In 1993, ‘Crystal Spring Natural Body Deodorant’ appeared on the UK market – at a time when suggesting natural deodorant to someone would likely get you a raised eyebrow and a polite step backward. Twelve years later, Sally Laird spotted this plucky little two-product company and thought, “I fancy a challenge,” and bought it in 2005.

Operations began from Sally’s home, which meant business meetings sometimes had to compete with everyday household happenings. Glamorous it was not, but it gave us the flexibility to grow at our own pace.

In 2008, with the business growing, we decided it was time for a rebrand that reflected our new and expanding range – and so Crystal Spring became Salt of the Earth. Yes, we managed to time this perfectly with the global financial crisis – because nothing says "business genius" like launching your shiny new identity just as the economy decides to have a lie down!

Despite our spectacular timing, the world loved it! The opportunity for growth was clearly there and the rebrand was extremely successful. We soon had to expand into a bigger warehouse and invest in some professional equipment (goodbye spare bedroom, hello actual shelves!). 

Today, we’re still a family-owned, independent company. No venture capitalists, no corporate overlords – just a family with a little obsession for making natural deodorants that work. Sally has fully stepped back now, and her knowledge and guidance has been replaced (as technology has improved) by a chat bot we affectionately call ‘Chat Mum GPT’*. Stuart (Thomas’s dad) continues to offer guidance, while Thomas leads our team day-to-day.

Speaking of our team – we’re really happy to have grown our business with a fantastic group of people who share our values. We’ve worked hard to create a positive culture and we do our best to be a great place to work. After all, happy people make better deodorant (we haven’t scientifically proven this, but we’re pretty confident it’s true).

(*this is just a joke, Sally is irreplaceable!).