Products: Part 1, Our Story
I want to take a moment to go back in time a little bit- to when I felt the nudge to start offering products at Encompass. In the beginning, it was multifaceted. I wanted to offer a self care option for my clients that they could take home and use right away. Essential oils are great, but they require education on how and when to use them. A product that is infused with oils and ready to use for a specific purpose is a really easy way to get started without the overwhelm.
The second reason is that I knew even if I recommended a product at another shop, that client most likely wouldn’t go straight there and grab it. Being a one-stop shop for convenience and efficiency is something I value. As a mom, I appreciate being able to get what I need in one stop.
Plus, I couldn’t find a local shop that offered rollers and creams made with essential oils that I could sell in my shop. I was pretty far into my nontoxic journey at the time and wanted to make sure we were using quality ingredients that I am comfortable using on my kids. At the time, it felt too overwhelming to start making my own product bases.
One day, while I perused the YoungLiving Catalog, I saw they had a new DIY kit for exactly what I needed! Bingo! It offered a base cream, lip balm, and spray bottles that I could customize for many purposes. We initially created a healing Lavender + Peppermint lip balm and our Deep Sleep spray. It was a great first step, and it was so helpful to be able to offer clients products that they could purchase after their massage and continue their wellness at home.
After a while, I felt the nudge to start making everything in-house to gain control of the ingredient quality. I wanted the products to have minimal, organic ingredients. Funny enough, as soon as I decided to make that transition, YoungLiving also pulled the DIY Kit from their offering. Maybe it was just for me to use, for that amount of time. ;) In 2019, we also added our line of essential oil rollers for specific issues like nausea, digestion, tension, and immunity.
It was around this time that I got an essential oils recipe book called Oils & Glass, to create all sorts of things at home. It is so cute and full of amazing recipes, if you love oils, I recommend it! In it, the author has a body butter recipe, which inspired my sister and I to start experimenting. We discovered a body butter recipe that we loved and began creating our line of creams. Creating our own creams are very important to us due to the fragrances in most anything else. Hundreds of toxins can be “hid” under the name fragrance in products, and synthetic fragrances mess with our hormones. They can also cause cancer and reek other havoc in the body. So, I avoid anything that says fragrance on the bottle. Even if it might be essential oils. If it isn’t listed, I don’t trust it. So, since creating a cream we could trust, we have tweaked the formulas to create a product our clients love and use continuously. We offer Happy Skin Creme, Pain Relief Creme, and Stress Relief Creme. They each have individualized essential oil formulas to provide relief for the most common skin and wellness issues we see.
In 2022, we also added our Balance Serum. Quite honestly, I started by using it in my massage sessions to utilize something lighter on clients' faces. Soon, clients were asking what it was. Naturally, I bottled it up and started offering it in our shop and online. It has quickly become one of our top sellers, for good reason. It’s easy to use and is very hydrating-I use it every day in the winter after I shower and my skin feels amazing! I also love the smell and it helps me balance emotionally and mentally as well.
Somewhere along the way, after Brad joined us in 2020 we’ve also added in select vitamins and fruits & greens drinks. Clients love being able to quickly grab those on the way out and it’s something I often recommend in massage. We also have self-care tools including a trigger point ball and foam roller, Encompass merchandise, and products from Cedar & Sage (her soaps are so great).
In 2023, I plan to expand our product offering into more holistic, handmade products that can serve my clients and community. I also want to round it out by adding gift items that I would love to receive myself and that are natural and holistic. Think crystal/rock jewelry, plants, herbal remedies, and more cleaning options. I just keep following these small nudges and it grows and expands in its own, slow rhythm! It has been a learning process, but I enjoy being able to offer products I love and am confident in.
