I have always tried to make thoughtful choices when it came to personal care products.
Like many people, I looked for brands with good reputations and cleaner ingredients, trusting that they had already done the homework for me.
That approach worked until a food sensitivity test introduced me to an ingredient I had never thought much about before: xanthan gum.
At first, I focused on food. Then I started finding it elsewhere.
I began noticing the same ingredient in products I used every day.
Toothpaste.
Moisturizers.
Foundation.
Mascara.
Products I used every day.
The more I looked, the more I realized how much time I was spending reading labels and researching ingredients.
What should have been a simple trip to buy a moisturizer became an exercise in detective work.
I remember standing in the moisturizer aisle at Whole Foods, convinced I would finally find what I was looking for.
Shelf after shelf was filled with products from brands I recognized and respected.
I picked up one bottle.
Then another.
Then another.
By the time I reached the end of the aisle, I had found only one product that met my needs.
I left feeling frustrated, annoyed, and honestly a little exhausted.
Not because of one ingredient.
Because of how complicated everything had become.
Eventually I discovered tallow-based skincare and decided to make my own.
What surprised me most wasn’t how effective it was.
It was how simple it was.
The ingredients were familiar.
I knew what each one was.
I understood why it was there.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t standing in an aisle trying to decipher a label.
I was using something I understood.
And it worked.
A small amount covered my entire face and neck.
My skin felt nourished and comfortable throughout the day.
After long afternoons in the Florida sun or at the beach, it became the product I reached for most.
I began making products for myself, then for friends and family.
For years, that’s all it was.
A hobby I enjoyed and something I loved sharing with people I cared about.
Then my husband encouraged me to think bigger.
Not because I had always dreamed of owning a skincare company.
I hadn’t.
But because I had found something that solved a problem I knew other people experienced too.
Life is complicated enough.
Personal care shouldn’t be.
That’s the philosophy behind Salty Trase.
My promise isn’t that every product will work for every person.
My promise is that every product we create will be made with thoughtful, recognizable ingredients that serve a purpose.
Ingredients I’ve researched.
Ingredients I use myself.
Ingredients you don’t need a chemistry degree to understand.
Because I believe most people don’t need more products.
They need better ones.
Thank you for being here.
— Trasi
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The Coastal Letter is an occasional note about simple routines, thoughtful products, and life along the way.
