national sales manager; Anita, Matt, Chris and Evan in production; Ben who is in inventory control plus all of our sub contractors.

A special thanks to Bob Hamner, formula developer extraordinaire and Suzanne Clements, who has made all of us look better with her incredible talents in photography, graphic design, copy writing and a million other things.

I am also thankful for our great list of retailers who have made our product known worldwide. As of last count we are in nearly 300 resorts.

We are also grateful to the men and women who put themselves in harm’s way so we can live a free life and take advantage of our opportunities. To the brave soldiers and sailors and our air force and all branches of service, we thank you and feel blessed to have you.

Here’s to a great holiday season.

Best regards,

Charley

Alternative Uses...

Throughout the years, I have heard from many customers who are innovative in their use of our products. Ever think of using our Pure Aloe with tea tree oil as a hair pomade? One of our salesmen in Hawaii has been doing this for years!

Our famous Rosehip Aloe has many uses and most prevalently as a shaving lotion. I've tried it and it does provide a great shave. Wash your face (I'm talking to men, of course) with our Facial Cleanser or Shower Gel and rinse with warm water. Lay the Rosehip Aloe on and let it soak on your face for about a minute. Then shave as you normally would. Expect an unbelievable close and comfortable shave and soft, smooth skin.

One of the more interesting alternative uses came from one of our long time female customers who uses our Tattoo Stay Nu serum as an under eye serum at night. She swears that it works much better than her old $75/oz crème.

For me, we have two products that are by far the most versatile in our line. Our Pure Aloe can be used on insect bites, for shaving irritation, sunburn, kitchen burns and is actually used at Emerson Hospital on radiation patients. I know a lot of our customers keep bottle at home, work and on the boat.

The king of versatility is our Organic Oil. It is an excellent hydrator, great massage oil, and superb bath oil. It is chock full of antioxidants, free radical scavengers, and ant-aging compounds. You can use it as a body oil, under the eyes at night and it is great for a deep conditioning hair treatment. We also have heard from some women who use it as a leave in conditioner as well.

We want to hear from you! What interesting ways have you used our fabulous Absolutely Natural?

True Testimonials...

Before I founded Absolutely Natural in 1992, I spent 20 years selling and distributing other, nationally recognized brands of suncare – brands you would be familiar with. In all those years, I only got a handful of people writing to relay to us how much they liked the product. They wouldn’t fill a shoe box.

The above fact makes what has happened with Absolutely Natural even more remarkable. Throughout the last two decades, we have received thousands of positive letters from our happy clients extolling the merits of our products.

They often start like this, “Every time I use the Rosehip Aloe it reminds me of Maui (or Mexico, or the Caribbean, or any other of our worldwide destinations).” We have hundreds of those.

You Saved My Vacation
I really appreciate the ones where we have helped people. “You saved my vacation” is a frequent theme where someone got too much sun and our aloes saved the day. I got one from a women who started, “We were 10 minutes from leaving for the hospital when we talked to your skin care consultant.” We’ve had others who have shared with us that they were “never able to enjoy the outdoors until finding Absolutely Natural.”

We have drawers full of letters from people who have improved their skin, their hair and their love life because of our all-natural cosmetic formulas. “My husband and I feel like we’re back in Cancun every time we use the Organic Oil. We trade back rubs several times a week now.” This was one happy woman!

Dear Charley, I have tears in my eyes as I write this…
My favorite one started like this, “Dear Charley, I have tears in my eyes as I write this …” It was about her daughter who had such terrible acne that she was severely depressed and basically sat in her room avoiding contact with the outside world. She actually had trouble attending school. We worked with her step by step with our incredible facials products. She started seeing improvement within days - and sticking to the program made a significant improvement on her complexion. The letter went on, “… thanks to you and your products, my daughter is a new person. Happy, outgoing and successful. You have a friend and customer for life.” That was two years ago and she still talks to us frequently.

I love hearing from our customers and the favorite part of my day is reading our testimonials. Keep them coming!

Best regards,

Charley

Practically the entire Absolutely Natural team just returned from a harried, hectic, incredibly busy, incredibly productive and all around fantastic convention in Lexington, Kentucky where we introduced a new line of products to several thousand people. The new line is a private label called Envy Organics.

Joining me were Lindsey Pushman, Todd Anderson, Danny Richards, Bob Hamner and Suzanne Clements. We worked as a team demonstrating and explaining the benefits of the new line on thousands of attendees. It was amazing to see our booth swamped 5-10 people deep. As one group moved onto the event store, another group filled in right behind to learn about the new line.

Lindsey and Suzanne were eventually moved to the event store to help answer questions and explain the new line to those who may have missed our booth. In these three days, I saw the most frenzied buying that I have ever witnessed this side of a 75% off shoe sale at Macy’s New York store!

We, aka the “Envy Team”, became quite recognizable over these three days and we truly enjoyed meeting this new group, taking their questions and getting to hear what made them so excited about this new line.

One of the most frequently asked questions directed to me was, How was it that I am so passionate about Absolutely Natural? I think a few of them silently added, Especially for your age!

