What if the products you put on your skin every day are affecting far more than just your skin? In this episode of PCOS Unfiltered, I sit down with Jodi Scott, co-founder of Green Goo, to explore the connection between our skin, nervous system, inflammation, hormones, and overall health. Jodi shares how her background in health psychology and psychoneuroimmunology—combined with her sister’s work as an herbalist—led their family to rethink traditional first aid and create plant-based alternatives. We talk about common endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in everyday personal care products, why your skin microbiome matters, and simple ways to begin reducing your toxic load without becoming overwhelmed or afraid. If you’ve ever wondered what’s actually in the products you use every day or how your skin may be connected to what’s happening inside your body—this episode will give you a whole new perspective.
Listening is a great place to start, but lasting change happens when you begin putting these ideas into practice.
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This week, take a few minutes to look at one product you regularly put on your body.
It could be your lotion, skincare, deodorant, lip balm, sunscreen—or even something sitting in your first aid cabinet.
Before you immediately throw anything away, simply get curious:
❤️ What ingredients are in this product?
❤️ How often am I putting it on my body?
❤️ Have I ever stopped to think about how my skin responds to it?
❤️ Is there one product I could replace with a simpler option when it runs out?
The goal isn't to overhaul your entire bathroom cabinet overnight.
Remember, Body Wisdom is about awareness before action. You don't have to become afraid of everything you're exposed to. Start noticing, get curious, and make small changes that help you feel more confident about what you're putting on your body.
Jodi Scott is the co-founder of Green Goo, a women-founded, family-owned company focused on purposeful, plant-based skincare and first aid. With a master’s degree in health psychology and a background in psychoneuroimmunology, Jodi brings a whole-person perspective to the relationship between the mind, nervous system, immune system, skin, and overall health.
After realizing that the ingredients in her own first aid cabinet didn’t align with the clean lifestyle she was creating for her family, Jodi joined forces with her mother and sister to develop plant-based alternatives. That idea ultimately grew into Green Goo, which began in 2008 and remains women-founded and family-owned.
Website:
https://www.greengoo.com/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/greengoohelps/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodi-scott-7234331b8/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/GreenGooHelps
TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@greengoohelps
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❤️ Share this episode with someone who feels stuck or is ready for a fresh perspective.
⭐ Leave a review to help more women discover PCOS Unfiltered.
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Remember:
Your life isn't determined by your past, your diagnosis, or your circumstances. The stories you believe shape the choices you make—and every new choice is an opportunity to create a different future.
⚠️ Podcast Disclaimer
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine.
(0:00) Our skin is our largest organ, and that's just about all we've been told, though. (0:06) You know, and then we just move on and we start talking about the other systems. (0:09) Your skin is born from the same embryonic tissue as your nervous system.(0:14) It is rich in neurotransmitters, and it is your body's first (0:20) response to the external environment that then tells the internal environment how to respond. (0:27) And so when you are putting these chemicals on your body, in addition to other things that you (0:33) expose yourself to, you're living in this low-grade state of fight or flight because (0:37) your nervous system then prompts the rest of your systems, your immune system, like, (0:44) hey, we're in a state of fight or flight because cortisol goes up and so then inflammation goes up. (0:51) Welcome back to PCOS Unfiltered, where we ditch the one-size-fits-all advice.(0:56) I'm your host, Lindsay, nurse-turned-health coach, two-time author, and your body wisdom guide. (1:02) Here, I hope you'll understand the messages behind your symptoms so you can stop fighting your body (1:07) and start working with it. Before we jump into today's episode, I want to invite you to join (1:12) us inside the Healthy Ever After community.It's where the podcast comes to life with weekly body (1:18) wisdom tips, recipes, exclusive resources, conversations with women on the same journey, (1:23) and monthly challenges with fun giveaways. In fact, we kicked off our very first community (1:28) challenge this month, and it's not too late to be a part of it. If you're only listening to the (1:33) podcast, you're missing half the experience.You'll find the link to join the Healthy Ever After (1:38) community in the show notes. Now, today's guest is Jodi Scott, co-founder of Green Goo. She began (1:45) her career studying medicine and health psychology before working with physicians to help patients (1:50) take a more whole-person approach to health.After witnessing firsthand how plant-based remedies (1:55) could transform lives, she teamed up with her mom and sister to build a company dedicated to making (2:01) natural first-aid products available to more people. Now, let's go ahead and get comfy, (2:07) maybe grab something to take some notes, and let's dive in. Here is my conversation with Jodi Scott.