Meet Jordan Brown

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jordan Brown. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jordan below.

firstName}, thank you so much for agreeing to talk with us about a deeply personal and sensitive topic. Postpartum depression affects so many in the community and hearing from someone who has overcome PPD might help someone who is going through it right now. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience

One of the hardest things after giving birth to my twins was the wave of PPD that had taken over me. After coming home from the hospital, reality quickly began to kick in that I had 3 children under the age of 2 to take care of. Going from 1 to 3 kids was something I had struggled to fully accept my entire pregnancy and I think facing that reality after coming home with my babies was something my mind and body couldn’t handle. So it just shut down.

I remember the first couple weeks were some of the hardest weeks of my life. I felt so alone. I felt scared. I felt hopeless. We didn’t have much family near by or help and my husband got called into work a week after coming home from the hospital. We had one car and we couldn’t go on hardly any walks being stuck in AZ desert summer heat. I just remember crying and I mean full body crying multiple times a day thinking I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t stop. No matter what anyone told me and tried to do it just felt like I was slowing drowning.

Something I realized was that I didn’t recognize myself anymore. Inside or out. And that scared the life out of me. I realized that in order to pull myself out of that dark place I need to 1) accept it and acknowledge it 2) understand it wouldn’t last forever. 3) try my best to find a sense of identity in the middle of being mama for the sake of everyone in our home.

It started slowly with sticking to a weekly schedule and routine, then slowly working my way into making more friends and attending more mamma groups, and then within a couple months I started my soap business to help other mamas as well.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I started The Lacto Bar in September 2022, a couple months after the birth of my twins. The most unique aspect about us is that we offer a service specifically geared for mamas and babies, which would be our breastmilk soap service. I discovered that a lot of mamas, like myself, had breastmilk that was being dumped, wasted, stashed, deemed inedible, or the mamas were simply just overproducing and had no idea what to do with their milk. I faced many challenges after having my baby girls and I promised myself I wasn’t going to “cry over spilled (or dumped) milk” again. I had heard so many similar stories from other mamas, that made feel motivated to find a solution. I quickly sought out a way to preserve and give this milk a second life and purpose for the benefit of baby and mama.

After much trial and error, I created a recipe for our cold process soaps that were not only 100% natural and non toxic, but also specially geared to be used on the most delicate of skin. We never use synthetic ingredients which means all of our colorants and additives are naturally derived ingredients and any scents in our soaps are strictly essential oils.

After discussing any specific requests or wants, we then take 4-12 oz of breastmilk from that mama and turn it into 10- 1” thick bars to give right back to her. We never use any one else’s breastmilk in our soaps and we will never sell your breastmilk as soap to anyone else. Your milk will go from you, to us, and directly right back to you!

Besides our breastmilk soaps, we also offer a variety of milk based soaps made with our locally sourced East Valley goat milk. All of our premade bars are made with our goat milk. Our goat milk soaps are perfect for those who may not have breastmilk to use or are looking for a nourishing and gentle cleanse similar to a breastmilk soap bar.

One of our other most popular services besides the breastmilk soaps loaves, is our Soap of the Month Club. Our Soap of the Month Club is made with our goat milk soaps. Each month our members can expect an exclusively designed full size soap bar and 2 mini soaps delivered right to their door. This has become a close favorite of mine, almost as much fun as making our breastmilk soaps for our mamas!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

After officially being open a year and coming in to contact with so many amazing learning experiences and opportunities, I’ve discovered that it’s really important to 1) have motivation 2) being surrounded by people who are going to push you and want you to succeed 3) remember to run your own race.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet so many beautiful people and small businesses and the one thing that always sticks out to me is their driving force or motivation for why they are who they are. Without that drive or spark to keep you going, you’re just not going to go where you need to be. Whether it’s money circumstances, family, passion, a calling, you need to have something. Otherwise I can guarantee it’ll fall apart and you’ll have nothing to hold on to that’ll keep you and your business afloat.

The people you surround yourself truly matter!!! I am so fortunate to have people around me who want to see me succeed and help my business grow. Toxic people and jealousy is dangerous. Be careful with the energy around you.

At the end of the day, it’s just you. It can be overwhelming and hard not to compare yourself to others success but it’s truly important that you remember it’s your own race. Don’t stress yourself out over someone or something that you can’t control. And make sure you celebrate the small and big wins!

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

We are constantly looking for other local small businesses to include in our products. Something unique about us and cold process soaps in general is that we can add fresh natural ingredients into these soaps and they are shelf stable once they go through the saponification process. We are currently looking for a local Coffee brand and distillery to collaborate with us for a men’s collection of soaps, featuring whiskey soap bars and coffee grind soap bars. If you would like to be exclusively featured in your product, and the only added product used for these exclusive lines, we would love to collaborate with you! Please feel free to reach out to us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thelactobar.com/
• Instagram: @the_lacto_bar
• Facebook: The Lacto Bar
• Other: Tik Tok : @thelactobar