Category: Articles

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The beautiful truth

Beauty does not exist

At least there is no one fixed interpretation of what is beautiful. Is it a look, a smell, a touch? It is actually a combination of all of these things and more. But here is the most interesting truth about beauty, it is always open for interpretation. Like a work of art, you are beautiful. Everyone might not agree with us, but that is okay. They have their own internal definition of beauty and how it looks or acts.

The lens of what true beauty is is heavily influenced by a persons internal perceptions and experiences in life as well as the societal norms. For some people really long earlobes and blackened teeth are quite fetching, but that look is not for everyone. Some love the smell of lavender and others are revolted by it. I once knew a person who loved the smell of stinky feet. Can you imagine that?! Go figure!

Beauty requires diversity

Each of us determines the level of attractiveness for ourselves. We may have some similar interests that stem from primal survival and our desire to preserve. But how we pull them all together is unique for the individual. Thank goodness we live in such a diverse world with such wonderful variety of humans.

With so many people on the planet, we would guess that there is at least one of every kind and at least one admirer. But you don’t need to wait for validation from the outside world. Sure, it’s nice to have it. But you can feel beautiful and accepted all on your own.

Beauty is a feeling

We can all agree on this one thing; The most important characteristic of what makes you beautiful is how you feel about yourself. And, quite frankly, how you feel about you and how you treat yourself is the most important loving relationship you can form. After all, this is how you will express love and care for others. So beauty starts from within and it begins with you.

But feeling beautiful does not come easy for many of us. Some of us may feel discounted and over looked by the world around us. Some of us who have suffered ridicule may have an even harder time and struggle to even feel half way decent. So saying you have to feel beauty on the inside might pose a problem. Try these tips to help you spark your inner beauty.

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Vegan

Vegan friendly

We are a committed vegan company. While we did not start out that way, it has become a very important part of our identity. For us, achieving the vegan status was a pretty big deal. We wanted to go beyond the ability to say cruelty free. We wanted to do better. There are tons of cruelty free companies that still use animal by products in their formulations. I know that sounds odd but the term cruelty free covers animal testing but not exploitation. So you can see that it is one thing to say you are cruelty free, but quiet a different level to step up to be a vegan company.

In the beginning we did use a bit of organic milk in the milk bath and we did use a bit of honey in one or two products. This is fine for a cruelty free company but not for vegans. That was all we used so it was really easy for us to make a couple of simple modifications to our formulas and move over to be fully vegan compliant. Once we understood, we converted to vegan after our second year in business, over a decade ago.

You cannot be truly Vegan Friendly and exploit or harm animals as well as insects. Just like cows do not produce milk for humans, Silk worms do not “clock-in” to a job where they voluntarily go make silk threads for humans. Squashing beetles for color to dye products is pretty obvious, but what about honey? Well…as it turns out bees make honey for other bees. Not for you or me. Read more here Vegan Society

In fact, we go one step further with our vegan practice and insist that ingredients be in harmony with nature. So beyond the required preservatives, you will not find any synthesized or artificially manufactured fragrances or additives of any kind in our finished products. This makes all of the Très Spa products in perfect harmony with nature. You never need to worry about our products polluting or destroying eco-systems. From nature back to nature.

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Animal Compassion

Cruelty free

The thought of any animal suffering for the sake of human vanity is horrific. This is the reason we stayed strictly with plants that have a very long history in human application. No animal testing is needed. This is also why we have stayed away from trends and fads of synthesized additives cleverly masked as good for you yet stemming from a science lab. We aren’t arguing their efficacy. We just don’t see the need for it when the plants have all we need.

When you see the words Cruelty Free in skin care, it means that the products have not been tested on animals. While there is no governing body policing the term, it is a generally accepted practice in the industry. Now here is where it gets a little problematic. Cruelty Free doesn’t mean the individual ingredients haven’t been tested on animals. Remember those fun chemistry concoctions synthesized in a lab? They do require a bit of testing so how do they get tested? Possibly not on animals but who knows and we have no interest in finding out since we just avoid them all together.

To the rescue come a couple of agencies that will take a look at the ingredients and verify that, not only the finished product, but also each ingredient that make up the finished product have not been tested on animals. PETA is one of those companies.

