The Bossticks - How To Make Sure Your Water Is Not Causing Damaged Hair, Acne, Eczema, Or Hyperpigmentation Ft. Vitaclean

Episode Date: June 24, 2023

#582: Today we're sitting down with the founders of Vitaclean, Kristina Velkova and Sara Douglass. Vitaclean is the only triple-filtered, Vitamin C-infused shower head that removes the nasty chemicals from your water so you can have healthier hair, clearer skin, and an affordable, spa-like experience every single day. Today we sit down with them to discuss what led to the creation of their brand, how they've grown Vitaclean, and how their side hustle turned into a full time business. They get into what interested them both about the effect of unfiltered water on skin & hair, how different countries view water, and how changing the water they shower with changed their lives. They also get informational, and they give us the scoop on what's inside your shower water that's destroying your skin & hair, and what you can expect when you make the change.   To connect with Vitaclean on Instagram click HERE To connect with Vitaclean on TikTok click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE   Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE  For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by Vitaclean Go to Vitacleanhq.com and use code SKINNY at checkout for 20% off your shower head starter kit. Produced by Dear Media.

The following podcast is a dear media production. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you alone for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her.

We did a lot of projects together and we had a really good workflow. So that was like one thing that, you know, really inspired us because we already knew that we could work really well together. And I think that that's also really tricky. Like some people sometimes ask me, they're like, oh, you have a great co-founder. Like, how do I get a co-founder? And you're like, well, you know, it's not like, oh, I have a friend that's start a business. Like you have to make sure I think that you balance each other out and like your strengths and their weaknesses like, you know, kind of level out.

I was still modeling. I was working for a content company. Like, we were doing a lot of stuff for a while. It wasn't just, hey, we're going to do this for six months and then quit her jobs and we're going to be super rich. You know, it takes a lot. Today is a niche episode on something that we all do, which is shower or bathe. I became obsessed with learning about what is in our water after the Test My Home episode that we did.

If you haven't listened to that episode, you have to go back and listen. It's such a good one and it talks all about what's in our water, the products we're using in our home, EMF exposure, all the things. But one of the things that Ryan from Test My Home told me that we really needed to improve in our home was our water situation, especially our shower. And this really interests me because I have two kids under three. And I just am very particular about my skin and my hair. So I really wanted to kick our water situation up. So I found the perfect two people to tell us all about what is in our water and how to improve our shower situation and our water situation. Today we're

sitting down with the founders of Vitaclean, Christina Velkova and Sarah Douglas. And and they are going to talk to us about the chemicals in our tap water. What causes acne, eczema, rashes on our legs, hyperpigmentation, what non-filtered tap water does to your hair, what sludges and why is it in our water, how other countries view water, why viticline infuses vitamin C in their filters, and how easy it is to enhance your water. We're also going to talk about wellness routines and entrepreneurship, but this episode's going to give you so much knowledge about your water,

so you have the best water ever. I installed their system, the Vitoclean, into my house. I started with the guest room and then I moved it to our room too. And I'm obsessed. I took a shower. I'm not itchy like I normally am. And I can just feel a difference. It's really hard to explain unless you've done it.

But it's like a spa-like experience in the shower. So if you're in to healthier hair and clear skin and just being informed about what's in your water, listen to this episode. On that note, Christina and Sarah, the founders of Viticlean, welcome. to the show. Let's Talk Water. This is the skinny confidential, him and her. What is happening to our skin when we shower without having a filter on it? Well, there's a lot of things in your water, like calcium and dirt and things that travel through your pipes that get collected and end up on your skin and hair. So when you shower, your pores expand,

and they're soaking all that up, including chlorine, which is used to sanitize our water. I'm so into skin care. I mean, I wrote a book on it. And for me to not really know about this is so crazy, this is something that I'm learning. When we wash our face, like what is going on? Is that causing acne, eczema, hyperpigmentation? Like, how important is this? So what happens is that like the water, your pipes get filled with something like filled up and then also like all the lime scale. So what happens is that that mixes with your product. So if you can imagine like you put a cleanser on, you mix it with water, you can get like tiny particles of lime scale that really irritate your skin and also your hair. And so it stops your products working. Like, I don't know, I mean, you said you're not the biggest hair washer, but I don't know if you've ever like shampooed your hair. Never. I'm just kidding. No, like literally not since 1992. And have you ever had like when you, you kind of, you get all out of the shower and you go for a, you go to like blow dry your hair and you still have like a little patch of like product in your hair? Yeah. So that's from a buildup, like a

your products mixing with stuff like lime scale or pipe rust. And then you have to like go and wash it all over again. That's, you know, and that's, that's really what's going on. How did you both sort of discover this? Well, we were living at London at the time and we kept bumping into each other randomly, around the parts and a lot of yoga studios. And we bonded over our skin and hair issues. So I, when I moved to London, had severe dandruff. It was so bad. It was like literally snowing out of my head and I tried everything from dandruff shampoes, vitamins, scalp theorems, you name it. I tried it. I even tested my blood because I was like there's something wrong with me. Like, I don't know what's happening. And everything was fine. I also developed eczema on my body and I just couldn't figure out what was happening. So Sarah had similar problems. And one day, when we're living together, our shower stopped working. And and sorry, I think you should tell us a sludge story. So our shower just completely stopped working and we like turn the pressure on and nothing worked. And we're like, God, like, what do we do?

