125 | Sustainable Skincare that Works without Toxins

(00:05) How would you like to improve your health and keep your family safe? You're listening to the Healthy Home Hacks podcast, where we firmly believe enjoying optimal health shouldn't be a luxury. Healthy Home Authorities and husband and wife team, Ron and Lisa, will help you create a home environment that will level up your health.
(00:25) It's time to hear from the experts. Listen in on honest conversations and gain the best tips and advice. If you're ready to dive in and improve your well-being and increase your energy, you're in the right place. All right, here are your hosts, bow biologists, authors, media darlings, vicarious vegans, and avocado afficionados, Ron and Lisa Baris. Welcome to the Healthy Home Hack Show.
(00:52) I'm Ron and today we're tackling something that's literally on our skin every single day. Toxic chemicals hiding in our skin care and beauty products. Lisa, this one really opened my eyes. Yeah, mine too. Hey guys, I'm Lisa and the amount of chemicals we slather on our skin daily is staggering.
(01:16) Healthy skin care should be the norm, not a luxury. It shouldn't be a privilege to know what you're putting on your body. And if you've ever stood in the beauty aisle feeling confused or worried about what's actually safe, this conversation is for you. According to a recent survey commissioned by EWG, the Environmental Working Group, the average woman uses 13 products every day containing 114 unique ingredients.
(01:44) Guys, this is from shampoos to soaps and deodorants to lipsticks and more. The researchers found US consumers are exposed every day on average to two ingredients linked to cancer and two linked to chemicals that can harm the reproductive and development systems. Women use more personal care products than men. So ladies, we're exposed to more unique ingredients daily.
(02:06) And the largest sources of ingredient exposures are body care, skin care, and cosmetics. Someone here to help us navigate away from harsh chemicals while still achieving noticeable results is our guest today. Caitlyn Schneider is the founder and head of innovation of Eastn West, a prestige skincare brand rooted in science and driven by purpose.
(02:32) Guys, little inside scoop. It's launching October 8th and stay tuned to the end. We'll give a shout out to the link. Caitlyn's approach to skincare is incredibly thoughtful. She's not only the founder of East and West, but her background as a biological engineer shapes every aspect of her work. Her early experience at Tata Harper deepened her understanding of how chemistry and sustainability intersect in modern skinincare, an approach she now channels into East and West's product line, where the formulas are designed to perform at a cellular level and reimagine what
(03:09) luxury skinare can feel like. using clean, high performance ingredients that are sustainably crafted right here in the USA. Welcome to the show, Kaitlyn. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here to talk to you about all of these exciting topics today. Oh, yes. We have a lot of ground, or should I say skin to cover. Absolutely.
(03:33) And we are thrilled to have you with us today. So, just let's get started on how you created a brand when thinking about wellness and ingredients in the products. It's so easy to get caught up in a lot of different directions. How did you focus and figure out your kind of lane? Yes.
(03:52) And that's such a good question because it really is the core why we developed the way we did. There's so much to see and take in in this space. And I found that ingredients aside, just knowing where to start was one of the biggest barriers to entry for a lot of our clients. Go to the shelf and there's 4,000 products out there.
(04:11) How do you know what's right for you, what's good for you, etc. So, our entire philosophy was really founded on this idea of maximalist experience, getting the best of the best in a super minimalist routine. And all of that came about from this idea of root cause. So, we're all familiar with some of our favorite brands where we see that they have maybe a hydration line, a vitamin C line with five steps, an anti-aging line with five steps, and all of a sudden, you take a step back and you think, well, I want my skin to be brighter. I want my skin to be hydrated. I want my
(04:48) skin to maybe look a little bit plumper. Am I supposed to be using not only a 13step routine but four or five different 13step routines? It's overwhelming. Yes. And every day or a new ingredient or a new hack that we should be using. So yeah, it can feel overwhelming. Really overwhelming.
