About Us
From co-owner, Hillary Barthelemy:
Why soap?
Kevin, my husband and co-owner of Busy B’s Homestead, works as a mechanic. He suffers with eczema and psoriasis. He spends his days diagnosing cars, tearing apart and rubbing against dirty engines, and working in the heat. Kevin would come home daily with itchy and inflamed skin. We knew there were medications he could take to keep his skin conditions at bay, but we wanted to take a more natural approach. My youngest daughter and I also suffer from sensitive skin, so we decided to make some changes and take control of the ingredients used in the products we apply to our skin. We started by buying unscented soap from the store, but it left our skin feeling extremely dry. One day we decided we would take matters into our own hands, so we began making our own soap. We knew using all natural ingredients would help with our skin issues. Since using our first bar of soap we ever made (Oats + Honey), my husband’s skin has never looked better. Even with the line of work he is in, his eczema is nearly gone.
How does the word homestead apply?
Let’s rewind a little…
We were already taking steps to living a more natural lifestyle. We started our own vegetable and herb garden in Spring of 2022. As a family of 5, we had a goal of controlling what we put into our bodies as well as topically. We started growing vegetables and herbs. Eventually, we began taking the herbs from our garden and infusing them into our soap recipes due to their botanical healing properties.
How did this turn into a business idea?
After my husband’s skin success, we began giving soap to friends and family to allow them to experience the benefits on their own. We received nothing but compliments on the luxurious lather and moisturizing feel of our soaps. From hearing all of the feedback from the people we trust, we decided everyone deserved the opportunity to use a better and healthier skincare product. Since we started, we've grown our product variety from just soap to body butters and body scrubs.
Being a teacher, a new mom of 3, and having the summer off, I figured we could start a small business to help support our family and provide our handcrafted soap to families suffering from the same issues we were able to remedy naturally.
What do you mean by all natural products?
At Busy B’s Homestead, we pride ourselves on using all natural ingredients such as olive oil, coconut oil, naturally occurring clays, and dried herbs straight from our homestead. We also use therapeutic grade essential oils to scent our soaps. We stay away from any toxins and chemicals that are usually found in fragrances as well as any other ingredients that are hard to pronounce and unnecessary. Our products will leave your skin feeling clean, hydrated and moisturized due to our strategic combination of natural oils and clays.
Since we established our homestead, it has given us so much more than we could’ve ever imagined. So, thank you for being here and supporting our small business. We enjoy being able to provide all natural handcrafted skincare and self care products to our customers. We love helping people nourish their skin, the natural way. The Busy B way.