So we're like, okay, we'd better go shower at the gym. But we also, we had to call a plumber. And this, like, lovely Irish guy came and he takes, like, the bathtub apart, like, attaches all his equipment. And he starts pumping this, like, crazy brown liquid. Into the pipe or it's coming out? Like, into the toilet, like from the kind of bathroom into the toilet. draining the pipes. Yeah. And so for like for those of you who don't know what sludge is, it's like a brown kind of goopy tar-like liquid. And he just looked at us and he was like, you got a sludge problem.

And we're like, how do we combat this? Like how do we make sure this never happens again? And so he said that we had to get a water filter up. But we lived in like a complex of like 35 apartments. So we would have had to filter every single apartment because that was like, I imagine that's like what you talked about with what you're getting like in your house, like a water main. And he then gave us a quote for that, which was like around 8,000 US dollars, so 6,000 pounds at the time, because we were both in London. And it just wasn't, I mean, that just wasn't an option for us at the time. Like, we thought we'd probably move out of the flat, like in about six months, maximum a year. But we obviously didn't want to shower in sludge anymore. So it really sparked like a light

bulb moment for Christina and I, because, you know, as Christina said, like she was suffering from her own skin and hair problems. And I was suffering from my own skin and hair problems. So I would get out of the shower and my face was like really red here and it would just get so irritated all the time. And so what I would do is I would use these products and I would use like this green concealer when I would go out and like slather on all this makeup as kind of like a defense mechanism because I would just always feel really hot and then not confident. And so it really sparked this life up idea and like, you know, this is crazy. Like maybe this is what's actually causing like our skin and hair problems. So how did you find out?

it was that. We started looking into shower filters just on Amazon and where you would, and there was nothing really branded. There was nothing really very effective. We probably tried like everything available. One day, we read an article that Leonardo DiCaprio was selling his apartment in Manhattan, and the highlight of that article is that he had a vitamin C shower in his apartment. So we were both looking at each other, like, oh, this exists. So we found out that in Asia, that's common that people use vitamin C showers. So we saw the opportunity to go out and basically create the best one. Leo uses a vitamin C shower. I feel like you need a vitamin C shower on that hair, on that mop of yours. Listen, I'm always- You're so serious about your hair. I mean- I don't wash my hair either,

though, just so you know. Oh, you don't? No, no, no. That's not true. I saw the shampoo use the other day. Do you really not? I really don't. I really don't. I'm wondering if, is this mostly like in the major cities or like, as you guys both grew up in different countries, is this an issue when you were growing up or is this only in the municipalities, like only in the big populations or is this everywhere? So this is everywhere. So that's like we started it initially in London because that's where we were suffering from skin and hair problems. But then we've noticed that we started to get a lot of sales from America, like around 2018. And so we started looking more and more into it. And America has all kinds of water.

I mean, here in Austin, in Texas in general, you have like what we had in the UK, which is a really high mineral content. But in places like the tri-state area or New York, you have really dirty water. So there the water is, it's not as hard with calcium, but it's really, really dirty from the pipes. But that spreads outside of New York. Manhattan actually has the dirtiest water. And I grew up around New York and we always pride ourselves that we have the best water. It's actually the dirtiest water. We have three filters in the shower head.

and the last filter is a microfiber cloth and it captures residual particles, tiny little particles. And in Manhattan, after a week, it is so black. It's dirty. It's like you dipped it in mud. And that's where you're showering in.

So with the pizza tastes, is it? Is that what's happening? I'm not going to get into this debate. You know, a lot of New Yorkers are going to be pissed here because they say they have the best water and it's the best pizza.

It's because it's literally filled with dirt. And the dirtiest water. My skin looks like shit in New York. And I always thought it was the pollution. That's a normal thing. I always thought it was when I was London, I was like, oh, it's because I'm living in a different city because there's not enough sun. Like, you think it's everything. But so much to do with your water.

And you spend so much time and money on products. And they just don't work as well because you're still showering in the same water. So when you guys got a shower, did you guys go out and just buy a random shower head to try it out and see if there was differences? Yeah, so we started looking at what options were available. And so we bought like normal water filters, like especially what was available on Amazon. And it did, that's like, that's when we started to notice a change. We're like, oh, you know, my skin's less irritated. Christina's dandruff started to go away a little bit.

