Let me let Amy, the owner tell you about Beecology:
My name is Amy; I met my husband David while attending The Ohio State University. We have been married for over 20 years. We have three teenage children, Molly, 18, Rachel, 17 and Nathan 14.
My family has always been then natural, "outdoorsy" type and has fun doing the unusual in Cleveland. We have taped our Maple trees, planted apple and peach trees at our house, build a tree house in our woods and most recently, we decided to have beehives for fresh honey. Currently we have 16 hives. We could not decide what to do with our excess bees wax. Making candles was too mundane for us. We decided to try lip balm. After many attempts, we came up with a product we thought was great. We tested it on our family and friends; they agreed.
That is where our company, Beecology started. Beecology is marketed through the Internet, regional farmer’s markets and boutique retail outlets in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan and New York. Beecology offers products that we handcraft from natural, renewable ingredients for the body—inside and out. Product assortment currently includes, essential oil nourishing soaps, preservative free body wash, sulfate-free hair care products, antioxidants creams, raw natural honey and Buzz Balm, lip balm.
When creating the business model for Beecology, there were two priorities. One was to create high quality, ecologically friendly products using completely natural and renewable ingredients. The other was to ensure charitable giving. We donate 10% of our net profits to our consumer’s charity of choice. Each supported product contains a charity code. After the purchase, consumers can visit Beecology’s charity web site, wwww.sweetyear.org to enter the code and designate to which charity their percentage should be donated.
It has been a great experience for my kid's to see how a business is established--from the ground floor up. They gave their opinions, learned to make our products, take care of our bees and even helped us at the different Farmer Market's.
My review:
I received three products from Beecology, two soaps and their Original Honey Hand and Body Cream.
Totally Hip Hemp Soap
Yeah, hemp. We know what you’re thinking. But what’s funny is that with this soap, you’re not too far off. Because this soap has a wonderful fresh and uplifting herbal smell, which will make you very, very happy. But the expeller-pressed, unrefined hempseed oil has other important benefits. It will help leave your skin smooth and moist. It is also known to help with acne, as well as dry or irritated skin. It even promotes good skin balance and has incredible antioxidant properties. But you might buy it for the smell alone. Go ahead, inhale.
5 oz. Net Wt.
Price: $5.99
The Totally Hip Hemp Soap lived up to hits name - It smells good and clean and is great for the guys in my life because it doesn't smell fruity or flowery. This is a fabulous unisex soap that lathers well and really does leave our skin moist!
Mosaico
Like many dads, mine is pretty sure he knows it all. He told me that if I made a multi-colored soap they’d fly off the shelf. Well, let’s just say there are still a few available. Like, if you need a whole case of it that can be arranged. But at his age, I’d rather make him right than see him lose face. So you’d be doing both of us a favor if you bought some for your funky teenage daughter, or maybe an artsy friend. Besides, I’m sure they’ll love the fragrance of ginger and orange essential oils in this hemp oil-based creation.
5 oz. Net Wt.
Price: $5.99
This is my new favorite soap!!! I absolutely love the orange ginger scent, the funky color and the wonderful way that it leaves my skin soft, clean and moisturized. The scent lingers in a good way and whether it is multi-color or not, this soap gets my two thumbs up!
Original Honey Hand & Body Cream$12.99
It took 111 formulations before we landed on the perfect hand and body cream (personally I liked #83, but I was outvoted). One ingredient in all versions was Cupuacu (koo-poo-ah-sue), from a tree in the Amazon Basin. It has tons of antioxidants and wonderful rejuvenating effects on skin. Eventually the conglomerate behemoths will catch on to Cupuacu, but for now it illustrates our commitment to finding and using ingredients that work, no matter how hard they are to pronounce. It also has marvelous Shea butter, along with olive oil and honey to ensure that this cream smoothes, softens, alleviates redness and moisturizes like no other. To lock in that moisture, we added propolis extract—earning bees yet another ingredient credit.
BONUS ENTRIES:
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