Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Business Ethics In 2021 ‒ Interview With Regina Bauscher
Regina Bauscher has worked in the clean skin space for over 20 years. It began in making "clean" products for her family while raising her children. With education in chemistry, advanced certification in Soap-Making, Essential Oils & Aromatherapy, her goal is to create products that do no harm, create for those who are sensitive skinned and help people find comfort in their skin. Regina is a Level 2 Certified Aromatherapist.
Regina & Steve Bauscher, Owner
Introduce yourself.
Approximately 11 years ago, my husband and I moved back to the country and bought property We wanted to return to the lifestyle we had as kids. We wanted to further our interest in homesteading, gardening and get back into animal husbandry. My husband grew up with goats and wanted to be able to drink raw goat milk again, so we started with two milking goats. Besides making our own cheese, we also used the milk in our soapmaking, which cleared my husband’s skin condition. This unexpectedly later turned into our full-time business of nature-based skin care.
When we aren’t creating skin care products, we enjoy professionally competing with our goats in the summertime, leisure travel, periodic camping and cooking over a campfire for fun. With our children all grown our dependents are now are six dogs and twenty seven goats. A Great Pyranees, named Porthos who is a livestock guardian dog that lives with the goats full time. We also have a senior yellow lab named Peanut and four little chihuahuas, named Gizmo, Gomez, Piper and Anastasia. We have 14 grandchildren between us and just started working with a few of them in 4-H. This was their first year and we came home with a Grand Champion and a Reserve Grand Champion. Having too much fun to retire just yet, so it’s a full life!
What kind of audience do you target your business toward?
Our business is targeted to anyone seeking clean, safe skin care. They are typically discerning consumers who appreciate nature-based ingredients, organic where possible and want to do business with smaller companies. They appreciate an educated staff who can answer their questions. They rely on us for safe ingredients, that are ideally sustainable, and appreciate our efforts to use recyclable, renewable packaging when possible. We target customers who have sensitive skin issues and still struggle to find answers or products that work. Many of our products have helped these consumers find comfort in their skin.
What are your current goals for your business?
We are engaged in a total website redesign in the near term, hoping to be complete in the next month or so. We believe we make the best goat milk soap on the market and need to get the story out there. We do not use ingredients common in many top brands and our customer satisfaction is off the charts. We are one of the most certified goat milk soaps in the industry and our farm is Certified Humane, showcasing the pampered care of our goats as well. Getting the word out on how and why we are so different is a big priority.
Who inspires you to be the best that you can be?
It may sound old-fashioned…but I think for both of us, it would be our parents, outstanding role models who gave us our work ethic. We’ve both achieved things in our separate lives that has proven this to us. Dedication to quality will reflect on you as an individual and will open or close doors accordingly.
What is your work inspired by?
We are inspired every day by the feedback from our customers, particularly those who have not been able to find relief from any other product, including pharmaceuticals. It is humbling and satisfying to know someone is no longer in discomfort because they used one of our products.
Greatest career achievement so far.
It is three fold for us… our products have won Bath & Body Competition Awards, International Certified Clean and EWG acceptance, our goats have won 3 National Championships and the humans won the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Business Ethics in 2021.
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
Transparency & Education for the Consumer. Companies do not have to share the ingredients in all their products and are protected under “trade secret laws” from full disclosure. Yet, they still want to be considered natural or plant based because that is where consumer demand is the highest. It has encouraged a process called “Greenwashing” where the addition of 1 or 2 botanical extracts and photos of plants and leaves on the packaging are used to leave the consumer with the impression that the product is made of natural ingredients, when in reality, the functional ingredients did not change. Taking advantage of a consumer’s ignorance is short-sighted. Being transparent and educating a consumer as to a product’s composition, engenders strong customer loyalty.