But I have to say that it wasn't until we actually started using vitamin Cs when we read about the Leo, the Leo article. What does the vitamin C do in water? So the vitamin C neutralizes the chlorine. So it's the best agent, like escorbic acid is the best agent to neutralize chlorine. which is what our water is treated with. So like every water main so that, you know, people don't get sick or there's no bacteria. That's like what they use to treat water. And the vitamin C really combats that.

And it also leaves like an amazing kind of sheen on your skin and hair. So it's not like a greasy sheen. It just like gives you a really amazing glow and like makes your skin really like glow and like makes your skin really like glowy and your hair really soft and silky. No, no. We had Dr. Dennis Gross on this show. I mean a few times in front of the show. And his, he's like huge on vitamin C for the.

skin. He thinks that's one of the best things you can do for your skin. Yeah, I mean, we are so big on vitamin C. Like, Christina and I, like, one of the things that we bonded about when we were working together is, like, our love for beauty products. We're both, like, very minimal people. Like, we don't use a 10-step skincare routine, but we definitely try, like, the best products. Well, now we don't. Yeah, now we don't. But there was a time we did. And it's so frustrating when you try all these products and you spend so much time and money and nothing works. And for us, that was the late-bom moment where, like, hey, we're a show. the same water full of sediment,

full of mineral build up, and dirt and chlorine. And that's why my products are not working. So what kind of conditions do people have that they think is maybe caused by something like Lauren mentioned earlier that she thought something was from breast implants or something, you know, a rash, whatever? Like what are things that people think that is being caused by other things that you believe is being caused by the water? Definitely brassy hair. Whether you color your hair or don't.

So that's a big one. And it's color safe because this is diluted when it goes through the water. so it's not going to damage your hair color is actually even better. Also, if you have a dry scalp, tight skin, itchy skin, face gets hot, like, that was happening to you. And also eczema and pariahosis, it's really, really helpful. And so what we were talking about before is, like, the itchy legs. Like for me, I used to have the itchiest legs after shaving or after showering. It's like, you know, the lower part around your ankle.

And I would just scratch it so much, which would probably just make it more irritable. And so that really, really helped me. And also like little patches of eczema, like I don't have crazy eczema, but definitely like just in my elbows. I get a little bit and it really, really helps. How quickly does someone notice when they change their water situation? Like how quickly do they notice the rash go away, their skin? What have you seen? Like what are some testimonials?

It's amazing. I think the most common word people use to describe the experience of showering by the clean is life changing. Even if you go on our website, we have so many reviews. the people saying, oh my God, this has changed my life. This is a game changer. This helps help me so much my itchy legs or my dry scalp is just gone in one shower. I mean, that's the feedback and you will experience it noticed the difference. Because the other thing that's amazing about Viticlean is that it has a really amazing aromatherapy experience. So we have seven different vitamin C shots is what we call them. We have citrus, mango, lavender,

Jasmine, unscented, and coconut and vanilla. So it makes showering such an elevated experience. And we shower to disconnect, to feel clean, to feel good, to melt the stress away. Guys do other things in the shower. Yeah, girls too much. All the milk the stress again. Yeah, all the guys are like, ooh. They do lots of kinds of things in the shower.

Whatever you do, now it's elevated. That is not elevated what you guys do in the shower. Well, that's in adding a couple of flavors in a room. I'd enhance the experience. As I'm cleaning myself up. When you say you add all these flavors, is it toxic chemical anything? No, it's not. It's all plant-based ingredients and essential oils, these essential oils.

And then we also have the unscented version with no essential oils, nothing fragrance for people. Because, you know, some people, they don't like fragrance. Why wouldn't someone just do this with their water? I mean, if they have the funds, this seems to me like a really smart thing to do for yourself, for your kids, for your husband who's beating his meat in the shower. Yeah, I mean, it just really upgrades your life. Like, when you, like, I don't know if you've ever had a shower and smell that kind of like metal, like in some places.

There's like a lot of heavy metals in water somewhere. Yeah. And so it takes that all away. Or like pouring and battle smell, it's the worst. And you really notice that after you've showered with viticline because it smells so nice and fresh and clean. And when you go back to a non-bidicline shower, you're just like, whoa, you really notice a lot. you're like my skin's really tight. You get like flaky skin. We almost never not shower. We travel

with our shower head. We actually changed our shower head in the hotel. I always have a handheld in my back. Wait, so you actually brought it to the hotel and put it on the hotel. It's that easy to quit. Here comes another thing. I'm going to be lugging around the airport. Here's the thing. I, when I knew you guys were coming on, I switched my guest bed shower because I was like, I'm going to try just the guest bed first, guest room shower. If I like it, I'll do my own. And I really, really liked it. And I did not do it myself. I'm going to full transparency.

