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I am a soap person. I love to try out new soaps, especially those sold at Whole Foods. The Whole Food stores near our home have truly amazing selections of soap. One of my more recent finds is True Body Soap.

The origins of True Body Products go back to a series of water-cooler sessions with a group of friends and colleagues at Seventh Generation in Burlington, Vermont. We dreamed and schemed of ways we could put a personal stamp on Seventh Generation’s challenge to make the world a better place. Fast forward to a cold morning in December 2006, when, over coffee, everything came together around an opportunity to make a good-quality natural product that would be accessible to more people. We formed True Body Products (originally known as Orange Mountain) to make True Body Soap: a 100% natural, environmentally-conscious product that’s priced significantly lower than other natural soaps.

But it’s not just about the soap. We knew that the way we planned to run the company would need to match the mission of the product. So, we set out to create a business model that bakes our values into everything we do. We strive to create a workplace community that nurtures human potential and is driven by cooperation rather than ego.

We believe that generating wealth means producing healthy and useful products, creating good quality jobs, protecting the planet, and contributing to our community, as well as making money. By this example, we hope to change the way the world does business.

True Body Soap is unscented, and it contains only five ingredients – coconut oil, pal oil (from members of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil), water, vegetable glycerine, and sodium. The soap makes lots of lather and is long lasting. It is especially good for people with sensitive skins, like me. At Whole Foods, I purchased three bars for $4.99.

True Body Soap contains no animal by-products, synthetic ingredients or chemical preservatives. It’s entirely free of EDTA, chelates or any other type of artificial preservative.

True Body Soap comes in a 3-pack which is a better value for soap users, and better for the planet since we’re putting more product into less packaging.

The bar and the box were designed to make the most efficient use of space. We ship more soap and less empty space to help reduce the amount of energy used and pollution created to ship our product.

Our packaging is make from 100% recycled industrial waste, meaning the scraps created from the product of other companies’ packaging. We’re working to include post-consumer recycled material with our next packaging run.

More than 10 years ago, Blaire Kessler was Miss Winston Cup/NASCAR ’98. However, after being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2005, when she was only in her early 30s, Blaire found that she had “major hair and skin/scarring issues.” Searching for relief, Blaire realized that “there weren’t 100% natural products our there that included all of the ingredients I need to get my pretty hair and skin back. I received some products from my friend but was scared to use them because of chemicals and known carcinogens.”

Blaire decided to conduct her own research.

After much trial and error, I made my own leave-in hair and scalp revival serum and décolleté and underarm massage cream for scarring and skin renewal.

By early 2007, Blaire’s husband noted that she was looking fantastic. Perhaps, he suggested, these products could also help others.

I have collaborated with a team of professional chemists to create effective 100% natural, carcinogen free solutions for people like me who are looking in a new and healthy direction. As a breast cancer survivor, it was important to me to produce products for the public that were not only tested but I wanted the ingredients to be evaluated by a doctor. I contacted the one doctor renowned for critiquing cosmetics for being toxic – Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, the founder of the Cancer Prevention Coalition. He does not endorse products, but after reviewing all of the ingredients, he issued a letter stating that they are acceptable for safe public use which to a cancer survivor is mandatory during recovery and thereafter.

Pristine Beauty sells the following products: Hooray for Brallywood Butta Skin Cream, No Scary Hairy Hair and Scalp Revival Serum, Take a Whiff Natural Deodorant, Pristine Beauty Bag (Gift Set of Three), and Pristine Beauty Vanity Tray (Set of Three). All of the products are paraben free, phthalates free, mineral oil free, propylene glycol free, cruelty free, and vegan.

People who purchase Pristine Beauty products help younger women dealing with breast cancer. The company donates a portion of the proceeds to the Young Survival Coalition and the Cancer Prevention Coalition.