(2:21) Hello, and welcome, and welcome to the show, Jodi. This is going to be a good one. I love it.(2:29) So good to be here. (2:30) Yes. So let's get started by just, you know, I want you to share your story (2:36) and where Green Goo came from.(2:40) Yes. So my mom's sister and I started, and I have a master's in health psychology, (2:46) specialized in psychoneuroimmunology, and was training resident physicians on the (2:52) biopsychosocial model. So what does that mean in practice? My goal was to advance (2:59) how we traditionally do an intake and decide what the next steps are for physicians and patients, (3:07) meaning that rather than simply prescribing, let's collect more data points so we can provide (3:13) a more holistic intervention.Perhaps there's some resources that you can provide for them, (3:18) or some recommendations or lifestyle changes. In psychoneuroimmunology, it's very much what (3:23) it sounds like. What is the relationship between your mind and your nervous system (3:28) and your immune system? And at the time, that was really hypothetical.Most of medicine was (3:35) incredibly vertical and isolated, and so it was just kind of starting to brew. Like, we knew if (3:41) someone was really stressed, they often were sick more frequently, but there wasn't the (3:46) research studies or the clinical trials to really support that. And then my sister's an herbalist (3:52) and a midwife, and my mom is a self-taught computer programmer website developer because we (3:57) grew up in the military, and she identified early that she needed to have a mobile career and not (4:04) to reinvent every time we moved.And so she was my first computer teacher, so it's always great to (4:10) have an IT person on your team. And so at the time, I was pregnant, and we were living this incredibly (4:18) clean life, very mindful of what we were eating and personal care products. And I got a cut, and I went (4:26) into my first aid cabinet, and I looked.First of all, my first aid cabinet was a mess. I was like, (4:32) there is so much expired, one-time-use products in here. I don't even know what's in here anymore.(4:38) I'm like, need to clean this in my nesting mindset at that moment. But then I also looked at (4:45) the ingredients because I hadn't looked at it in a while. And I was like, oh my gosh, how did I overlook (4:50) this? How was I so mindful, and yet I missed this? And I was like, I don't want to put this on my (4:59) body, and I certainly don't want to put it on my child.And when you think about it, most of our (5:04) first aid solutions were applying to our children and pets more than anyone else. And I thought, this (5:09) is so weird. Why do I think this is okay? So I went to my sister, who's a total purist, and I was like, (5:14) if she's doing this, maybe there's a bigger problem here.And I'm like, Jen, are you using (5:20) traditional first aid? And she's like, well, yeah, my husband's in EMT. That's just what we use. (5:25) I'm like, look at these ingredients.How did we miss this? And we found we weren't alone. The natural (5:31) consumer was willing to abandon their natural ethos because they were just told that these (5:36) chemical use products were the only way to get acute skin conditions addressed. And we had (5:42) this idea, like if it doesn't sting, burn, or dry it out, it must not be working, right? Which is (5:47) like completely the antithesis of how our skin regenerates.And then it was so interesting to (5:53) discover that chronic skin conditions are at an all-time high. So here we've got this like first (6:00) aid OTC solution that's available to people. And it was really designed for cuts and scrapes, (6:08) poison ivy, maybe cold sores, you know, like very short-term solutions.And yet we're trying to find (6:14) long-term solutions and use seven to ten days. And if symptoms persist, one, it could be toxic, and (6:21) two, you need to go see your physician, which is really inconvenient. And we thought, okay, this (6:25) needs work.This first aid needs to be reinvented. And so we thought, well, what if we can (6:31) make a plant-based solution with my sister's amazing herbal wisdom, and then having my organic (6:38) chemistry background, and bring something that has higher efficacy, but then also (6:45) clean ingredients. And so Green Goo was born.Well, that's awesome. Oh my gosh, yeah. I mean, it's so true (6:51) because, you know, when you do get the occasional cut, like I remember, gosh, I guess probably it's (6:57) probably been a couple years ago, but you know, into my journey where, again, I try to do everything (7:01) holistically and naturally.And I look at ingredients on foods, you know, and I about slice the tip of (7:07) my finger off, you know, and I'm going to the cabinet, and I'm like, oh my gosh, like, yeah, what is in this (7:13) stuff? Like, I didn't even, you know, think about it before. So, yeah. And it's an open wound.So it's like (7:21) literally getting into your system very quickly. And then when you think about that first aid cabinet (7:28) too, and just the chaos that's in there, and half the time you're like, oh gosh, I haven't used this in (7:34) three years, need to throw it away, you know, and you feel horrible spending money and then throwing (7:40) it away. And so it was also important to us that we wanted to have like more versatility and really (7:46) bring in this mantra of like simplify your life, have more versatility in these solutions.