Lone Body is a family affair.
The all-natural body care company creates products to pamper your body without wreaking havoc on it at the same time. Without harsh chemicals and environmentally questionable practices, they’re providing top-of-the line products. And they’ve been doing just that as a family unit for quite some time.
The family business
Sarah Isely recalls the story of her Grandma being a pioneer for a healthy, natural lifestyle in the 50s after she got sick and the doctor’s solutions didn’t cure her. Nothing seemed to help until she researched natural healthy lifestyles (which weren’t very popular back then) and started healing herself with eating healthy and taking vitamins. She got passionate about it, eventually creating a natural products chain called Natural Grocers that is still in operation nationwide.
Her dad was raised in that lifestyle, and she says her mom was always kind of a hippie, so she grew up eating healthy and was ahead of the curve in learning about that sector.
“Even as teenagers we [she’s one of eight children] knew about natural products and avoiding toxic ingredients,” Isely says. “We rebelled and wore Secret even though we knew it was bad.”
At that age she remembers not wanting to compromise. They knew certain body care products weren’t good for them, but because the natural choices weren’t as effective, they wore the unhealthy products before they eventually started making lotions for themselves.
The family felt like they couldn’t trust a lot of natural brands that would slap an “all-natural” label on but didn’t follow through with the practices and ingredients, which was frustrating considering their background.
That’s when they started diving deeper into making their own products, starting with lotions and lip balms. But their father wanted to revisit the idea of natural deodorant. Although the kids were skeptical, he had a chemist/botanist friend who was able to work with him in addition to his own chemistry background. They tried to visit some possibilities that hadn’t been tried yet and broke down what might work with dead sea salt against body odor. The family all ended up trying it out and realizing it actually worked. Although they were critics, they were converted. And that’s what made them realize they had a product that was marketable and would make a difference in the world.
“It’s hard to switch over,” Sarah realizes, “Deodorant is just one of those things.” But that transition is one that can make a big health and environmental difference.
Teamwork makes the dream work
With eight kids in the family, they all work together as a team.
“We were all interested in similar things,” Sarah says, “Some are more involved than others, but right now we work together. Our dad is like the Godfather investor. But we have a lot to do with every aspect of the business, including product development. I even get in the lab and play around.”
But for the most part, Sarah handles marketing, and because they handle everything in house and ship everything themselves, one sister is the main fulfillment source, one sister does graphic design, their mom handles the bookkeeping processes and organizational things, and several siblings go in the lab and help make the products.
“We just all fit in times when we all have to get in and help in other areas,” she says.
Take the leap
Sarah knows that the transition to a natural deodorant from an antiperspirant can be a tough one.
The first step is understanding what an aluminum deodorant does to the body. Sure, deodorant is something you want to put on and forget about. It’s not very glamorous like finding a lipstick you like or a hair product that gives you a perfect hair day. But it’s something you’ll use every day for a lifetime. It’s not even like shampoo that you wash off, it stays on your body all day until you wash it off and reapply it again.
“You’re getting toxins in one of the most porous parts of your body all day,” Sarah says, “It’s important to really think about that and realize it might not do something immediately, but after 20 years of use, there are studies that link it to breast cancer and Alzheimer's, especially when used at a young age.”
People are afraid of the smell, but with Lone Body deodorant, you don’t have to worry about body odor. She says a lot of people reach out about wanting the antiperspirant effect, but they try to educate them that it’s not good for anyone. Once you stop using antiperspirants, you actually start sweating less because the product messes with your balance.
Worst case scenario, Sarah says people should save their antiperspirant for special occasions. If you’re going to the gym where you will sweat all over anyway or you’re working from home, what’s the harm in giving natural deodorant a try?
“It’s ok to sweat,” Sarah says, it’s healthy for your body to rid itself of those toxins.”
What’s next
The team at Lone Body is always working on new products and refining their formula.
“This year is the year we started getting it out there,” Sarah says, “Big goals would be to see Lone as one of the most popular deodorants in America.”
She’d also like to see a pivot in the education surrounding deodorant that gets people to switch over.
“We’re excited to position ourselves in the market because we have a unique product,” she says, “Even within the natural deodorant industry. One thing that’s really important is to have our partnerships be with meaningful, like-minded people and other women. We don’t just want to take the quick route of bringing along as many influencers as possible. It’s a struggle in the Instagram world of making yourself look as cool as possible while trying to stay genuine. We are working to create genuine products with genuine reach. Sure, we have the product, but our mission is about people.”
Photo: Courtesy of Lone Body
This post is brought to you in collaboration with Lone Body.