Bethany McDaniel is the founder of Primally Pure, a holistic skincare and wellness brand. She balances running a thriving business with being a present wife and mom, and how she interweaves her faith in the work she does.
00:00:00.000The great sunscreen debate, is sunscreen toxic or is it necessary to protect you from skin cancer?
00:00:07.260This is a very controversial topic that we will be wading into in detail today with Bethany McDaniel.
00:00:13.480She is the founder of Primally Pure, a holistic skincare and wellness brand.
00:00:19.220We will be talking about so much, how she balances running a thriving business with being a present wife and mom,
00:00:27.020how she interweaves her faith in the work that she does and how we can look to God's creation as a guidebook for how we can build a life that is truly healthy.
00:00:40.520We've got all of this and more on today's episode of Relatable.
00:00:43.680It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.
00:00:46.120Go to GoodRanchers.com, use code Allie for a discount at checkout.
00:12:16.260It's protected by the FDA as a trade secret.
00:12:19.100Companies do not have to disclose what's in their fragrance,
00:12:22.040but it can contain thousands of different chemicals.
00:12:25.320Yeah, there's thousands of chemicals that are protected under the umbrella term fragrance.
00:12:30.500And so we don't really know what's in there, but the EWG did a study and they found that it was either 74 or 76% of what's actually in fragrance are hormone disrupting phthalates.
00:12:42.080And phthalates are what companies use to make fragrances and scents sticky.
00:12:48.500Like if you've ever been in a house that has a ton of like Glade plugins or something,
00:12:53.480and then you leave that house and you still smell like that, that's because of the phthalates.
00:12:58.320And these are known hormone disruptors.
00:13:01.480So we don't really know what fragrance is.
00:13:03.800And what we do know of it isn't really good.
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00:14:14.760So when we hear hormone disruptor or endocrine disruptor, I'm always wondering like what exactly that means.
00:14:27.900Like, do we know exactly like what hormones they are disrupting and what that looks like in our bodies?
00:14:35.820I think when we think about our hormones, it's such a precise signaling mechanism within the body.
00:14:43.240And so there's so many different hormones and they act as an orchestra and they work together synergistically.
00:14:51.040And I'm not sure like specifically what gets disrupted or how or the exact mechanism, but they can be easily disrupted by, by these, you know, petroleum derived chemicals.
00:15:04.320And once one thing gets thrown off, it's like kind of like dominoes, like they just all, they work together so precisely that when one thing is off, it kind of affects everything.
00:15:45.200And, well, initially I started because I was using just coconut oil and baking soda and that works to prevent odor, but I wanted my husband to do that.
00:15:54.440And he wasn't into that idea of like smudging stuff on his armpits.
00:15:58.100So I was like, okay, I want to create a stick form of this and went through like so many different iterations, like probably close to 200 iterations to finally get a formula that, that really worked.
00:16:10.780And, um, and once I had it, I just wanted to share it with people.
00:16:15.840And so I was giving it to friends, giving it to family members, and there was a lot of interest.
00:16:20.700People were wanting to come back and get more.
00:16:23.160And I launched it to the Primal Pastures community at the time.
00:16:27.700I started selling it at farm stands, started selling it on their website, and I was really blown away by the response.
00:16:33.200And that really fueled me to keep going with it.
00:16:35.680And I was working on other skincare products at the time as well, and so started offering some of those.
00:16:42.220And then a little, gosh, maybe like six months into selling on their website, sales had just grown so much that I, um, separated Primally Pure, kind of made it an official business of its own, got its own website, and then just kind of like hit the ground running from there.
00:17:00.520Yeah, and now you have so much and sell so many amazing products, and you're still developing new products all the time.
00:17:06.820And one of your latest products is SPF, right?
00:17:10.320A sun, do you call it a sunblock or a sunscreen?
00:17:22.220And so, um, so yeah, they consider them sunscreens, I believe.
00:17:26.020Okay, let's talk about SPF, because y'all have billboards that say, like, um, sorry, you're going to have to probably tell me the exact wording, but it's like, um, sun isn't poison, but your sunscreen is.
00:17:52.840The response has been so funny to me because we knew, we knew this would stir the pot.
00:17:58.880And that was the intention with it was to make a bold statement, get people's attention.
00:18:04.040You know, there have been so many bold statements for decades from the side of slather sunscreen all over your body every second of every day so that you won't get skin cancer and die.
00:18:15.220That we knew it was going to take some boldness from the other direction to kind of switch the narrative, which is really our goal.
00:18:23.700Like sunscreen and sun exposure is, they're such nuanced topics.