(7:53) And so it was interesting when we were formulating, because we went to like a local Walgreens and (7:58) we're just like sitting and looking at the Walgreens set, the first aid set, and we're like, wow, this (8:03) represents our cabinet. It's chaos. Like you come in and you're like, what do I get, what for? And so we (8:10) looked at like the general symptom relief people were looking for.And then we studied some (8:15) IRI data, which is basically consumer behavior data, and said, okay, what do we need these solutions to (8:22) address? And what was so interesting to us was how the traditional formulation process was, you (8:28) know, if you have a cold sore, for example, they've led with antiviral properties. But what we found (8:36) was really interesting is like when you get a blister and when you get a cold sore, yes, they (8:42) presented for very different reasons. However, they're similar responses.Your body is exhibiting (8:52) similar reactions and saying, hey, body, I need you to X, Y, and Z. And here's what's happening. And (8:59) then it feels kind of the same. It stings, it burns, it's got that inflammation, the pulsing.(9:04) So we're like, well, what if we do sort of the inverse and we look at the herbs and how the (9:09) herbs are responding with our bodies? And let's see if we can address a cold sore and a blister (9:15) at the same time with the same formula. And so that's what we did. And so now we can like compact (9:22) your first aid set or your first aid cabinet and just a handful of solutions.Awesome. So yeah, (9:27) before we go further, do you want to talk a little bit more about like what products specifically (9:32) you guys have out there now? Our first aid solution is like your Swiss army knife for your (9:40) first aid. And it is like having your first aid kit with you on the go.So it is for cuts and (9:46) scrapes and wound care, but then it's bug bites, bee stings, poison ivy, cold sores, blisters, (9:51) chafing, sunburn, dry skin. And what's really fun is that you find that you just take it with you (10:00) everywhere you go. And typically when you have a first aid incident happen, right, a bee sting or (10:05) what have you, you don't typically have your first aid kit with you, but because you're using it, (10:09) you use it as a lip balm and my husband keeps it in his pocket with him.You're like, oh, here you (10:14) go. And then you're always prescribing because someone's inevitably going to get cut or hurt. (10:19) And you're like, oh, I've got your green goo.And you can give it to your kiddos. You can give it (10:23) to your pets and you're not, I mean, never would you give a first aid solution to your child, (10:29) right? That's typical with the chemicals and the neomycin and so forth, but you can give them (10:34) their green goo and they can apply. And it takes the sting and itch out, which is really just what (10:38) the kiddos want.So that's kind of like the platform. And then we have like anti-inflammatories (10:44) and sort of anti-aging after sun burn and scar. And then we have like really aggressive dry skin (10:52) for like psoriasis and eczema, but then you can also, and we'll talk more about the value of this (10:58) is it's not just about eliminating the chemicals in your life, but it's also inserting nutritional (11:05) skincare.So we also challenge this idea of that first aid should be separate from your health and (11:11) beauty and instead integrating both of those by eliminating those harmful chemicals and introducing (11:18) these whole plants. And what we do that's very different than what a lot of people have been (11:25) introduced to is that most of the natural products people have had on the market are just small (11:32) fragments of the medicinal properties from the plants. So they've extracted it.It's been exposed (11:38) to high heat or alcohol or, and the compounds have been denatured. So you're only getting a little bit (11:44) of those plant properties. And so a lot of times people are like, well, I like the idea of natural, (11:50) but it doesn't really work.Well, I would challenge you probably only getting a little bit of the (11:54) plants. And so we still make our formulas the same way we did in our kitchen when we were brewing (12:00) them and harvesting them from our backyard. And this very, this distillation process, it's (12:08) sensitive to the integrity of the plant.So it yields high amounts of the medicinal properties (12:13) with plant-based carrier oils that then can be easily absorbed through your semi-permeable membrane (12:20) of the skin, which is what it really loves. And, and so. Yeah, I love this topic.I mean, (12:27) what came to mind too is, and I've talked on other episodes, like for anybody that's maybe (12:32) just joining around this time, maybe you haven't heard me