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No buts about it: Melanie Mayron was bummed out by the
diaper/barrier creams available when her kids were babies.
Fortunately for the actress-director, she had a genius chemist
at her disposal (her dad) and a driving ambition to create not
just a better alternative, but the absolute best one.
Twelve years later, the multipurpose Our Best Barrier & Diaper Cream, complete with an ever-so-cheeky retro-cool feel, welcomes a slew of new green-tastic products, all created with the same passion and dedication that initially drove the thirtysomething heroine to butt into the world of baby care.
Here, Melanie talks about Mayron’s Good Baby, motherhood, mantras, making the most of every day and what Melissa, her iconic thirtysomething counterpart, and she still have in common today.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JILLIAN SWARTZ: Mayron’s Good Baby! I love it. I love the whole thing. When I had my first child, I was given the ointment that shall remain nameless and I couldn’t believe that anyone would use such harsh chemicals on a baby. I gather that you felt the same way, but how did you go from being freaked out at the diaper cream choices, or lack thereof, to actually developing your own line?
MELANIE MAYRON: When the babies were born, I tried everything. I bought them all and tried them all. And I wasn’t happy with anything. I kept sending my dad diaper creams and asking him if he could do better, get rid of the parabens, and try putting in natural and healing ingredients for the skin. Dad took it from there. We had, over 12 years, so many versions of the barrier/diaper cream.
JS: Our Best Barrier & Diaper Cream—what makes it the best?
MM: Because Dad truly made so many over the years! He kept perfecting it. Then I wanted it with more natural ingredients. And I would give it to actress friends who were having babies to see what they thought. We would take the comments and keep perfecting it. I used to say, “We were just perfecting perfection.”
JS: Tell us about the new products that you have coming down the pike.
MM: We have the Chapped Cheek and Lip Protector, our Tangerine Massage & Body Oil, our incredible Hydrating Body Milk and our head-to-toe shampoo. We will also have our “Road Pack
,” which has all the products for road trips or day trips, and our shower or new-baby gift sets, which will have the entire line in a nice red plaid lunch pail, just to start.
JS: The whole look of the product line is stand-out and there’s a cohesive through line between the look and the voice. Where did the inspiration for the branding come from?
MM: I grew up in Philadelphia in the ’50s. There was so much of that time, post WWII, that affected my taste today. The big ’50s cars, the diaper delivery man, the milkman, matinee movies, cigar boxes to store all your treasures, the penny candy store, stickball in the street when there was no traffic. You could count on everything around you. I wanted Good Baby to have the same vibe—like it has been around 
forever, tried and true…something you can count on. I feel like this is a product you can count on.
JS: What do you love about working with your dad?
MM: He’s my dad, and he’s a brilliant chemist. He holds one of the patents on the time-release tablet.
JS: What’s the most challenging thing about working with him?
MM: Getting him to finish a formula and say: “That’s it.” He keeps tinkering around, trying to make it better. Well, in the end, that is a good thing, because the five products we have are quite frankly astonishing.
JS: What lessons from your acting/Hollywood life have you taken with you in your role as entrepreneur?
MM: Well, in acting you are always as good as the choice you make. I think that goes for the baby products. Figuring out what to make and what ingredients would work and what the packaging would be to make us stand out and send the right message. It is all about choices—in life and in everything.
JS: You have two 10-year-olds. You’re directing, running a business, acting—how the heck are you doing all of it and holding on to your sanity?
MM: I have two kids the same age. I had one and adopted one. They are the best thing that ever happened to me. However, I have no more free time, which is a drag. I have to make myself stop sometimes. I just believe in Mayron’s Good Baby so much, I know the time is now to make the effort to get it out there.
JS: What motivates you?
MM: I need to pay my bills, just like everyone else I know.
JS: What’s your mantra?
MM: “Nothing is more important than this day…” Goethe, I think…
JS: What’s the soundest advice you’ve ever gotten about being a mom?
MM: “The days are long, the years…short.”
JS: What advice do you give other mothers about motherhood?
MM: It is the best of times, it is the most precious of times, it is the most trying of times and it is the most loving of times. And it will all be over way too soon.
JS: What’s the best thing about owning your own business?
MM: This product line is truly a dream come true for me. To be able to create natural, organic and top-quality products with my dad, who just turned 82 in March, I know is a tremendously precious time. I appreciate it so. Yes, it is costing a lot, creating the design with my graphics designer, Doug Brotherton, and see the packaging so retro and looking like it has been around forever…to see the manufacturing side of it and learning so much from that…and to be able to donate some of the profit toward women’s medical research…and to meet so many new and wonderful people in my life and learn a new line of work in my 50s. It is fantastic. See, as an actor, you always have to get picked for a part. As a director, you have to prove to the producers who hire you that you are the best person for the job, but with Mayron’s Good Baby, I don’t have to prove anything to anybody. I just have to believe in our products. And I do.
JS: Why do you think that you’ve been able to be successful in so many different fields?
MM: That, I really don’t know. I know I have a gift at certain things. I love kids. I love photography. I love acting. I love working with actors. I love antiques. When you love something and you have a passion for it, I believe that is the key. Passion is the key to success, because you care.
JS: It’s been 18-plus years since the end of thirtysomething, and the times—economically, socially, spiritually—couldn’t be more different. What would Melissa say about the state of the world today?
MM: Melissa was a survivor then, and did whatever she needed to do to pay the bills. Sure, she had dreams, but she was a realist. At least that is what I was trying to portray with her character. What would she say now? About our times now? “Don’t be afraid to go for your dream, because all we truly have is this day…just make sure you can pay your bills along the way.”
JS: Where do you see Mayron’s Best Baby in five years?
MM: I hope available everywhere. Our Best Barrier & Diaper Cream is good for so many things, it should be in everyone’s medicine chest—like Band-Aids.
JS: Where do you see yourself in five years?
MM: Hopefully talking to you again and the two of us happy that so many people have tried Good Baby and love it as much as we do!
For more from Melanie, go to www.mayronsgoodbaby.com.
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