Ground & Root Podcast
Welcome to the Ground & Root Podcast with Holistic Cancer Dietitian, Dionne Detraz. In this podcast we will explore science based & time tested holistic strategies that will enhance healing, prevent cancer, and ultimately help you have a long & healthy life.
Ground & Root Podcast
Non-Toxic First Aid & Skin Care That Works
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Your “clean” routine might be spotless in the kitchen and still toxic in the first aid drawer. We’re zooming in on one of the most overlooked cancer prevention strategies: lowering toxic burden from the products we rub into our skin when we’re burned, itchy, scraped up, breaking out, or just trying to “stay clean.”
In today's episode I'm joined by Jodi Scott, founder and CEO of Green Goo, a plant-based first aid and herbal wellness company. We are talking all about plant-based alternatives that support the skin microbiome, calm inflammation, and help the body stop “swimming upstream.”
Here's some of what we're covering:
• why first aid products can be a major source of toxic exposure
• parabens, petroleum, phthalates, and endocrine disruptors on skin
• how the skin connects to the nervous system and immune regulation
• why the skin microbiome matters for inflammation, odor, and repair
• using skin as a “nutrition portal” with supportive botanicals
• why stopping soap can help rebuild the skin barrier and hydration
• Green Goo First Aid as a multi-use salve for cuts, bites, blisters, and more
• Skin Repair for burns, scars, eczema-prone skin, and radiation sensitivity
If this conversation changes the way you think about skincare, detox pathways, and non-toxic living, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.
More about today's guest & how to connect with her:
Jodi Scott is the founder and CEO of Green Goo, a plant-based first aid and herbal wellness company rooted in traditional herbal medicine and modern science. With a background in biology and health psychology, she focuses on the connection between skin health, immune regulation, and reducing toxic burden. Jodi is passionate about helping families create safer, non-toxic home environments that support the body’s natural healing processes.
👉 Website: https://www.greengoo.com/
👉 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greengoohelps/
👉 Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greengoohelps
👉 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreenGooHelps
🌿 Let's Connect 🌿
Why Toxic Burden Matters
SPEAKER_00Hello and welcome back, everyone, to the Ground and Root Podcast. I'm your host and holistic cancer dietitian, Deion DeTraz. This month, we are focusing on the very important cancer prevention strategy of reducing toxic burden and toxic exposures in our environment, as well as optimizing our detoxification pathways. We cannot talk about cancer recovery or cancer prevention without talking about this. This is a really important piece to the puzzle when we want to help ourselves heal and stay cancer free. One of the ways we can reduce our toxic burden is with the products we're putting on our bodies. And my guess is many of you like what comes to mind first is probably things like makeup and cosmetics or lotions or shampoo or soaps and all of those, right, are very important. But what about sometimes I don't even think about this part, right? What about the products we use for first aid or for remedies, like when we have a rash or we have a sunburn or even protecting ourselves from the sun, right? Or we have acne or pimples or things like this. What products are we using in those instances? And today I have the privilege of interviewing someone who's going to talk to us more about this and give us some great alternatives to keep our toxic load low. So I'm going to briefly introduce her and then we're going to dive in. So today I have the privilege of talking to Jodi Scott. She is the founder and CEO of Green Goo, which I just love that name. You can tell us how that name came to be, but it is a plant-based first aid and herbal wellness company. She has a background in biology and health psychology. She likes to focus on the connection between skin health and immune regulation and reducing toxic burden, like all the things that are super relevant to this audience, right? So I think you're all gonna learn a lot from her today. She is also very passionate about helping families create safer, non-toxic home environments. And honestly, that is one of the foundational things we can do to help all of us stay cancer free, right? As well as supporting the body's natural healing processes. So without further ado, welcome, Jodi. I'm so happy to have you here today.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Thank you for having me. It's a treat to be here with you.
How Green Goo Started
SPEAKER_00Wonderful. Thank you. Okay, let's start with just your story and the work that you do and how Green Goo came to be. Like, give us the background.
SPEAKER_01All right. So many little nuggets there. So I got my master's in health psychology, was pre-med, was specializing in psychoneuroimmunology, and I was training resident physicians on the biopsychosocial model. So, what does that mean in practice? So, in terms of training the resident physicians, my goal was to improve healthcare rather than simply prescribing, let's get more data points. Let's find out do they have healthy relationships? Do they have community? What are some other potential barriers that are happening within this patient's life so that we can move this intervention forward at an optimal for optimal results? And then psychoneuroimmunology is really, as you described, the relationship of your immune system, your nervous system, and your psychology and how interrelated that is. So at that time, I was in private practice. My sister is studying to be an herbalist, is a midwife, and I was pregnant. And here we were living very clean lives, eating organic foods, whole foods, reading the back of the labels on our personal care product. And I got a cut and I went into my first aid cabinet, which was a disaster, and I started reading the label, and I was like, ooh, I don't want to put this on my body while especially while I'm pregnant. And now that I think about it, I don't want to put this on my daughter. And then I started looking at my like overwhelming first aid cabinet and was like, why do I think this is the only solution? Why am I making this compromise? So I started socializing that with my sister, who was starting to make topical therapeutics with plants. And we found that we weren't alone. The natural consumer was willing to abandon their natural ethos because they were told these one-time chemical-laden products were the only solutions for wound care and first aid. And then I found it even more interesting that chronic skin conditions are at an all-time high. And the conventional consumer was also questioning OTC and really more less concerned about the ingredients, but more disappointed with efficacy. Use seven, seven to ten days. If symptoms persist, you need to go see your physician, which oftentimes they do. And seeing the physician was inconvenient. So we saw this incredible opportunity that we could reinvent first aid and bring a plant-based solution that was first superior in efficacy to meet everyone. And also, by the way, natural and sustainable. So Green Goo was born.