I had my assistant do it. So I guess my question is, is it something literally that I could do? I'm not good at stuff like that. Is it literally just screwing it off and on? Yeah, it's very easy. People actually always feel intimidated about that. And I think that when they get the showerhead and they change themselves, wow, it took me no more than two minutes.

have you guys actually seen psoriasis and eczema clear up as well as just rashes yeah definitely personally for us for me it did and but a lot like in all our reviews like if you read our reviews it's like you know people have seen it go away for not only them but also their kids and that's like the one thing they're like oh we tried everything and you know this was the only thing that worked so because it could be like it's not necessarily even the hard water that flares that up like it could be chlorine like some people have a really big sensitivity to chlorine so yeah it's i mean you can just go, you can go online and read all our reviews. And it's, yeah, it's, it's, it's caused, like, drastic effects for people. And that's really why we started this brand, because we saw such

big, we saw such a big relief. Like, we weren't really like, oh, let's start our own company. Like, it was a very natural progression of a problem that we found. And then we're like, holy crap, like, this is totally changing our skin and hair routine. And we're like, we have to share this with the world because we were the people out there spending a large amount of our salary on, you know, beauty products and things to like, I would coat my hair in like purple shampoo and I would always be in the salon, like being like, make it more, you know, tone it more, tone it more. It's like I was just, I hated the brassiness. And, you know, it's a funny story. Like even one time, like she'd over at the hair salon, like had overtone my hair to such a point that I was like,

oh God, I've got to reverse it. So I went to like the equivalent of CBS in the UK. And I put like the toner on my hair and it was like this kind of warm tone. But it caused me to have like purple stripes, orange strives. So now I was just like, this is crazy. Like I have, I have like a bit of an obsessive personality. So I was like, I really, really just wanted to be right. And I mean, my hair, like I haven't had it colored now in eight weeks. But, you know, I still don't feel like it gets to that brassy point that it would have even after a week, like after my color when, you know, and it just really extends your salon visits. Especially if you want to color your hair. I'm switching every single shower in my shower. So, you know, and I'm like, I need you to get something.

Now we need to make one for the sink. I need one for the bathtub. When you guys decide to launch a brand, you guys had no experience you said before and you decide to go on like this entrepreneurial journey. What does that really look like in the nitty gritty? Like take me back to when you guys decided to launch this. Did you guys do a business plan? Did you pitch an investor? Because there's a lot of people listening that have an idea. This is a solution to a problem. And they want to know how to pitch their solution. How did this evolve? I think we both had a lot of fire in our bellies to do stuff. So we really figured out a lot of stuff on the spot. When we first created a brand, we both really wanted to be a beauty product. There was no showerhead on the market that was marketed as a beauty product.

So I remember we were starting out and we hired a PR firm. So we were in a lot of publications like Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan. in the U.K., which really helped position us as the leaders in a filtered showerhead space, which was a category we were creating. And that was a hard part because you'd go to the department stores, which was a path we tried to do in the UK. And we were like, we want to be in your beauty section. And they said, but you're a showerhead. You have to go into home section. I said, no, but we were a beauty tool. So we pushed a lot for that. And I think it was just really sticking to what you believe is the right path for the company and being able to be flexible when other moments

come. I think as well, like, finding, you know, manufacturing was really hard for us. So we searched like all over Europe. We searched all over America and then, you know, also tried out multiple different countries in Asia. And it took us a long time to really find someone. But, you know, that was, it wasn't like a huge investment, but it just took a lot of time. We used a lot of platforms like upwork and like freelancer and all. these things that were available to us because we didn't have like a huge budget. Were you guys both working other in other careers? Yeah, we were both. So like I had a tech consultancy and Christina was working at a content company and I used to work with the content company a lot. So we did

a lot of projects together and we had a really good workflow. So that was like one thing that, you know, really inspired us because we already knew that we could work really well together. And I think that that's also really tricky. Like some people sometimes ask me that like, oh, you have a great co-founder. Like how do I get a co-founder? And you're like, well, you know, it's it's not like, oh, I have a friend, let's start a business. Like, you have to make sure, I think that you balance each other out and like your strengths and their weaknesses, like, you know, kind of level out. So it's, that's, I think, step one. Like, if you want a co-founder, you know, definitely figure out, like, you spend a bit of time, like working on some projects and like figure out, like, you know,