(05:10) So really the core of the science for me was how do we take a step back and say not only I want to address wrinkles, fine lines, discoloration, but why am I seeing these things in my skin in the first place? Why is my skin dry? Why is my skin red? Why am I seeing these a little bit deeper? Then that was the core of our science. So then we did research into what is causing these skin reactions, these skin challenges.
(05:37) And we found that the underlying issue is typically all related to inflammation in the skin. And I know that this is a topic you've covered recently. It's the problem for everything. I mean, all our illnesses start with inflammation. So yeah, exactly. And it's, you know, it's not going anywhere. And it's great to hear that this is becoming a little bit more of a well-known topic.
(05:55) But for us, we said, okay, if we can really address that underlying cause, you'll sustainably and, you know, marketkedly see results across all of those different places that you're hoping for. You'll see some of those short-term, you know, more obviously connected to inflammation results, redness reduction, soothing, but long term results as well.
(06:17) building of collagen, plumping, wrinkle reduction, etc. Yeah. Well, your skin looks great by the way. You have very plump smooth skin. You're a test. A lot of research. A lot of research and biological engineer. That's interesting. Did you set out to go into skinincare or did you kind of take a pivot? Yeah, it's really great question.
(06:41) So when I started in in engineering I was always really interested in processes which as you can kind of see in this this root cause analysis that we've done have always been interested in processes but when I was early in my career I focused mostly on research you know backdoor long-term studies but what I was always really passionate about is how do I see this actually impact people in their day-today life you know researchers are so wonderful really respect what they do, but I just didn't want to wait this long, right? I wanted to really make so
(07:16) I had always had a big passion for skin care, the arts, etc. really had the opportunity to merge those two things together. And generally what I what I always like to say in that world as well is a lot of times in beauty and fashion and and a lot of things you see sort of the art separated from the sciences like there are these diametrically opposed ideas but I always like to say that they're really one and the same. You know if you speak to any good scientist they're always describing their work as
(07:49) experimental or as breed of problem solving. I think if you talk to an artist, they always talk about how technical their work is and how much time it takes and very precise it is. So I just found that there is so much more overlap than maybe it usually credited for. Yeah, that makes sense.
(08:08) And we don't really hear about the behind or under the hood as much as we should. Right. So this is really I'm I'm excited to dive into some of this. And a lot of people think, well, actually before we get into that, how do you think the beauty industry has evolved their perspective on clean beauty in relation to what you have in your home, which is really obviously our passion and our although we we're passionate about it all. I mean, if it's a toxin, we're going to talk about it, whether it's on your skin or on your couch.
(08:34) Absolutely. No, I think this is really important. There's a couple facets to that that I'd love to unpack. The first is I'm always really happy to see that the industry as a whole is making more progress in the the world of clean beauty. There's more standards being set. It's being more easily communicated.
(08:54) But I also feel really strongly that being a clean beauty brand should be the least interesting thing about your brand. And the reason why I say that is because it should really just be a baseline, right? You should expect these things from the products that you're using.
(09:12) um it shouldn't be the only thing they have going for them, right? Because we want our products of course to be clean, should be obvious, but of course we want them to perform. We want to see a result. Uh we want all these great as well without making sacrifices. In terms of your larger home, that's really one of the things I love most about skin care is just how intimate the products actually are.
(09:31) They live in your home. You see them every day. You're hopefully using them twice a day every day. Yeah, you better be listeners. You travel with them. You share them with friends and family. So, they're really this intimate product that you you put directly on your skin.
(09:50) So, it's so important that they are clean and you I never thought about it from that perspective. Yeah. Yeah. Like unlike some products you might use once a week or once a month or whatever. Yeah. Exactly. And how they intermingle with, you know, anything else in your home. It's all a very holistic sort of additive routine.
(10:09) You've talked about toxic load in the past, but as you said, you're using maybe different skin care products, different body care products, cleaning products, etc. You really want to look at this as a total system within your life rather than just, you know, individual products here and there. Yeah, that's a great point.
