Naturally nurturing

The difference between living in the Caribbean and in Los  Angeles is more than a change of scenery. Shani Chen and Joseph Jones,  co-founders of Oshune Body Care, found that out the hard way.
When  the two business partners moved to Los Angeles, Chen said they began to  struggle with severe dry skin. In the process of trying to come up with a  solution they went back to the basics of their island upbringings.
Both  of my grandparents were farmers. I grew up with yams, scallions,  ginger, papaya, mangos, mint, and more growing in their backyard.  Everything I ate was always fresh even the Tamarind balls, recalled  Chen, who grew up in Jamaica.
Both she and Jones, who was born and  raised in Belize, grew up with their respective islands humid climate,  which was a distinct contrast to the dry California weather.
And that  was the problem, discovered the two entrepreneurs. Then they received  another wake-up call about that same time which helped crystallize their  business concept of creating natural body care products.
Joe and I  had a friend who died of breast cancer around this time (2001). She was  our first customer, and it was a wake-up call, said Chen of their  31-year-old friend. It was a wake-up call for us to start examining  everything we consumed through our mouth and our body. It got to the  point where we literally started to look at everything from deodorant to  toothpaste; anything we could (change) to eliminate the toxins from our  body, added the entrepreneur, who stresses during her conversation  that many people forget that the skin is a living, and also the largest,  organ.
As part of their vigilance, Chen and Jones began to make body  creams and body butters for themselves, and they shared them with  friends. With much encouragement, the duo decided to take their wares to  a farmers market at Melrose and Fairfax avenues.
We did very, very  well, remembers Chen.
Using that as motivation, the couple borrowed  $2,000 from friends and family to start their business and today have  40 different products including hair care items, an aromatherapy line,  soaps, shower gels, sweet cream hair and body moisturizers, and a  natural line of baby care products call BabyBum Bum.
Next on the  agenda is a natural deodorant.
Chen is very well aware that getting  people to plop down $4 for a bar of soap is a matter of education, but  as she talks you can hear the passion in her voice about how important  and vital the need is.
When you really find out the basics about a  regular bar of soap, a lot are made of lard and oil . . . Most products  usually have a 20 percent oil content. But our skin needs more. Thats  why when you leave the house (after a shower and moisturizing) you  wonder why the ash is back. Most of our products are 60 percent oil,  Chen said.
But not the petroleum-based oil that is found in the two  ever-popular favorite skin moisturizers used by many in the black  communityVaseline and baby oil.
With more knowledge about the basic  function of the skinthe largest organ in our body . . . we need to be  able to take accountability and responsibility and not be a victim, when  it comes down to issues of cancer and things we can prevent, Chen  said.
And that is what is at the root of Oshune Body Care  productsgiving people options that have not always existed.
Oshune  products can be found at Simply Wholesome, Agape Quiet Minds Bookstore  in Culver City, Peponi in Venice, Liberation Yoga in Los Angeles, and  online at www.oshune.com.