if it's, you can get wins together. And, and yeah, I think it's, it's, you don't need like a million dollars to start a company. I mean, for us, you know, we're definitely on our back foot. Like, it's not as if we're like, I've dreamed all my life of starting a showerhead company. Like, let's get into plumbing. You know, that wasn't. What I try to do here, I think people sometimes listen to this show and they see the entrepreneurs that come on or the creators that come on and they look at like where they are in their career. And it's overwhelming because they just feel like people had all these resources to begin with. And I even say, like, for this show, like, Lauren and I started this out of our living room and it's obviously evolved. But like,

it costs us next to nothing to start doing this and similar to your point with you guys. And I think people don't realize like the one thing that maybe we have in common is that we all had kind of other things going on that we're supporting our living standards while we were starting these things. And so like I never suggest people to just like quit their day job and quit what they're doing and go all in without any money or resources. But like you can start these kind of things on the side. And as they gain traction, obviously, you know, invest a little more time and invest a little more

money and invest a little more resources. But people just get so overwhelmed because they think like, They look at you guys like, oh, like easy for them. They had funding. They had money. They had all these resources. But to your point, you didn't. I mean, it's a lot of hard work.

And I was still modeling. I was working for a content company. Like, we were doing a lot of stuff for a while. It wasn't just, hey, we're going to do this for six months. And then quitter jobs. And we're going to be super rich. You know, it takes a lot. How many years were you guys working on it while you had the other stuff going on?

Probably two. It was until 2019 that we're like, okay. I think we got to, we got to go. Everyone's stuck in their house with crap. Happy water. Yeah. This is a problem. Did you guys go out and decide to raise money?

Did someone approach you? How did that work when you wanted to bring on investors? We got our first round of like family and friends funding in, yeah, 2019. It was like a really small amount. How did you put your friends and family? They actually came to us. They came to you. Yeah.

And they were like, yeah. And they were like, this sounds so cool. Like can I invest? And you know, they didn't want to give us a great deal. So it took a few months. I think we, when we went. were like, yeah, let's make the deal. Then Christine and I went over and we were like, we just made a really shit deal. And that happens. And, you know, that happens. But sometimes you just have to push

forward. And to be honest, it was hard. Your own family and friends give you a shit deal? Well, you know, it wasn't a shit deal. But it was, it wasn't great. It was hard one. Yeah. It was hard to raise money. It was hard for us. Yeah. Especially being, you know, I was women as well. It's like, you know, I think it's only 1% of women actually get funding. And it's, it's getting a lot better. Like, there are a lot of really amazing like women-focused funds and waiting for us was always being like a tough one. Let me guess. You guys walk in with your idea and you know it should be in the beauty section, which

it should be. I totally get that. And you guys are beautiful and you automatically get underestimated. Yep. Yeah. It's Taylor's oldest time. Especially in the UK. Like most of the most of the investment went into fintech there.

So for us to come in with this beauty product, the shower head, two people. to people who didn't go to an Ivy League school, you know, didn't start for businesses before. It was really difficult. I mean, people looked at me and you're like, oh, you're a model. Like, what do you know? And it was really hard because you got that more than you can imagine. We had a lot of investors like hit on us. And it was almost like, hey.

They tried to Harry Weinstein. How hard. Harry Weinstein? I'm not aggressively. Damn Harry Weinstein. Yeah, I'm really sick at my investors. They always hit on me too. Yeah.

I think that's a great thing about being a guy. Like, you're like, hey, I have an idea. Like, do you like it? Do you not? And someone's like, definitely not. Yeah, it's logical. Yeah. I mean, listen, I empathize it is, I can imagine it's much harder in many cases for women to raise capital.

I've been in a lot of those rooms. I've seen Lauren going to a lot of those rooms. But raising capital in general is just, it's challenging. And I think it's like I personally, Lorna says, oh, you love this. I fucking hate the process. I hate going to people and asking them for money. and trying to pitch and so much it no no because like it is so counter to like how I how I typically operate which is my thing is like you create the thing and then have people

kind of come to you right like like I hate the idea of me having to go and like put myself in the situation we have to like essentially beg for me not beg but you know what I mean like you go to these things it's just like it's just it's miserable anybody that thinks it's you have to go in with they're lucky to have me I'm going to use the way I look as an advantage and if they don't do the deal how much it's advice can I get out of this person? The other problem is if you're not a great networker, because I'm not a, I'm not like a smooth networking guide. I don't know if Lauren is either. Like that whole kind of community in that world is all about knowing people and networking and

getting the next interest. It's just like, I hate it. So when you guys go to pitch a brand, if there's someone who's listening and they have an idea, what are some things that have worked? I think just focusing on the numbers is always good. Even if you don't have crazy amount of traction, you can still prove that there's a logical business model in time. For us, it was great because we have our refilk component. So, you know, to have the amazing experience, you have to change your filters. Or pay customers. Yeah, definitely. Because then you spend a lot of your, like, on acquiring a customer. And then you can just kind of put them in your email flows to come back if you have a good product. But it's essentially a consumable. Yeah. And I think as well, one thing that we didn't

do, and I would definitely advise people. to do is really like consolidate your brand. So I know like you guys obviously have a really, really strong brand. We just went through an amazing rebrand. So everything was by to clean, by the green. We didn't start like that week. We really tried to do everything ourselves. Like when we did it on like 99 designs and when you say consolidate your brand, like give me an example of what you're what you mean. So, you know, just really figure out like, you know, what it is you're like trying to do. You know, figure out like what you want it to like look like and and, you know, have that in line. Otherwise, you'll end up kind of repackaging, like not really being happy.