PETA approved

Tres Spa is PETA Approved Vegan and Cruelty Free

For years we avoided the bureaucracy for the right to say what we have been doing all along. Seems weird to have to pay someone for the right to say that we are cruelty free when we are vegan. But we get it. It does have value to those who do not know us. So eventually we gave in and decided to pick PETA to partner with.

We chose People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for a couple of reasons. There is a fee (their is always a fee) and they do verify (just like the other groups) but they go beyond that. They use the funds donated to help support their mission: to end animal cruelty. They actively work to bring an end to animal cruelty and suffering not just in cosmetics, but in all industries. This is a worthy cause, in our opinion, and one worth supporting.

We are thrilled to be approved and recognized by PETA as not only a cruelty free company but a vegan one as well. We are also a part of their Business Partner program. Double bonus!

You can find us in the PETA virtual mall as well as many other companies. All are Cruelty Free and many are also Vegan. Très Spa is in the Beauty department between Health and Accessories. As an additional bonus, see if you can find the secret coupon code. This coupon can be combined with others. Who does that anymore? We do!

Compassion for their living environment

We agree, not testing on animals is great. But we, at Très Spa, think we can do even better. When we innovate, create, and distribute Très Spa products we think of the downstream impact our products may have on natural habitats. So we design our products to be so gentle on the eco-system that you could stand in the middle of the most delicate remote area of the planet and freely use our products without harming a single living organism. With the exception of bacteria. Soap (this includes our shampoo) has been shown to kill many forms of harmful bacteria.

Our products come from nature and are easily absorbed back into nature. We like to say “from nature, back to nature”.

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Carbon Offset

Offsetting our carbon footprint

Tres Spa and Sustainable Travel

Carbon Offsetting is a way to pay back and pay it forward by donating funds to mitigate any greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, electricity use, and other sources. There are calculations that can be done based on manufacturing processes, shipping, and any travel by car boat or plane. Once you make a donation, those funds are then added to the general ledger to fund various projects on a global level. Projects can range from forest conservation & biodiversity of indigenous species to cleaning the oceans and alternative energy production to supporting local communities that had been exploited.

We donate a flat amount quarterly as well as an extra donation for each time we travel. For Très Spa, sustainability and global conservation is so important. We are a small company so it’s nice to be able to have a positive global impact and Carbon offsetting makes that possible.

Individuals can do this as well. There are several companies out there that you can find to donate to. Think about donating the next time you fly off on vacation or how about donating to cover your commute.

Currently, we participate with Sustainable Travel for our carbon offsetting. Why travel? When we travel, we learn about each other. We get to experience different cultures and different eco-systems. However, we need to be mindful of supporting and sustaining these environments. While traveling can be fun, the damage that can occur could devastate the delicate balance. Sustainable Travel’s mission is to protect and conserve our planet’s most vulnerable destinations by transforming tourism’s impact on nature and communities.

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Recycle

100% Recycle

When we select packaging for our products we evaluate their environmental impact weighed with the customer needs and the product requirements. You can put the empty packages in your curbside recycle bin. Just make sure you rinse out any remaining product.

We have started a new partnership with Teracycle to make it even easier for you to be able to recycle Très Spa products right from your home. We think we have designed a program that should work for all of us and one that works for a small entrepreneur company. We have big ideas but small footprint so we needed a program we could scale. It’s a program we are very excited about.

Here is how it works: You give us your clean recyclables and we’ll give you points thru our rewards program. Collect your points and use it towards your next purchase. All return packaging needs to be clean in order to earn your reward points so make sure you rinse out any residual product.

Mail in returns: If you are one of our remote customers, simply hang on to the the empty packaging until you have enough to fill an envelop or box. When you are ready, let us know and we will send you a pre-paid label to use for your box or envelop. We appreciate it if you would save up a few items before shipping back to us. Minimize our carbon impact by bulking up your packing.

Farmers Market and Event returns: When you see me at the market, you may notice my portable recycle bin. This is so that I can collect your Très Spa empty’s. You’ll still get points that you can save up and spend at the market or trade them in for on-line credit towards any Très Spa products.

This is a new program and we want to see how well it goes and what your thoughts are so please feel free to share your opinion with us at info@tresspa.com