Healthy Teeth, Healthy Planet
Q + A WITH KEVIN HAGEL & DANA DI PONIO FOUNDERS OF NELSON NATURALS
Founders of Nelson Naturals, Kevin Hagel and Dana Di Ponio, have created a toothpaste that is not only better for our health, but the health of the planet too. What’s the story behind Nelson Naturals? What inspired you to create a toothpaste company? You can’t talk about Nelson Naturals without first talking about Nelson. If you aren’t familiar with the quaint city of Nelson B.C., let us fill you in. Imagine a town of only 10,000 people, tucked away in the stunning mountains of the interior of B.C., surrounded by lakes, forests, and hippies. It’s often described as a small town with a big city vibe. It was here in Nelson, at the local farmers market, where the first jar of Nelson Naturals was sold.
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But how did we get to that point? Six years ago, the natural toothpaste market was not what it is today. There were really only a few brands to choose from, and in our opinion, none of them had very effective products. So this is where the entrepreneur’s brain kicks in and we decided to start making our own. We knew what ingredients we wanted to avoid (fluoride, SLS, glycerin, triclosan), and we knew that our goal was to create a toothpaste that was actually effective, and only used high quality, clean ingredients. This meant a lot of formulating, a lot of