Hixson resident Danette Newton, who holds a master’s in biomedical engineering from UTK, is utilizing her degree to create a skin care line without the harsh chemical preservatives and fillers found in most products on the shelves.
Danette NewtonWhen Newton was pregnant with her first child five years ago, she said her skin was horrible. She saw a dermatologist, who prescribed an oral antibiotic and two topical treatments and recommended a cleanser considered to be one of the most gentle available.
“It worked, but I didn’t want to use all those chemicals,” said Newton, who was surprised when looking at the cleanser’s ingredients to find sodium lauryl sulfate, a derivative of the harsh chemical sodium laureth sulfate, as well as parabens, which have been linked to cancer and elevated estrogen levels.
She said she began researching natural surfactants in order to create her own cleanser, eventually settling on a grapefruit-based formula. She then developed a strawberry exfoliator, and she began selling both products online and at the Chattanooga Market.
Newton now has an entire line of skin care products including facial masques, lotions, peels, body butter bars, sugar scrubs, bath fizzies and facial wipes made from fruits and vegetables without harsh chemicals, dyes, paraben preservatives, artificial fragrances or water.
All ingredients are listed on the packaging, and she challenges consumers to check the ingredient lists of their favorite products and compare them with those of Simply Me products.
“It’s crazy how marketing can affect consumer choices more than the ingredients,” said Newton.
Moisturizers are sold in 2-ounce containers and cleansers in 4-ounce bottles, both of which last about six months each, said Newton.
Simply Me Naturally products last so long because they are concentrated, as opposed to most skin care products in stores, which she said contain around 85 percent water. Newton’s cleanser has an aloe base and her moisturizer is mainly coconut milk, which she said boasts many skin benefits including cell regeneration.
Her body butter bars are a melding of ingredients such as avocado and soy bean oils as well as beeswax, mango and shea butters.
“[The body butter bars] are safer for babies than typical baby products,” she said.
Newton’s bath fizzies are concoctions made from baking soda, citric acid and avocado oils which are scented with different essential oils such as lavender and ylang-ylang, or orange and patchouli.
“If you’re feeling lazy, just take a bath with a bath fizzy and you don’t even have to rub lotion on,” she said.
The versatile bath fizzies can also be used for facial steams and foot baths and come in 4-ounce packages with six to eight fizzies, or by the tub, which contains about 40 fizzies.
Simply Me uses entirely biodegradeable corn-based packaging for all products aside from the cleanser, which comes in a reusable plastic container.
Newton is working with a new natural surfactant, the soap nut or soap berry, which is found on trees high in the Himalayas. In addition to incorporating soap berries into her products, she also sells them online for customers to use as an all-purpose cleaner and laundry detergent.
Newton plans to increase the number of anti-aging products she offers, including lactic acid moisturizers and cleansers and pseudocollagen wrinkle cream.
Simply Me Naturally can be purchased online, at Epiphany Salon & Day Spa on the North Shore or at Banana Tree Organic Salon in East Brainerd.
Newton said she is in the process of developing a line of natural hair care products and dyes for Banana Tree which will be available in March. Contact the salon to be a guinea pig for her new dyes, which she said are so safe to use she tried one on herself while pregnant.