The Birth of Beauty With Integrity
By Rosemarie Patterson

HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Thanks to my mother, I have been taking care of my skin since I was about 12 years old. She taught me the importance of caring for my skin every day and night, reminding me to NEVER go to sleep without “doing my face” since that was crucial to good skin. We have enjoyed sharing and talking about the many products we have used over the last 30 plus years.

IT’S MY TURN NOW
When I had my children, I became especially concerned about our health and with the help of my brother, a holistic physician, I learned about the ingredients in our food and began feeding my family truly healthy foods. So, it was a natural progression to start thinking about my beauty products and wondering what was in them. I began to see articles about toxins like parabens and sulfates. With the help of the internet, I began my research. I didn’t know where to begin but I got lucky and came across an article verifying my worst fears. I read things I didn’t want to believe but could not ignore. The author said there were non-toxic products out there but they would not be easy to find. My quest began. I was determined to find them.

SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH
I purchased a cosmetic ingredient dictionary and the book “Dying to Look Good”. I read dozens of articles from the internet and found Skin Deep Datebase and did ingredient analyses of the products I was using. The information I uncovered over the next 10 months was heartbreaking. I had been convinced over and over that this product was the best, and that product would enhance my skin even more. I never imagined that there were harmful chemicals in these products! I had been mislead! And so had all my friends, family and my mother! It was very frustrating. As I investigated many companies searching for non-toxic products, I started to lose hope. All the products had several of the toxic chemicals I had read about. The more I learned, the worse I felt as I realized what I had been using on my skin all these years.

TIME TO GIVE UP?
Throughout the months, I wanted to give up, feeling I would never find a company that had true integrity. Although a particular product looked good initially, upon further investigation, I determined that the product did have a toxic ingredient. I had to find a company who truly cared about the environment, animals and most of all, the health of its customers! But, just as I was ready to give up, I remembered that first article I read that said I would find pure products if I dug deep enough. So, I kept on searching.

BINGO!!
Finally, one day I found a company that was perfect!! Everything I learned to look for was there. They signed the Safe Cosmetics Pact, did not test on animals, or purchase any ingredient from a company that did, and did not use any product from an animal. They did not use refined or synthetic ingredients, fillers, plastics, sulfates, parabens, artificial colors or fragrances. They did not use petroleum, paraffin, or mineral oil just to name a few of the known toxins. I could hardly believe it. Ironically, I started to find several other companies that also passed the test. I narrowed my search to find the best of all the many products I used.

NOW WHAT??
After finding these “pure” products, I ordered them in order to personally test them. I was thrilled to get the mail each day as my mother and I started to try our new “stuff”. The products were everything the companies had promised they would be. I was thrilled and my skin loved the new products. But now I had to share them with my friends and family. But that wasn’t good enough. I had to share them with the world. Every woman should know what advertising and marketing was making them believe, especially people with sensitive skin. They needed to know that it was probably the ingredients in their products causing the rash. And even worse, that these chemicals could be causing even more serious health problems.

BEAUTY WITH INTEGRITY IS BORN
My husband is in the computer industry and has a partner who designs websites, so we decided to create one to share my story and knowledge and bring all the wonderful products I found under one roof. And so, Beauty With Integrity was born. I hope you have enjoyed my story. It proves that you should never give up on something you feel passionate about. There is nothing better after a struggle to be able to yell “BINGO”!

I will continually update the website with current news I discover about personal care products and always strive to bring you the best products I can find, from companies who have INTEGRITY.

I COULDN’T DO IT ALONE
Thank you to my husband Russell and children, Ryan and Andy for allowing me all the hours needed to search for this information and products.

Thank you to my husband and a special thanks to his partner Bill for designing this beautiful website that is a true reflection of this dream. Your time, help and obvious talent is truly appreciated.

Thanks to my family and friends for supporting this venture and for trusting me with their new beauty product choices. Last, but certainly not least, a big thank you to my mother for starting me on my skincare journey over 35 years ago. Now we can really have fun!

It feels wonderful to use beauty products with total peace of mind, knowing I am not harming my body, the environment or an innocent animal. Plus I am giving my skin ingredients that actually feed it what it needs to be vital, and healthy. Best of all, I get to share all this knowledge with you. What could be better?

With Integrity,
Rosemarie