You’re invited on a blind date and as much as you hate the idea and feel that you can attract your own women, keep in mind that you are single and most important……

You heard that she is 22, shapely and blonde with blue eyes from Sweden.

No brainer right?

Why?

With that foundation you automatically know that she is going to be stunning and beautiful.

You go on the date and you love her skin.

She tells you she uses a mud based facial product.

You certainly have heard that one before.

Then she says it’s truly from the buttery mud flows of Alaska.

Perfect. You automatically know that it is the most pristine and freshest mud on earth.

So you can imagine how we felt when Lauren pitched her mud product on Shark Tank with the hope that she can large scale it in the spa industry.

Yawn.

We’ve certainly heard that before in an extremely crowded market. Then she said it was from the mud flows of Alaska and we thought……

Bingo.

It’s fresh, it’s clean, it’s organic thus it has to be great for your skin.

Please meet Lauren, owner of Alaska Glacial Mud.

As we dog sled to her home at alaskaglacialmud.com (please avoid that bear, they do scratch….hard).

Here is her story.

“I have been an entrepreneur, activist and beauty minimalist since my early teens. I knew chemicals, GMO’s and toxins in our water, our food and what we put in our skin were leaving a legacy of waste in our rivers and oceans.

In Alaska I found ingredients unspoiled by factory farms, industrial mines, polluted waterways and pesticides. The raw materials used by Alaska Glacial Mud Co. are raw goodness and incredibly rich in pure minerals and nutrients. Our natural skin care products are completely free of synthetic and chemical ingredients.

With Alaska Glacial Mud Co., I am passionate about promoting a natural beauty lifestyle that’s committed to purity, philanthropy and sustainability.

During college I became very inspired by restoration ecology work and ways in which natural resource management and education could shift paradigms in our country to benefit the whole planet.

After I earned my degree in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Washington University in St. Louis, I knew my life’s work would keep me close to nature but I felt I needed to deepen my understanding of political change and community organizing strategies first… the kinds of things you don’t learn in school! At 22 years old I jumped at the opportunity to get my feet wet working on a three-month electoral campaign in Anchorage, Alaska. I had no idea the big mountains would win me over and that the prospect of preserving unspoiled wilderness would bring me back to Alaska a year later.

In the interim, I worked at a geriatric spa helping elders feel beautiful on the inside and out, and as a community organizer helping less fortunate Americans maintain access to affordable housing in a quickly growing gentrified community in Boston, MA. With those two jobs I scratched my city itch in Boston and unknowingly absorbed skills at a spa that would help me with Alaska Glacial Mud Co. later down my path.

At 23 years old I moved to the remote coastal fishing town of Cordova, Alaska to work with a colleague I met during my post-college electoral campaign work. Dune Lankard was the founder of a nonprofit organization called the Eyak Preservation Council, whose mission includes protecting pristine areas of the Copper River and Prince William Sound from unsustainable development. I worked as a program manager and a grant writer for the Eyak Preservation Council for two years.

During that time, the Copper River grew closer to my heart and I started thinking about the impact a small business could make to raise awareness and philanthropically support wild salmon habitat in the Copper River Watershed instead of toiling away writing grants. There was no hesitation about what I would do.

Between rafting trips down the Copper River, mudslinging on its silty banks, and listening to Alaskans joke about the buttery spa quality of the abundant mud, I was inspired to launch Alaska Glacial Mud Co. and bring luxurious Alaskan glacial spa products to the world.

While I worked incessantly on my business plan, I deepened my ties to the Copper River working as a salmon biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game and in 2009 I purchased a commercial salmon fishing boat and permit and have been working as a commercial salmon fisherwoman concurrently while running Alaska Glacial Mud Co. I operate my own fishing vessel in the Prince William Sound and Copper River Flats to harvest all five species of wild Alaskan Pacific salmon.”

Next let’s enjoy her company.

“Alaska Glacial Mud Co. is proud to call Cordova, Alaska home. Nicknamed Alaska’s Hidden Treasure and the Friendly City, Cordova is both beautiful and quaint. Cordova is an island on the mainland of Alaska only accessible by boat or airplane. We are surrounded by mountains, glaciers, wetlands, ocean and wilderness. You don’t come here for traffic lights, billboards or fast food because we don’t have any of that!

Founded in 2006, Alaska Glacial Mud Co. sustainably hand-harvests pure glacial mineral mud from the vast Copper River Delta where it is deposited by the river at the impressive rate of 60-100 million tons annually by timeless glaciers that have ground remote mountains into pure mineral-rich powder. We supply glacial mineral mud raw material and manufacture a niche line of glacier derived natural skin care and spa therapy products.