SPEAKER_00I love that. You're so right. I've obviously been practicing this sort of lifestyle for a very long time since I was on my own. But you're right. As far as just, oh, I got a cut, you like reach for the neosporin or like whatever other antibacterial thing you have in your right, in your pharmacy, your home pharmacy. And even though everything else is so natural and organic. So I love that you had this, not only the realization, but like you and your sister were on the same wavelength to be like, let's do something about it. That's beautiful.
The Story Behind The Name
SPEAKER_01It was pretty great. And especially when we went into formulation, because she had the herbal wisdom. And then I had the organic chemistry background and the science background. So it really made this like beautiful combination in terms of product development. And then my mom is a self-taught computer programmer, website developer. We grew up in the military and she learned that she needed to create a career that was mobile. So she was one of those early adopters of computers. So when the three of us started sitting together doing this, I was like, mom, do you think you could make labels? It's always great to have an IT person in your camp. And so she was able to be that the trifecta, the third party to help make it all come together.
SPEAKER_00I love that. So it really was a family business. Like all three of you were involved. Okay, you do have to give us like some understanding of the name, though. What how did green goo come to be?
SPEAKER_01So we're growing the herbs in our backyard. We've got bees. We're taking these whole plants, we're drying them on old screen doors on our front porch. I'm sure people were driving by going, What is going on over there? And we have these big jars and vats infusing the herbs, and our whole kitchen becomes a production facility. Matter of fact, it became so busy that we actually had to take our camping equipment and make an outdoor kitchen for cooking because there was no room for us to cook. And we're sitting here making all of these salves, and there's real plant properties in this, right? And why green goo works is not just because of the herbs that we choose and the lipid oils that we choose and why these herbs work together. It's also protecting the integrity of the plant. A lot of what people are used to getting on the market is very little plant properties. They have been exposed to high heat or denatured from various chemicals, and then they're put in a petroleum or a paraben base, and then they just sit on the surface of the skin. And so we're looking at these different salves and we're like, it's green. And we didn't want to make it, there was a lot of recommendations to have it look and feel like an OTC product. And we thought we're here to reinvent first aid, we're here to change it. And if we just put something that's camouflage next to a neosporin or a hydrocortisone, is the consumer really gonna see that there is a different option? So we wanted to bring sunshine and personality to the space. So we knew we wanted to have fun. We didn't want to call it an ointment, but because it was green and it's sustainable, and we're like, it's like it, so all of a sudden it was green goo. And what was really funny is we only named one product green goo. That was our flagship first aid solution. And everything else had a different name. And what was so interesting is a couple years into it, no one remembered us by our company name. They only remembered us by Green Goo, and they were constantly pulling out their tins and they didn't even have the green goo product. And they'd say, I've got my green goo. So it was really the customers who decided that it was going to be the umbrella, the brand name.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Oh, that's so great. And it is, I think, too, for someone who really wants to live a more natural, organic, plant forward life, green is actually very attractive. That does represent life and nature and healing. And I think that's perfect. You certainly captured your audience just in the name, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And having fun with it. We even have fun little, like little taglines and notes of inspiration on the packaging. So it's fun to read while you also are looking at the OTC mount monograph since we're now registered with the FDA.
Hidden Chemicals In First Aid
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's amazing. Okay, great. All right. So there's obviously there's a lot of like directions I think we could take to cover this topic. But why don't we start with let's start with the beginning of creating a product that was less toxic and more sustainable and more natural? What are some of the issues or the problems with the current products that are out there? Because some people may not even realize that. That they may be like, yes, there's chemicals and maybe that's not a good thing. But why is that actually a problem?
