Welcome to my first Blog!
I wanted to tell you all why and how I got started in the organic and non-toxic beauty business.
My Dad's family were in the commercial construction business. They all got cancer and some died young from being exposed to environmental toxins. Nowadays, construction workers wear N95 masks when working with chemicals, in areas where there are expected toxins, ect. Back when my family was working in construction, masks were not worn. My Father and his twin brother worked in the construction industry when they were teenagers in the summer and then all through college. They would go back to Alaska and work at the company that my Grandfather worked for.
After college my Dad and uncle worked for companies that did government contracts, mostly military contracts. My Uncle Bill who I was super close to started working at a lab where he was a materials manager. The material he worked with was Plutonium. At 15 years old and I told him that I was concerned that he would die from cancer because of his exposure. I begged him to quit and he laughed. He got a rare cancer at 47 and died at 49 years old. It was so upsetting to me. I never forgave this lab who did work for UC Berkeley. I am 100% against the use of nuclear energy because of this.
My father got Prostate cancer when he was 55. It had already spread to his lymph nodes when they detected it. The doctors said he would live five years. He actually lived 22 more years but he died way too young! A month before he died my dad told a friend of his, that my dad's cancer was likely hereditary from his father who died of bone cancer. I told him “Dad you probably got it from working in construction and at your job in Sunnyvale." I had seen a story on NBC Bay Area news saying that people who lived or worked near Moffett Field had a high rate of cancer and radiation was found in the sewer in this area. My dad's office was next door to Moffett Field. My dad got very mad at me and yelled at me (which he never did). I went home that weekend and asked the daughter of his best friend, Ginger, who worked in the same office as my dad (she succumbed to breast cancer the year before my Dad), "Does your Mom think she got cancer from her work?" She said yes she was involved in six class action lawsuits, and finally went bankrupt, trying to fight for the truth. My dad and Ginger worked together for 45 years. He got the male cancer, she got the female one. When I went back the next weekend and told my Father, he was furious and speechless. This is what usually happens with environmental cancers: they go to male and female organs. This is why I am extremely passionate about preventing cancers!
After I had been in the beauty business a long time Environmental Working Group EWG started the website Skin Deep. They check toxins in beauty products. I shrugged my shoulders and thought to myself, "Oh well I am in the chemical business." I wouldn’t even look at the site and check my products, because I was really worried about what I was using. Then I started getting frequent requests for Organic hair color and I told people that there is no such thing. My Life coach (Mary, at Have a Better Day) told me “Sheila it’s 2012 of course there is organic hair color." My search began and I now use three brands of Organic Hair Color and I only take Organic color clients. I am so busy with organic color clients that I am turning away people like crazy and have a waitlist. Most hairdressers think Organic color doesn’t work well so they won’t even try it. My clients will tell you it definitely does. There are a few limitations but not many. It works on everyone. This is why I am extremely passionate about preventing cancers!
From this, my nontoxic beauty business was born!
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