There are plenty of things I remember about my childhood that were sweet.
However, I had some challenges that most children don’t encounter. I had a total blood transfusion at 2 days old due to infection. I was diagnosed with kidney reflux, asthma, severe allergies, and eczema when I was 4. When I was 7, I remember a priest visiting me in my hospital room because I had such a terrible case of pneumonia that it was questionable if I’d survive. I didn’t understand the gravity of the situations as a child; but now I am a mother to a little boy, and I can’t imagine what my parents must have felt.
Because of my ailments, I was prescribed quite a few medications: nebulizer breathing treatments for asthma 3 times a day, antibiotics for 5 years because of the kidney reflux, antihistamines for allergies, and steroids for eczema. Again, none of it phased me much because it’s all I knew. I subconsciously figured out at a very young age that we all have our struggles, but the more we focus on them, the more they hold us back.
I also learned at a young age that other people’s words can be painful. I was called every name under the sun because of my eczema, and children were afraid to get close to me. I’m a pretty loving, social person, so having people avoid me for something completely out of my control was awful. So despite eczema being the least likely thing to land me in the hospital, I was the most aware of that disease, and I hated it. I tried every lotion I could. I used some sort of steroid cream multiple times a day. But nothing kept it under control.
Thankfully, when I was 18, I found a more natural alternative to the medications I was taking to get my eczema under control. And my clean transition began.
While I’m grateful science has evolved to treat my ailments, I’m also very aware of chemicals (my body didn’t produce) going through my body to help handle something my body wasn’t wired to do on its own. It’s also why I place clean in and on my body as much as I can.
Then in 2019, while I was researching how I could use my talent in building technology to help others with skin challenges, I developed hypothyroidism, which caused me to develop super painful acne for the first time in my life. So I turned on my research brain, listened to my body, worked with multiple doctors, and found solutions to how I could get my skin back to a place of balance because that is what needs to happen when you develop painful acne. Something is out of whack inside your body, and it’s demonstrating on your face. Balance needs to be found again.
I’m passionate about sharing my education – and continuing to learn more – in hopes of sparing others some of the defeat I’ve felt both as a child and as an adult. I’ll start with helping people sort through the noise and the products that don’t work by only bringing the best products into our inventory.
Everything at MadeWith goes through our testing program and must perform well in its test group before it can get into our inventory. But even before it hits our test group, our head of Brand + Product Research confirms the product reaches our level of clean by running the product’s ingredients list past our Never MadeWith List to make sure it doesn’t contain ingredients that are known or linked to things that harm our bodies, animals, and/or the planet.
So while my transition to clean has been in motion for over 20 years, I continue to clean up my act more and more every day. And I will help as many people as I can be as clean as they can; in the way we shop, in the way we consume, in the way we educate ourselves, and the way we support brands in our shared mission to make the world a cleaner, better place.
To learn more about the different doctors Janis has worked with over the years and get tips on finding success with whatever doctor you work with, visit this post.