(10:27) And you know that study that I referenced, well, it's a new survey based off an old study that EWG did. And they found the good news is the chemical load for the women was dropping even though the product number kind of stayed the same. So that's good news. But the men's were increasing both in quantity and chemicals. So we have men using more products today than ever before. And so they're getting actually more exposed than they ever have been.
(10:51) And is your product line like can it go either for men and women or is it geared toward women? Great question. Yes, our product line is very much targeted for both men and women. We love everybody to use their products and everybody can have this targeted skinincare.
(11:08) It's really interesting that you bring up men's skinincare and that they're actually using more products because it's an interesting dichotomy, right? There's good to it that men are more comfortable using these products to take care of themselves and feel confident in their skin. Really, you know, have this positive daily routine.
(11:26) But of course, with that comes the learning that maybe the ladies got a little bit of a jump start on, which is you really need to be careful about what those products are, especially as creasing the number that you're using. Right. Yeah. And I know like when I met Ron, it's been a complete overhaul. my husband. I mean, he was the typical, he'd have one product for shampoo, soap, and you know, I'm like, "No, no, no.
(11:47) " So, and a lot of guys still do that. So, I had to educate him. It's not like you're throwing money out the window. These are actually, like you said, when you get into the science of what they're actually doing and that when you invest in good skin care, you're not only getting better ingredients, you're reducing your toxic load.
(12:09) So, you know, sometimes people can, and let's go into that question. A lot of people do think clean beauty and clean living is expensive and not achievable. How can we make healthy skincare and healthy living more of a norm and less of a luxury? And I'll on that question go right back to kind of what I already mentioned, which is it's really related to fewer products.
(12:29) It does become expensive even if your products individually aren't expensive. if you're using you 20, 30, 40 products a day. That was really important to me when we designed the line is keeping it really focused both from a pocketbook discussion, but also a mental load. And frankly, even just my I live in New York. My bathroom counter can't handle more than mine either. It's interesting.
(12:53) I've been telling this year was my cleansing year and I've been on a crazy cleansing road and I have so many supplements right now and I know that's not good. kind of the same thing like when you have a healthy terrain you really shouldn't need to be taking all those supplements and I know we get our a lot of our nutrients through food and our food is so depleted of a lot of the nutrients.
(13:16) So just trying to streamline like you said less is more and it's really about quality right if we can get quality products we don't need 500 products right so it's amazing how many we use as women and how many we think we need right absolutely and I I love this connection that you made to food as well because as I said it's all really holistic it's all interplayed and I think that sometimes we forget or you know we live busy lives and we don't sit around thinking about how much of our lives are connected to every other element that we've got going on. But we were really inspired by healthy diets. Like inflammation was a big topic in the
(13:55) dietary supplement world in just healthy eating. That was an important inspiration as well. But really all of these things talk to each other. Your skin talks to your gut talks to your brain. Your skin's your largest organ guys. I mean so what you're putting in is going into your body.
(14:14) So yeah, like Caitlyn said, it's not just what you put on your skin, it's what goes into your body and it all kind of how it cohesively works. So I'm guessing you learned a lot when you were at Tata Harper. Am I saying that right? Absolutely. Yeah. And that was did that kind of launch? Like was that eye opening for you when you started there? Were you aware of the chemicals in skincare or were you kind of just like conventional brands? I was really lucky to work with Tata Harper and her team. um so early in my career because she was one of the pioneers when it came to green beauty,
(14:46) you know, right? Yeah. And back at that time, you know, less people were talking about clean beauty. It definitely was not what I was saying at the beginning. It definitely was not the standard. So to see so early in my career somebody who had really really stringent, really high standards really just helped me set that baseline for myself for my career going forward.
(15:10) There was never a time where we considered, you know, toxic options or anything that wouldn't be good for you. So, that was just an amazing experience. Except the trajectory. Yeah, that's so fantastic. I know when I first started, you know, uncovering toxins and in my path, I would have to go to like Mother's Market and get my eye shadow on.
(15:30) It was really hard to find good quality makeup that was non-toxic. I would literally have to go to like the health food store and now it's pretty easy to find it. But we do have a lot of greenwashing going on. For listeners who don't know what that is, that's when companies pretend to be healthy. They'll put on terms that aren't regulated like natural or green.