preach about this, but, you know, (12:36) if you've been listening, you know, I, I, the skin is talking to you, right? Like, so, (12:42) you know, sure. If it's first aid, you know, you've got to cut a sting, you know, whatever, (12:46) like you need that. But if it's something a little bit more chronic or acute on chronic, you know, (12:51) like your body's talking to you, right? Something's going on.And so it sounds like, (12:56) you know, with green goo, you are soothing it, but actually letting the process happen (13:01) where a lot of traditional medications are going to more suppress it. And then what happens? It (13:08) just keeps coming back and your body doesn't go through the process of healing, right? (13:13) This idea of these short-term results, but unfortunately long-term negative side effects. (13:20) Yeah.And you just, you bring up a great point in terms of how we're used to using our, (13:26) our skincare, right? Like our skin is our largest organ and that's just about all we've been told (13:33) though, you know, and then we just move on and we start talking about the other systems. (13:37) Your skin is born from the same embryonic tissue as your nervous system. It is rich in neurotransmitters (13:45) and it is your body's first response to the external environment that then tells the internal (13:53) environment how to respond.And so when you are putting these chemicals on your body, (13:59) in addition to other things that you expose yourself to, you're living in this low grade (14:04) state of fight or flight because your nervous system then prompts the rest of your systems, (14:09) your, your immune system, like, Hey, we're in a state of fight or flight because cortisol goes up (14:15) and so then inflammation goes up. And, and I want to kind of highlight inflammation can, (14:21) we typically think of like inflammation means I have achy sore muscles. Inflammation can mean a (14:29) lot of things for different people.So it can show up as skin tags and chronic skin conditions, (14:36) like dry skin, eczema, psoriasis discolorations, but it also can show up as chronic pain. (14:47) Insomnia foggy brain. And so when I talk about inflammation, I really like to, to open that (14:53) up because I think we've, we've come to believe that this is just a normal way of living.Like (14:58) even, even chronic headaches are a part of that inflammation process. And then if we back up (15:05) in terms of, you know, what you put on your skin and how it stimulates that cortisol and inflammation, (15:11) we also have something that lives on our skin, which is our microbiome. (15:15) And we, this microbiome is a living organism that communicates to our endocrine system.Very, (15:23) like that is like their main channel. And we have been compromising our microbiome for a long time. (15:29) When we're putting paraben on our skin, petroleum, which is suffocating the skin or alcohol drying (15:36) agents in our, in our lotions and, and personal care products, it compromises that and that, (15:43) that microbiome.And it says, okay, endocrine system, okay, nervous system, (15:47) we're in that state of fight or flight. And then all of a sudden it responds in its own way, (15:52) right? It might produce more of one hormone. It might produce less of another hormone.And then (15:58) that, that imbalance happens. And of course, we'll talk more about some of these ingredients and where (16:04) they come from and how it impacts those various systems and very specifically your endocrine (16:10) system. Yeah.Yeah. So let's kind of dive in to that a little bit more. So what are, you know, (16:16) some other common endocrine disruptors that women should be aware of and maybe start reducing first, (16:23) like what would you recommend to kind of look at first? So a lot of these parabens, (16:29) petroleums, forever chemicals are in our everyday personal care products, fragrances, (16:39) the packaging that we're using, whether it is in our kitchen or how, what we're buying.And so (16:49) parabens and petroleums are often like what you're going to see in sort of a thicker consistency. (16:55) These are going to be like your vaselines, if you will, or a lot of the personal care products, (17:02) some of those fragrances. These endocrine disruptors, what they do is they then tell (17:10) your body to either mimic a hormone or they block hormone production.And then obviously that hormone (17:17) production then is going to impact your sleep, your hormone balancing, your clarity in your brain (17:26) and inflammation and so forth. And so what I typically, and then obviously first aid, right? (17:32) Like our first aid, it's like pervasive. Phthalates are the number one produced man-made chemical in (17:38) the world.And we produce a billion pounds of it a year. And so, you know, when I tell people and (17:45) give them some insights to these ingredients, it's also keep in mind the packaging. Like if you can (17:50) have glass or stainless steel, that is so much better for you than plastic and plastic in your (17:58) personal care, plastic in your food.And it's not, it's not this idea of fear. And I want to just (18:05) kind of bring that forward because that in itself is its own stress hormone. But I want to invite (18:11) this idea of empowerment around it because these man-made chemicals are only about 100, 