Rachel and Justin are the two founders and heads behind Jack N’ Jill, an all natural toothpaste brand from Australia. Their toothpaste is completely safe to swallow and is targeted towards little humans: babies, toddlers and children. The cute packaging and tasty flavors make Jack N’ Jill a must-have for every bathroom and the innovative products teach kids to have a healthy relationship towards dental hygiene. We sat down with Rachel and talked about their company, family and plans for the future.

Can you tell us a little bit about where you come from? Did you grow up near nature?

I grew up in the country side of Tasmania – the beautiful southern island state of Australia! My parents owned 200 acres of property and my sister and I grew up outside, surrounded by animals, open spaces and fresh air! As kids we felt sorry for all our friends who lived in the city and only had a tiny backyard to play! My mother was naturally supportive of all things natural – she would get up at 4.30am to milk the goats by hand for the family’s milk supply. She grew a vegetable garden of amazing vegetables that as children we did not appreciate and for meat, had one of the local farmers butcher a sheep or chook on her behalf.

One very early memory for me is being taken to a local herbalist when I was feeling nervous about school each morning – for suggestions of natural remedies to calm my stomach. Mrs Ferguson – with the amazing herb garden!!

Why did you start your own brand? How did you end up producing natural toothpaste for kids? Where did it all begin?

10 years ago we were living in New York, working as commercial photographers and we had our first child. When his first tooth surprised us we went off to the local health store to find a toothpaste suitable and safe enough for our precious little man. Having spent a considerable amount on the tube – we were distressed that he did not like it at all and refused to brush his teeth. We worked through the couple of other brands available with the same issue – they tasted awful!!

We had a lightbulb moment and decided to make a toothpaste that had the safest ingredients possible, while still remaining similar to a traditional toothpaste, and also the Yummiest!

There were a couple of other factors – that made this seem like a real goal for Justin and I to achieve. Justin, pre photography, had studied and worked as a pharmacist – so was able to bring those skills together to formulate and eventually manufacture the first batch of toothpaste.

Also in the mid-eighties, Justin’s father Adam (also a pharmacist) had purchased a small toothpaste brand from a large pharmaceutical company in Australia called Jack N’ Jill and with it the machines to make it! Jack N’ Jill was available in pharmacies in Australia from 1949 and though it didn’t resemble anything like the current product, it was loved by many kids until it stopped being manufactured in the late nineties.

So, for Justin and I there was a clear starting point and we loved the name and history of the products. It took a lot of swearing to get the old machines working again – but in 2011 we manufactured the new Jack N’ Jill ourselves and later in June of that year launched our products via the Jack N’ Jill website.

What do natural ingredients mean to you? Why are they so important when it comes to dental hygiene?

We believe brushing your teeth with any toothpaste should be considered as a support strategy to a healthy and balanced diet and lifestyle. Any toothpaste alone – whether natural or not, cannot sustain good oral health and hygiene. Toothpaste should be considered as one of the tools used to assist in the prevention of decay, but not the sole soldier!

Having said this, we believe a natural toothpaste with the right ingredients is the best way to support the body’s ability to achieve a healthy mouth. Natural ingredients are not harmful to the human body in secondary ways and are derived from nature rather than scientific production techniques used to extract synthetic ingredients. An example being our Calendula – which is sourced from an Organic farmer in the Adelaide Hills of Australia and extracted specifically from the Calendula flower for Jack N’ Jill. It is used as a very mild natural anti-inflammatory and is great for soothing young gums during brushing.

How do you guys combine family life and running a business?

In the first two years after we launched Jack N’ Jill, finding the balance between work and now two children under 3 years was very challenging! We did everything in Jack N’ Jill ourselves and we often stayed up very late to get it all done! To get a small business and great idea off the ground we believe this is what it takes – unless of course you have a very wealthy benefactor or investor who is willing to pay for staff from day one! At the three year mark we moved the business out of our home and into and office, taking on two full time staff. Now at the five-year anniversary, we have 10 full time staff, 42 casual staff – we work with distribution partners in 39 countries and are having a ball!!

The balance is now possible and we work very hard to protect our kids from the classic ‘busy’ badge that can so easily become fastened to your chest when completely committed to work.

Probably our most regular and important shift was to check our emails/devices first thing on a Saturday morning – and then refuse to look again until Monday. It works very well for us – and as a husband and wife working harmoniously together is necessary to encourage us to change the topic of conversation between us!

What are your hobbies besides your job?

Justin’s passion is electric guitar, playing and collecting! He really enjoyed writing and recording the Buzzy brush song with my sister, Lisa, an accomplished vocalist.
I love being outdoors in the garden, trying to teach myself to garden!

Next goal? Dreams? Visions? What do you see in the future for your line of natural toothpaste? Will there be more flavors or even eventually some products for grown-up’s?

We have many exciting new products for Jack N’ Jill in the next 12 months – expanding our reach into Oral care and releasing some wonderful new products in personal care for babies and kids.

In 2017 we will launch our Natural Family range of Australian made toothpaste and toothbrushes for the whole family! Using a mild Native River Mint, it will be a great progression for children wanting to start using a mint flavour – as well as adults who are more and more making the choice to use a natural, fluoride free toothpaste!