Two Feet From The Soapbox: Recent Episodes
Judith and Justin Sweeney
If you are looking to care for your sensitivities, we are here to help. We're Judith and Justin Sweeney, Co-founders of the oil-based cosmetics company Bubbles & Balms. We cohost this podcast series that blends story with insights and experiences from our decade together building a product line and lifestyle to help us love the daily care of our dry and sensitive skin.
Hey Everyone,
Thank you so much for checking us out! We are Judith & Justin, Cofounders of the oil-based cosmetics company, Bubbles & Balms, and this is the final episode of our first podcast series. This series covers the story of Bubbles & Balms, including our personal experiences with mental health, the origin of our product ideas, welcoming and caring for the sensitive skin needs of our children, and how oil-based cosmetics can enhance daily care of dry and sensitive skin.
We wrap up the series with a review of the episodes to date, along with sharing some of our aspirations for the future. Thank you for joining us on this leg of our journey. We can't wait to join you on the next!
Take good care and be well,
Judith & Justin
Hey Guys,
It's Judith and Justin Sweeney, Cofounders of the oil-based cosmetics company Bubbles & Balms. This episode marks the 11th in our first series that explores the origin of Bubbles & Balms and some of our experiences along the way.
In this episode, we talk about welcoming our own children into the world and our daily care routine with Bubbles & Balms products for their sensitive skin. We cover the basics of cleansing, moisturizing, shampooing, conditioning, and healing and the frequencies for infants and children.
Hope you enjoy and be sure to take good care!
- Judith & Justin
In this episode of the genesis series, we share the step by step experience of becoming a zero-waste company. This episode was inspired by a blog that we did on the same topic for the Gaia Project, a New Brunswick NPO empowering youth to take action on climate change through education. We share the inspiration, consultations, obstacles and impact of going zero-waste with a paperboard jar with compostable and recyclable inner liner.
Since our early days and first formulations, Bubbles & Balms has been guided by a few core values - leave things better than you found them, use the safest and simplest ingredients for dry and sensitive skin, and be kind to the world around us as we work. These have evolved into our current values of raw and natural, zero-waste, cruelty-free, and made by hand. We use these values to guide the decisions that we make each day.
The positive response when we first opened our boutique was heartwarming and made it easy to settle in as shopowners. The ongoing support and engagement from the community turned us from shopowners into formulators! Our early product lines take shape in this episode as we reflect back on how doing custom blends and body care created so many of the products in our line.
In this episode, Judith and I open up about the mental health challenges that we experienced leading up to and launching Bubbles & Balms. While the journey was overwhelming at times, each step was navigated using a host of tools that we continue to use each day to support our mental health. We share a few of those tools and what it was like looking through our eyes as our cyclothymia and anxiety set obstacles in our path.
Hey Guys,
Thank you so much for joining us for this episode. We start this episode with a community question and one of our favourite ways to use essential oils in our children's bedtime routine;
The aromatherapy massage we do with our children during bedtime;
- Add 1 drop of essential oil to 1 teaspoon of carrier oil (jojoba recommended)
- Always patch test new essential oils - apply with carrier oil to a small dime-sized area of skin on the inner arm and wait 15 minutes to observe any potential adverse reaction
- Massage over childs legs from feet to above the knee for 5-10 minutes
We then pickup with our storyline around the birth of Bubbles & Balms. We walk with you guys down memory lane through the weeks and months leading up to launching Bubbles & Balms, recognizing the people and supports that lined up to help us find the courage to chase a dream.
Thank you to all of you for keeping us courageous with your support!
- Justin & Judith
Hey Guys,
It's episode 5 and we are going a little deeper on our conversation around essential oils. We have been using essential oils across our product line and in our home since our first products in 2014. We attended schools of aromatherapy over 2015 and 2016, and have enjoyed making what we've learned through study and practice part of our daily-care for mental health. For symptom relief, they can be a great complement to what you are already doing for your daily wellness.
In this episode, we also shared a great study on The Effectiveness of Aromatherapy for Depressive Symptoms, a story about Justin's childhood boogeyman (the werechicken), and offer 50% off on our Pink Lemonade blend so you can create an environment less prone to fears of monsters in your childs' bedroom. We hope you enjoy!
- Judith & Justin
Hey Guys,
In this episode, we start to explore some of the physical and mental symptoms that we and others experience in our mood and anxiety disorders. We reflect on our experiences in symptom reduction with essential oils and how these benefits, coupled with the ritual of blending, really cemented our belief in essential oils as active ingredients in our oil-based cosmetics.
The link to the study referred to in this episode is below;
The Effectiveness of Aromatherapy for Depressive Symptoms: A Systematic Review: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28133489/
Hey Guys,
In this episode, we introduce the history, sources and use of essential oils. We loved scenting our surroundings with essential oils and they are a natural fit for our oil-based cosmetics. Once we began studying and using them in the production studio, we fell even more in love with the benefits they carry for body and mind. Hope you guys enjoy episode three and thank you for joining this leg of our journey.
Take good care,
Judith & Justin
We kickoff the series with stories about our first encounters with oil-based cosmetics and why they were a great fit for our dry and sensitive skin. Judith wasn't looking for product solutions in 2012 when she first started using oil-based moisturizers, but what she found changed the way she looked at her skin and her skincare routine. I (Justin), definitely wasn't looking for a solution for my winter itch, and had to overcome a little skepticism when Judith first tried to convert me. In the end, we were both glad that we picked up oil-based cosmetics, and dropped the plastic bottle in the process!
Hey guys, we have been working on this idea for a few months, so it feels great to be publishing our first episode!
Background (Our Why);
In early 2020, we had to close our boutique and shift to e-commerce. We knew it would be challenging, but we had no idea how much we would miss getting to talk with our community each day.
We loved those conversations...the pace...the topics...the product ideas...and that feeling of connection with the community we serve. It was intimate...and comfortable.
So we are setting down our soapbox once a week to recreate that connection through podcasting! We are new to podcasting and to our page on Anchor.fm (or whichever platform you listen on), so you will get to help us build this arm of our work from the ground up.
Introducing The Series;
We will share in the same conversation topics as we did in our boutiques; pairing our products with different skin needs, telling personal stories, answering your questions, and discussing different tools and practices that have helped us thrive during and after mental health challenges.
The podcast will be series based with the first series covering why we fell in love with oil-based cosmetics for our sensitive skin and how that gave birth to Bubbles & Balms. We hope you enjoy!
Take Good Care,
Justin & Judith