SPEAKER_01There's so much goodness here. So, first and foremost, these are we're bringing forward time honor traditions. These are plants that we have known through various evolutions and centuries that they have medicinal properties, but we didn't really have the science that we have today to back it in the way that we do. And if you think about when these man-made synthetic chemicals came to market, they were really around the industrial revolution. No one intended to hurt anyone. We didn't have the transportation we have today, the technology. It took a lot longer to mass produce consumer goods and get them to people. And there was also this perspective of more value meant more volume. So it also meant we had to fill it with water and all these other different stabilizers and these other ingredients to get it to you, because you might not get it for three or four years before you're using it. Of course, fast forward today, the science is undeniable in terms of how it's compromising our system and why it's not good for you. So a lot of these synthetics that are being brought in are parabens, petroleums, phthalates, forever chemicals, and they're endocrine disruptors. So phthalates is the number one produced man-made chemical in the world. The U.S. produces over a billion pounds of this per year. And now we know the harmful effects that it's having. And we're putting this on our skin. And our skin, we have just called it our largest organ. It's this thing that's just supposed to protect us from keep our organs inside altogether. And the skin is born from the same embryonic tissue as your nervous system. It is rich in neurotransmitters and it is your first response. It is your signaler to the rest of your body if you're in fight or flight, if you're not. And what we know today, our skin is in essentially a low grade fight or flight at all times. So when we're inserting these different chemicals, it's almost like the best way for me to describe it to people is you're swimming upstream. You're making your body have to work harder. And there's this sort of feedback loop, right? Your skin tells your nervous system that you are in, you're unsafe. If we're in an alert state, and then what it does is it increases your cortisol, so your stress starts to go up. Then it responds to your immune system, and then your immune system uh creates a response, which creates inflammation. And then that feedback loop comes back and you're like, I don't really feel good. And then all of a sudden it starts starts impacting your microbiome in your skin, and that's being impacted because your microbiome is like such an interesting thing about your skin. It is not just uh what protects our skin barrier, but it's also an ecological like bacteria on our skin that is there to keep us safe. So then it's stimulating to the immune system. We're not safe. So now you get more inflammation. And then what happens? Your sleep gets compromised, your tissue repair gets compromised. There's a real connection now while you can see chronic skin conditions are at an all-time high. And then you don't feel good. So then your psychology, your serotonin goes down. And so there's this whole feedback loop that's happening while our skin is just being further exposed. What I like to explain to people is just by the process of elimination, I know it can be so overwhelming to think of all the things that you should be adding, but just by the process of elimination, you are now allowing your body to not swim upstream and not bringing in these added chemicals that make it harder for your skin to repair, but it also makes it harder for your other systems to operate. And ultimately, it impacts you in various ways in your life.
Skin Microbiome And Fight Or Flight
SPEAKER_00That's wild. That's fascinating. I'm sure many people listening to this, that's like the first time they've thought of their skin in that way. Because I think even in the work that I do, we understand that the skin is not just a barrier, but it's porous. It's going to absorb whatever you put on it. So, of course, when we think about even just in the simplicity, quote unquote, simplicity of your detoxification pathways, you know, the skin is our largest organ of detoxification. And so we think of that as having this one-way street of being able to expel toxins from our body, right? But what about what's coming in? And what you just brought to the forefront is not even once it passes through and gets into the bloodstream, but what it's even doing on the skin itself and how that's triggering all these cascades of things. That is so fascinating, Jodi.
SPEAKER_01And it does because not only are you absorbing these things, but then let's just get petroleum, right? It is suffocating your skin. And your skin is a very breathable, woven brick and mortar, if you will, of cells. It needs to be able to breathe and it needs to be able to be hydrated and it needs to keep that microbiome healthy. And so when you put things like Vaseline and so forth, it's literally like suffocating your skin and then changing the microbiome and then add to that the soaps that have the phthalates or the forever chemicals, you're stripping away that skin barrier. And so then it makes it harder for your skin to heal. And then, of course, you're stripping that natural microbiome. And so you just continuously are putting your skin in this state of fight or flight. It's not able to do what it needs to do from because really, by the time skin is detoxing, that means your organs have already had to work really hard. Your skin comes into that detoxing stage a little bit later in the process. And then, of course, what you see are all those manifestations, those signals of, oh my goodness, my skin, my skin is telling me something. And your skin can be so informative. And as long as we're talking about the detox component, what's really interesting, we're always looking at the transdermal absorption of your skin. And your armpit's a really interesting one, right? Because we know it's a different-looking tissue. It also absorbs about 70%, a much higher amount of whatever you put on it. And it's very connected to your lymphatic system. So we know now today, obviously, the conversation is very much around what you should avoid putting in your armpit because you really absorb a lot of that. But when we were developing our formulas and we were like, okay, not only do we want to eliminate these ingredients, why not make it a more nutritional portal, if you will? So our deodorant has things like ashabaganda, holy basil, functional mushrooms, ginkgo babola, vitamin C. And what's been really interesting that we didn't expect to see was that because you're giving your armpit something that it really likes, your body's, ooh, this is good. That whole ecosystem starts to change. All of a sudden, you're you don't smell, you don't sweat as much. And so you think about what we've been told about our armpit for so long. Let's put this antiperspirant on, let's put these chemicals on so we don't have to smell it. You're just forcing your body to produce more odor, to produce more because your armpit actually is doing a lot of detoxing. That's a place where there's a lot more of that happening.
