About + Contact

I (James) studied engineering in undergrad ("engineering physics", which is sort of a mix of engineering and physics) and afterwards worked for 6 years as a scientist doing physics research. I left that just before finishing my PhD (getting a Masters during the process) to begin a new career.

After science, I worked a corporate job that paid well but lacked real meaning to me. I was fired from that job 8 years, and decided not to continue in that field.

I gave away most of my possessions, put my meaningful things in storage, and started what ended up being a two-year road trip taking me all over the country.

I spent much of that time in nature: hiking, backpacking, swimming in lakes or rivers, and just being.

With the space to actually think, I started coming up with questions.

Some of the questions I asked were: why do humans smell bad to other humans?

Asking this question, along with all the time I was spending in nature, led me to the observation that the water we bathe in is different now. In most of the developed world, the water has been sanitized, chlorinated, and commonly is free of minerals.

Perhaps that was contributing to why we now smelled? 

There were many possibilities, but this is the one I started investigating.

My background in science made me comfortable searching the scientific literature for answers. 

In the scientific literature, I investigated:

What causes body odor? 

What were the chemical structures of the molecules that caused body odor? 

How could these chemicals be neutralized, so they wouldn't smell anymore?

And the key question was, "is there a combination of mineral compounds that might neutralize these odorous chemicals, that are found both in spring water and in the human body"?

My reasoning was that anything already found in the human body would be likely to be non-toxic and safe for long-term use.

After some self-testing, I found a combination of simple magnesium and calcium compounds that actually worked as a deodorant. 

I then asked a handful of loyal friends to try the new formula, and it worked for them too! And not only that, many praised the powder for a clean and light feel.

That is how Mineralized Deodorant Powder, both the product and the business, was born.