00:18:27.980It's way more complex than just like wear sunscreen so you don't get skin cancer and die.
00:18:33.680And so our intention was really to spark conversation around what safe and responsible sun exposure is, the importance of sun exposure itself, and also adopting a more mindful approach of the types of sunscreens that we choose to use.
00:18:53.100And so that was the intention, but the response has been insane.
00:18:56.080I mean, there's a lot of misinterpretation of the campaign itself, a lot of anger, like some crazy, people are saying some crazy things on social media.
00:19:09.000There was one post that I reposted of a very unhinged woman telling me to go to hell for saying this and for having these billboards.
00:19:21.860I think you posted that on your Instagram story.
00:19:24.460People have been posting it to their Instagram story, tagging y'all, saying how awful it is.
00:19:30.340There was this outlet called Beauty Independent.
00:19:32.960They quoted some doctor who was a dermatologist saying, rather than use this fear-mongering approach of toxic sunscreens in general, why not focus on the positives of your product instead?
00:19:46.120Which you do, because there's one of your signs, and we'll put up all of these pictures, but it's like RSPF, which is Primally Pure, Poison-Free SPF, and Bad SPF.
00:20:13.420I think for the people that it resonates with, like, it hits home, and it definitely repels a lot of people as well.
00:20:20.480And we knew that going into it, and that's okay.
00:20:23.340But just looking at the statement itself, like, the sun isn't poison, but your sunscreen is.
00:20:28.760Like, how have we gotten to a point where that is such a controversial thing to say?
00:20:34.400Like, we have demonized the sun and demonized creation so much, and I would argue, like, I know I've been accused of fear-mongering, but I would argue that people have fear-mongered the sun for so long.
00:20:45.820And we're just trying to, like, bring some perspective to this whole thing.
00:20:49.960What is your perspective on sun exposure and the need for SPF?
00:20:55.760Because there are some people, and I've heard them referred to in, like, a joking and, like, pejorative ways, like the sun worshipers, who think that you should have uninhibited exposure to the sun at all times, that sunburns can't hurt you, that sunscreen is the only thing causing skin cancer.
00:21:47.860When we're outside in the sun, we feel better.
00:21:50.080It regulates our circadian rhythms so that we're more awake during the day and that our bodies are ready to sleep when the sun falls at night.
00:21:57.740So I think there's so much to living in tune with the sun.
00:22:02.820I think that's how we were designed to live.
00:22:05.540But I also think there are risks to uninhibited sun exposure.
00:22:12.600I don't think that anyone should be going outside and trying to burn or not being aware of their bodies and their skin's threshold for burning.
00:22:22.120And I think that we need to protect – we need to first, like, understand our skin.
00:22:28.940Different people need different amounts of sunlight.
00:22:31.160But going outside at the right times of day, not being outside for too long, covering up with protective clothing when needed, which is actually an even better option than using SPF.
00:22:42.320And then using sunscreen, too, for those times and those long stretches in the sun where maybe covering up isn't an option or finding shade isn't an option.
00:22:50.220So I think it's just about having, like, a full perspective of the whole thing and using common sense.
00:22:58.080So we should be looking for SPF with zinc oxide, right?
00:23:02.540Is there a particular percentage that we should be looking for?
00:23:21.680And then the rest of it is, I mean, we use tallow, we use coconut oil, ingredients like that to fill the rest of the formula that just kind of nourish and balance the skin.
00:23:32.060Because if you just slathered, zinc oxide is a powder.
00:23:34.380If you just slathered it on your skin, it wouldn't stick to you.
00:24:04.040But, um, in my opinion, zinc oxide is the safest option for sun protection.
00:24:10.380There are a lot of chemical filters out there, but the FDA now does not recognize any of them as being safe.
00:24:18.200Um, the EPA also just came out with a study and found that only 25% of sunscreens on the market are both safe and effective.
00:24:24.260So these chemical filters, there's a lot of issues with them.
00:24:27.540They absorb and then they are in the bloodstream at much higher limits than is considered safe.
00:24:33.680A lot of them are known to be hormone disrupting and carcinogenic or cancer causing, um, they actually create a chemical reaction in the skin when the sun hits it to protect, well, quote, protect rather than providing that like safe, um, tried and true physical barrier.
00:24:50.040And I just don't understand why that is dubbed a conspiracy theory or why that's controversial at all.
00:24:57.100For those of us who are saying, okay, yeah, we should protect ourselves from the sun in a way that makes sense, but there are good ways to do that.
00:25:05.960And then there are these really harmful ways to do that.
00:25:08.680I've seen a lot of people say that that's fear mongering.