SPEAKER_00Wow. That I didn't know that it has a 70% more absorption, which I love the idea of obviously that's important when it comes to avoiding certain things because you're going to absorb it more. But the idea of using it as a nutrition portal, of course. Even, and I think this is, I'm trying to liken it to things that people might be more familiar with and be like, why couldn't it be for other things as well? But you know, like I think about magnesium. A lot of people will use magnesium through the skin, right? So either in an Epsom salt bath or even magnesium oils as a way to absorb magnesium. But right, why couldn't we use this for all kinds of nutrients?
Armpits, Detox, And Better Deodorant
SPEAKER_01Yes, we put magnesium in the deodorant as well for that exact reason. And so, like our goal was truly, first and foremost, to reinvent first aid, to prove that plants could, in fact, give you the results that you're looking for, eliminate those other chemicals. And what it's really evolved into is this next level education and evolution of your skin and really thinking of your skin as an opportunity for nutritional support. So when we formulate, we're thinking about okay, how can we use the skin to provide more nutrients to create that balance? So, one of my favorite things to do is to take a green goo, whichever one, call it the skin repair, the pain relief, and I'll call it Sanctuary Sunday, and I'll literally butter up from head to toe. And I'll just put my bathrobe on and let my skin just drink it up. Matter of fact, I did this last night after I took a bath and for 30 minutes and it just like drink it up and then get ready for bed, go start your day, and you just feel so different. And I remember having to put lotion on all the time. You put it on, and 20 minutes later, your skin is dry again. And you think about all this alcohol basically depleting the skin barrier and again creating cracks in that brick and mortar, which then brings like pathogens and so forth. And now when I do this, I can probably butter up twice a week. And I live in a really temperate or dry area, and I don't put, I don't have to put lotion on. My skin is hydrated all the time. Someone told me they're like, you might have the most anti-capitalistic business because the more you use it, the less you need it. But when you think about that little jar and that you can use a little jar that will you you can use for the entire month to butter up, all of a sudden you're like, wow, I don't need to have all these tubs of lotion.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's really interesting when you look at your skin from that perspective.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because it's actually nourishing it. That's because if we are able to optimize our skin health, then just to your point, then it shouldn't be dry and cracked every day, or we shouldn't have rashes all over. So it is looking in a deeper way, like what is missing or what is needed to be added in to really give the skin what it needs to be healthy. And particularly now it's winter, which tends to be drier too, right? Like people are slathering on lotions, I imagine. Okay, let's talk about the products a little bit. And maybe that can also cross over into just skin health in general, because I imagine people listening to are like, okay, like how can I nourish my skin in a different way, not just when I get a cut, but in general, right? So to your point about the putting the butter balm on. Okay, so let's why don't we start with just the very first product you created, which was the green, I guess the original green goo. Um, what was that for? What was in that? Like, how do you use that? Let's talk about some of the some of your products.
First Aid Swiss Army Knife Salve
SPEAKER_01And so what's fun is that we still make the formulas the same way we did when we were making them in our backyard. So we still take these whole plants to the manufacturing facility, protect the integrity of the plant, and that's why you get the results that you do. And I also want to add a lot of our formulations were derived by when you go to a first aid set, you see a boatload of it's overwhelming. It's like all this symptom relief. And then your first aid cabinet looks the same way, right? There's all this one time use. And so, what I love about these formulas is that you can have four of these solutions, your first aid cabinet is cleaned out, and then you can use it for so many things. And so the Green Goo first aid was very much kind of the flag. For us to really understand what was possible. And so it started out as a neosporan alternative. So it was just going to be for cuts and scrapes. But then looking at that first aid set, we're like, people want to take the sting and the itch out. They want to slow down the bleeding, speed up the healing, and maybe a little anti-inflammatory component to it. And then in setting the body, what was very interesting is the same way our body responds to like a cold sore is very similar to the same way our body responds to a blister. So we knew in formulations we needed to think about what we can do to stimulate the body's response to do what it already knows how to do. And what herbs, because herbs alone do one thing, but herbs together have a synergistic entourage effect and how they can elevate each other's purpose. So the Green Goo First Aid is literally your first aid kit on the go. It is your Swiss Army knife for first aid. It is for cuts and scrapes, bug bites, beastings, poison ivy, cold sores, blisters, abrasions. Yeah. And what's fun is you never have your first aid cabinet or kit with you when you need it. And you can have this in a little tin, a little stick, and it's with you everywhere you go. I think the lead herb in this that's my favorite that we use across a lot of our formulas is calendula. And calendula is identified through the FDA as an astringent. And so you'll see on the back of our labels, we identify the herbs as which the FDA recognizes, which is so fun that now we're having more botanical research and funds in that camp. What's also great, it's antifungal, anti-yeast, antimicrobial. It's strong in tissue repair. And a more recent study just came out that calendula, they've identified that it actually, when it penetrates the skin layer, so this is different than taking it internally, it actually stimulates the enzyme that regenerates your telomere. So for the first time, they are seeing that there may be a plant connection to your longevity, which is way more than just your skin and how that impacts your whole system. And it's pretty powerful to see what these plants can do. And then combined with that, so this particular formula has about 13 herbs. So you're it's yarrow, plantain, chickweed, even St. John's wort, which is really fun because St. John's wort ingested has been more of a mood stabilizer. When it's through a skin and wound care, it has anti-inflammatory properties. So it's very much connected to calming your system. And plantain is known as nature's band aid. Combined with yarrow and the calendula, it helps bring oxygen to the wound site, stimulate that repair process, and slow down the bleeding. And it's so much fun. You can give it to your children, which is great. Like they love goo for their boo. You're never going to give a kid a tub of neosporin, right? And what the kids like about it is it actually takes the sting and the pain out. So think about when you have a band-aid moment, they're just crying. The band-aid is really there just to buy them some time to let their body calm down. What's fun about the goo is that it actually does have a response. So they'll go and grab it. It's non-toxic for dogs. Neomyosin is not only toxic for pets, but 25% of the population has an allergic reaction to it. And there's very few over-the-counter solutions for pets. And oftentimes you end up having to go to the vet and pay a pretty big bill just to get a$5 prescription. And pets love that it takes the sting and the itch out too, because oftentimes that's why they're licking it all the time. And of course, they can lick it. So this is something that every household should have. It's so utilitarian and so just functional. Matter of fact, my dad used to take it out with him on military deployments. So we have a lot of military folks that like it because when you're in your fatigues and you're out in very difficult conditions, you don't get to take a kit that just addresses some of those things that are just uncomfortable. And you can just pop it in your fatigue and you got it with you.
