About this time last year we introduced the new J.R. Watkins Baby Care line, developed free of toxins and fragrances for baby’s delicate skin. The positive feedback we’ve received from customers, fans and editors (you might remember this big news for J.R. Watkins Baby Lotion) has been thrilling—and we’re excited to celebrate the 1-year milestone since launching the new product line.

Happy Birthday Baby Care!

Are you a new mom or mom-to-be? If you haven’t tried the products, rest assured our line is made with only natural, gentle ingredients like shea butter, olive oil and chamomile. Our product development team formulated the Baby Care line to meet or exceed the standards for certification by the Natural Products Association, so you can pamper baby’s skin without a worry. 

Even better, J.R. Watkins Baby Care products are on special this month!

Product line includes: 

• Baby Oil: Scented with rice flower and avocado, a 100 percent natural fragrance, this blend of luxurious natural oils and vitamin E will pamper and nourish baby’s delicate skin. 

• Soothing Baby Balm: Formulated with extra virgin olive oil, vitamin E, chamomile and calendula extracts, this fragrance-free salve nourishes, softens and soothes minor skin irritations.

• Baby Head-to-Toe Wash: Scented with rice flower and avocado, this versatile, tear-free formula can be used as a shampoo or body wash for gentle, head-to-toe cleansing. 

• Baby Lotion: Formulated with shea butter and sunflower oil, this sweet-smelling lotion nourishes a baby’s delicate skin. 

We hope you haven’t caught the bug that’s making this flu season the worst we’ve seen in years. First and foremost, make sure you’re taking steps to protect yourself from sniffles and aches of flu and cold season. Hello, Vitamin C! 

Whether you’re fighting off the fever or taking steps to stay healthy, you can always turn to Watkins for feel better remedies to help along the road to recovery. 

• Relieve common cold symptoms with our Natural Menthol Camphor Vapor Rub. This naturally formulated chest rub will help sooth and suppress your nagging cough, with effective long lasting menthol. (Natural Menthol Camphor Vapor Rub available in the US only). 

• We know aching muscles can sometimes be the worst part of getting sick. Menthol Camphor Bath Soak is a welcome relief to your aches and pains, as the comforting oils of lavender and eucalyptus are blended with menthol & camphor to offer the ultimate in relaxation. Just add a bit of this unique blend to soften bath water and soak away your aches and pains! 

• Feeling stuffy? Our Menthol Camphor Relief Mist can help. With a few sprays into a hot shower, humidifier, or any room and you can get speedy relief and breath easy. (Especially during cold or allergy season). 

You can find an array of Watkins Menthol Camphor remedies on special during the month January. Take care this season, rest up and stay healthy! 

Still looking for the perfect gift for someone special? Check out some of our favorite J.R. Watkins gifts with lavender essence, sure to surprise and delight! 

Lavender Body Oil Mist (US $8.99, CN $9.99): For the natural beauty buff, or gal-pal that could use a little pick-me-up, our Lavender Body Oil Mist makes a lovely holiday beauty treat! This rich, moisturizing spray leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth. Formulated with apricot kernel oil and vitamin E to nourish your skin with essential nutrients it needs. Because the oil is quickly absorbed, it leaves a dry yet soft feeling on your skin. 

Lavender Essentials Kit (US $13.99, CN $18.99): Our Lavender Essentials Kit is the perfect treat for your niece, sister or traveling family member. Contains two Lavender Hand & Body Lotions, one Lavender Bath Soak, two Lavender Hand Creams, two Lavender Hand & Cuticle Salves, one Raspberry Weatherproofing Lip Balm. 

Calming Bath Soak (US $10.99, CN $12.99): Treat the friend who deserves a little “me time”, or the busy on-the-go mom on your list! Our award-winning Calming Bath Soak is the perfect way to wind down after a busy day—indulges the skin for a relaxing warm bath of lavender essence. 

