We love that your family loves lifestinks®!
“My whole family is in love with their products, and my super active yoga mum even said she noticed a difference right away and didn’t smell at all after teaching two back to back classes. I love that you can sprinkle it in some of your closed toed shoes that get the funk when you don’t wear socks!”
Keep smelling sweet!
I have resented having to write about this, but it seems I must. I think you, our treasured supporters, have a right to know why our products went from selling strong in Whole Foods Markets in a three-state radius (“flowing well” in WFM terminology) to being “discontinued and ineligible for reorder” on February 15, 2011. Withdrawn under circumstances so mysterious that countless WFM staffers have turned to US for an explanation!
I wish I could say that the WFM decision was a shock, but it wasn’t. An all out offensive against the Duggan Sisters brand (and the Duggan Sisters personally) had been going so full throttle for so many months that it had felt inevitable for quite awhile. Of course, we wish we had beaten them to the punch; but what small family business in its right mind would close 18 accounts that it had dedicated itself to building for the better part of 17 months. Actually, the “better part” cannot be said of those months. Some of the worst experiences of verbal abuse, coordinated deceit, butt covering and all around misogynistic bull crap comes closer to the truth.
A neighbor who happens to be a lawyer and social worker who had her own experience with the WFM ethos when trying to defend the rights of a developmentally disabled WFM employee captured it spot on, we think, when she looked us straight in the eye and said, “They’re just a bunch of misogynistic PR*#%S, don’t you think?” We couldn’t agree more.
We would deeply appreciate you reading our account of our grassroots endeavor’s doomed encounter with Whole Foods. Please know that the Duggan Sisters are more committed than ever to bringing you the finest, healthiest, most environmentally responsible and lymphatically sound deodorant we know how to make. Whole Foods Market “doesn’t like us.” We believe you still do and so we continue to make our products and sell through the finest ethical retailers worldwide and direct from our little cottage, as well.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Stay tuned.
Mary Duggan
By Mary Duggan
Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.by William Congreve, The Mourning Bride, 1697
As a young woman I entered into a really sick marriage. Well educated, meaningfully employed and facing a red-hot future, I walked head long and innocent into an abyss that derailed me – heart and soul – for over 14 years. I know from abuse. Exposure now to interpersonal toxins registers with me physically: a bitter, metallic taste fills my mouth; my solar plexus swells and painfully tightens. My reaction is visceral, insistent and king-sized. I have successfully healed on many levels from that experience and I have painstakingly steered clear of abusive relationships ever since. I never imagined that business partnerships could so easily replicate the abusive model I had so struggled to overcome. Boy, was I wrong.
Our first kiosk and a supportive team leader. High hopes on DAY ONE.
In March of 2011 the Duggan Sisters loaded our lifestinks® deodorant products into our first Whole Foods Market, led an inspiring and informative training session for the staff, and filled a kiosk with our treasured products; an environmentally responsible and lymphatically sound deodorant system that represented the combined efforts of the three of us for the better part of a decade. When the kiosk finally looked as perfect as we could possibly make it, I turned to a stunned Clare and said “I have to get out of here NOW. Please, get me out of here!” On what should have been one of the happiest and most fulfilling days of my career, I was having THE REACTION and I was having it strong.
I am so powerfully attuned to abusive energy that I knew in one day what it would take our company collectively 10 months and a lot of anguish to comprehend. Many the bride knows the feelings of doom I was experiencing. They know they are making a terrible mistake; but, for a myriad of reasons, they walk down the aisle anyways. My journey this time was down the grocery aisle; but surviving and recovering from marital abuse gave me the insights and frame of reference I needed to identify the same beast in a new role. (more…)
by Mary Duggan
The talented team at Destination Kohler Waters Spa are very special friends to the Duggan Sisters: as well as tremendous champions of lifestinks® deodorant and our Don’t Be A Boob Campaign. When they invited us many months ago to speak at their Women’s Wellness Weekend it was an easy yes on our part. For months in advance, I pondered my talk and worked to deepen and expand on our message. I knew I wanted to introduce the concept that health is a space you claim for yourself. The larger the space you claim, the more vibrant the health you experience. This concept has become central to our ongoing message and, as is always the case, a personal struggle for the sisters as well. (Look for a blog entry soon outlining our “Claim a Space for Health©” formula.)
Chester, Mary’s Service Dog
As the wellness weekend drew near, and I was finalizing my talk, I realized my sisters had their own agenda for the weekend and their own input into our wellness message. They were determined that I would claim a bit more space for myself, actually lots more space, and they wanted me to do this within the famed and fancy and Oriental carpeted walls of the American Club. They wanted me to bring Chester, the six-year-old Keeshond/Pomeranian mix that has claimed our hearts as a family pet and my gratitude as a neurological bodyguard. It was time for me to come out of the closet about using a service dog. (more…)
by Joseph Duggan Lyons
The Duggan Sisters brought green smoothies, a vital component of our wellness message, to Destination Kohler this March. Yes, as you may have noticed, your deodorant makers like to talk to you about your GI tract too. The Women’s Wellness Weekend participants are now among the thousands that the Sisters have urged to make the brain-gut connection by incorporating living foods into their diets, what we call the move from pharmacopia to cornucopia.
Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko
Equally important as our embrace of the living foods movement is our commitment to a judgment-free living foods lifestyle, which is why we find green smoothies to be the perfect addition to busy lifestyles. Several years ago as my aunts made the transition to be 100 percent raw, I was struck by the health transformations I saw in them. It seemed great – for them. Even though I knew how tasty living foods could be from my aunts’ wonderful raw creations, it didn’t seem practical as a young adult making plans with friends, ideally over tacos. Thus they encouraged me to give green smoothies a go, gifting me several Victoria Boutenko books for college graduation. (more…)
Chicagoan Eric sent his brother, Mike, in San Francisco a holiday gift of lifestinks deodorant. Wonder what kind of reaction the gift of deodorant brings? Mike’s enthusiastic thank you delighted us. Click here to listen in on a bro-to-bro moment: Broski, I’m So Thrilled with My Deodorant
Brothers Mike and Eric on top of The Grand Tetons in Wyoming! See – no pit stains!
And Mike was so grateful for finding a healthy deodorant that actually works, he took the time to thank us as well:
“My Bro Eric had given me your lavender can and lav stink stick as a gift for Christmas. It took a few months for me to start using it and when I finally did – I was super excited. It works. I thought it might just cover up the BO smell a bit and was worried about the lavender maybe being a little too girlie. Wrong! My BO was gone gone gone. Out of 45 days, I maybe have had 2-3 days where at night I would get that ripe whiff but even then it was super faint.
I have tried Tom’s Lemongrass, Anthony’s, Alba Tea Tree and some others. All of them were natural deo but they also went on wet and were sticky for a while after applying AND simply didn’t do the job. By the end of the day, I was ripe. My poor wife – she put up with the stink because she wanted me to quit using Aluminum anti-perspirant. I had been a life long user of Dry-Idea, well at least since high school or early college I think. So that is about 20 years of putting aluminum on my skin. Thank you for letting my finally move away from that and doing it without any regrets!
THANK YOU!
Mike
SanFrancisco, California”
by Mary Duggan
THANK GOD FOR PSORIASIS
I can’t go anywhere without encountering people suffering with psoriasis; oftentimes the people are small children. Folks with psoriasis are always wondering if I have anything to help them – a bath soak, a skin cream, or a special soap. I know that our soaps and soaks can provide temporary relief; and I have sourced some wonderful oils that I am working up into a healing soak for psoriasis sufferers, but none of that will cure psoriasis. What I do have to offer are a few suggestions:
LISTEN TO YOUR SKIN?
Yep, if you work it right, PSORIASIS COULD BE THE BEST THING TO EVER HAPPENED TO YOU. (more…)
A call came through today that is prompting this seasonal word of advice. Long-time lifestinks® user Michelle retrieved a treasured silk blouse from the bottom of the laundry hamper where it had resided unlaundered (or dry cleaned) for many months and her pits were ruined! Of course, in her anger, she lashed out at the Duggan Sisters and while we feel her pain, and the pain of every gal (or guy, for that matter) who has made the same mistake and suffered the same bitter consequences, there ain’t a whole lot we can do. We remain your best chance for stain free clothing; but we cannot stand up to the cavalcade of consequences present in this all too common ocurrence. (more…)
Eight Good Years
Friday, March 9th, 2012by Mary Duggan
If you read one book this spring, I strongly encourage you to make it Wheat Belly. A New York Times Bestseller, written by Wisconsin cardiologist Dr. William Davis, it will forever change the way you look at pastries, pizzas, and all the superficial delights of the gluten world.
Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis
We had been a gluten-free family for many years, as it was part of getting Annie well. I went along for the ride but I was decidedly haphazard in my approach. It was Annie’s problem and she had the gastro intestinal turmoil to prove it. In solidarity I munched on gluten-free crackers and drizzled gluten-free pancakes with pure maple syrup and I had to agree – they were way more delicious than their gluten rich counterparts. But I was never averse to preceding a selection from the gluten-free menu in restaurants with a few buttered slices of the house baguette. Strictly gluten-free was Annie’s cursed state. I never fell victim to gluten’s deadly effects. Or so I thought! (more…)
Tags: book commentary, Dr. William Davis, Gluten-free living, Wheat Belly, William Davis M.D.
Posted in Book Suggestions, Eating with the Sisters, Gluten-free living, Life at the Rose Cottage, Raw & Living Foods, Stories from the Rose Cottage | 7 Comments »