SPEAKER_00That sounds that sounds incredible. That sounds like a really good one to start with. What about I'm as you were talking, I was thinking about all the different ways like that could be used. And something that comes up a lot when I'm working with people moving, excuse me, moving through a cancer journey is burns too, like especially around radiation and some of the treatments that are even post-surgery. So I'm thinking even within that more fragile, sensitive population, would that be a similar product? Or do you actually have other products that would work good on for burns or like radiation protection, things like this?
SPEAKER_01So the first aid is great. And we do have a lot of cancer patients that use it. The skin repair is the one. So this was designed to be your after-sun burn and scar, like Moderna alternative. And it is phenomenal for eczema and skin that's been through a lot, especially with radiation, and really truly just just when you're really depleted from an immune system standpoint, it really calms the immune system and then regenerates that skin repair. And it's incredibly soothing. And I call this one the Swiss Army knife of health and beauty. So that's what it does, it was designed for. And what we found is it's just a perfect lotion alternative and anti-aging facial, like salverbalm. And so, like, I'll put this one on my body from head to toe as my lotion alternative, but then I put it on my face and neck every night before I go to bed. And it's so hydrating and feels so good. And you'll literally, like the next day, you'll be like, I feel different. And your skin is just like giving you the signals. I'm happy, I'm happy.
SPEAKER_00I love that. So, what is the what would be the primary herb in that that is having a lot of that skin soothing property?
SPEAKER_01So you've got rose hips, blue yarrow, helicopter. I'd say those are the ones that are like really working together in terms of penetrating the skin layer and bringing that like vitamin C and tissue repair. And then the aloe combined with that just gives that hydration and lets it just like sink in the skin. So we just recently introduced a vitamin C serum that is used for elasticity and collagen building. But what we're finding too is it's really great for very specific eczema spots and also like when you have a really extreme spot from a burn or radiation, and then you put the repair over it. So it's just such a high concentration of vitamin C. It has a way of accelerating the oxid of the antioxidation much quicker, and then sealing it in with the skin repair, and it's just like a beautiful companion. And I would also recommend stop using soaps. So, soap, again, we're back to we're stripping the skin layer, that microbiome. We're making it difficult for the skin repair. We're pulling out that hydration and by eliminating that and using oils. So we have a number of oils, the eczema oil, the hydrating oil, which in this case would be the one I would recommend. And you just use that on your body. You're gonna get the dirt or whatever it is that needs to go away, and then also protect that microbiome. And that's also why we use beeswax very specifically, because beeswax is a breathable material. So we're not, it's like not a petroleum base, and then it helps protect its transepidermal in terms of its hydration. So it allows the skin to keep that hydration in and do what it needs to do. And there's like nice traces of propolis, which is like the bees gift of good bacteria and antifungal properties. So it works really well balancing out the flora. And something that's interesting, just like a fun fact about skin. So skin is operates at a like a lower pH, like 4.5 to 5.5, which means it's a little bit more acidic. And where beeswax comes in is it's nice and lipid with these other lipid olive oil, jojoba oils that help kind of balance that out. So it's a great place for your flora, it's a great place to maintain hydration and protect that skin barrier instead of pulling all of that moisture out, which we often do.
SPEAKER_00That is such a good point about the soap situation. So, even so, I'm curious, just to get a little bit more granular here. So, do you not use soap at all in the shower? What is that? So, tell us what that actually looks like in real life.