(15:57) there's no oversight for those terms and they'll put in like sustainable packaging and you naively think that the product is non-toxic or good for you when in fact it could be hiding tons of chemicals especially under the word fragrance which we know can hide thousands of chemicals under that word that it's protected by their trade secrets.
(16:13) So what are some of the key considerations that you guys have targeted in terms of skin health? Absolutely. I think that what you just called out is really important, which is as these things are becoming more popular, you know, buzzwords, not to forget that they are still really important, but again, how do you search for what's really sustainable, what's really good for your skin versus what's maybe just words on a page.
(16:38) And that's where any kind of third party validation was really important to me and should really be important to your listeners and and our clients as well. Because as much as I'd love for everybody to just take my word for it, I don't think that's enough, right? So, we really invested heavily in our clinical testing. We developed our own patented ingredient.
(17:01) We really wanted to show via data that didn't come directly from us that these products really work and you'll see results. Also using third party validation for things like beeping bunny or which is crueltyfree for listeners, right? Leaping Bunny. If you see the little Leaping Bunny logo, that means they did not test on animals.
(17:22) So, animal lovers and everybody should be promoting those kind of products because it's horrible. It's horrible what they do to the animals when they test on them. It's horrid. And that's really where all of this third party testing and having that external validation is so important. brands.
(17:39) Of course, we all do our best, but having these other labs or groups that focus specifically on issues that you care about can really be such a powerful tool to help you sort of sort through what's real. I think it's so so important and can't be understated because like you said, we've all been duped by brands in the past where they say made with essential oils, maybe they have a drop and the rest is synthetic or there's so many verbiage ways they can get around that, making you think the product is hell made with Hoba oil, but they didn't tell you about all the other horrible oils, the anal preservatives
(18:15) and things like that. And so having that third party, guys, is really, really important. There's obviously a lot of tools that we've talked about on this podcast like the EWG skindeep database which is a really incredible tool where you can put in the name of any product and it'll give you a hazard score.
(18:32) That's your independent third party team of scientists that have vetted those products and they rank from one to I don't know if it's seven on the skin deep. I think it's 1 to seven and seven or no maybe it's 10 being the worst, right? And so they'll color code it and then you can kind of know are you guys going to be working with them at all? Do you have any plans to work with um some of the apps or anything like that? Yeah.
(18:59) My philosophy on sustainability, green beauty, clean beauty is a philosophy is of continuous improvement. I think that the biggest challenge that any brand can face is when you stop reviewing your product or you think that once it launches you never touch it again.
(19:18) say we have a lot of additional testing, a lot of additional validation that we plan to do over time and are always open to new validators as they come into the world or as the market changes. Your expectations change as well. Yeah. Right. How many products will be in your line when you launch? Yeah, we're launching with just three products. A three-step routine. A three-step routine. I love it. That is simple. Okay.
(19:40) All of our products do more than one thing. They really earn their place on your vanity so that you really can do one, two, three, and you're ready to live your life. Yeah. And I went to your website and I think the packaging and the products are still beautiful, too, like you talked about at the top. You know, these are part of your routine.
(20:00) They're likely sitting on your bathroom counter because you're we've got limited space and you don't have to put those away every two times a day. So, having it look beautiful, I think, is really important. I think a lot of companies could do a better job with that. Like especially with like cleaning products and certain things. I'm like shampoo bottles. It always drives me crazy.
(20:17) Like can't we just do some sleek looking? You see those in the shower, why not make them a little more aesthetically pleasing? I could not agree more and I really of course really appreciate that compliment. But to that point, it was really intentional that they look maybe like something you'd be excited to buy or something you'd be excited to have on your vanity. for the larger reason.
(20:43) Of course, seeing them every day and feeling good about those products is important, but you know, we've all had the experience of companies coming over, you're cleaning your bathroom, you throw everything in the medicine cabinet, right? Maybe 6 to 12 months later, you find your favorite serum or your favorite cleanser and think like, "Oh, I really used to love this." Right? And maybe it's fired, etc.