That’s the easiest question I’ve ever had asked of me. There are so many reasons I love my job and my company. One of the biggest reasons is the young people that work with me. I feed off their enthusiasm and energy. The average age of our employees in our Melbourne office and factory is 27 years old. They are passionate, eager to learn and have great, innovative ideas. It’s infectious and one of the reasons the company is growing so quickly.

Another reason is our products and how they help people. It is a joy to answer the phone and talk with our sales personnel across the world. They almost always are calling to tell yet another story about how our sunscreens or aloes saved someone’s vacation.

Being able to develop unique formulas working with only the best raw materials and the most gifted formulators and cosmetic chemists definitely heightens the passion. I could never sell something I don’t believe in and am product to sell our world class products.

The biggest reason, of course, is the customers. For almost 20 years now we have had a special relationship with our clients. There are some that I know well. Maureen from Virginia; Karla from Chicago; Shan from Nebraska; John and Jamie from Oklahoma; Hillary from New York and I could go on and on. I’ve talked to customers and recommended products for them after their babies were born … those “babies” are now in college.

There are always problems / challenges running a small business but there are so many things to be passionate about.

Nasty Chemicals for $1000 please Alex...

Let’s play a little Absolutely Natural Jeopardy:

I'll take "Nasty Chemicals for" $1000 please, Alex.

The answer is: What are Parabens, Sodium Laurel, Sodium Laureth and Phthalates?

Buzzzzz … What are three common chemicals that Absolutely Natural has totally eliminated in their new spa line?

Correct!


I always wanted to go on Jeopardy but I’d end up being one of the guys that has $220 at end of the game and the scorn of Alex Trebek. Unless, of course, all the categories were about skincare and suncare.

Most of you have heard about the chemicals referred to above, but don’t know the potential dangers. The run down:

Parabens
Parabens (preservatives in shampoos, lotions and most personal care products) can mimic estrogen in the body. Excess estrogen in the body can increase the risk of breast cancer.

In addition, a study done in 2002 by Dr. S. Oishi in Tokyo concluded that newborn male babies exposed to Parabens “adversely affects the secretion of testosterone and the function of the male reproductive system."

A report done by our own EPA, stated that Parabens can mimic your own body’s hormones and can have endocrine-disrupting action when they are rubbed into your body. These disruptors interfere with your endocrine system, your hypothalamus, your ovaries, your thyroid and virtually every system in your body.

Sodium Laurel and Sodium Laureth
These particular sulfates (lathering agents in shampoos and body washes) have been shown to produce eye and/or skin irritation. Research by OSHA and CTFA (Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association) concludes that Parabens are a known carcinogen (low levels of carcinogen 1,4-dioxane) and irritant.

Phthalates
Phthalates are a group of chemicals used in the making of polyvinyl plastics but are common in personal care products including shampoos and lotions. Exposure to these chemicals has been linked to:

• Adverse effects on genital development of male fetuses in utero
• Premature breast development in young girls
• Affects on puberty functions
  

Now I’ll be the first to admit that nothing has positively concluded that these chemicals are the primary cause of these adverse reactions but there is enough evidence to warrant caution. When you consider that anything absorbed through the skin may be as high as 10 times more concentrated than an oral dose.

In the words of one of my favorite customers, “Why take the chance?”

Especially when there are great alternatives provided you by Absolutely Natural.

Best regards,

Charley

SPF’s Impact on the Environment

It is estimated that every year 8000 tons of chemicals are deposited on our precious ocean coral reef to disastrous results. These chemicals are choking the life out of our reefs and no one dares to predict what will happen if they die out.

The culprits are not only chemical factories spewing run off into our oceans, greenhouse gases and cruise ships dumping waste. The damaging chemicals come from millions of people innocently playing in the oceans while wearing chemical sunscreens.

The main offenders from these perfectly legal and highly marketed sunscreens are the chemicals used for the sunscreen factor, emulsifiers and preservatives. Some of these ingredients can take months to biodegrade all the while causing damage.

High SPFs Are They For Real?
Let’s take SPF 100 as an example. Technically that would mean that a sunscreen at that level would give you 100 times more protection than wearing no sunscreen. So, if it takes you 20 minutes in the sun before you start to redden, this means, in theory you could enjoy the sun without consequence for 2000 minutes! Ridiculous! The serious issue is that people are exposing themselves to potentially toxic levels of chemicals when they fall for the marketing hype that leads them to believe you need such high SPF numbers.

Most reasonable researchers agree that an SPF 15 is a maximum sunscreen and that anything over an SPF 30 is unnecessary. Because our natural sunscreens reflect UV instead of absorbing it the way chemical sunscreens do, our all-natural higher SPF’s are more than sufficient for all levels of UV exposure.

Absolutely Natural’s SPF and the Environment
Recently, we funded a study done by Dr. Joel Olson from the prestigious Florida Institute of Technology. We are still evaluating Dr. Olson’s findings but one of the outstanding discoveries that came from this study is that Absolutely Natural sunscreens are 80% biodegraded within two weeks. Of course, there are no chemicals in the formulas and there is no adverse effect to our waters or our coral reefs.

Since 1992, we have been on the cutting edge of working with naturals and organics … better for your skin, your health and the future for our children.

Best regards,

Charley

High SPF Factors Danger to Health, Environment