Natural Skin Care Line Goes Even Greener With New Biodegradable, 3D-Printed Jar

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., Sept. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- When Anita Redd began selling her homemade natural skin balm three years ago, she had little idea how many people she would touch with her life-altering eczema and skin care moisturizer. Now, she's broadening her impact to reach a global environmental scale, introducing a revolutionary new biodegradable, 3-D printed container.

Until she began selling the balm in 2011, Anita's Balm was something she shared only with family and friends when they approached her about recommendations for solutions to skin issues.

But after she made the decision to go into business to help make her product available on a wider scale, it took only weeks for the results to start pouring in. Musicians were able to play again after years battling skin ailments. Moms, turning to Anita's Balm desperate to relieve their children's diaper rashes, never looked back.

Anita's Balm began as an innovative solution to a troubling problem. Her son, Kevin, was born with eczema, a painful and itchy condition that causes rough and inflamed patches on the skin. Redd can remember holding her newborn son the moment he was born, and immediately realizing he was suffering from flaky and blistered patches on his body. Doctors wanted to put him on creams and steroids, medications that also held high risks for side effects such as stunted growth, infections and hypertension.

"It's unfathomable to have to live with the side effects for decades," said Redd. "Perhaps it's different when you get it as an adult, but he would have to live with those for all of those years. That was just unacceptable."

After trying a number of remedies, including drugstore medicines and natural health products, her son's condition hadn't improved. Accordingly, she opted to take matters into her own hands. Knowing that olive oil provided some relief, she combined it with beeswax. Surprisingly, that solidified version of the product would also go on to be a lifesaver for others from all over the country that also suffer from serious skin ailments.

Redd's son, now 16 years old, no longer has any need for any treatment remedies other than Anita's Balm. And, he's not alone. Chronic eczema suffers, psoriasis patients and others dealing with the trauma of serious skin conditions are constantly singing Redd's praises, with results apparent in segments on NBC 41 News Macon, NBC 9 Columbus, CBS in Charleston, ABC in Albany and FOX 5 News Atlanta. Thirteen hundred stores nationwide now carry Anita's Balm, including Smith Drug, Fleet Feet Sports, and numerous specialty stores. Today, her offerings have grown to include the 4-oz. jar, lip balm, eye balm, hair balm and a 2.2 oz. roll up that even children can use easily and safely.

However, with climbing sales and the discontinuation of the bottles Redd was using to package her products, she found herself looking to alternative methods for packaging. So, she opted to go back to the same creative strategy that she relied on to concoct Anita's Balm: the do-it-yourself method. In doing so, she learned about the possibilities of 3-D printing, which would allow her to customize the bottle design as she pleased, while also using biodegradable materials that decompose much more quickly than traditional plastic.

"I have no chemical background, but I was going to figure it out," she said. Her persistence paid off, leading to a beautifully designed 1-oz biodegradable roll up container. Her diligence in finding an eco-friendly solution speaks specifically to Redd's mission of natural health in parenting and all other aspects of her life and has led to an extremely positive reaction from her clients. The first batch of 150 1-oz bottles sold out within weeks.

Her goal with the new container is not only to have more control of the packaging process, but ties in with her commitment to sustainability. Biodegradable packaging helps eliminate the amounts of plastics and gasses that manufacturers put into the environment, making a safer world for all of us.

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Natural Skin Care Line Goes Even Greener With New Biodegradable, 3D-Printed Jar