In The Beginning
"Let's make baby shampoo", I said to Kelly one day.
Yes, that's really how our company started.
Kelly and I decided to create a skin care line for children for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we love quality products for our own skin and so we didn't really see a whole lot of offerings on the market for high quality, spa grade products for children.
Secondly, what really pushed me over the edge was my daughter having a lot of allergies, skin problems, and gastrointestinal issues. I suddenly turned from being a mother who didn't pay any attention to what her family ate, drank or put on their skin to one who was hyper conscious of everything we were doing as a family.
How Do You Create A Skincare Line Anyway?
We knew that we wanted to do this product offering, we just had no idea how to do it. We chose the path of least resistance with regard to the brand name. I have a baby gear rental company called Baja Baby Gear. We surmised that it could be neat to name the skincare line Baja Baby Gear too.
Now, what about the products themselves? Months of research and a slew of telephone calls to various manufacturers all over the United States and Canada ensued. We finally found an awesome manufacturer in Canada who would help us produce our products. When our products launched in 2014, we loved them but the truth was, we did not have much to do with the development of the formulations. Instead, we went with private label. For those of you who don't know what that is - it's when a company uses a manufacturer owned formulation and uses it with their own branding.
And our first go at labeling was a collaborative effort between my son and I on an iPad where we drew out a picture of the sun and a fish! :-)
Our First Launch
Baja Baby Gear Citrus Shampoo & Wash was launched in July 2014. We got a warm reception from the public and we felt confident because we knew our product was safe and contained a good amount of organic ingredients. But as the months went by, I started to do some research of my own into our products and I realized that there was a lot that we could do better. What we had was really good but (full disclosure) wasn't the best on the market. Initially, I really did believe that we had the best thing to offer the public but when I took a look at the other offerings out there, I realized that we could up our game. Not at the expense of our customers but out of our own pockets.
Back To The Drawing Board
To say we went back to the drawing board last year is an understatement. We bought a NEW drawing board and essentially started from scratch all over again. We were lucky to find a manufacturer who works in a way that could be compared to craft beer companies. Attention to detail, quality of ingredients and ethical sourcing are of top priority to this company; which reflected our Baja Baby ethics also. It was a match made in heaven.
A big component of the switch in manufacturer is the ethical sourcing and the integrity of each ingredient that they use. Let's face it - if you are planning on producing the best skincare products for kids, then you probably want to get it right from the get-go. Meaning the best sourcing of the best ingredients, which are of the highest quality possible.
An Amazing Working Relationship Bears The Best Fruits
Prime Potions were willing to spend the time to hear us out. And most importantly they were willing to educate us as a company as to what the best ingredients are. Months and months and months of research, phone calls, thinking, deliberation went into 2016. Everything that you see on and in a bottle from Baja Baby has been a labor of love. The result of a considerable amount of blood, sweat, and tears on Kelly and I's part and that of our manufacturer too.
When we were indecisive about something, we always came back to the same question.
"If we had no cares in the world as to how much something costs, and you could bottle the bestest, safest product for children, what would that look like?"
And that's what we believe we have done.
