Letter to our first customers.
How we run the business, why we'll sometimes be out of stock, and what to do if your jar is anything less than perfect.
If you're reading this, there's a chance you've already ordered Sunnbalm or are about to. Thank you. We've been working on this for three years and the launch window is still a couple of weeks out at the time this is being written — but you found the journal, you read this far, and that means you're the kind of customer who's worth writing to directly.
We are a small team. Five people, including the founders. Nobody draws a salary larger than what they were making before this; some draw less. We will probably stay this size for a while because we can't make the product faster than we can without compromising the things that make it Sunnbalm. The slowness isn't a brand strategy — it's the truth.
We will run out of stock sometimes. Each batch is a few hundred tins. When demand spikes — and we hope it does — we will sell out, and then there will be a window of a few weeks before the next batch is ready. We won't pretend this isn't a problem. We will say 'out of stock, next batch in three weeks' rather than 'join the waitlist,' because we think the second one is dishonest.
If something goes wrong with your jar — the texture is off, the cocoa color is wrong, the lid is dented — write to us. Reply to the email your jar shipped with, or write to hello@sunnbalm.co directly. A human (probably one of the founders) will answer within twenty-four hours, and we will replace or refund. We don't have a returns department because we don't need one — we have four people who answer email.
We will not run sales. The price is the price. If you see Sunnbalm discounted somewhere, it's a third party we don't control, and we can't speak to the freshness of those jars. We sell exclusively through this website and at one or two pop-ups a year.
We don't paid-advertise. The reason you found Sunnbalm is one of three: you saw it shared by someone you trust, you searched specifically for tallow-based skincare or for non-nano zinc oxide, or you stumbled onto the brand through a journal post like this one. We don't intend to spend on ads. We grow through word-of-mouth or we don't grow.
We will keep making one product for as long as we can. Eventually we might add a body version, or a smaller travel size, but only if we can do those things without compromising the original. We are wary of line extension. The most common way small brands lose their identity is by trying to be more brands.
If you have feedback — on the product, on the website, on this journal — we genuinely want it. Email us. If you have a story about why you tried Sunnbalm and what it did for your skin (or didn't), we want that too. We'll print the good ones here eventually, with your permission. If you're a journalist, formulator, or someone in the industry who wants to ask about the production process or the sourcing relationships — also email us. We're transparent because we have nothing to hide and a lot to share.
Thank you for being early.
— The Sunnbalm team, made in Minnesota