What's an example of something that's like maybe out of line or didn't work from a branding perspective? For us, with branding. I mean, I think, you know, at first we started using plastic. And, you know, that's something that, you know, we really don't want to do. But it was just an easy option at the time. And we use plastic because retailers are saying, oh, people want to know what's in the box. So you have to use that. And what's the best way to use that to show the product is to use plastic?

Really? Retailers were pushing plastic. Retail window. I mean, this was years ago, but it's, you know, the windows. Yeah. To see the products. So you could see the shower head. And ours, like, we don't want people to touch it, especially as Chrome. And you get a lot of fingerprint. And so we had to cover it, whatever the packaging was. It had to be covered. But you had to see through it. What are some other things that you guys have struggled with besides packaging and investing? What are some other things that you can pinpoint? Like, How is it working together? I know, at least for us, there are definitely challenges. It's amazing, right? It's not smooth sailing all the time. No. Is it smooth sailing all the time with you guys? Like, what's the vibe on that? No. It's definitely not smart sailing. It's a lot of pressure. A lot of pressure. And we learn to get better over the years and just giving someone space when they need it. That's definitely really important and being aware of that. So being present and having that awareness and just understanding the other person and really understanding who works how that's also important because now people work differently you know it's like not everyone's going to do it your way and you can't get angry you have to

let go you have to build a team you have to grow you have to trust i think that team is like something that you know i really want to focus on because it's so important to have people around you that you can trust and rely on and that makes everything a lot smoother and even if that's you know advisors, like people who've, you know, done it before and you can be like, hey, I'm struggling with this particular problem. Like, what should I do? And then, you know, they'll give you, like, all different kinds of ideas. We have a really, like, amazing team at Bidaclean. And it's, it's just so cool because, you know, we didn't always have that. Like, a lot of it was kind of hiring people and hoping that it would work out in the beginning. And because as we said, we didn't have

entrepreneurial experience. So someone was like, hey, we're really good at this. And then, you know, as we got to know how to do things better. It's like they weren't very good at it. And, you know, I think that was probably one of the biggest challenges that we figured out. I mean, one of the things that I think is great, like I'm a big Upwork fan. And I think just, you know, focus on reviews on Upwork is actually. What is Upwork? You keep saying that.

What is that? So Upwork is like, it's like a freelancer platform where you can, you know, you can be like graphic designer. You would like Upwork, learn. Yeah. It's like, it's just if you need like some odd little job done that, you know, you don't want to hire like a whole new person. it's really easy to just get it done and get it done like in a few days. And, you know, our whole team obviously is not work. But it's, it's helped a lot.

And it's definitely made things a lot more efficient for us. The reason I like you guys talking about some of the early stuff and some of the tactics you're using is because I've been on this big kick to make sure that people, like sometimes people will look at a bigger company or a bigger entity and they'll just, they get overwhelmed because they're like, well, look, how big that thing is and how far it's gone. And I try to remind people that like there's so many resources that exist now. It's like the easiest time it's ever been to get started. Like you're not reliant to your point on all these retailers and where you could literally

just build a brand tomorrow online with your own platform. It's not as easy as I'm making it sound. But I just don't think people realize how many cost effective solutions there are out there. They just think like, oh, I got to go raise money and have this co-founder and have all these resources. It's just not true. Yeah. I think you just have to remember it takes time.

Yeah. I think people have to be massively patient when it comes to building a brand. It is require so much patience. and you really have to be able to see the short term and the long term at the same time. I would be crazy not to ask both of you your beauty tips. You both have beautiful hair and beautiful skin. So Michael, go rigamortis for a second because I have a couple questions. And obviously one of your tips is vitacline for hair and skin.

But what are some other things that you both do? Maybe let's start with morning routine favorites. So as I said, like, you know, we're big on vitamin C. So one of the things that I use is like the Ole Henrickson double cream vitamin C moisturizer. And then also Medicaid, which is like it's an amazing Swiss cosmetics company. It's kind of like Barbara Strum kind of vibes. They have an amazing love in Switzerland.