Skin Repair For Burns And Radiation
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I have my little pump and it's I'll use whether it's the eczema or the hydrating. I even I'll even use our southern butter oils because I love the way they smell. We have a rose lavender, a sandalwood cinnamon, and another one that has we call it the aphrodisiac one, but it's got like Clary Sage, and I just like the way they smell. And so I'll use that. And it's so you just wherever you want to put it, all the places. Yeah, and it does. And it's an oil. Yeah. It's an oil. And what's interesting is I just very recently my daughter wanted me to try a scent. More so she's I've got this soap that I want you to try because I really think the scent is fun, mom, and maybe we can incorporate it. And I like had not had body odor in so long. And I used the soap and it smelt good. I was like, okay, I can break this down into some nice essential oils and potentially incorporate it. But like by two, three o'clock in the day, I was like, I don't smell like my body is like not liking this. All of a sudden, I had like strong body odor. My skin was super dry and scaly, and I was like, this is not good. My skin is not happy. And it kind of takes a minute to get used to it. Like the first time you use, especially even an oil face wash, we've been trained. We need suds, we need things to dry us out. And you use an oil face wash and you like splash a little water on, and the oil's still there, and that's okay. You just dry it off with a towel. But it's strange to get used to. But then once you're used to it, I've left my face wash before, and I'm like at a hotel and I wash my face and I'm like, I have a mask on, and then it's just like overproducing oil, it's dry, it's not happy. So your body will adjust and then you'll see, you'll see the results, you'll feel the results, and everything's so much happier.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh, I'm I love this. I'm excited to do this. I'm gonna stop doing soap, you guys.
SPEAKER_01And oil soaps are great. If you want to transition, like you can do a castile blend. You know, we've got some cast, like if you need to try that transition, but once you get to the oil, it's heaven.
SPEAKER_00And I think to your point too, of just if we're in general, right? If you're if you guys have been listening and following along to my podcast so far, I feel like in general, the foundation is to listen to our body and to listen to our body needs, to what it needs, to what it wants, to what feels good, what doesn't feel good, like reestablishing trust that our body knows what to do if it's given what it needs. And that's exactly what you just pointed out, right? That when you like when your skin microbiome is happy, when you're not putting things on it that are stripping it or suffocating it or whatever it is, you don't have body odor, like you don't need lotion, like things are just like regulated the way it should be. And I think for probably most of us, we've come so far away from that, just from the conditioning of sort of Western society around how we take care of our hygiene that we expect it to be a certain thing. And then we just expect that we need products like deodorant because of course you're gonna have body odor. And I just I really appreciate your point of that's not necessarily normal, though. Like that's not what the skin would do if it just had what it needed.
SPEAKER_01It's very different. It's and you bring up a good point to just really underscore is that we've been compounding these chemicals on our bodies for a very long time. And so not only depleting, like avoiding those things, but then rebuilding it so you can go back to swimming with the current instead of against the current. And that's what I love about this nutritional skin care and bringing all those vitamins in systemically and then continuing to feed it, because then your immune system is happier, you sleep better, everything's in a much better state of homeostasis. I had a customer the other day, and she, her daughter had eczema, and I get to say had, and she had been doing over-the-counter and prescription steroids for over a year. And she's we are not sleeping. And if you have eczema or really dry skin, especially at night when everything, all the sounds go away, it's like burning. It's all you can do is feel that. And then fabric is uncomfortable. And she's I'm coming to you as a last ditch effort. I don't use natural products, I have very little expectation in this, but I heard through the grapevine, so I'm willing to give it a shot. And so I was like, okay, give us some pictures so we can see because sometimes it's we can tell which stage you're in the various skin type to just drop right in. And of course, the first advice was stop using soap. We're gonna get you the eczema oil and start using that in the bath first and foremost. And then we'll figure out like, is it gonna be the first aid we're gonna start with first, just to help with some of the anti-itch? And then are we gonna start next with the dry skin formula to really penetrate not only that inflammation, but the dry skin formula, which is our eczema solution, which John Hopkins has been using in their scleroderma and skin condition department for over a decade, that actually has herbs in there that calm the nervous system very specifically. And then you go to the skin repair, which is gonna be your burn and scar, your hydration, and your continued skin repair. Like you want to just keep feeding your skin. So she started with the no soap with that eczema oil, and we went through each one of those. Week two, she sent me a picture. She goes, We're already on the skin repair. She's we are at the scarring stage. She's like two weeks. She's I haven't seen my daughter smile like this in so long. And I'm like, You just keep feeding that skin all that good stuff and stay away from the other stuff so that you can keep building that skin barrier.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh, that gave me chills. Like, what a gift. This poor girl, right? And of course she's not alone. That's a very common skin condition. Tons of people are dealing with eczema and like frustrating eczema that doesn't go away despite all the things. So it comes out of nowhere.