00:25:45.400I love beef tallow, as I said from the beginning for lots of things, not just for skincare products, but to, you know, fry your potatoes, all different kinds of things.
00:25:53.280It's great for, but I saw someone say just the other day on Instagram, it was like, I don't even know what they said.
00:25:59.700They were like, beef tallow is like death cream.
00:26:03.160You're like using the death of cows or something on your face.
00:26:07.640But you obviously, you were a part of regenerative farm and you understand the benefits that livestock bring us in a variety of ways.
00:26:19.640How did you discover the benefits of beef tallow?
00:26:22.800Why do y'all use it in so many of your products?
00:26:25.000Yeah, it's been wild to see how much of a trending ingredient tallow has become because when I started Primally Pure, I knew about tallow because of my family's farm.
00:26:36.220And it was a really interesting ingredient to me.
00:26:38.840And the more I researched it, the more it just resonated and made sense to me.
00:26:43.300I mean, this is something that people have used for generations and generations to nourish and protect the skin.
00:26:48.700It's really bio, it's really biocompatible with our own skin and the sebum that our skin makes.
00:26:55.940Tallow actually means sebum in Latin and it's full of essential fatty acids.
00:27:00.980It's just, it's so nourishing and amazing.
00:27:02.800It's in, it's the main ingredient in the baby balm that you mentioned.
00:27:06.220And a lot of our customers, especially those with like eczema or psoriasis, find that tallow, our products with tallow are the only thing that nourishes their skin well and doesn't cause it to react.
00:29:17.640I want to know a little bit about you personally and how you – there's so many questions that I have when it comes to being a business owner who is also a mom of three.
00:29:35.620I get questions all the time about how do you do what you do and, you know, be present for your kids and all of that.
00:29:56.960Like, it's not – hasn't been a perfect journey.
00:29:59.720I really started having kids, like, soon after I started the company.
00:30:04.800And so I've really been growing Primally Pure and raising my three kids kind of all in unison.
00:30:11.640And in the beginning, I mean, it was tough, like, early on because I was still doing so much within the company.
00:30:19.060But when I became pregnant with our oldest daughter and after I had her, it really forced me to delegate things and hand off the things that other people could take on, whereas previously my perspective was, like, I'm the only one that can do these things.
00:30:35.680And I don't know how long I would have held on to that if I wasn't forced to let go.
00:30:39.200And so looking back, motherhood has sharpened me as an entrepreneur so much because it's forced me to trust others and to only show up in the areas where I can be most effective within my company
00:30:54.960and then kind of let other people do the things that better fit their strengths.
00:31:00.720And it also forces me to be as effective as I can with my time because if I'm going to spend time away from my kids, like, I want to make the most of that and be really effective with that time
00:31:15.160and not kind of, like, I don't know, be lazy or just not, like, do the best that I can with it.
00:31:22.420And so I feel like it's sharpened me in business and in all areas of life, really, and taught me a lot about time management.
00:31:28.980And it's really fun, too, to include my kids in what I do.
00:31:32.640I was just telling you before we started recording that I brought my oldest daughter with me to record a podcast episode in Kauai with Bethany Hamilton.
00:31:41.320And she was able – she actually just wrote a book.
00:31:44.420We kind of – I kind of helped her, like, publish this book that she wrote about catching lizards.
00:32:35.180My husband's really good about this, like, taking us out of our current environment and giving us new experiences and new memories to make as a family.
00:32:46.580And so, yeah, for the last two summers, we've done, gosh, like, six, seven-week road trips across the U.S.
00:33:34.980He was with Primal Pastures, and then him and my brother-in-law, Paul, branched off and started Pasture Bird, which is a company that just does chicken.
00:33:43.300Primal Pastures does direct-to-consumer all types of livestock.
00:33:47.360And then Pasture Bird is just chicken, and they're sold in grocery stores.
00:33:51.700They're in sprouts in not quite all 50 states yet, but they're in a lot of, like, stores throughout the U.S., and they were purchased by Purdue Chicken.
00:34:00.480And so my husband was the VP of operations for Pastured Poultry at Purdue for five years and then recently left that position.
00:34:07.980And this next season of life is going to be a little bit different and interesting because he's going to start coaching basketball at Concordia, where we both went to college and where he played basketball.
00:34:37.960I really appreciate the flexibility with where Primally Pure is at now.
00:34:43.160I have such an amazing team under me, and I'm able to kind of, like, pick and choose the areas of the company that I want to be involved in.
00:34:51.260And organize my work in such a way to where if I need, like, long stretches of time mostly off with my family, I'm able to do that.
