Erin Body Care Nourishes Bodies from the Outside in
The rose petals fall, as rose petals are wont to do, upon finding themselves, if but for a moment, suspended in nothing but air. But these particular petals will not reach the ground to rejoin the soil. Resting in the scoop that is held in the hand of Erin Hewgley, both queen and worker bee of the busy, home-based hive that is Erin Body Care, these petals will find themselves in a concoction of health and wholesomeness. Like Hygieia, Greek goddess of health and hygiene, Erin understands that we are sentient sponges in human form, and that what goes onto our bodies goes into our bodies. To ensure that what gets into our bodies is good, she invokes ancient insights into the medicinal benefits of herbs and oils, balms and blooms while informing her formulas with full knowledge of modern “science-y” stuff like antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, humectant and non-comedogenic substances. The results of her loving labors are handcrafted batches of body, hair, and skin care products, all of it pure, all of it natural, all of it food grade, but intended to be savored from the outside in.
Looking back, it seems that Erin was destined to combine science and art in a room full of bottles and jars and digital scales.
“Mom was a biochemist at Vandy working on her dissertation when I was young,” Erin says as she adds jojoba oil to some organic marigold blooms. “I would help her in the lab, but I didn’t get to do anything more interesting than pipetting 10 ml of water into a hundred different test tubes.”
After graduating Hillsboro High, Erin studied sculpture in Ohio and then fabricated art in Brooklyn. When the Great Recession hit, it was time to reinvent, and so she earned a grad degree in Interactive Health and Nutrition. It was about this time, circa 2013, that Erin had her big epiphany. “Hmphf,” she recalls hmphfing, “I’m putting chemicals on my largest organ-- my skin. And everything I put on it is going into my body….”
She began searching for skin care products that were purely organic, no junk or chemicals involved, but to no avail. They didn’t exist.
“There are plenty of companies out there that are doing 90% plant-based ingredients,” Erin says, “but the deal breakers are the last two to three ingredients that are the stabilizers that create a certain feel that a lot of consumers expect in a product.”
So, Erin began making her own. All of it free of parabens or petroleum, phthalates or PCBs. All of it so simple and pure you could spread it on a piece of toast and have it for breakfast. But why waste something so wonderful when your hair and skin and lips are hungry for nourishment too?
Erin returned to Nashville in 2018 to take care of her mother, bringing her new skin and body care business with her. Similar to Hygieia on Mount Olympus, Erin has set up shop atop a hill in her Hillsboro Village home, creating her ever-increasing line of products in a converted bedroom. Demand is great and growing; supply – always handcrafted and small batch – is limited. Wholesalers have approached her, but Erin is adamant about keeping it pure. “In a wholesale relationship,” she points out, “you have to count on whoever is selling my line to treat it like food products because it is; rotating it as if it were fresh-pressed juice.”
For this reason, she continues to do it all herself, keeping it small, keeping it real, keeping it pure. To quench your own skin’s thirst (or hair, or lips, or teeth), you can order online from her website, or, better yet, you can meet Erin herself on Saturdays at the Richland Park Farmer’s Market. Easy to recognize, she’ll be the one with the glowing skin.
Erin Body Care
erinbodycare.com
@erinbodycare
Related Stories & Recipes
