Privacy Policy

Who we are and what this policy covers

This Privacy Policy explains how Balmelo, a brand of The Nelson M Group LLC ("Balmelo," "we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, shares, and protects personal details when you visit balmelo.com (the "Site"), submit a form, sign up for email or text-message updates, or contact us (together, the "Services"). The Nelson M Group LLC is the business responsible for your personal information.

Balmelo is an information service that publishes plain-language educational content about health and beauty topics, such as skin care, skin care, grooming, and everyday self-care habits, how product labels and claims generally work, and how to spot misleading claims, and lets visitors opt in to related updates by email or text. Balmelo does not sell products or treatments, make medical claims, give medical advice, diagnoses, or recommendations, take appointment or product requests, or match or refer people to clinicians, retailers, or service providers. Balmelo is not a medical provider, clinic, pharmacy, retailer, or licensed professional and does not offer medical, professional, legal, or financial advice. Choosing how to care for your skin, hair, or body is always your own decision, ideally together with a qualified professional.

By using the Services, you acknowledge this Policy. If you do not agree with it, please do not use the Services.

Information we collect

Topic and health information. The topic you select (for example, "reading a skin care label" or "sun protection basics") may relate to your health or appearance. We treat this as confidential. We use your topic selections only to choose which guides to deliver you. We do not sell them, share them with any third party, or use them to build a profile for advertisers. Please do not deliver us medical conditions, diagnoses, medications, health-insurance or claim numbers, photos of your body, Social Security numbers, or financial account details through our forms or by text. We do not need them.

Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, and government ID numbers are not something we knowingly collect.

How we use your information

• To offer the Services you request, for example sending you educational information about health and beauty on the topics you select.
• To send the email and text messages you opted in to, like confirmations, reminders, and notices about new educational guides.
• To honor your preferences, among them opt-outs, unsubscribes, and privacy requests.
• To hold records of your consent, as required or recommended under laws and carrier rules for text messaging.
• To respond to your questions and offer support.
• To keep the Site working, safe, and improving, and to stop fraud, spam, and abuse.
• To meet our legal obligations and enforce our Terms & Conditions.

We never use your information to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you, and we do not make medical, eligibility, pricing, or product determinations about you.

How we share information

Selling personal data is not something we do. Nothing is "shared" for cross-context behavioral advertising.

No sharing of mobile information for marketing. We do not share your mobile phone number, text-message opt-in data, or consent records with third parties or affiliates for their marketing or promotional purposes. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text-messaging originator opt-in data and consent are not shared with any third parties except as described in this section.

No partner sharing. We never sell, rent, or share your personal data, like your name, contact details, ZIP code, or interests, with clinics, clinicians, pharmacies, beauty or wellness retailers, product brands, health insurers, advertisers, lead-generation companies, or any any other business partners, and we are not paid by anyone for your data. We share information only in these limited situations:

• Service providers. Vendors that act on our behalf and under contract, such as website hosting, email delivery, customer-relationship software, form processing, and SMS platforms and the carriers or aggregators that deliver text messages. They may use your information only to provide services to us, and not for their own marketing.
• Legal and safety. When required by law, subpoena, or legal process, or to protect the rights, safety, and property of you, us, or others.
• Business transfers. If The Nelson M Group LLC is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to this Policy. Mobile opt-in data will not be transferred to a buyer for its own marketing without your consent.
• De-identified or aggregate data. We may use information that cannot reasonably identify you for analysis and reporting.

Text messaging (SMS)

If you opt in, we send text messages for the program Balmelo Balm Notes. We use your mobile number only to send those messages and to administer the program. See our SMS Terms for message types, frequency, costs, and how to opt out.

• Text consent is optional and is not a condition of purchase or of using the Services.
• Educational text consent is gathered through a separate, unchecked box.
• Reply STOP at any time to opt out. Reply HELP for help.
• Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply.

Text messages: rates, frequency, STOP and HELP

Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency may vary (up to about 8 messages a month, depending on the topics you choose). Text START to join at 877-289-1651, or opt in with the form on our Get Started or text updates page. Consent is not a condition of purchase or of using the Services.

• STOP: Reply STOP to any message to opt out (STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT also work). You will get one confirmation text and then no more messages.
• HELP: Reply HELP to any message for help, or contact us by email at [email protected] or by phone at 877-289-1651. Also, please message HELP to any of our numbers to receive help or information about the number.