The sustainable Cordova economy and subsistence lifestyle relies heavily on the bountiful resources of the Copper River, the Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska to support a rich cultural heritage and a sustainable economy in our remote fishing town.

This slender strip of mountainous rainforest and wetlands along the Pacific Coast provides us with healthful clean air, pure water and abundant resources. Landlocked by majestic backdrops, it is a great pleasure to operate in the global marketplace with our sustainable resources.”

That was extremely impressive. We were a little chilly but now we’re getting warmed up.

We love that they are not only located in an environmentally beautiful paradise but are eco- friendly as well.

“Abundantly available, we hand-harvest mineral-rich glacial mud on the Copper River Delta in Southcentral Alaska. Nearly 100 million tons of buttery glacial mud deposit on the expansive delta each year, the largest contiguous wetland in North America. This glacial mud has been in Mother Nature’s factory for over 10,000 years. Alaska Glacial Mud Co. LLC always pledges to use the most eco-friendly and socially responsible methods for harvesting and manufacturing our products without the use of heavy equipment, mechanical or explosive techniques. We use good old-fashioned 5 gallon buckets and spade shovels.

We adhere to permitting requirements and often harvest less than 1% of our permitted resource. To paint a picture of the abundance, we harvest less than a drop in the bucket, so to speak! We use community hydropower to process the raw material. All packaging is post-consumer and/or recyclable and all ingredients are biodegradable. We also give 10% of our profits to wilderness preservation, habitat restoration, sustainable community development and environmental education programs.  Due to a comprehensive social and environmental company ethos, Alaska Glacial Mud Co. received BCorp status by the BLab in 2014.”

Good for them.

Let’s begin to get laser focused and take a closer look at their product.

“All products are manufactured using only natural, wild and certified organic ingredients in small batches. We do not use synthetic fragrances, colors fillers, propylene glycol, parabens, sulfates or phthalates. All products are cruelty-free and are allergy tested for all skin types.

The glacial mud in our products retains more than 60 major and trace elements known to promote healthy cell regeneration and is the most mineral-rich and unique mud in the world. It also contains micro-fine clay particles that absorb toxins and exfoliate dead skin, leaving skin soft, nourished and radiant.

What you put on your skin is as important as what goes into your body. Your skin is the largest organ in the human body and absorbs 60% of products used topically. If you want healthier and younger looking skin, topically feed your body nutrient rich natural skin care products instead of chemical products that introduce unwanted toxins into your system!”

We are impressed but what does and objective, independent reviewer have to say about Lauren’s product?

At the fun site runonorganic.com. They smile, “I love, love, love these masks! Out of the two scents, I like the Lavender Peppermint best–but, it was a close call. I also really enjoyed the Vanilla Lavender combination. I found the Lavender Peppermint to be my favorite because of the cooling effect that the peppermint has on my skin. It makes the mask leave a refreshing feeling on my face even after I rinse it off.

The use of mud in their products makes them extra awesome. Mud is a natural astringent, exfoliator and skin purifier, making it the perfect base for a facial mask. It did all of those things for my skin: stripped away excess oil, exfoliated as I washed it off, and left my skin pure and fresh feeling.

I also found the texture of this mask to be perfect. In general, I like mud and clay masks best because they tend to be robust & dense and also stay on skin well. The ingredients used in these masks are very good and I like how Alaska Glacial Mud differentiates between plant derived, certified organic and wild crafted. It lets the consumer know that they are not trying to hide anything and they are eager for their customers to see what they’re getting. I especially loved seeing pictures on their website of them gathering the mud!

The handy little brush they included with the samples is perfect. It makes application and clean up a synch.

Really a wonderful product that I thoroughly enjoyed using. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a clarifying facial mask with organic ingredients.”

Okay, we knew we weren’t alone.

Need more convincing?

Lauren’s site adds, “The Copper River and its tributaries make up an impressive watershed of wilderness, approximately 26,500 square miles (nearly 16 million acres) encompassing the far corners of four distinct mountain ranges including the Alaska Range, the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains, most of the Chugach Mountains and a small section of the Talkeetna range. They contain sources of both volcanic and sedimentary rock from some of North America’s tallest peaks, as well the largest subpolar icefield in the world, the Bagley Icefield, making the Copper River Watershed one of the most prolific and diverse glacial deposits in the world.”

We love Lauren’s story. We are excited about her pristine product.

Please remember, her organic product is from Alaska.

In terms of fresh and healthy quality, you automatically know what that means.

~ ~ ~

OPENING PHOTO fciwomenswrestling.com article, photo via Estes Park Ultra

http://www.alaskaglacialmud.com/

http://www.alaskaglacialmud.com/about-us/

https://runonorganic.com/2013/11/07/alaska-glacial-mud-skin-care-review/