00:35:25.680And then after a few years, we were co-CEOs because he just started to get really into it and passionate about it and was really, like, thriving in what he was doing within the company.
00:35:46.600And what advice would you give any business owner, but maybe especially, like, a female business owner, when it comes to running a company, managing people, even though you're not the CEO anymore?
00:35:59.980Obviously, you have a lot of experience with that.
00:36:02.120I think, like, the interpersonal relationships of hiring and firing and giving feedback and all of that, to me, is, like, the most difficult part because they're people and, you know, balancing wanting the company to do well and, therefore, all of your employees to perform well and, like, giving grace and understanding.
00:36:25.220So just talk about that, what you learned leading a company.
00:36:29.920Yeah, the people stuff is the hardest.
00:36:52.660And now it's so fun, like, working with them but not actually being the one to manage anyone.
00:36:56.560Because managing people, I mean, I think some people are naturally more gifted at it than others.
00:37:00.660But it's hard when you're actually doing tactical stuff and creative stuff to kind of, like, switch your brain into these different gears of, like, okay, now I need to put my people managing hat on.
00:37:11.200And now I need to put my, like, doer hat on.
00:37:17.140And I think that recognizing, like, if you're at one, recognizing that if you're ever in a point to, you know, let someone else take some of those pieces on, that it's okay.
00:37:31.020I find that even with employees that I've had, people are reluctant to kind of give up responsibilities.
00:37:36.480I know I was, too, when I started the company.
00:37:38.940But it can be so freeing to acknowledge, like, this isn't my strong suit.
00:37:42.640I'm going to hire someone under me to help manage these people more effectively that maybe is, like, more gifted at it than I am.
00:37:50.460And so acknowledging that, I think, is huge.
00:37:54.540And then just in general with running a company, growing a company, I try to look at it in terms of, like, just doing it for the glory of God and not for myself.
00:38:07.960And I've found so much freedom in that perspective.
00:38:10.800There's a book called When Strivings Cease by Ruth Chow Simmons.
00:38:16.220And she talks a lot about this dichotomy between striving and stewarding.
00:38:22.540And when we can operate from a place of, like, stewarding what God has given us rather than, like, just striving for success or for, you know, personal growth or whatever, it's just there's so much more freedom in that.
00:38:34.720And I've found that it's just so much more fun and really takes the pressure off when I can operate from that place.
00:38:41.940Can you talk a little bit more about how your faith is intertwined and what you do as a business owner?
00:38:46.860Yeah, I mean, I just looking at the story of how Primely Pure started, where it is today, like, I look back and I'm like, that was not my doing.
00:38:56.560Like, I worked hard and did my best with what I was entrusted with.
00:39:02.620But I just see God's fingerprints, like, all over that.
00:39:07.720And so, again, it's like, I have to keep that in mind if I want it to be fun and enjoyable and just, like, every day think about it from the place of doing my best with what God has trusted me with and honoring him and operating in a way that is biblical and responsible as a human being.
00:39:33.800And then when I make mistakes, it's like, if I'm making mistakes out of, like, my best intentions, there's not that, like, guilt and shame that comes with it, rather than if I make a mistake and I'm like, oh, yeah, that was, like, I wasn't operating from a good place.
00:39:50.580So it's just, I don't know how people do it, like, without faith.
00:39:53.540I feel like just taking all that pressure on yourself on a day-to-day basis can be so overwhelming and stressful.
00:40:00.140And I've been there before where I have, like, tried to, like, push through and just do it out of my own strength.
00:40:04.780But I think it's just, like, a constant renewing of the mind and remembering, like, who's really in control, who really has allowed this to happen and put the pieces in place.
00:40:16.060Just trusting in the sovereignty of God just gives so much peace.
00:40:20.200I remember when I was in college and I was going through finals and I was really disappointed because I didn't get a grade on a final that I wanted.
00:40:27.340And I had a friend at the time and her name was Grace, which is very fitting.
00:40:32.180And she said, do you really think God's plan is going to be derailed because of this grade?
00:40:50.280Not that we shouldn't care if a mistake is made.
00:40:53.080And certainly we should care if we sin and all that.
00:40:56.140But when you think about all these little things, because it's so easy to get stressed out, especially when you're running a business or have a brand or a podcast or whatever, you get down into the nitty gritty and you just want everything to be perfect.
00:42:01.060In the beginning, like, I didn't understand what it is to be an entrepreneur.
00:42:05.100And to be an entrepreneur is to face new, different challenges, like, on a very regular basis.
00:42:11.120And I just thought, like, okay, every time something bad was happening or every time we faced a problem or an issue, I'm just, like, I would, like, mourn it.