Get a feel for her journey and why she wants to bring the world's healthiest sunscreen to your bathroom cupboard
]]>It has always been about something more – says Jules as her tale unfolds. With her career in nursing leading to Sister-in-charge of the surgical ward in Harley St London, looking after Royalty in the royal and military hospital, she knew there was a different world to explore.
Something from her childhood and upbringing constantly stirred within. She was the far-away child that seemed like she was away with the fairies – probably because she was! Having been bought up in a political landscape, but a nature baby at her core, gave an interesting perspective on the world – that of hope, curiosity, exploration and faith that we can do better.
This pull, back to Nature was deafening. Jules left her Surgical Nursing career of 15 years and immersed herself deeply into the heart of India where, after living there for some time, she had an epiphany – in the shape of a motorbike accident. It changed her life.
In a remote area, covered in blood and in a world of pain, far from any village let-alone hospital, as she lay on the gravel road pondering the seriousness of her situation, she heard soft foreign voices approaching as women and children helped her and her friend into their mud hut. Gently but diligently these beautiful strangers started washing the wounds with coconut milk, then sterilising with coconut toddy – the children had heated coconut milk with some herbs from the garden, which were offered in coconut shell cups. Strips of coconut meat were placed tenderly over the jagged wounds and beautiful meals cooked over an earthen oven. The next morning after a very restful, and suspected opiate-aided sleep, Jules couldn’t believe her eyes – the wounds had already started to pink over! To Jules amazement and delight, she had just witnessed healing straight from the heart of Nature and the kindness of strangers. A glass bottle of coconut oil was given to her to apply twice daily, as she rode away in gratitude.
This lead to a journey spanning 10 years where Jules learnt of ancient healing techniques and alchemical ways with Indigenous cultures all around the world.
Jules came home to New Zealand and gained her triple diplomas of Medical Herbalism - specialising in Rongoa (Native NZ Bush Medicine) Naturopathy and Traditional Body Therapies. She quenched her adrenaline thirst and community spirit, by becoming a volunteer ambulance officer in Mangawhai by night and running her natural health clinic by day. Becoming a pilot during this time also gave a different perspective on the world.
Selling out of her natural skincare remedies each week and being booked out at her clinic, was proof enough that the world was ready for these natural therapies. Other practitioners and her clients were wanting to stock her eczema crème and healing bush balms and very quickly international companies took a vested interest in her unique formulas.
It took Jules 18 years to perfect her natural sunscreen, persistently pushing past the naysayers.
“They said it couldn’t be done – that it’s impossible” Bright says of the Labs response to her statement that she’s succeeded in formulating a 100% natural sunscreen that is SPF50 and invisible. Bringing together her nursing and naturopathy experience alongside her learnings on her travels gave this stubborn spirit confidence that she could make it happen.
“Our coral reefs are dying at a phenomenal rate, our forests are being chopped down – 80% of our plants are found nowhere else on Earth and our health is failing due to the chemicals we are dumping on all of it. It must stop and we have the solution right here. We can grow our own sunscreen and take that medicine straight to the reefs to heal them and not poison them, right there on our skin”
Bright is passionate about getting her World’s 1st Biogro-certified natural (100% ingredients certified) sunscreen SPF50 out there now, before it’s too late. Earth’s Kitchen has achieved what no other natural sunscreen has yet – this combination with a soft silky finish, water resistant for 2 hours, certified non-GMO, cruelty free and has a beautiful aroma.
Hawaii, Mexico, Palau Islands + Bonaire Island have passed a bill banning chemical sunscreen due to it’s proven toxicity and killing coral. Jules is branching out to the Hawaii market this year to launch her next-level sunscreen there, in a much needed market with over 10 million tourists visiting per year.
“Although it took me 18 years to perfect my formula, science and the law have now aligned, so it is actually right on time” Jules smiles
It’s big news because people are harmed when false claims are made. They are getting sunburnt or chemical burnt from chemical sunscreens.
Another sunscreen concern is that oxybenzone, a synthetic UV absorber has been found to kill coral, by killing the algae that lives symbiotically with it, giving it life. The FDA did recent surveys that are all over the news currently, regarding absorbing oxybenzone and other chemicals from sunscreen, into our bloodstream and blood – with worrying levels after just one day!
So what sunscreen can we trust?
What certifications and logos do we look for to know it is natural and has passed the appropriate tests to be safe for us and our family?
Most natural sunscreens in the past and currently leave a ghostly white sheen on the skin and tend to smell a little like wet dog!
Not Earth’s Kitchen sunscreen– actually smells divine, is totally invisible, condensed with high dispersibility – meaning it is Jules’ concentrated formula that spreads a long way. One tube of Earth’s Kitchen should last 3 tubes of your regular sunscreen.
You know you can trust Earth’s Kitchen because
This is truly next level sunscreen – all the aesthetics of it’s chemical alternatives but natural, nourishing hydrating body balm that is a pleasure to use, kids love it, surfies, gardeners, tradies and yachties love it as it’s non-sting with swimming and sweating, non stain and doesn’t take the paint off your car!
A perfect present – buy 2 or more for free shipping at ekskincare.com
]]>Hear us out. Pick up a bottle of any sunscreen and read the label on the back. Most warning labels will include advice against liberally applying sunscreen to babies under 6 months. That’s right, even sunscreens marketed for infants warn against liberal use.
Dermatologists and skin cancer bodies actually recommend against generous application of sunscreen on babies because their skins are more sensitive and have the capacity to absorb more through their skin than us older humans. Therefore, chemical-based sunscreens that contain ingredients such as oxybenzone (a known hormone disruptor), can have greater potential to get stuck in where they’re not invited.
So what is a new parent to do? As if you don’t have enough to worry about already, here are a few simple tips approved by the American Skin Cancer Foundation* on how to keep your baby sun safe:
Link in case you need: http://www.skincancer.org/prevention/sun-protection/children/infants
]]>In Sunscreen World, there are two kinds:
Chemical sunscreens use a combination of ingredients such as Octylcrylene, Avobenzone, Octinoxate, Octisalate, OxyBenzone, and Homosalate and Helioplex to effectively protect our skin. While effective, they can cause irritations to sensitive skin and because it works by being absorbed by the largest organ in our body, these guys can wind up in places sunscreen chemicals have no business being, doing things like potentially disrupting hormone function, for starters.
Those with PTSD over the pasty white zinc streaks of their childhood and have as such steered clear of mineral sunscreens, will be relieved to know that while the same ingredients (zinc and titanium dioxide) are what drives natural sunscreen, technology has caught up (thankfully) and these days, mineral protection is invisible to the eye, though still tough on UV. Natural sunscreens are also just as effective, if not more so than chemical alternatives and are also less likely to cause skin irritation, which is another natural bonus.
Chemical sunscreens may prove cheaper and more readily available than natural options (and are still better than nothing), but given the fact that mineral sunscreens are not only friendlier to your body as well as just the outside of your skin, that old saying about ‘you get what you pay for’ is worth considering at the check out counter.
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