Life Blog

By Mary Duggan

My mother and her Aunt Kitty will always be women’s history for me. I think this is the case for many women. We learn how to navigate our lives, survive the terrible storms and stay on course while performing domestic tasks at the kitchen table with our mothers, and in our case, one small but mighty great aunt from Australia, as our teachers. 

Dear Friends,

Every day is Earth Day for the Duggan Sisters and that’s the way we like it. 

From our simple turn-of-the-century Worker’s Cottage on the Southside of Chicago - where we have lived happily above the shop for 15+ years - we have built our brand from a singular premise: you can not maintain a healthy body on a sick planet. And so we rise each day, firing up one HVAC system, not three, and working to maintain the smallest possible carbon footprint as we go about the business of being a business, working to make a real difference for both people and planet. 

The Duggan Sisters are honored to be sending a care package along with the Humanity for Children volunteers going to Tanzania to build Ivy's House in honor of Ivy Case. 

Here's our love note to all of you:

When the request to host Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot at our home arrived a few weeks ago, I was an enthusiastic yes - with one very serious reservation. Two months earlier we had received the devastating news that our darling dog, Boomer, was suffering from advanced liver cancer and had at best a few weeks to live. The vet sent him home following extensive and expensive testing with instructions to love him up until a series of horrific symptoms would inevitably and suddenly appear - at which time we would have to let him go.

And so we grieved and we cleared the decks - Boomer, for whatever time we had left together would be our top priority and our greatest joy...

Today, in gratitude for your continued support, we proudly announce that we have joined 1% FOR THE PLANET, insuring that each and every purchase you make with the Sisters will support environmental healing. To date 1% FOR THE PLANET has directed over $250 million to grassroots organizations working toward a better world. And now with your purchase of Duggan Sisters products you will be a part of this essential effort. 1% of everything you spend with us will be donated to a vetted environmental nonprofit dedicated to Environmental Justice.

Clare is the youngest of the eleven Duggan siblings. Smart, loving and so well -adjusted, her siblings always teased their mother that with number eleven she had finally gotten the formula right. The caboose in large families is often the cherished and coddled mascot for older siblings. Clare ba...

In the winter of 1999, Annie started to get sick. At least my mother and I thought so. Everyone else thought we were crazy. She was getting really thin and she was getting married — two events held culturally in high esteem and two events that frequently coincide. Mom and I knew better. There wa...

For all of Annie’s physicality, Mary is wholly cerebral. “I am,” says Mary, “the original geek. I have had my nose in a book my entire life. I have ruined my eyes, my posture, and all muscle tone, but it is my true passion.”With a degree in creative writing, Mary had worked as a college instruct...

Spend just a few minutes with the Duggan Sisters and you will experience the synergy that makes their partnership so unique and so very special. Like an old married couple, they finish each other’s sentences and wordlessly anticipate each other’s needs. “We are actually twins,” says Annie, “born...

Our healing center has taught us to honor story. Working with clients at the Rose Cottage has reinforced our respect for the healing imperative that is story. To effectively facilitate another person’s healing you have to understand and respect their soul’s story. Powerful, effective healers, b...

Armed with their deodorant can and their breast diagram, the Duggan Sisters launched their DON’T BE A BOOB campaign in the fall of 2008 and there has been no going back. Not satisfied with reaching the relatively small number of individuals that can afford a $200 lymphatic drainage massage, the Duggan Sisters are determined to reach untold numbers with their message of prevention through purification. Starting with the basics: healthy deodorant; informed lingerie decisions; the benefits of rebounding; and the importance of living foods — the Duggan Sisters are determined to change the world with their sensible approach to real wellness.

Being victims was never an option for the Duggan Sisters; so, they combined their weakened but still substantial skill sets to prove that there had to be a better way than the hopeless or diminished prognosis medicine frequently had to offer. What they learned about healing both body and soul, and their special training in lymphatic wellness, infuses their health message and the amazing products that grew organically from their own personal journeys to wholeness...

...The Duggan Sisters' brand is the inspiring story of sisters determined to beat the odds and take others along for the ride. Unable to find a natural deodorant that worked, and keenly aware of its importance to lymphatic wellness, the Sisters focused their combined energies and cracked the code on natural deodorant, creating lifestinks®: the natural deodorant that actually works. Determined to make a go of it despite the rough economy, they pooled all of their resources — even sharing a home and a car —and established their “empire” in the basement of The Rose Cottage.