And they have a super potent vitamin C serum that, you know, you can mix with your moisturizer or you can mix with any kind of, you know, other cream. Another thing is like Charlotte Tilbury makeup. I love her like setting spray. And you might love this being in Austin as well. because it's almost like my mom, when I was a kid, used to always spray my face with that Evian mist. Yeah, I love that. So this is like that, but it actually just like sets your makeup.

And also it's almost just gives your makeup like a refresh or just like your skin in general. I'm a big, big fan of that. I think for me it's both internal and external. So make sure to drink a lot of water, exercise, big part of my routine. I wake up. I walk my dog. So just getting out there, getting air, getting hydrated. But in terms of skincare, I'm very minimal when it comes to my skincare.

I don't like to use too many things. And right now in my life, I don't have to because my water is so clean from my shower. I don't have to use a lot. But I don't wash my face in tap water. That's one thing I don't do. So let me get this straight. So when you're washing your face, you're not using the sink. You use your shower, which I like to.

I also like to brush my teeth in the shower too. But now you're getting all the chemicals in your mouth. Well, right. Not anymore. I'm not. I now have a vitic clean. That's true. Yeah.

So you are doing that in the shower. So we need a sink filter too, right? Stay tuned, Lauren. Stay tuned. Yeah, because one thing that my facialist told me that I think is really life-changing is not to wash my face with hot water. She always says, like, go cold because you're going to get the broken capillaries. The fuck. You're for sure washing in hot water.

No, I'm washing shower. Yeah, it's not really good to wash your face that much because, like, your natural oils, like, just dry out so quickly. So I actually wash my face only in the shower and I use, I try different things every six months. I like to change up my skincare routine because I think my skin gets. What are some of your favorite products? You have to get brands. So right now I really like this goop jelly exfoliator, which is really good by goop. And that one's really good.

I also use a lot of clear stem. You guys know Katie in the now. I never had acne and I'm so thankful for that. But I love their products because I know that you're getting like really clean stuff. and it's good for anti-aging. I also really like Naturally Serious. It's this brand. It's really good. I met the founder at a conference and she randomly just handed me a goodie bag and the products were amazing. They have these exfoliator pads that I use. So what I would do in the morning is I actually take a cotton pad and I put my ciliary water on it. And that's how I would press it up my face.

And then I used to exfoliating pads, always wearing SPF. I like the supergroups. Skincare. It's really good. I like the glow getter. It's awesome because it gives you this natural glow. It's also SPF 40. So I just discovered the best SPF. So I have like a little bit of hyperpigmentation on my head. That was something that really was flared up before I started using a viticline. But just like I've tried a lot of laser and stuff.

And I just says this last bit that I just can't get rid of. But one thing that I have just discovered is like I think you say USERN. That's the brand. It's like they actually do an SPF 100. So I've been using that lately, which I found has really like. allowed my skin not to get darker. And they also have like a dual pigment serum that you put on top. You have to put like the SPF on without any skincare underneath because otherwise it kind of creates a bit of a peeling effect. And then you put the dual pigment serum on top and that's really

kept it at bay. So that's for anyone suffering with hyperpigmentation or like melasma. I think, I think it's melasma. Yeah. What about niche wellness things? Are you guys into red light, cold plunging? Like, are there any things that you gravitate towards? We bonded a lot on cryo, I have to say. Like, you know, we absolutely love cryo. Christina loves the cold plunge. I don't know. I always go to a remedy place and just do it a cold plunge. People love that place. I've never been. It's in New York, right? L.A. It's original one and they open up one in New York. They have vitaclean in there as well. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. I know the founder. He's really, he's incredible. So you go and you can cold plunge there and then you can go and take your vitic

clean shower. After you saw not. Or you can just bring it in your bag and just install it yourself and then reinstall the shower. What else do you guys like to do besides cryo and cold plunge? Anything else that you do on a daily basis? Like any foods or supplements that you gravitate towards? Definitely a lot of supplements. So I take a really amazing probiotic Vio mix. That's one that I found works best. And I also really like bulletproof charcoal as well. I feel like it just helps, especially if I, like, go to a restaurant or, you know, change my normal diet. Even if, like, you want to drink alcohol, I definitely feel that, and bulletproof is the best brown of charcoal that I've personally found. But I feel like it just helps your body deal with

everything a little bit better. People swear by charcoal when they drink. Yeah, but it's also just, like, I don't eat at restaurants a lot. So if I do, it kind of, it just upsets me a little bit. So really find it helps just taking, like, two charcoal and, you know, then probiotics. What are you guys' wellness or like eating habits? Are you big on protein? Are you vegan, vegetarian? We definitely not vegan. We eat everything. Really clean eating. I grew up eating. My grandma had a garden. So like that's how I was in. Like this is how I grew up. So I always gravitate to whole foods. I think it's just being intuitive, just the same as anything being intuitive about your skincare, being intuitive about eating and just understanding your body, everybody's different. So for me, clean eating. I don't really have a specific diet, but I eat breakfast, I lunch, dinner, all of it. And definitely a lot of water. And we love, like, green juice.

