NATURAL selection
Personal care products made locally with love
Two local businesses keep health and wellness in mind when making smallbatch personal care products.
When Sabrina Landau of Wyomissing was 42 years old and the mother of two young children, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was an experience that impacted her perspective on health and wellness, particularly when her girls, Hannah, now 18, and Lauren, 13, started approaching puberty.
They were beginning to have a need for personal care products to address things such as body odor, so Landau set out to find a deodorant that was made using natural ingredients, but found there weren’t many choices available.
“I didn’t want to give them regular deodorant — I wanted to give them something without chemicals and no aluminum,” she said. “Being right by your breast and your lymph nodes, I didn’t want our kids slathering in chemicals.”
Landau’s close friend and neighbor at the time when they lived in Bernville, Ansa Sama, who also has two girls similar in age to Landau’s, Ava Ahner, 18, and Ella, 16, was aligned with Landau’s perspective on wanting more natural hygiene products for her own children.
Given Ella is a three-sport athlete and Ava is award-winning in track as well as being a soccer player, Sama wanted to feel good about what went into their gym bags when it came to cleaning up after meets and games in the locker room.
“Ava hit puberty first and I knew I had to do something that was free of toxins,” Sama said. “I started making little concoctions in my kitchen with coconut oil and other ingredients.”
Landau began focusing her time on researching and blending ingredients to create the deodorant that all four of their girls have been using since puberty. Their goal was to make a deodorant that didn’t contain a lot of ingredients, but works.
“I did the formulating,” Landau said. “The deodorant is coconut-oil based and has baking soda, arrowroot, beeswax, shea butter and essential oil for scent — we have citrus and floral.”
Initially, they made their products for family and friends, but in time, their vision expanded to form the business they named NuBlume. Despite their business growth over the years, they still use a kitchen at Sama’s house to make everything by hand in small batches.
In addition to the deodorant for tweens and teens, they have a spot stick for blemishes and a face wash.
“We made the face wash solid so if they are at practice, they can have a grab and go,” Landau said.
Sama noticed that as her girls have aged, they have become more selfaware.
“They now use the body oils, as well, to moisturize, as they are more aware of their overall self-care,” she said.
Over time, they also started making products for men and women using the same approach. Their line of products can be found locally at Oley Valley Organics Natural Foods store in Oley Township.
While there are now more selections out there for personal care products than at the time when Sama and Landau were in need of them for their girls, Barb Dietrich, owner of Oley Valley Organics, along with her husband, Mike, began carrying NuBlume due to the care they put into their products, in addition to them being made locally.
“I really like their mission in offering these products and not just for adults, but for young people too,” Dietrich said. “At least half of their line is for kids — they are small deodorants that kids can throw in their backpacks and they are easy to use. They are portable and they look hip.”
Oley Valley Organics also carries personal care products by Betula’s Botanica, owned by Monica Dech. At her bath, body and apothecary store in West Reading, you can find her allnatural deodorant made using plantbased ingredients, which she said is suitable for pre-teen and up. She also offers shaving soaps, body and foot care products.
Like NuBlume’s products, they are handcrafted locally.
“I just made a fresh batch of deodorant that I posted on Instagram,” Dech said of her latest batch that is scented with lavender and tea tree oil, which also serve as active ingredients in her formulation. In the post, she invited her followers to message her if they wanted her to set one aside for them before she sells out due to the fact that they are made in small batches.
Dech has found that personal care products such as deodorants serve as a good launchpad to those seeking chemical-free options in their daily hygiene.
“People are looking for natural options and they start with making small lifestyle changes,” Dech said. “That is why something like deodorant is a good start to going that route.”