The importance of considering all sides.

An Important Update from Me

This is an important post.

Please read with an open and receptive mind. I’m a bit anxious about sharing this, but I feel it’s necessary.

After reading, please feel free to comment with any questions. I will answer them all, and I may even do a video responding in more detail if there’s interest.

At the core of everything I do is integrity. I have always promised to be honest with all of you. I resist ideology and make decisions based on what works. As I gain better information, I follow it. I have always been, and will always remain, committed to providing the safest, most effective, and most accessible products I can. I have no interest in virtue signaling. I will always walk the walk.

Fact: Not everything “natural” is better, and not everything synthetic is bad.

If you read nothing else, here’s the TL;DR:
Moving forward, Handmade by Bumble will no longer adhere to a strict 100% natural or naturally derived label. Instead, I will formulate products that are the least irritating, most effective, and simplest possible, within the realistic limits of a small business. This means that sometimes synthetic ingredients will be used.

Any ingredient I choose, natural or synthetic, will be thoroughly researched and used only within established safe usage rates. If you don’t trust me, I understand. All I can do is ask that you consider the consistency I’ve shown over the years. I have always been transparent, I openly acknowledge mistakes, and I change my mind when better information becomes available. I have zero desire to harm anyone. I use these products on myself and my family, and I would never knowingly put them, or you, at risk.

I’ve never been profit driven in the hollow sense of the word, though of course a business must be profitable to exist. What genuinely drives me is sharing good information and helping you make informed choices for your family. Skincare and cosmetics are just one piece of that, and they’re the only focus of this discussion.

A Little History

I’ve been making my own products for over a decade. About six years ago, I began selling some of them, balms, body butters, and deodorants, to family and local customers. While I never imagined the business would grow into what it is today, I formed an LLC early on and began learning regulations to protect myself and others, a much larger undertaking than I initially realized.

Those who’ve followed me for a long time know that I waited before selling lotions and creams. That was intentional. These products are far more complex and require robust preservation systems. I wanted to understand how to formulate them safely before offering them to anyone else, so I invested in education.

I need to be honest here. A lot of free information online about cosmetic formulation is simply wrong.

At the time, I made an assumption that natural skincare was the obvious and correct direction. Because I advocate for holistic health and herbal medicine, I assumed 100% natural skincare naturally fit alongside that philosophy. With that mindset, I enrolled in courses through Formula Botanica. I truly value the education I received there and learned a tremendous amount.

However, just as I acknowledge the value of some allopathic and conventional medicine, I’ve come to understand that some synthetic ingredients are simply better suited for creating safe cosmetics. The area that most clearly led me to this conclusion is preservation.

Preservatives are often the most demonized ingredients within crunchy and natural skincare spaces. To better understand them for myself, not just accept talking points, I began studying cosmetic chemistry more deeply and enrolled in coursework through the Institute of Personal Care Science.

Let’s Address Some Myths

Fact: Everything is a chemical.

I’ve seen ingredient “blacklists” pushed by influencers claiming vast portions of cosmetic ingredients are toxic, or that the cosmetics industry is unregulated. This is simply false. I’ll admit, I fell for some of that fear early on, but the fear mongering never sat right with me.

I’ve seen discussions in online crunchy spaces become hostile and completely divorced from science. People attack ingredient lists without understanding usage rates, formulation context, or even basic cosmetic chemistry. I’ve seen ingredients condemned that are used at 0.2%, amounts so small they are functionally irrelevant to the claims being made.

I’ve even seen people say that if you can’t pronounce an ingredient, you shouldn’t use it. By that logic, most Latin botanical names would be off limits too.

I don’t identify with labels. I don’t make decisions to appease trends or consumer pressure. I do what I feel confident in. If people choose to support that, I’m grateful. If not, I respect their choice. I won’t compromise my standards just to preserve a marketing label.

The Hard Truth About “Natural” Preservation

Here’s the reality. Many natural preservatives are significantly weaker, and some are frankly ineffective. Natural formulations are rich in organic matter, which microbes thrive on. These products are ideal breeding grounds for bacteria and mold, and attempting to preserve them with limited systems is extremely challenging.

I’ve incurred significant losses from failed batches preserved “naturally.” These ingredients are often more expensive, and discarding unsafe products is costly, but necessary. And here’s the question that really matters.

What’s more dangerous, trace amounts of a well studied synthetic ingredient, or microbial contamination?

Staph infections from contaminated skincare are far more dangerous.

Natural preservatives also have very narrow parameters, strict pH requirements, compatibility limitations, and the need for highly precise formulation. Ironically, many people automatically trust products labeled “natural,” even though the term itself is unregulated. You should be more critical of that claim, not less.

Poorly preserved “natural” products are often far less safe than conventional products people label as “toxic.” Yes, I said that.

If you’d like to dive deeper, I’ve written more about this here:
https://handmadebybumble.com/.../skincare-and-cosmetics...

Context Matters

“The dose makes the poison.”

Many natural substances are toxic at certain levels, and some are outright dangerous. How something behaves when ingested is not how it behaves when applied topically. These are entirely different conversations, and conflating them leads to misinformation.

It’s also worth noting that many ingredients accepted in natural formulation are nature identical, created in a lab to mirror naturally occurring compounds. The word “natural” is often used in misleading ways, and many companies make formulation compromises simply to maintain label appeal.

In the EU, for example, companies are prohibited from making “free from” claims, like “paraben free,” because it falsely implies that approved ingredients are unsafe when used correctly.

What This Means Going Forward

There is no single preservative that works for every product. Preservation must suit the formula.

When possible, I will continue to use the safest natural options available. My products will still be largely natural, and organic when feasible. When that isn’t appropriate, I will choose the gentlest effective synthetic option.

One example is baby care. Baby washes require a slightly higher pH, around 6.5 to 7.3, for gentleness. Many natural preservatives don’t function at that pH, and some contain salicylic acid, which is unsafe for children under three. For these reasons, I use Liquid Germall Plus in our baby wash and shampoo. It is one of the most widely used and well studied preservatives in the industry. I will also be using it in skin toners.

Going into this year, all lotions and creams will include a chelator to support preservation. Rather than EDTA, I’ve chosen a gentler alternative, Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate (TSGD). Used at just 0.1 to 0.2%, it significantly improves stability and shelf life.

I may not need to go into this much detail, but misinformation requires more information to counter it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for being here. As always, every ingredient will be fully disclosed on both labels and the website, in proper regulatory order. Understanding labels matters, and I encourage consumers to learn how to read them critically.

I’m incredibly excited to share what I’m creating this year. I have new equipment, deeper knowledge, and so much creative energy ready to be put to use.

Thank you for growing with me. 🌱