(21:03) And you know, at that point, it doesn't matter what ingredients are in it. it's not going on your skin and you're not seeing results. So, for me, I wanted something that almost became a part of your home decor so it could probably sit out because the products that you're seeing are the products that you're using. I love that. I think that's really beautiful.
(21:22) Kind of merging the beauty with the the powerful results of what you're doing and then making it beautiful. So, that's always been my philosophy with to be an interior designer before I got sick from a newly remodeled home. And so when I started, there weren't really a lot of beautiful products.
(21:41) That's why we started a retail store selling them and realizing like you can have a healthy lifestyle, guys, and also have beauty, whether that's in your home or your skinare or your clothing or whatever. You don't have to sacrifice. And that idea of not sacrificing is so so so important to me, right? these women and men that we design our products for, again, they're generally their Gen X or baby boomer age.
(22:05) And these people are living longer. They're more active than younger generations. You know, they developed a sense of style before AI, before Pinterest, really wonderful, interesting people. But then when you go into, you know, the beauty market, so much of it is so much as the fun products are targeted so much younger.
(22:31) And then it seems like what's left over is it might work really really well, but maybe you're not so excited to use it. Yeah, you should be excited. I agree. And I think what a beautiful gift to to give to somebody, right? Because we all love a good package. We all love a pretty package. So, it's kind of the same thing, right? What do you wish more people knew about skin and their overall health and wellbeing? Absolutely.
(22:51) I really wish that people knew that it doesn't have to be so prohibitive and so challenging. Of course, there's a ton of research that goes into it. Of course, there's newness coming out all of the time, but ingredients always are going to be important. Of course, we put a lot of great ingredients into our skinincare, but really the two places that most people actually miss out on great skin is in properly using their products and regularly using their product.
(23:21) No, strong routine that you use every day consistently is equally as important as making sure that you pick the right ingredient. Okay, that's good. Yeah, no skipping washing your face guys before you go to bed because you stay up too late or whatever.
(23:39) Can you shout out some ingredients that you use that people would like to know? Like, are you using essential oils for the scents and are there any like special ingredients? Absolutely. So, of course, I have to shout out Vay Technology. We did invest in our own patent pending ingredient, which we developed specifically with the goal to address the root cause of all of these visible signs of aging.
(24:02) It exists in all of our products and is our own technology. So, really, really excited. We also invested in third party lab testing for that ingredient. So, really is the star of the show. But in a larger scope are is it a peptide? It's a nano vesicle system. So it actually is designed to go deeper into your skin.
(24:28) Nanotechnology delivers great results right into your cells. So not only gets them deeper into your skin, it has a more successful delivery system into your cell and that has really powerful uh cause. Nice. Okay. So that's your like that's going to be your thread through the products. Wow. Excellent. And then beyond that too, it was always really important to me duality by design to have a balance of tried andrue tested botanicals, things that have been used for sometimes centuries uh with proven results and balance that with the cutting edge, your peptides, what are
(25:07) plant derived growth factors etc. So really bringing it all to our clients in a clean format. Yeah. Are you plant-based or plant stem cells? Is that part of it? I've been hearing more and more about that. So plant growth factors. Yes. So derived from plant stem cells really helps your skin rebuild itself. Yeah. I've been hearing so many good things cuz the synthetic or I don't even know if they're synthetic.
(25:31) They're actually the stem cells that you find in traditional skin care. Do you know where they're from? They're from like aren't they from humans? Some of them like and then some of them from like street food. Some of them can be they can all be derived from very different places. Ours are of course derived from plants.
(25:48) All of our products are completely vegan. But yes, they can be derived synthetically, sometimes from humans, sometimes from animals, etc. But we stick to plant-based. Well, I'm vegan, so I don't want any of that on my skin. I mean, so our product, the sperm, what is it? The salmon sperm facials. This is like all the rage now.
