Hey there, Brooke here!

Six years ago, on my birthday, I clicked “Publish” on my very first website. But it wasn’t as simple as just a click…

You might bee thinking, “geez why would you spend your birthday working on a website?”. You see, whenever I am working, it’s really just me doing what I love….

The BEE-OCH story began when I was still in college as a pre-med student. Back then, ingredients in products didn’t mean a thing to me. I studied ingredients. Even learned to draw different chemical structures and interactions. But not once did I think to myself, “Yuck, why is this in here?”

Not until my little baby girl came along that is. It was this big bottle of “all natural” cocoa butter I was using on my growing belly that really ignited the whole thing (look, I still have it just as a reminder!)

So I’m standing there, mindlessly applying this bottle of toxic horror and skimming the chemical names like I often did, when it hit me like a rolled up newspaper…

Why is cocoa butter (in a cocoa butter lotion) the 7th ingredient in line!? Why is cocoa butter among 17 other ingredients at all when I could just buy actual cocoa butter!? Why am I paying for water? What are all these other ingredients for?

I panicked. I was scared for my little unborn baby that was only a few layers of skin away. I can only describe it as a sinking, cold sweat type of feeling. And then and there, the research began. 

As it turns out, this bottle alone contains parabens that are hormone distruptors (mimicking estrogen), “fragrance” that hides their trade secret (a chemical witches brew that we aren’t allowed to know), sulfate which is a sudsing agent (strange combo for a lotion, eh?), and last but not least, 4 different color dyes (just in case they haven’t fooled us enough already). 

Now, the story doesn’t immediately proceed with gung-hoeing some amazing clean formulas. It actually starts in the skincare isle at the local drug store. My cart was loaded up with the oh-so popular “natural” brand. But before I could drop over $100 on new lotion, shampoo, lip balm, toothpaste, and sunscreen, I took a peek at the ingredient panels…

To my surprise, the formulas were very similar to their “non-natural” counterparts (just with some added natural ingredients for good measure). What I came to realize is that every single product labeled and marketed as natural in that isle were not natural at all! A term I would later find out is called “greenwashing”. 

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t justify spending 5 times more on the same damn thing! Everything in my cart went back on the shelf that day and I left the store empty handed and full-on angry. 

I knew there had to bee a better way. I threw out (ok, recycled rather) all of my smelly bottles of nonsense in the medicine cabinet and bathroom drawers and started from scratch.

Over the next 3 or 4 years, I had only one thing in mind. Formulating and perfecting truly clean products with only organic ingredients (beeswax lip balm being the very first) before I even thought of turning it into a business.

Then one day my husband asked, “B, do you really want to make lip balm for a living?” and I blurted out, “Yeah, BEE-OCH!”. We both looked at each other with the same amused idea. That was it!

So there you have it. The reason I work on my bee-day is because this is my passion. This is what I get excited about. This is what I am here to do. Thank you from the bottom of my little queen BEE-OCH crown for all your support over these past 8 years. It has been the most amazing experience and I am so excited to keep improving, innovating, and growing as a business and a person with you on your chemical-free journey. 

Sincerely,

Your new favorite BEE-OCH

P.S. Please celebrate 8 years with us! You’ll find FREE Shipping on all orders over $99 plus 15% OFF your first online purchase when you subscribe to our newsletter on the main page here.