I have been fascinated with cosmetics and skin care since my days as a make-up artist at Nordstrom. I love trying new products; spraying perfume on myself, and rubbing scented body lotion all over my skin was a daily ritual. Not to mention the medication I was taking, and skin care I was using from my dermatologist to get rid of my acne. I didn't have a clue that any of those products were hazardous to my health; it didn't even occur to me.
That was years ago, and since then I have emersed myself in learning about health - inside and out. Last year, I "greened" my home by replacing all of my toxic home and personal care products with non-toxic alternatives. That is how I discovered Pangea Organics, an award-winning, completely sustainable and organic skin care company. After reading one of their newsletters written by their founder, Joshua Scott Onysko, I was inspired to give him a call. And what a fascinating call that was...
RR: Why did you start Pangea?
JSO: I started Pangea to fund the Pangea Institute, act as a role model for the corporate world, and to prove to the world that you can do business socially and sustainably much more than the world is used to, and still be profitable. The Institute is aimed at improving the social environmental sustainability of corporations.
RR: I didn’t realize that you had the idea of the Institute before the idea for the company?
JSO: It actually came the year beforehand.
RR: How did you then decide to start the company? How did you get interested in body care products?
JSO: I started Pangea to fund the Pangea Institute, act as a role model for the corporate world, and to prove to the world that you can do business socially and sustainably much more than the world is used to, and still be profitable. The Institute is aimed at improving the social environmental sustainability of corporations.
RR: I didn’t realize that you had the idea of the Institute before the idea for the company?
JSO: It actually came the year beforehand.
RR: How did you then decide to start the company? How did you get interested in body care products?
JSO: I made a batch of soap from a book with my mom right before I moved to Bombay. It was the first time I really played with essential oils and herbal extracts, and after traveling through the world, mostly Asia for two years, I kind of had this epiphany of alchemy. Alchemy has many different definitions. A lot of people think it’s turning lead into gold. The reality is alchemy is chemistry, but only using nature. I realized that I was really good at understanding what plants had to offer.
The thing that kept going through my head is that the longest clinical trial in the world is evolution. So if you look around the world, there’s plants that are extremely medicinal. Anywhere you go in the world, all around us, there’s plants that can heal us, and these plants are evolving over millions of years. So why aren’t we focusing on using the plants medicinally – topically and internally?
There’s definitely a movement for homeopathy and pharmaceutical-type products, but I started looking at the skin care industry and realized how toxic it was. Your skin is your largest organ, and absorbs over 80% of what you put on it, and if your average consumer goes into their medicine cabinet right now, there’s about 20 carcinogens in every bottle that people are smearing all over themselves and their children. It’s literally absorbing right into your body.
I started using alchemy, essential oils, herbology and aromatology that were more efficacious than what people were using from their drugstore, pharmacy or department store, but 100% natural. Not “natural” as in what you buy at the co-op or health food store, but 100% natural meaning you can go into a Whole Foods and buy every ingredient that we make our products with. Yet they are shelf-stable, and highly efficacious. Our products are used in 12 different countries, and have won several awards. This is my way of proving to the world that you can use nature and get the same results - better results - than using a chemical brand.
RR: Why should we be using organic products?
JSO: It’s a multi-tiered question. It’s clinically proven that organic ingredients have 40% more antioxidants than conventional ones. Why that’s important, is the only way to stop premature aging is to use as many anti-inflammatory and antioxidants ingredients on your skin as you can. So if you’re going to be using skin care, you should be using organic because it’s more efficacious. I’m a big supporter of organic. We outlawed DDT in 1972, a harsh pesticide, yet we still produce it and are the largest producer of it in the world. We sell it to all of these developing countries that grow food for us, and then we buy that food back. It’s very fascinating.
Stay tuned for part two.
The thing that kept going through my head is that the longest clinical trial in the world is evolution. So if you look around the world, there’s plants that are extremely medicinal. Anywhere you go in the world, all around us, there’s plants that can heal us, and these plants are evolving over millions of years. So why aren’t we focusing on using the plants medicinally – topically and internally?
There’s definitely a movement for homeopathy and pharmaceutical-type products, but I started looking at the skin care industry and realized how toxic it was. Your skin is your largest organ, and absorbs over 80% of what you put on it, and if your average consumer goes into their medicine cabinet right now, there’s about 20 carcinogens in every bottle that people are smearing all over themselves and their children. It’s literally absorbing right into your body.
I started using alchemy, essential oils, herbology and aromatology that were more efficacious than what people were using from their drugstore, pharmacy or department store, but 100% natural. Not “natural” as in what you buy at the co-op or health food store, but 100% natural meaning you can go into a Whole Foods and buy every ingredient that we make our products with. Yet they are shelf-stable, and highly efficacious. Our products are used in 12 different countries, and have won several awards. This is my way of proving to the world that you can use nature and get the same results - better results - than using a chemical brand.
RR: Why should we be using organic products?
JSO: It’s a multi-tiered question. It’s clinically proven that organic ingredients have 40% more antioxidants than conventional ones. Why that’s important, is the only way to stop premature aging is to use as many anti-inflammatory and antioxidants ingredients on your skin as you can. So if you’re going to be using skin care, you should be using organic because it’s more efficacious. I’m a big supporter of organic. We outlawed DDT in 1972, a harsh pesticide, yet we still produce it and are the largest producer of it in the world. We sell it to all of these developing countries that grow food for us, and then we buy that food back. It’s very fascinating.
Stay tuned for part two.
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