150 years (18:18) old.They are a product of the industrial revolution. At that time was the first time we could like (18:23) mass produce consumer packaged goods to people. And there was this idea that more value meant more (18:31) volume.So these balms and these salves that we were making once upon a time ago kind of became (18:37) less cool and lotions and these big containers became cool. And then they had to put water in (18:42) them. So with that water required more man-made synthetic chemicals to keep that formulation (18:47) stable because it could take three years for it to get to your doorstep and you didn't want a (18:52) moldy lotion.We didn't have same day shipping. We didn't have the technology we have today. (18:57) We sure didn't have Amazon, right? And of course that's changed.And we also know now because most (19:04) of the data we weren't spending money on natural and plant-based science at the time. We were more (19:13) focused on this like innovation of like these man-made like inventions which were awesome. (19:21) But today we know that these parabens, petroleum, phthalates, fragrances, and these synthetics are (19:28) harmful to our bodies.They are in fact causing major issues for us. And so now the empowerment (19:37) is to just eliminate them because the more we eliminate them, the more they're just not going (19:42) to be available on the market because they're just not going to be in demand. And there's going to be (19:46) more glass, there's going to be more stainless steel, there's going to be more of these plant solutions.(19:51) And really think about from an environmental standpoint when you go back to something like a (19:55) bomb that doesn't have the water, you're also reducing your carbon footprint because you're (20:00) not having these giant tubs of lotion and personal care products being transferred. (20:07) Yeah. Yeah.And I want to clarify too, you know, when you talk about hormones, like (20:10) I think people need to understand it's not just reproductive hormones, which I think a lot of (20:14) people probably think about, you know, but you have insulin, you have thyroid, you have like all these (20:19) right, like hormones in the body. But I think when we say hormones, people probably think (20:24) of reproductive organs. So it's affecting a lot.And then I feel like it kind of just starts, (20:29) you know, the cycle or interrupts that cycle and then gets it started. And yeah, yeah. (20:34) I'm so glad you bring that up.So I went to the Buck Institute of Longevity in California, (20:42) and they did this beautiful presentation on women, wellness, and longevity. And they brought up some (20:49) really interesting data points. And one of them I thought was really interesting is how (20:53) misrepresented women are in clinical trials for a lot of these medications.And so we are not being (21:03) a part of those studies in terms of those side effects. And yet we're more impacted because of (21:08) our physiology than men just based on our ovaries and our reproductive health. But she brought up a (21:15) really great point, which is what you just said, which is oftentimes when we think of the word like (21:20) ovaries, we only can make that connection to reproductive health.And yet she was like, (21:26) our ovaries are the Wi-Fi to our entire systems. And those entire systems impact our wellness, (21:33) our longevity, and what we may or may not unlock and how we feel every day. And so just bringing (21:42) that light to how interconnected our hormone health is to our entire existence outside of (21:52) our reproductive health is really powerful.Yeah. And I think that ties in nicely to what we were (21:57) just talking about with the recent name change of PCOS to PMOS, because they're realizing it's not (22:03) just about the ovaries and how everything is so interconnected. So yeah.(22:11) Back to that, like we were talking a little bit before we went on, like your metabolism, (22:16) you know, your insulin and how, and then that becomes your weight and your sleep and your (22:22) clarity. And, and then that impacts the inflammation. And so we all know like it can (22:27) present in different ways, but how interconnected that is.And, and then that brings it back to (22:35) one of the wonderful things that we do have control over is eliminating and avoiding that (22:41) toxic load, reducing your toxic load and, and taking the time to do that and rebuilding your (22:48) skin barrier are two incredibly tangible ways that we can impact our overall health and obviously (22:59) reducing that inflammation. And, um, yeah, I absolutely loved chatting with Jodi. I'll be (23:07) sure to link everything in the show notes.If you'd like to connect with her and if you're (23:11) enjoying the podcast, come join us inside the healthy ever after app. It's where we continue (23:15) the conversation with community recipes, resources, and exclusive content. Plus you'll currently get (23:21) my free summer sanity guide just for joining the link is in the show notes.And if you love this (23:27) episode, make sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it (23:31) because healing doesn't come from doing more. It comes from understanding better. (23:36) I'm sending you so much love and I'll see you on the next episode of PCOS unfiltered, (23:41) nourish, heal, thrive.