Ditching Soap For Oil Cleansing
SPEAKER_01I'll get customers that are like, I have never had this before. I'm 45 years old, and now I've got eczema on my face, and I don't understand. But again, it it and I think too to your you talked a little bit about that Western perspective. We've had this idea that things just need to go away fast. And in especially in first aid, if it doesn't burn or sting or dry it out, it must not be working. And I challenge that school of thought. We just didn't know what we know today. And so now when you can really intentionally eliminate and then add the good stuff, you give yourself a minute and you just start seeing those results. And then it just continues. And and your skin, there's something to be said when that calendula study came out about regenerating your telomeres. I was like, I think we intuitively know that when your skin looks healthy, someone is healthy. It's just marketing has given us the wrong tools.
SPEAKER_00100%. 100%. It is the outward expression of what's happening internally. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay, what are some of the other products that you guys have? It sounds like that would take care of just about everything. That's only two things you mentioned.
SPEAKER_01So I always say get the four-pack first aid bundle, and then you got your covered. The pain relief, I just love. Matter of fact, that's the one I did last night after my bath. And this is your analgesic, rich in Arnica flowers. And people are fairly familiar. I feel like Arnica came out before a lot of the plants did. But again, you're just getting like a fraction of the Arnica plant, and it's mixed with a solution that's just sitting on your skin. This is a really rich high concentration with other herbs like ginger that help create some heat, which I think with some of the more traditional things we've seen, that heat helps bring oxygen. But the ginger actually works with your system to bring more oxygen to that site. Now it was initially designed as a like a recovery salve or post-workout or injury. And what really brought this to light for me, we had a customer, she's Jane Doe number one. She was the first person pulled from the World Trade Center, and she sustained horrible injuries. And she became addicted to opioids as a result of dealing with those injuries. And she came to us as she was going through her opioid withdrawal journey. And our pain relief solution was the only one that helped her as she was lowering the dose, going through the seizures, and recovering from that muscle pain. And she's, it just helps me keep my head in the game too. There's something there. And of course, now what we know in terms of that relationship of your immune system, your nervous system, your psychology through that skin health. And I was using it before I would travel because I would get when you're flying, you just don't drink enough water, you feel yuck. And so it became my go-to as like a preventative. I would use it the night before. And then the next day, I just felt like I was traveling better. I felt better. And today we know managing inflammation is an important part of our wellness journey. So I encourage not just using this as an injury recovery solution, but again, back to that nutritive skincare component. Sav up once a week with it and just manage your inflammation because we know now that reducing that inflammation helps reduce cortisol and really keeps all of our hormones in balance and keeps the body saying, okay, I feel safe. I don't need to throw the alarm bells out.
SPEAKER_00That's such a good point. So if I so just to recap what I've heard you say so far, you use that one. So the pain relief one, and then also the skin repair one as like nutritive balms. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Those are my two like head-to-toe balms. And then you just have the first eight everywhere, like in all the places. And then my daughter really likes the dry skin formula. She's one who has had different adventures with eczema. She's allergic to chlorine. And so this is one she will literally put that on from head to toe before she goes swimming. And it just creates a protective skin layer, just gets her ready to go. And that was the one that John Hopkins, it was so interesting because it was John Hopkins who came to us and said, We have all of these patients talking about this thing called green goo. Who are you? So they helped us with the washes, actually. The oil washes were inspired by their recommendation, which was, hey, it's great that we've got these balms, but they're also using all of these soaps suggestion. And so that was a good inspiration for us.
SPEAKER_00That's incredible. That just even from again the Western institution mindset to come to you and be like, we need something better. That and how long ago was that?
SPEAKER_01You said over 10 years ago.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Any other products that you want to highlight? I think that four pack is really important for every household.
SPEAKER_01So what was the fourth one?
SPEAKER_00What's the fourth one?
SPEAKER_01It'll be the dry skin.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And then just clean out that cabinet. And the dry skin one, too, is especially good for winter time. So like the skin repair is a little bit lighter, the dry skin is going to be heavier. So like a winter lotion head to toe. And then the trio, which I call the face wash, the rose serum, and then the skin repair again, which is more like your health and beauty lotion alternative, anti-aging, which I really prefer to just say age, and that vitamin C serum when you need like a more direct, like strong, potent result, it can really kickstart things. Those are my go-tos. And of course, you gotta have your lip balm.
Eczema Turnaround And The Four-Pack
SPEAKER_00And yeah. And then when you have it everywhere, what would you suggest too? Because I'm just trying to play not so much devil's advocate advocate, but just more like the person who this is really new to them. And I can already, because I even have some family members who might be like, What? You want me to stop using soap? You know, I mean, I think after listening to this conversation, hopefully it's like clear why and it's at least worth the experiment. You can always go back to your soap if you don't believe it's working. So you can test it. But what about the deodorant piece? Do you think that what would you recommend as an entry point? Like for somebody to just stop using deodorant, or what would you suggest?
