Why did you create Think Dirty®?
I’m a designer from Toronto. For 12 years, I worked in advertising, selling all kinds of products. As someone familiar with product labels, I still have a hard time understanding ingredients, especially the ones in beauty and personal care products. Also, as someone who's super health conscious, I learned that environmental factors play a very important role in cancer prevention. You can read more about my story here on our website.
On average, women use 12 products per day, and men use 6 products. And since the average shopper isn’t a scientist, I wanted to make something that helps people understand product labels in a super easy way. So I made Think Dirty®.
Think Dirty® was a labour of love. In the past 2 years, with my own funding and grants I won from competitions, I spent countless hours to bring this vision to life.
What is Think Dirty®?
Think Dirty® is the easiest way to learn about the potentially toxic ingredients in your cosmetics and personal care products. It’s an independent source that allows you to compare products as you shop. Just scan the product barcode. Then, the Think Dirty® app will give you easy-to-understand info on the product, its ingredients and cleaner options.
Our mission is to be the trusted go-to source for more information and options for toxin-free personal products. We are the Rotten Tomatoes of all skin care and personal care products: from makeup to shampoo, soap, toothpaste and nail polishes – anything that consumers put on their bodies every day.
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Why Think Dirty?
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In
the U.S., there are more than 80,000 chemicals in products that are
used daily, like cosmetics and body-care products. Of these
chemicals, only 20% have been tested, and very few are restricted or
banned.
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The E.U. has banned over 1,300 chemicals. Canada has banned 640. And the U.S. FDA has banned only 11 for cosmetics. There are wide discrepancies in safety standards, making it difficult for consumers to navigate the cosmetics aisle.
Personal care products are part of everyone’s daily routine. And all of them are absorbed by our largest organ: the skin.
Ingredient labels are hard to read since they’re in fine print. It's not even mandatory that these ingredients be legible to consumers.
All of the chemical names can be hard to search and understand, let alone memorize.
True organic/natural products are not widely available at major retailers. Plus, "Natural" has no legal definitions, meaning many product claims are often misleading to consumers.
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What Makes Think Dirty Different?
- A robust database of products
- A commitment to helping turn shopping for clean products a daily habit
- Incentivizes positive behaviour for health and environment
- Educates consumers through both challenges as well as humour
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Milestones to Date
2013 Feb - Featured in The Next Web Mobile Magazine as one of the favourite startups
2013 Aug - iOS app v1.0 beta release
2013 Sept - Winner for Spin Master Innovation Fund 2013
2013 Oct - Breast Cancer Fund and Campaign for Safe Cosmetics as Strategic Alliance to Officially Launch our app in iTune App Store
2013 Oct - #1 in Health and Fitness Canadian Canadian App Store
2013 Oct - Mentioned in Huffington Post, Global News, CTV, Women 2.0
2013 November - Winner for Canadian Film Centre IdeaBOOST Cohort 3
2014 Feb - Demo Pit Scholarship at Launch Festival in San Franciaco
2014 Apr - Mentioned in Fast Company, PSFK, The Atlantic, Refinery 29, Toronto Star
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Testimonials
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Why We Need Your Support
Our funding will go to the following areas:
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Technical development: We want to expedite development for other mobile platforms, especially Android. We listened to many of our users who have Android phones, and want to make it happen as quickly as possible. To help us achieve this milestone sooner, we need your support!
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Database research and enhancement: Maintaining a growing database of 110,000+ is not a simple task. The funding is to make sure we can support the rapidly growing user base, ensure product and ingredient data is accurate and promptly put into our system.
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Business development: We hope to create a sustainable, mission-driven, for-profit business that leverage technology to join consumer advocacy, health and beauty together. We believe this is what Conscious Capitalism 2.0 will look like. We have the passion, ambition, commitment, and grit to make this vision a reality.
What you Get
We got lots of Think Dirty goodies for you.
Newly added perk for clean brands!
Get your product listed for as low as $500 for 10 products.
Show off your clean ingredients to our users.
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Our famous T-Shirts (retail value $25):
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Our iPhone Case (retail value $35) that helps you remember top 5 unwanted ingredients in shampoo:
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Our branded iPhone Case (retail value $35):
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Stickers, pins, tote bags bonanza (retail value $50)!
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Think Dirty Limited Edition Poster (priceless)!
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We also had very generous, like-minded sponsors donate perks for us:
Part-time courses ($1500 value x 2) by Bitmaker Labs!
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Startup package (valued at $1000) from Innovate LLP!
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Co-working space memberships (valued at $350) from
Makeworks!
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Wellness package (retail value $1,000) by Husk!
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Organic goodies (retail value $80) from Organic Bath Co.!
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Shower Filters (retail value $80) and Books from Vera Water Solutions!
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Limited edition, handmade backpack (retail value $200) from Appalatch!
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Baby bundles (retail value $39) from 21 Bundles!
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Mini makeover (value $500) by Jackie Shawn!
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What's Next?
Our app is the beginning of an important consumer movement, here's how your contribution will help:
- Consumers like you will now be able to learn ingredients in products you use on your bodies every day.
- By learning about these ingredients, you can make informed decisions and vote for safer products with your hard-earned dollar.
- You are supporting a female-led, purpose-driven tech company that is committed to an important cause at the intersection of health, beauty, and transparency.
Health should be synonymous with beauty. Think Dirty® is more than just a mobile app — it’s a consumer revolution for safer cosmetics by learning one ingredient at a time — and, of course, by changing to cleaner options, one product at a time.
Join us in taking back our power to vote for products that are safe, clean, and not “Dirty”. The time is now.
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Thank you!
