From family passion to small business: The inspiring story behind Toxic Freedom
From bulk herbs to natural baby care products, Toxic Freedom, one of Destin, Florida's newest businesses, offers it all for health, house and personal wellbeing without the worry of harmful toxins.
“We want people to know that we go and do the research, so they don’t have to take hours in the store to make sure their product is clean,” said Ashley Baity, who co-founded Toxic Freedom with her mother, Lori Jones.
Toxic Freedom celebrated their grand opening on April 3 with a ribbon cutting with the Destin Chamber of Commerce but did a soft launch in February.
The back story on Toxic Freedom
The business was birthed out of a love for family and living well.
Baity and her husband served in the Army and did three tours overseas. After a ballistic missile was fired by Iran, leaving residue all around their site, they were handed a hazardous duty memorandum saying they had been exposed to toxic chemicals.
“Not long after we got back, my husband as well as a few soldiers started having severe health complications,” she said, noting some resulted in hospitalizations.
After testing and unable to figure out what was wrong, Baity said they tried to fix the issues themselves.
“We started with our diet,” Baity said, noting they were vegetarians.
“From there we just started to swap out the toxic chemicals in our home to prevent it ... we are still dealing with it,” she said.
“That was one of our biggest motivations to start Toxic Freedom,” Baity said.
In the process, support kicked in from her parents.
“They were tremendous. When we were struggling, they were always giving us hope. Doing research to help us stay toxic-free,” Baity said.
Today, Baity and her mother, Lori Jones, are co-owners of the business.
Jones' part in the journey
Jones, who has dealt with high blood pressure, cholesterol and other issues, started looking at things differently.
“I didn’t want to stay on pharmaceuticals,” Jones said, noting she didn’t like the side effects.
So, she took a holistic approach and started with her diet.
“I went back to the basics,” Jones said.
She started really looking at what was in the food and the everyday products on the shelves.
"There are so many things that are damaging to our body,” Jones said.
She talked of aluminum in deodorants, to dyes in food.
“Things that people just don’t realize,” Jones said.
What to expect at Toxic Freedom
At Toxic Freedom, they focus on basic swaps.
“We just developed a passion and want to share it with people,” Jones said.
“We are trying to take all the hard work out of it, so you can just walk in and know it’s been vetted,” Jones said, noting their products are free from toxins.
What is on the shelves?
Toxic Freedom has everything from diapers to shampoo and herbs to mushroom coffee.
They get their products from various sources.
“It’s top quality, organic, the best you can get,” Baity said.
Baity said when they started bringing products into the store they were interested to see what people would buy first.
“Tallow is huge right now,” Baity said.
They carry beef Tallow.
“A couple of generations back, that’s what people used to cook with instead of vegetable oil,” Baity said.
“People are starting to realize that vegetable oil is not good to cook in ... or any seed oil,” Baity said.
Tallow can also be used for skin care as a moisturizer.
“Cattle eat a lot of the vitamins that we need,” Jones said.
“I’ve been using it for about a week now on my face and it feels really smooth,” Jones said.
Tallow also helps to reduce sunspots.
Another item that is big at Toxic Freedom is the essential oil roll-on, which they have in wide variety.
They also have mushroom coffee.
“It’s great because it gives you natural energy,” Baity said. “You don’t get jitters; it doesn’t upset your stomach as bad as traditional coffee. It also has a lot of other health benefits."
Toxic Freedom also carries bulk herbs.
"The most popular is Ginkgo for cognitive function,” Baity said.
“All the medicine that doctors try to prescribe, emulate an herb,” Baity said.
“God gave us what we need,” Jones said.
What to know
"We want people to know that we go and do the research, so they don’t have to take hours in the store to make sure their product is clean,” Baity said.
“Granted, we are not doctors. We are just trying to do the research and help people out,” Jones said, noting if it is something major, people should consult a doctor.
“We are not here to replace the doctor, but we are here to help you in a health journey, if you want to do it holistically. We can help you on that part,” Jones said.
The whole reason the two started Toxic Freedom was “because of the love for our family,” Jones said.
“It’s still a growing process,” she said of the business.
"If there is something that we don’t have available ... we try and go find that product and bring it in. We want to grow as a community and as a family,” Jones said.
Where to find Toxic Freedom
Toxic Freedom shares a space with Boardwalk Vapes in Ninety Eight Palms shopping center in Destin.
Baity said people ask: Why would you put a non-toxic business in with vapes?
“People that come in (to Boardwalk Vape) they are looking for relief,” Baity said.
“We have the same target audience ... let's do things in a healthier way. It was strategic,” Baity said about the location.
Toxic Freedom has an online presence and can be found at https://toxic-freedom.com.