Yes, that fun looking product branded as being made by an old beekeeper from Maine is now owned by a multi-billion dollar chemical company. Burt Shavitz was a true naturist. Born in New York City, he eventually decided to move to Upstate New York where he became a beekeeper. Much like my own story, Burt vastly preferred the tranquility of the mountains to city life. As big fans of Burt’s life story, it is an interesting fact that the bees who provide us with our Catskills Gold Lip Balm beeswax are direct descendants of the same honey bees Burt became a beekeeper with.
Clorox, a company that makes bleach and countless other chemicals, bought Burt’s Bees in 2007 for an astounding $925M. Burt was even bought out of any ownership in his company in 1999 in exchange for a house valued at only $130,000 and some other minor compensation! To him, a home in nature surrounded by bees and other wildlife was invaluable. But this in a way is a sad story as Burt’s love of nature was eventually overshadowed by greed. Burt just wanted to work with wax. We at Lifenotlabs.com share his love of nature, and are a small independent business dedicated to presenting people with the highest quality natural products available. Burt was a wanderer and an original. If he were starting his operation in 2020 he would most likely have a hard time navigating the internet and branding himself. But in real life he would be making a living because he had a good product. I think of him as a barterer, someone who wanted to get through life trading in his creations for things he wanted to enjoy. These things might be beers or blades of grass but always simple, tangible and natural.
The ingredients in our lip balm are simply beeswax, Shea butter and vitamin E. The product is essentially created by women; from the beekeepers who provide wax and farmers providing harvested Shea butter to the actual female bees bringing product back to the hive. All of our lip balm is made in the Catskill Mountains using local beeswax. We sell several flavors in our store and only use the highest quality ingredients available. This includes certified organic essential oils used for flavoring. These oils also demonstrate healing and repairing properties proven to help lips.
