Co-founders, Mother and Son. Circa 2005. The little guy on the left wears a lot of hats these days and plays an important role at Shubug.

The conversation between husband and wife that led to the creation of Shubug.

“Ouch! I’m getting eaten by these bugs up here, she exclaims! We need to carry some kind of bug spray.

After all the work we put into making our little country store seem wholesome, boutiquey and fun, you wanna put some chemical looking stuff on your shelves? He chuckles as he asks. And after surviving breast cancer, and all that you do to eat clean and avoid toxins, you want put that fake healthy stuff that doesn’t work on your skin?? He asks again, this time more seriously.

I know, she says sadly. Well, we need to do something-people need something! Maybe we should try and come up with something on our own…”

Our simple belief: Protection should be safe.

A brand-first approach.

“Born from our own desire for a safer alternative–an all day, everyday solution, Shubug has you covered,” was the mantra story we wanted to be able to say about the product we would come out with. If we couldn’t honestly say it, we didn’t want to make it. We even came up with the brand before we had an actual product. We knew a nice, happy brand would help attract the science help we would need to develop formulations that were actually natural, and actually worked. We formed a little team and came up with Shubug! It wasn’t too long before the plan started coming together.

We found a bummer of a fact about the industry and sought about fixing it.

Along the way, we learned about how the naturals in the industry almost all use Soybean Oil as their base, which means most are more than 90% Soybean Oil. We learned there are natural ways to shoo away bugs and avoid harsher chemical solutions on the market, which was encouraging. But we also learned that while Soybean Oil on its own is both harmless and natural, the vast majority of Soybean Oil is harvested with a chemical called Glyphosate. Glyphosate is the reason behind the multi billion dollar weed-killer lawsuits we hear about in the news. Somehow, this process flys under the radar of our EPA, and is still legally allowed to be labeled - “natural.” 

We use cosmetic grade MCT and Walnut Oil as our base and our Naturals provide over 10 hours of Mosquito protection.

The First and Only Certified Glyphosate Residue Free Insect Repellent was born.

Spreading Glyphosate all over the biggest organ of our body to avoid a few bug bites seemed crazy to us. It’s a no-brainer to avoid using it and yet, it’s a standard practice of this industry - way too many others as well. It was nothing we wanted any part of and it’s surprising enough to mention - all we did was avoid the obvious thing everyone should avoid. The alternative was not hiding, it was there waiting. What we ended up with was so magical, it should never have been a secret.  As the first Certified Glyphosate Residue Free insect repellent, we’re happy to be The Original, and even happier to be the ones who get to share the good news. We hope our story helps people have more fun outside, and and we hope it inspires more stories like it! Enjoy nature, enjoy Shubug.