(26:14) I live in Newport Beach area and like there's a spa slash skincare clinic on every corner and this stuff they use guys. It's like crazy. And ask. Don't just take it at face value cuz they won't really go into detail and tell you what it is. They'll say stem cells. But if you ask where is that from? And I just read an article recently on the collagen. like the source of collagen makes a huge difference.
(26:39) So, people who are spending a lot of money on collagen, they could be getting really low quality, let alone kind of who knows if you're vegan and you're putting good stuff in your body and you're like, I didn't realize that, right? That's why, you know, we said it at the top of the show, quality is so so so important.
(26:57) There's so many different ways to derive collagen or growth factors or even just different oils, things like that. And really, you want to make sure that it's something that's biompatible with your skin, that it's clean, good for you, and that it's something that can actually penetrate your skin and reach your cells, and really give you that healthy glow that you're Yeah. Because what's the point if it's just sitting on the surface? You're wasting a lot of money.
(27:21) You've got a lot of expensive bubbles that aren't really doing anything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I just learned that about probiotics. Oh, well, probiotics get ruined by the acid in your stomach and don't even make it to your gut. And it's like, okay, for your probiotics not working, that might be the problem. But it's so interesting. Exactly. Yeah.
(27:38) And if you've already crossed the barrier of of building your routine, which is sometimes the hardest thing, like at the very least, your product should work for you and meet you halfway. Yes. Right. They need to walk the talk. And as consumers, you know, expect that, I think, and ask those questions.
(27:56) And, you know, you're investing in your health when you're investing in good quality, whatever it is. You're you're literally your return on investment is going to be huge. We just did an episode on the dangers of Botox and fillers and what's the other one? Breast implants, actually. And it's pretty riveting what we kind of go over in that show.
(28:18) A lot of people don't realize what's in Botox, like the human blood protein and things like that. So, that's a whole another show, but it just goes back to can we plump our skin? Can we get some of these looks without resorting to these very dangerous toxins and putting our our health in danger? And I love that you said your product, you know, does that.
(28:37) And it really plumps and gets rid of those fine lines. And there's so many people nowadays that have eczema. I have so many friends and clients that complain about especially their kids. A lot of teens are going through that right now and I think because they're using a lot of really bad products and eating poorly. Yeah.
(28:58) And that's and that's really the thing is, you know, skin concerns can be such a major impact on your dayto-day both from like a it's uncomfortable, you know, it doesn't feel as good to have skin concerns, but it's also a huge mental load as well. Obviously, we all know there's a big tie between how your skin looks and how you present yourself for the day and confidence and all of that.
(29:23) So, again, this goes back to this idea of really holistic wellness and how, you know, even just the act of taking care of your skin and then and spending that time with your skin during the day is just as important. Uh, you making sure that you have really great ingredients and and that you're researching what you're using. Okay, good. Well said. Well said. A good reminder for that, guys. Don't skip those routines. All right.
(29:43) Well, this was so incredible and thank you so much for being with us today, Caitlyn and friends. To learn more about Caitlyn Skincare line, East and West, head to a s.com. And Caitlyn, you told me at the top why you called it that. Can you share real quick? Yes, I'd love to. So, I mentioned this idea of duality by design.
(30:07) Why not have it all? pulling the best from all these different places. So, East and West is really a nod right to that. This idea of east meets west along with nostalgia meet futurism, art meets science. We really want our clients to have it all. Ooh, I love it. Like integrative medicine but for your skin. Woohoo. All right, guys. As always, you can find the link to her site in the show notes at healthyhomes.com.
(30:31) We appreciate you guys. Be sure to leave a review or rating. Five stars are always appreciated. And if you're not already subscribed, now is a great time. Thanks everybody. Thank you Caitlyn. Thank you. This episode of the Healthy Home Hacks podcast has ended, but be sure to subscribe for more healthy living strategies and tactics to help you create the healthy home you've always dreamed of.
(31:02) And don't forget to rate and review so we can continue to bring you the best content. See you on the next episode.