Home Spa Treatment

Small Batch Artisans create the scents and therapies to soothe and transform

by Ellen Hiatt

You know that feeling after you’ve had a pedicure and your feet soaked and scrubbed, or been massaged head to toe by the best massage therapist ever? Yeah — that feeling… your toes are tingling, your limbs are relaxed and you just know you could get used to this every day. But then there was the pandemic, and everything changed. No more massages. No pedicures. No spa time for you!

Good things can come out of tough situations. It’s time to discover some incredible, locally made and sustainably sourced, custom-blended, personal care products that will put the zing in your routine and the chillaxin’ in your relaxin’. Welcome to the home spa experience.

Start with a long soak in a warm bath, a scrub with Leslie Jane Naturals Conditioning Hand and Body Polish, and freshen up with her Cucumber Mint Face Wash. Or try the Frankincense Face Cream of Twin Mountain Botanicals on Camano Island. Twin Mountain Botanicals is the love child of Camano Island’s Kym Johnsen, who produces small batch and custom lotions and salves.

Kym’s lotions just smell divine. There is no greasy feel afterward like with other creams and my skin stays soft –said Alice Jackson of Stanwood

But what I love about it are the results. I call it the magic cream. Literally, it removed an odd mole that concerned my doctor enough to send me to a dermatologist.

It’s time to discover some incredible, locally made and sustainably sourced, custom-blended, personal care products.

While Johnsen claims no medicinal magic, she does intentionally use plants and herbs that have known antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, such as locally sourced Cottonwood. The little buds are full of a resin that are anti- microbial, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory. She infuses their goodness in almond or olive oil for a full year before instilling them in lotions. One of her customers is allergic to Cottonwood, so Johnsen whips up the same lotion using different ingredients — one of many custom batches she creates.

Many of the local, small batch producers are motivated by health concerns, of their own or their loved ones. Stanwood’s Leslie Collings of Leslie Jane Naturals has had cancer three times despite having no genetic predisposition to any type of cancer. She purged her home of every cleaning product full of ingredients she couldn’t pronounce and started studying deeply and working like a mad scientist to create alternatives in her kitchen. She followed that research by re-creating every personal care product in her home.

I wanted to create an environment for myself, my own home and family, that was safe. We all should be able to do that without the fear that we have a toxic environment. I just absolutely believe that. –said Collings

She has a complete line of home spa products, lotions, salves and home cleaning products — all made in small batches. Being a small batch producer gives her more control over quality.

These small batch producers are all committed to using healthful, sustainably sourced, holistic ingredients …

Another company borne of a desire for a healthier solution is Everyday Natural Products of Snohomish. Matt Danner beat Stage 4 lymphoma, for which he credits the healing powers of Lions Mane and Reishi mushrooms, among other varieties. He joined Azmyth Kaminski, whose father beat Stage 4 prostate cancer, to form the company and create holistic solutions from cultivated hemp and locally sourced mushrooms. Most of their products are intended to help with sleep, stress, pain relief, and have neurologic benefits. Their quest to make the CBD bioavailable resulted in a water-based version that they very wisely put into a bubble bath formula.

Kevin Gilbert, of Papa’s Apothecary, was inspired by his grandfather’s last days and encouragement to do what he loved. Kevin believed there had to be more healthful options for his grandfather’s care. Motivated to change his work and to do something meaningful in his grandfather’s name, he studied nights at Bastyr University in Seattle and “fell in love with formulating products.” Papa’s Apothecary’s Sandman’s Gift Sleep Oil is a dream away when rubbed on your feet. He also creates a face wash that is a mix of dry herbs and clay and is adaptable to a wash if mixed with honey, or a mask if it’s blended with avocado.

Avocado has wonderful fats. It’s calming and soothing. Mix it with the herbs and you have the best of both worlds. –Gilbert said.

He said one of his customers uses the face wash along with his toner and reports to him that her skin feels like her children’s skin.

These small batch producers are all committed to using healthful, sustainably sourced, holistic ingredients meant to make you feel great without compromising your health. Who wouldn’t feel pampered with a spa day like that?

None of the small batch producers mentioned in this article make medicinal claims about their products.

Read more about small batch spa artisans.