Yeah, we love grain juice. I personally love baitroot juice, like baitroot with my grain juice. And I love smoothies as well. Again, with the charcoal, love a charcoal smoothie. We used to have them all the time when we would work together, when we lived together. And then, yeah, protein. And I like, like, some starch. Like, I love potatoes with my protein.

but, you know, don't have that every night. I'll still like ate pizza, like, you know, once a week or once every second week. And definitely indulge in, like, some chocolate sometimes. Like, I'm not, you know, I'm careful, but not super, super careful. And I think it's, like, it's just really what agrees with you, you know? It's sometimes, like, things work and sometimes things don't. What is next for the brand? What can we expect?

We are very, very soon going to launch new colors for the shower head. cute. So stay tuned. And we're also launching a cosmetics line. Under Vitaclean or separate? Under Vitaclean. Yeah. So, so, so I know you don't, no, you don't, no, you don't wash your hair very much, but we are launched like ever. We're launching. It's okay. We'll change that. We're launching a shampoo that works really, really well with hard water and also helps a lot with braciness without kind of causing the overtone of a purple shampoo. I can't give too many details. But. it's such a great formula. There's nothing like it on the market. Yeah. So we're really excited about that.

And then also like a coconut body oil. So it really helps things like itchy legs like for shaving and stuff like that. And then, you know, it's a little bit after. But the sink filter as well that we briefly touched on, which it's been a tricky development for us that for sure, you know, we finally got there. If anyone can do the sink, I feel like it's you guys. And then we need one for the bathtub for the kids. up for the kids. Because they like to, they like to put their mouth up to the thing and like,

Zaz's like dipping your toothbrush in the fucking bathtub and like trying to brush her teeth within. I'm just like, you can't control everything. I have to just like let it go. Yeah. They're building up their immune system. Oh, she's building up her immune system. Yeah. But I think if I had something that I knew that the water that was coming out was really like amazing for her skin would be cool. And all. Also, like just side note, you got to go into like the baby bath soap too because I sometimes read the ingredients for this stuff and I'm like, are they crazy thinking that I'm going to put this on my newborn?

It's like so wild the ingredients that are in these baby products. You really have to be your own guru. Like the products for babies. Yeah. Yeah. My number one favorite of anyone's listening is K-Poor. It's like all natural. Michael's like trying to like, Michael over here would try to just.

slap like Juergens on the baby. I'm like, that's not going to work. When I first met Michael, he was using old spice, like showering in the sewer. So now he has a shower head. Just throw some dirt on it. Where can everyone find both of you to ask all the questions? And then where can they find the brand? And can we do a code and a giveaway? Christina, Wittakeh, Velkova on Instagram. I would be more than happy to answer any questions. Also, we have Viticlean underscore official. You can ask us there as well. And I'm Sara K. Douglas without a H. So just S-A-R-A

on the Instagram. So can we do a giveaway? Yes. Yeah. I'd love that. You guys, can we, how many can we give away? Let's give away 10. Oh my God, that's so joking. Okay. We're going to give away 10 vitac cleanses. Does it come with the fragrances? Everything. Okay. Come to the three months

supply. So we go to Walmount. We'll give away to Walmonds. So all you have to do is follow. Viticline underscore official. Perfect. And then tell us your favorite takeaway from this episode, like your favorite tip about water. I know I learned so much about water and immediately everything is getting changed in my entire house, not just the guest bedroom and my room. I can't wait to see you just unscrewing all these showerheads and it's going to be so empowering to watch you. I'm going to go on Upwork and I'm going to find

someone who can help me. It doesn't even sound like I need help you. It's going to be so great to just see you get all this done. No, I'm like really like not. very good at stuff like that. Sarah was it and now she's a pro. Yeah, Christina taught me everything. I'm very handy. Should I carry this in my bag next week on vacation? Yes, absolutely.

He thinks I overpack like out of it. I don't think I know. Yeah, so I'm working on it though. I'm refining it. Okay, so you can enter the giveaway. We're giving 10 away. And then what's the code if someone wants to shop Vitaclean showerheads? So the website is Vitaclean.com.

And this the code is skinny. Love it. Thank you both for coming on. Thanks so much. I love the green and I wore green too. I'm so on brand. I just think what you guys are doing is incredible. Thanks so much. It's been amazing. Thank you guys. Wait, don't go. Make sure you tell us your favorite takeaway of this episode about water on my latest post at Lauren Bostic and make sure you follow Vita Clean underscore official on Instagram.