SPEAKER_01I use the green goo deodorant and okay, hands down, I wouldn't use any other deodorant. Yeah, there's no question. And I even got my teenage daughter using it, which was not easy. So, yes, yes, and please stop using traditional deodorants, just at the very least, if it's not. Green goo, just don't use the traditional deodorants that are available and let your body go through the detox and start using a natural deodorant. Of course, I love ours with all the additional nutritive resources because you will also have just a different experience. You don't, when your body is absorbing the thing that it loves, it just responds differently. And so you're just not going to have, if you're someone that sweats all the time or you're worried about your body odor, you do got to give yourself a couple days to acclimate because your body is going to go through that detox that's pretty common. And I think from a salve perspective, obviously every home should have their first aid solution because you're going to find you're going to use it for everything. From a personal, like I use the most, it is the skin repair and the pain relief. And then, of course, the oil face wash and the serum. I love putting the serum on my face every night and then putting the repair over it and just letting it soak in. I mean, for me, it's just people always ask. I'm 50. Like people ask me what I do to my skin. And I'm like, just green goo.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I love that. Yeah, you do have very glowing, healthy skin. I'm 50 as well, Jodi. Very good. We both celebrate. Yeah, that's right. Oh, I'm like feeling excited to try all of these things. So just for everybody listening, I will make sure in the show notes below that you'll have all the links so that you can go explore the different products that Jody's mentioned. If there's any you want to test out, you'll have the links to do that. Is there anything else before we wrap up? Is there anything else you want to add or just, I don't know, comment on that came up today?
The SHAMAN Framework And Closing
SPEAKER_01I'd love to just give a little wisdom hack for everyone. And so this is an acronym that we use in our home because learning about all these ingredients to avoid can be really overwhelming. And you're probably being inundated with all the things you should do and shouldn't do. And that in itself can just increase cortisol in itself. And for me, and especially my daughter, she's being overwhelmed and inundated with marketing and do this, do that. And so I was like, what can we do so we can have a really healthy relationship with our wellness journey? And so we came up with this acronym and it's called Shaman. And so S is for sleep, adding to the sleep bank. And that's especially important for my daughter because she's now connecting her mood to her sleep, which a lot of kids don't do. And I'm like, how's the sleep bank looking? Oh, yeah, I need to look at that. And I think us adults as well, giving us more permission to take that 15-minute nap. Give yourself those moments to just add to the sleep bank. H is hydration. We are water. Our skin is telling us that. Our organs, we know that. Not only is it drinking water, but it's avoiding the things that are going to pull water out of you and large volumes. So when you think of and when you're going throughout your day and it's shaman, oh, should I grab this drink or should I grab this drink? It's just a quick reminder of okay, maybe I'm going to just have the water instead. But it's also your food and it's also your skin care. There are foods that are rich in hydration and fiber and vegetables and fruit, and then also your skincare that you know are going to be complementing this thing because we are water. And A is antioxidants. And I think antioxidants for my daughter and I, especially from a food perspective, it's just been helpful than all the things we should or should not. So it's just as simple as opening up your fridge and am I going to have the carrots and the blueberries or am I going to have the chips? And maybe it's both, but at least I'm thinking about making sure that I'm bringing some of those nutrition, nutritional resources and including skincare, nutritive skincare into our lives. M is mindfulness. And I think that we often think that if we don't meditate for two hours, we're not going to get the benefits of mindfulness. A study just came out, the Journal of Behavioral Medicine partnered with the Journal of Dermatology, and they were able to prove that small moments of gratitude and mindfulness actually reduce inflammation and reduce cortisol. And you only need 30 seconds to two minutes throughout the day. And just practicing mindfulness, go look at the clouds. If you're sitting to pick up your kiddo instead of scrolling, look at the clouds, listen to the birds, feel your feet on the ground, rub your fingertips. It's very much take your five senses and just spend 30 seconds to two minutes with that five cents, whichever one that you pick. And that's mindfulness. That's all you need. And then A, the last A is avoid. Avoid those harmful ingredients. But you know what? Avoid people if you need to. Avoid situations. Like when you preserve your energy to serve you, all of a sudden things become expansive, including avoiding some of those ingredients that aren't good for you. And then the last N is nature. And that's been really great for my daughter. Do I scroll for 10 minutes or do I go outside for 10 minutes? Because nature just has a way of resetting. And shaman is equitable. It doesn't cost anything, it's just a choice. And we have found that it's been a way to just not overwhelm our wellness journey and just like really embrace it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I love that so much, Jody. Obviously, that's right in alignment with what we teach here at Ground and Root. And it's such an easy way to access it. I think I love that acronym, Shaman. I'll make sure to put that in the show notes as well, too. So people can refer back to that. Yeah, thank you so much. It was such a pleasure, really. I hope that I, as for those of you listening too, I hope this was eye-opening and just a different way to think about health through the skin. Cause of course we talk about what we eat and like I think some of those things are like your exercise is more talked about. But what about what's actually happening on the skin, on and in the skin? I just love that we went there. So thank you again so much for being here. Thank you for having me. My pleasure. My pleasure. And thank you all for listening. Remember, if you are enjoying what you're learning here on the Ground and Root Podcast, please help spread the word. We want to get into the ears of as many people as possible. That's how we help make other people healthy as well. And I look forward to seeing you again on next week's episode. Bye for now.