Walking the labyrinth? or just running round in circles?

A dark night of the soul? Maybe not quite. A crisis of purpose? Well, yeah, sort of.

Last week we met with a packaging guru, an expert in personal care products. Loved the guy, a real character. Reminded me of someone I knew, very cool. Challenged our every belief about the business, though. Whew. Some tough decisions as we make the move to be present in stores.

First, the inevitable discussion of ‘parabens vs. no-parabens’. A couple of horror stories put the fear of contamination into me, as it would any other personal care products manufacturer. Hey, this guy is good. He’s already convinced several companies, attempting to be all-natural, to be ‘realistic’ and use parabens preservatives. How do they still manage to call themselves ‘all-natural’, these other companies? Well, they just don’t list all the ingredients, now do they? Never mind that the law clearly requires full disclosure. A wink and a knowing look. I guess we should have known. Well, now we do. It does not inspire us, though, to use a tiny secret amount of toxin. I’m clear on that.

Luckily, we have an ace up our sleeve. First, we’ve had our products shelf life tested, and our all-natural formulations, are, in fact, well preserved. Also, we are already in talks with a manufacturing lab that now uses natural preservatives, with great success, for several other product lines. After all, that’s the idea behind the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. We need to be just as safe from mold and bacterial contamination, as from toxic ingredients. If it takes a little more research and development to find non-toxic preservatives, so be it. I’m firmly convinced that Inanna products meet that challenge. And our new manufacturing associates agree. We do not have to use toxins to ensure a good shelf life. So, no real torment there. The packaging guy is, (as my daughters would say) just... wrong!

The packaging maestro, did, though, have some good points, regarding packaging. True, so true, that we now use a real dog’s breakfast, a mish-mash of packaging styles and materials for our various products. Oh, and nobody uses glass anymore, he says, way to heavy and too costly. Time to rethink and update all the packaging we use. Think 'plastic'. A huge task. And all we really wanted was new labels!

Ever have one of those times where you can’t do A until you answer B, and you can’t answer B until you hear from C, and none of it can happen without D, which isn’t available. Stuck. Can’t decide labels without packaging, and vice versa. Overwhelming. What to do?

PD James to the rescue! Sometimes you just have to let it go, and settle in for a yummy good read. Since I’m not such a fast reader, getting through a 660-page novel represents a real break. I took the whole Victoria Day weekend off! And the next day, too! In 4 blissful days, I thought of and did nothing but read that book. Transported to London, England, and a murder in a church! Delicious!

Closing the book, I went and checked the health store shelves. Yep, lots of companies still use glass. Since it is both inert and impervious, there’s good reason! And, lots of other brands are all over the map in terms of containers, too. Unified by their labels. Oh sure, we’ll simplify a bit. That’s where we were headed…before we started going round in circles of containers, labels, and contents. Back to square one.

Frustrating, as it seems as though we are moving backward, for a while. How can we ever tell whether we are just running round in circles, spinning our wheels, or if there is some point to the work? Spiraling in, and spiraling out? Walking the labyrinth? Don’t know for sure, but I have a clue. I think, when we finish, we may find we have actually accomplished something. We’re back where we were, alright, but now standing firm, with a clear resolve, and a deeper grounding in what we actually know to be true.

Here’s hoping we can all be walking that labyrinth, spiraling in and out, even when we think we’re just spinning round in circles!