Agalychnis callidryas

 a.k.a. Red Eyed Tree Frog!

Why choose a frog for a skin care company logo? Good question. Glad you asked!

Because they are more vulnerable than many other creatures, amphibians are considered a ``canary in the coal mine'' for environmental damage. The canary was used for detecting toxic or explosive gases in coal-mines, before there was a better way to do it. More sensitive to such gases than humans, they would collapse long before the miners were affected, and a collapsed canary was therefore a signal to the miners to get out immediately, and to management to look at the problem and clean up the mine. 

Like many others world-wide, we at Skinfood Works, Inc. are seeing this frightening canary-in-the-coal-mine phenomenon with our frog populations right now, on a global scale. It's a wake-up call. We need to pay attention ... and take action. 

Amphibian populations are in decline in many areas of the world. In cities and the countryside, in rain forests and wetlands, countless areas which previously hosted a range of healthy amphibian populations now have fewer - and even no - frogs, toads, and salamanders. While healthy populations of some species may exist elsewhere in some cases of declines, a few species - including Costa Rica's Monteverde golden toad and Australia's Gastric brooding frog - are now believed extinct.

The continental United States is home to at least 230 amphibian species: 90 frog and toad species, and 140 species of salamanders. In the U.S., declines are particularly serious in California, the Rocky Mountains, the Southwest. Amphibian deformities - extra limbs, malformed or missing limbs, and facial malformations - have been documented in 44 states, and involve nearly 60 species. In some local populations, up to 60% of the amphibians exhibit deformities.

So what is Skinfood doing about it? Well, that's another really good question. Allow me to share our company philosophy with you ...

One Product • One Planet

At Skinfood Works, Inc, it is our passion to produce safe, effective and environmentally sound skin-care products as well as operate our company, on all levels, with Green Business practices. It is our sincere hope that we can make a positive contribution to our global health and environmental challenges, while inspiring and encouraging others to do the same.

Skinfood is handmade and contains no parabens, artificial fragrances, artificial coloring, petrochemicals or harmful ingredients. Our ingredients are carefully chosen, each working in synergy with the others, to improve the health of your skin.  As a comprehensive (all-in-one) remedy, it eliminates the need for many specialty products. By purchasing skinfood, you’re supporting sustainable agriculture, fair-trade sourcing and the use of renewable, recycled and recyclable resources - which means you, too, are positively impacting the future ... our future, and the future of our planet. 

So what does all that really mean to you and to the environment?

It's actually quite simple. The Original Skinfood helps you, and the environment, by being an "eco-friendly" product. Because it's made with all natural ingredients that are safe enough for even a frogs' skin - no harmful chemicals or other nasty stuff - you can feel good about using it on your own skin. Sustainable indredients means it's not using up our planets' fragile and ever depleting natural resources. 

The Original Skinfood takes the place of a host of other products clogging up your medicine cabinet, too. If you read the ingredients in many of todays' skin care products you will see a pretty scary list of toxic chemicals. Check out some of your favorite products on a very informative website called Skin Deep. I was shocked to read about how dangerous some of the things I had in my own medicine cabinet were! They contained known cancer-causing ingredients, and a lot of other seriously bad stuff. Why in the world would you want to use something like that???

Skinfood Works, Inc. is a "green business." Our product containers and our packaging are made from recycled and recyclable materials, so it's not filling up landfills with even more trash and pollutants that leach back into the earth and the water supply. In our office we use recycled (and recyclable) materials, everything from printer paper to trash bags! Our manufacturing facility operates the same way.

Last, but certainly not least, we have never - nor ever will - use animal testing with our product. A horrifying reality is that many of the skin care products on the market are tested on animals. It's an incredibly cruel practice with no actual benefit to humans. Take a couple of minutes and read this article about it - Animal Testing. We, at Skinfood Works, Inc. believe it should be banned on a global scale and applaud countries like Belgium who have already banned this inhumane practice. The Original Skinfood, because it contains no toxins or harmful chemicals, is as safe for your pets as it is for you ... and we know this from practical use on our own pets! I'll have to get Peggy to blog the story about using it on her dog.

I hope, like our mission statement says, that we as a business can help further the eco-awareness movement that is slowly but steadily growing in our global society. We truly only have one planet and we need to "clean up the mine" before it's too late.

Namaste', y'all ...

Carol