Last updated: June 6, 2021
Cindee Black and Jordan Berry started Black and Berry Living because of Cindee’s rare, childhood auto-immune disease. The disease caused her to have reactions to household products severe enough to result in numerous hospital stays.
Determined to overcome this challenge, Jordan and Cindee began creating safe, organic cleaners which they shared with friends and family members. In 2018, they used these recipes to build an eco friendly, simple, yet simply great, cleaning and bug spray brand.
Organic ingredients and recyclable packaging
Two hallmark components of Black and Berry Living make their products safe, effective, and getting to green – organic apple cider vinegar and aluminum containers.
The USDA organic apple cider vinegar they use is as gentle on the earth as it is tough on viruses, bacteria, and grime. Apple cider vinegar is food safe but bacteria combatant. It’s filled with probiotics and its own natural microbiome, so spilling the multi-purpose cleaner on your skin or your house plant is no cause for concern.
All Black and Berry Living products arrive at your doorstep in aluminum spray or refill bottles.
Consider the following:
- 18% of waste in landfills is plastic
- Only 20% of plastic can be recycled
- Each day, approximately eight million pieces of plastic trash end up in our oceans
- Each year, 100,000 marine mammals and turtles, and one million seabirds, are killed by plastic pollution
On the other hand:
- Only 1% of United States waste is aluminum
- More than 75% of aluminum that has ever been used is still in circulation today, and it can be reused an infinite number of times
- Aluminum is more durable and lighter than glass, reducing shipping costs and emissions
In short, aluminum containers rock!
Of course, there are some ways the sister team could improve their environmental efforts (as we all could), but this small business is making the conscious efforts where they can, and will expand from here! Check out our chat with the founding sisters below to hear their next steps.
Organic cleaners… that work
Who doesn’t love a clean cleaner? Half of what I hate about deep cleaning the house is the headache I get from all the chemicals. Not anymore.
Concerned about the apple cider vinegar aroma from the multi-purpose cleaner? No worries, it dissipates after a few seconds, leaving a soft scent of either citrus or eucalyptus. I use it on granite and stainless steel in the kitchen, to clean my yoga mat, on bathroom surfaces and for post-entertaining clean-up.
While on an enviable getaway to Hawaii, an OneDey team member was the first to try the Black and Berry Living bug juice (i.e bug spray). It was a hit – not greasy in the slightest; and has a light, citrus scent and a pleasant little tingle to let you know it’s working.
While I enjoy a clean house and not being nibbled by mosquitos and no-see-ums, my friends would say hand cleanliness has bordered on being a decades long obsession for me. Then came 2020, and we all began collecting hand sanitizers. Our hunt for clean ranged from grabbing travel-sized bottles at check-out counters to buying jugs made by local distilleries. Smelling like vodka and enduring odd consistencies and unpleasant feelings on our skin seemed unavoidable.
Then, I discovered Black and Berry Living. They truly have achieved the hand sanitizer greatness that none of us knew we needed in 2019. How? It begins with a 4 oz. aluminum spray bottle. All other hand sanitizers I’ve found are sold in plastic containers. But of course, one can’t simply judge hand sanitizer by the bottle.
The hand sanitizer inside excels in every category:
- The texture is feather light, leaving zero residue
- It absorbs quickly
- The very delicate, and soon imperceptible, scent is essence of organic rose water and orange blossom
Oh yeah, I almost forgot – the effective ingredient is USDA certified organic, ethyl alcohol derived from sugarcane. So…if our paths ever cross, you can be sure I’ll have some Black and Berry Living hand sanitizer at the ready for you to try. All ya’ gotta do is ask. Chances are you’ll become the very next Black and Berry Living hand sanitizer evangelist.