I grew up in Arad with my dear family, and one day during book-week in my hometown my eyes were magically drawn to the natural beauty book written by Claire Maxwell-Hudson, president of the British Beauty Institute. Inspired by her book, as well as many passages from the Rambam (Maimonides), I became a vegan and knew even then that I wanted to concoct skin care products for the body, and start my own cosmetics company when I grow up.
The year was 1979 and a girl my age didn’t know much, or even at all about natural cosmetics and what ingredients she applied to her skin. The body cream that I particularly liked at the time was a cream from the “Thea” company – with a rabbit drawing on the bottle and apple scent.
I especially liked its texture. After delving deeper and reading about the ingredients of the cream, I realized that I wanted to concoct cosmetics using natural ingredients. With the help and knowledge I acquired, I set up a laboratory in my parents’ kitchen that included different types of oils – essentials, herbs, natural alcohol and much more. I grew medicinal plants in the soil at my parents’ house on 1 Arava Street in Arad. In the Natural Beauty book, Claire Maxwell used beeswax to emulsify some of the creams and I didn’t want to use that byproduct.
I chose to soak the oils, herbs and essentials for weeks, filter them and use it as one of the ingredients to make a natural cream. What I lacked then was an emulsifying agent that connects oil and water.
At the end of that year, when I turned 16, I started studying aromatherapy with a beautician at her private salon, at her home in Be’er Sheva. I shared with her the idea I had about making natural creams and she advised me to use Vaseline.
I quickly realized that even though Vaseline is a natural substance, its production involves a combination of chemicals, so I started looking for hardened butters and oils in order to stabilize the cream compound.
After months of trial and error, I was able to come up with a way to achieve an optimal connection between oil and water, which contains vitamins, essential oils and hardened vegetable oils and together turn them into one concoction of natural cream.
The first cream I made was a combination of herbs, Louisa, peppermint and dried chamomile flowers. I soaked them in almond oil for a whole month in a cool and dry place.
After filtering, I got the first extract to which I added hardened oils as an emulsion and distilled water and after much labor using a manual mixer, I had created my first cream concoction.
With great excitement, I transferred it to glass jars, stuck a sticker of natural facial skin cream and distributed it to my neighbors and close friends. Everyone was so enthusiastic about the miracle that came from countless hours of study, work and investment and the rest is history.