Natural Lavender Sink Set (US $17.99, CN $21.99): A fun, unique gift for mom, friends or the party host! Pamper them with the gift of naturally clean, soft hands with J.R. Watkins Lavender Sink Set featuring our Lavender Hand Soap & Body Lotion. This handsome caddy, made exclusively for J.R. Watkins, is sturdy, water-resistant and embossed with the J.R. Watkins logo. Perfect for display next to the kitchen or bathroom sink!

We’ve been delighted to hear how much our fans and followers LOVE Watkins Lemon Hand Cream. Around the office we’re calling it the new “Fan Fav”… and most of us agree! It’s truly a scrumptious scent. 

Since hearing about how much everyone loves the Lemon Hand Cream, we wanted to spotlight a few of our other favorite Watkins products with lemon essence. Keep the comments coming on our blog, twitter or Facebook page. We love hearing from you! 

• Hand & Cuticle Salve: Protect and indulge your skin! Great for layering with the Lemon Hand Cream, this salve is formulated with premium beeswax and incorporates natural oils to nourish and revitalize your hard-working hands! 

• Room Freshener: You will LOVE this. One spritz will lighten the room with airy lemon essence! It’s also non-toxic and biodegradable, just like all of our Home Care products. 

• NEW Lemon Window Cleaner: Give your glass surfaces a lustrous streak-free shine, and keep your home smelling oh-so-fresh! This product works wonders, so say goodbye to harsh chemicals and hello to natural! 

One of the questions we get from our fans is: what makes J.R. Watkins products natural? With the widespread use of this word on shelves, it’s a question we’re happy to answer. For more than 140 years, we’ve been a pioneer in natural living. Natural is literally in our company DNA.

We are conscious of every single ingredient we use, from where it is sourced to how we work with it in our operations. We look for environmentally-friendly, renewable ingredients that are wholesome and refreshing—and never doctored up with chemicals or synthetics.

As one of the first companies to receive certification from the Natural Products Association, many of the products in our Personal and Home Care lines carry the “Natural Seal.” This means the product has met certain criteria set by the NPA, then certified and reviewed by an independent, third-party auditor.

Most of our personal care products bear this seal, with many of our formulations being 100% natural. We’re proud to say that our Home Care products have already surpassed the NPA guidelines, which require the product to be 95% natural and free of parabens, petrochemicals, glycols, synthetic polymers and other harsh chemicals. 

And, we’re always going to share with our customers how we make our products. We released a “Freedom Code” for our Personal and Home Care lines in which we transparently state the ingredients you’ll never find.

Check it out! And let us know if you have any questions. 

It’s back-to-school time! And even if you’re not a student or a parent of student(s), this is a great time to get your house in order. Kind of like spring cleaning, but a more fun version. While you’re stocking up on pens, notebooks and new clothes for the fall season, why not treat yourself to some new items to jazz up your bathroom and kitchen as well?

• On your next trip to Target, snag one of our new Foaming Hand Soaps. Your little ones will especially appreciate the Kids’ Juicy Apple.

• New school year = busy schedules. Treat yourself (or your mom) to a little bit of relaxation with our new Lavender Body Oil Mist and Lavender Sugar and Shea Body Scrub.

• While we don’t want to admit it, cooler temps are coming. Prepare your hands and cuticles with our moisturizing Lemon Hand & Cuticle Salve.

• Tired of running your AC all summer long? Stock up on our natural Room Sprays to freshen up the air.

• Watkins Lemon All Purpose Cleaner is a staff favorite. The non-toxic natural formula is family-friendly and can be used on virtually any surface.

How are you spending these last days of summer? What’s on your shopping list?

How Clean is Your Home? 

If you’re familiar with the J.R. Watkins brand, you already know that we’re passionate about natural, eco-friendly cleaning. We believe that caring for the environment and your home shouldn’t be a chore … it should be a refreshing experience! But we know that isn’t always the case, so we’re on a mission to find simple ways to keep a clean, green house. 

Recently, we developed this video with our partners over at Lifetime Fitness to help re-evaluate clean living within the home. Sharing tips from practicallygreen.com, Healthy Living Expert Terri Trespicio walks through some eco-friendly tricks on how to detox your home. 

We’ve re-capped some of the highlights here, but WOULD LOVE to hear from YOU. 

What simple ideas do you have for eco-friendly home care? Please share them in the comments and we’ll recap some of our favorite tips and tricks submitted by you in an upcoming post. 

• Lose the shoes: Did you know that 85% of household dirt comes in on your feet? Along with the dirt, you could be tracking pesticides, allergens or even lead into the home. Try getting in the habit of removing your shoes at the front door to help minimize the dirt and dust. As for the pile of shoes? Find a simple solution that works for your space. Real Simple has a great list of entryway enhancement ideas to get you started!

• Don’t mess with the dirty dozen: A lot of crops are sprayed with pesticides. Apples, celery and strawberries are just a few that make up the dirty dozen that are hit the worst. If you don’t want to avoid these altogether, check out Prevention’s list of fruits and veggies to always buy organic. 

• Use an eco-friendly cleaner: they work just as well! Look for brands that don’t contain a lot of harsh chemicals and are biodegradable. Remember, companies don’t have to tell you what is in their products, so trust the ones that you know (like J.R. Watkins!).  Check out our natural cleaners and learn more about the J.R. Watkins Home Care Line here. 

BIG news, everyone.

We are releasing our Foaming Hand Soaps next month! Are you as excited as we are? We think that this will be the next big thing overtaking your kitchen and bathroom sinks. We included fan favorite scents Grapefruit and Aloe & Green Tea and also introduced two brand new ones - Coastal Breeze and Kids’ Juicy Sweet Apple.

The gentle foaming formula is dye-free and packaged in PETE easy-to-recycle-plastic. And like all of J.R. Watkins Home Care products, the Foaming Hand Soaps feature non-toxic, biodegradable materials and are free of ammonia, bleach, isopropyl alcohol, sulfuric acid and other chemicals. The packaging is more petite than our traditional Hand Soaps, a modern version of our signature trial-mark bottle. We think you’ll love it!

Look for these to officialy launch in August, on JRWatkins.com and in Target stores, for $4.99. 

We’re excited to announce a new arrival to the J.R. Watkins family: introducing our Baby Care line! 

Because we care about your baby’s sensitive skin, we developed these products free of toxins and fragrances—allowing you to care for your little ones using gentle, natural ingredients including shea butter, olive oil and chamomile. 

Our new baby care product offerings include: 

• Baby Oil: Scented with rice flower and avocado, a 100 percent natural fragrance, this blend of luxurious natural oils and vitamin E will pamper and nourish baby’s delicate skin. 


• Soothing Baby Balm: Formulated with extra virgin olive oil, vitamin E, chamomile and calendula extracts, this fragrance-free salve nourishes, softens and soothes minor skin irritations.


• Baby Head-to-Toe Wash: Scented with rice flower and avocado, this versatile, tear-free formula can be used as a shampoo or body wash for gentle, head-to-toe cleansing. 


• Baby Lotion: Formulated with shea butter and sunflower oil, this sweet-smelling lotion nourishes a baby’s delicate skin. 

This highly anticipated line is set to hit shelves in early 2012, so be on the lookout!

Back in 2004, over 1,500 companies signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, a voluntary pledge where companies agree to disclose all of the ingredients in their cosmetic products, as well as avoid incorporating harmful ingredients. 

J.R. Watkins Naturals was one of the many companies that participated and signed this Compact. 

On November 30th, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics released Market Shift, a report documenting the seven-year project. The report also highlights “Innovator” and “Champion” industry leaders that signed the Compact, listing J.R. Watkins Natural Products among Champion companies. 

We are thrilled to be chosen as a Champion for Safe Cosmetics and are proud of our long-standing commitment to use only the finest natural products, adhering strictly to the quality standards set forth by our founder J.R. Watkins. Read more about our story and mission on jrwatkins.com. 

For further information on how the Compact works, please visit safecosmetics.org.