How It All Started
Why start yet another skincare brand when there are soooooo many out there in a “saturated” market?
The answer is simple – I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I have very dry skin all over my body including my face. I’ve always had to use a combination of body oil, followed by lotion, followed by Vaseline in order to not be chalky ashy. I also needed relief for my daughter (who was 5 at the time), because she was also suffering from severely dry and sensitive skin all over her body. She had patches of eczema between her legs and behind her knees. She was constantly scratching. Nothing in the grocery store worked so I decided to turn to the online dry skin community for answers.
I found a myriad of brands to choose from. As an African American woman I always seek to support Black owned and Woman owned companies so that gave me a bit of direction. I knew I needed rich body butter with a blend of oils that would nourish and heal the skin. I found the ingredients I wanted but in a cream heavy with fillers that made me wonder how much of the actual natural butter and oil I was really getting.
Then I found what I thought was the Holy Grail of body butters. It had the triple butter blend I was looking for, it had the oil blend I was looking for, and essential oils too! But it only came in one STRONG scent that proved to be not acceptable in my non-scent government workplace.
When I did find something that was close, I couldn’t afford it. I’m not saying it wasn’t worth the price, I just couldn’t afford it. So what to do, what to do???
Then I thought what would my mom do? When she couldn’t find hair grease that worked for my waist length, 4b textured hair she MADE HER OWN. Yup, in 1988 Helen Rose was pressing out this 7 year olds hair with HOMEMADE pressing oil and everyone wanted to know her secret.
So I got back online. I started researching natural skin butters starting with Shea and Cocoa butter. One of the brands I really liked also used Mango butter so I researched that too. I researched Jojoba, Argan, Coconut, Apricot, Babassu, Tamanu, Sweet Almond and so many other natural carrier oils. I researched essential oils such as Melaleuca (Tea Tree), Frankincense, Rose, Eucalyptus and Lavender. I came up with a blend that moisturized like a champ with a soft scent that didn’t linger.
Within 2 weeks my daughter’s skin was healed! I made four 8 oz. jars just for me and my family to use. I also made a 24 oz. jar of my oil blend to use on our skin and hair. I was so surprised that the oil and the butter worked well for both me and my younger daughter’s very dry skin and also my older daughter’s mildly dry to combination skin. The oil worked on our face, body, scalp and hair!
So this is where the story gets good. I never intended to sell the oil or butter at all. As I started gaining followers on my nonprofit Instagram page (Om Thrive) I would get DM’s from people asking me about my skincare routine. I never wear makeup in any of the photos or videos that I post and I don’t use filters so you can really see, UP CLOSE, the condition of my skin.
One day a girlfriend of mine asked me for a sample of the oil that I use on my face. I gave her a little 1 oz. bottle and she loved it! I shared a little pot of my body butter with a coworker and she loved it! Now the ideas started brewing for real. When I ran out of that batch I decided to post photos of the next batch being made on my Facebook. And that, my dear dear friends, was definitely “that on that.”
Helen Rose Skincare Co. is lovingly named after my dearly departed mother, Helen Rose Sherrod Bibb. She was my best friend and I long to see her again in the New World. Until then Mommy, this is for you!
Love Daynelle