Mobile information and text-message opt-in data are not sold or shared. We do not sell, rent, or share mobile phone numbers, text-message opt-in data, or consent records with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Service providers (such as our messaging platform and carriers) may handle this information only to deliver messages and operate the program for us.

Our text-message number is 877-289-1651.

Cookies, analytics, and similar technologies

Only the cookies and similar tools the Site needs to work and stay secure are used. We serve fonts and images ourselves instead of loading them from third parties. No advertising or cross-site tracking cookies are used.

If we enable privacy-focused analytics in the future (for instance, counts of page views), we will use it only to understand how the Site performs, and we will update this section. You can control cookies through your browser settings. We honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as a request to opt out of sale or sharing where relevant. Because we do not sell or share personal details, there is nothing further to opt out of.

Your choices

• Text messages: reply STOP to any text.
• Email: use the unsubscribe link in any email or write to [email protected].
• Update or correct your information: contact us at the address below.
• Delete your information: ask us, and we'll erase it unless we need to hold it for the reasons described under "Retention."

Leaving one channel does not remove you from the rest. Tell us if you'd like to opt out of everything.

Retention

Personal information is kept only as long as the uses in this Policy call for, such as to follow opt-outs and to meet legal and recordkeeping duties. As a general guide:

• Contact details and preferences: until you request deletion or you have been inactive for 24 months, whichever comes first.
• Text-message consent records and opt-out records: kept for at least 4 years after your last interaction, so we can show you consented and honor your opt-out.
• Support messages: up to 3 years.
• Server logs: up to 12 months.

Once it is no longer needed, we delete it or strip out identifying details.

Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, such as encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls, and vendor due diligence. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Text messages are not encrypted, so we ask that you never reply with sensitive personal or policy data.

Your privacy rights (California and other states)

Depending on where you live (among them California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia), you may have the right to:

• Know and access the personal details we hold about you, and the categories of sources and recipients.
• Correct inaccurate information.
• Delete your personal data, subject to legal exceptions.
• Port your information in a usable format.
• Opt out of the sale or sharing of personal details, targeted advertising, and profiling. We do none of these.
• Limit the use of sensitive personal details. We use it only to offer the Services you ask for.
• Not be discriminated against for exercising your rights.

How to make a request

Email [email protected] with the subject "Privacy Request," or write to us at the address below. We will verify your identity by matching information you provide against what we hold, and we respond within 45 days (we may extend once by up to 45 more days with notice). An authorized agent may submit a request on your behalf with your in writing permission. If we deny a request, you may appeal by replying to our decision, and you may contact your state attorney general.

California disclosures

In the past 12 months we have collected the categories of information listed in Section 2 for the purposes listed in Section 3, and shared them only to service providers (Section 4). We have not sold or shared personal data. California residents may also request details about disclosures of personal data to third parties for their direct marketing reasons (California "Shine the Light" law). We make no such disclosures. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

Nevada

Nevada residents may ask us to stop any sale of covered information. We never sell covered information.

Children's privacy

Adults 18 or older are the intended audience for the Services. We do not knowingly gather personal data from anyone under 18, and the Services are not aimed at children. If a child may have shared personal information with us, tell us and we will erase it.

Consent to communications and the TCPA

We send educational text messages through automated technology only after you give prior express written consent by checking the separate, unchecked SMS consent box on our forms or by texting START to 877-289-1651. Your consent is not required to use the Services or to buy anything, and you can revoke it at any time by replying STOP, or by any other reasonable means, such as emailing [email protected]. We follow opt-out requests promptly. Your phone number will be used only for the reasons outlined in this Policy and the SMS Terms.

We comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, and the carrier code of conduct, and we keep consent records as described above.

Third-party links and public resources

Our Site may link to other sites, for example public and government resources like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s consumer pages or the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer information pages. We do not control them and are not responsible for their privacy practices. Please read their policies.

U.S. operations

The Services are intended for people located in the United States, and data is processed in the United States. If you use the Services from elsewhere, you do so at your own initiative and are responsible for local law.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. We will change the "Last updated" date above, and if changes are material we will give notice by email or on the Site. Where required by law, we will ask for your consent again.

Contact us

Questions, requests, or complaints about privacy? You can reach us by mail, email, phone, our online contact form, or by replying HELP to any text: