We take pride in using natural ingredients in our products.  However, with natural products there is a shelf life.  This is a good thing!  Who would want to use something that is supposedly fresh, but lasts longer than plastic?  With this being said, here are a few guidelines when using our products.

1. Lotions & scrubs usually have a shelf life of about 1 year.  After one year, you may see that the scent (essential oil blend) is not as potent.  We still have lotions on our "test shelf" for over 3 years and the preservative has held up, but the scent does not.  It is still there, but not as wonderful as it was the first couple of months we first made it.

2. Be sure to keep your goodies away from heat and direct sunlight.  Both will break down the essential oils and in turn cause your product  to be less than superior!

3. We do use a mild preservative that is paraben free.  Preservatives are necessary with natural products (in our opinion) because there a couple of nasty things that can grow on products that are made with water such as mold and mildew.  There is never any reason (in our opinion) to accept mold and bacterial growth.  As a result, we made the decision to add a mild preservative that is <1%. 

4. If by some chance, you did leave you lotion in the car or some place warm that caused it to break down a bit, try putting it in the fridge to thicken up.  It may just do the trick, plus it adds a nice cooling effect to your purchased goodie.

5. Human beings still make each and every batch here at HSCo.  So should you think your lotion, soap, scrub, etc is not up to par, please send us an email and we will try and get down to the heart of the issue.  We still make everything in small batches so that we can control temperatures, quality and overall performance. But here again, we are humans so there is always the chance that human error can play a part.  But we will say, that we have not had many errors because of the whole "small batch" thing!

6. Lastly, thanks so much for liking our products.  We are only as good as our customers and word of mouth.  So if you like us, spread the word.  If you don't...please contact us and give us a fighting chance to make things better!