MEET ANSULENE, FOUNDER OF JUSTBLiSS

Hello! My name is Ansulene, founder and "Jill of all trades" at JUSTBLiSS Naturals, located in Bloemfontein.

The story of "how JUSTBLiSS started is a bit of a long read😊.

Many of our customers have asked me where the inspiration behind our brand came from. In short, after the move to Bloemfontein (March 2019) I was lost! I was basically feeling lost in life! I didn’t know what I was doing in Bloemfontein - why did I agree to the move?. I didn’t know who I was. I was sooo unhappy. When you lose all sense of self, and more importantly, you realize that you’ve lost all sense of self, you can quickly spiral downwards...which happened to me. Depression! 

One morning in July 2019, our first winter in Bloemfontein, while looking through the kitchen window into our garden I realized that although the trees in our garden had no leaves they were still alive, patches of grass were dead but most were still alive, the plants that were covered with "cloth" for winter were still alive! If we haven't covered those plants, or took care of them by protecting them, they would have died as well. 

I realised at that specific moment that like an uncovered plant I did not survive "winter". 

What I have learned in the few years since moving to Bloem is that if you want your garden to survive in winter here, you need to KNOW the "DNA" of the specific plant..Which plants need to be covered, which don't. And let's be honest, I didn't survive  "winter" in my own life because at the age of 53 I just didn't know the DNA of ME!  What do I like? What makes me happy? What motivates me? What makes my soul happy? Do I have a purpose?

The things I knew I like, like forever, is to take a warm bath, use body products, Xmas, plants, a lovely garden and my pets. I am a huge animal lover, and have 5 dogs and 5 cats.

I never thought that I would had to rely on tablets to get through a day, but here I was...I just couldn't cope with this new life in Bloemfontein. Since young I hated to take any medicine! So I knew I just don't want to take tablets but had to get better myself.

I made the decision then that while I am taking a shower in the morning, in this whole "get-to-know-me" process, I want to use natural luxurious products to use on a daily basis, and not just on special occasion days. I ordered some online from a Cape Town based online shop as I couldn't find anything in Bloem. And honestly, that's when the change started to happen in ME.  I enjoyed knowing that I am taking care of myself, I enjoyed that feeling of just closing my eye, smelling the essential oils from the soap or bath salt, I enjoyed the feeling of having a soft skin, I enjoyed that feeling of deliberately applying the natural body butter on my skin, I started to feel beautiful again! And slowly the healing process happened.

My husband and family could see the change in me, and I realised then that I want other woman (or men) that goes through what I went through...either through retrenchment, retirement, any loss ..to find themselves again by something so simple...taking care of one's self with luxurious products that elevateds well-being!

In my "previous" life I used to lecture Accounting at NMU, so my background kicked in again and I found myself reading up on different carrier oils, butters, the benefits of essential oils, etc etc. On impulse I bought equipment and ingredients to make my own artisan soap, and after many attempts, most failed, I formulated a plant-base recipe that I loved, and realised that of all the carrier oils I tried, Hemp Seed Oil was, and still is, my favourite oil. My friends and family (the poor guinea pigs) absolutely loved the feeling of the soap bar, no tight skin after a shower. And that is how everything started...

When I had to decide on a name for this new "baby", I decided on JUSTBLiSS.  The word "Bliss" , according to the Oxford dictionary, is is a magnified emotional state of joy, fulfillment and happiness. 

And that is what I want YOU, our precious customer and friend, to experience and feel whenever you are using a JUSTBLiSS product....complete Happiness! Happiness in knowing that you are taking care of yourself naturally..     

 

Thank you for reading my story...

Much Love.

Ansulene