Many small-business ventures are started because an entrepreneurial spirit saw a need in the market. Such was the case for Emma Zwissler, founder of clean skincare line The Sunday Standard. After battling hormonal acne much of her adult life and trying countless prescription medications, Zwissler started to dig into the root causes of what wasn’t working.
“Many ingredients found in conventional beauty products are synthetically-produced chemicals that are known to be toxic and disruptive to the endocrine (hormonal) system,” says Zwissler. “These harmful ingredients can wreak havoc on your hormones, leading to increased acne breakouts and other imbalances.”
Tapping into her product development background, the then-Milwaukee-based entrepreneur started a small skincare line in 2016 as a “creative outlet”—and was surprised at how effective the oil blends were for her skin. She sold her products at craft shows and events and learned that customers desired clean, natural skincare. In 2018 she relaunched her business under the new name The Sunday Standard that’s a nod to Sunday being a “self-care day. But it’s Sunday self-care for every day of the week,” she notes.
Her curated line has four products: an oil cleanser, a clay mask and two facial oils. Spirulina, or blue- green algae, is a key component in her products because it’s a “superfood powder that contains a full spectrum of nutrient-rich vitamins and minerals … making it a powerhouse addition to your daily skincare routine,” says Zwissler. Other ingredients she uses include borage seed oil (“a really good source of gamma-linolenic acid that helps promote healthy cellular turnover”), blue tansy oil (“it soothes and calms the skin”), green clay and essential oils. Zwissler’s products are backed by the knowledge she gained with a degree from Formula Botanica, an online accredited organic skincare school, and a certification in natural preservation methods.
“Our products are formulated with blemish-prone skin in mind and work to repair damaged skin from the inside out by promoting barrier repair and cellular renewal, eliminating blemish-causing impurities and restoring balance,” explains Zwissler, who’s now headquartered in Chicago. “One customer comment that always sticks out in my mind sums us up. [They] called our product line ‘luxurious and effective,’ which, if I could pick two words for customers to describe what we do, those would be the ideal.”