My husband has been a Burt’s Bees addict since I’ve known him. He has lip balm in his pocket, in his car, at work. You get the picture. So when our family started going toxin- free and reducing our plastic use, I tried to find him a lip balm that wasn’t packaged in plastic. I was on the hunt!

The Heart Behind Creating a Non Toxic Company and Why You Should Support Them - The Story of Little Otter's Toxin-Free and Eco-Friendly Lip Balm with Jess Hunt-Ralston

I found Little Otter and when my first shipment arrived….

I was blown away! The packaging was super eco-friendly and I love the smell and feel of the lip balm. I’ve been carrying it in my online store ever since. 

Recently, I got the chance to talk with Little Otter founder, Jess Hunt-Ralston, about why she started Little Otter and what this amazing company is all about.

“Your need was actually the heart of my need. I loved natural lip balms. But I had a hard time finding plastic free options. I was looking at a lot of changes in my life. I was riding an electric bicycle, I was changing my diet and just thinking ‘How do I live my values?’ So the heart of starting Little Otter Skincare was wanting to bring affordable, ethical, sustainable skincare to the market that also helped give back to nonprofits, educate, make people aware of issues, and help them share it with others.” 

Jess saw that other companies were giving back a portion of their net sales to non-profits and Jess wanted to do even better. Little Otter gives back 10% of their net profits to amazing organizations like the Chattahoochee River Keepers, the Georgia Conservancy and the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.

That’s the why of Little Otter, but how did Jess create these amazing products?

• The Best Ingredients- Besides the quality, I love that Jess and her company love sharing their sourcing with other companies and customers. Earth over profits is the way of Little Otter. Let's take a look at what they’re using in their awesome products. 

• Little Otter Lip Balm only contains 4 ingredients

  • Organic Coconut Oil from Wildly Organic

  • Beeswax- Jess often gets asked why their beeswax is not organic. “It's very difficult if not impossible to do truly certified organic beeswax. The bees go everywhere. They forage for miles. So unless you own all of this farmland, all of this property, or are on an island, it’s not 100% organic. It's more important for these hives to be in native areas and helping support and pollinate these native plants and help with these ecosystems.” You can read more about the Urban Honey Bee Project at Georgia Tech here.

  • Organic Peppermint Oil- All Little Otter essential oils are sourced from Florihanna in France. All the oils are tested for quality and effectiveness using GCMS testing. 

  • Organic Rosemary Oil- Now you might think that rosemary might be too strong for lip balm, but Little Otter uses the more subtly flavored rosemary variety, Rosmarinus officinalis.

Little Otter is big on Earth friendly packaging- “We wanted to use made in the USA if we could, but there are no paperboard companies that produce in the United States right now. So we reached out and started looking at some wonderful suppliers. I found a small, woman owned factory outside of Hong Kong and they have been wonderful! And now their company has grown so that a lot of other cosmetics companies, skincare companies, larger names, we now see this company working with them and helping bring them these paperboard solutions.”

How do you bring an idea or product to life? Jess has some great advice….

• Reach out on Instagram. First assess and benchmark what's already out there. Check out the landscape and see what's missing. And what is it that you want to buy.

• Start small and share with friends and family. “My husband and I made big batches of lip balm and face oil and gave it to our family and friends for the holidays. And we said, ‘Let us know what you like and don't like about this.’... We found that our family and friends are some of our most loyal and enthusiastic customers and brand ambassadors.”

Have you tried Little Otter yet? Or maybe you have a great idea for a new product?

I’d love to hear about it and what you thought about this episode! Connect with me on Instagram @themeganmikkelsen or email at megan@detox.design

You can find my favorite LIttle Otter lip balm in my online store.

Follow Jess Hunt-Ralston on Instagram @littleotterskincare or @jesshuntralston