Why Mo’Shea?

Our Story

It all started in a dry patch, literally. I started making shea butter blends out of sheer desperation. Nothing else worked. For the most part, aside from being born with dermatographia, skin issues weren’t a problem for me. I mean, I knew I had sensitive skin, but never issues with dryness or lack of moisture retention that I could remember. In fact, people who have dermatographia produce too much histamine in the skin when irritated, causing temporary redness, itchiness and welting to the impacted area. It’s a nuisance, but not concerning especially where dry skin is concerned. Then, it happened. In the summer of 2008 I was in my mid-twenties and caught off guard. I had developed a dry, itchy patch of skin on the top of my foot that not only wouldn’t go away, but was growing in size and would not subside. It itched, it welted, it burned, it was irritated all the time. Sometimes it was hard to make it through a day at work without taking my shoe off and wanting to scratch the skin off of it. It grossed me out and terrified me because until then I had never experienced anything like it. No matter how much moisturizer I used it was if nothing would absorb in this dry patch of skin or otherwise relieve the itching.

I grew up using name brand skin care products on my face and all the body sprays and body lotion on my body that one mall could hold, in all of my favorite scents. I had always been a clean person and a bit of a germaphobe, so why was this happening to me? I knew of people who rarely moisturized at all, and they didn’t get dry spots like this. So why was this happening to me? What was the reason?! After a visit to the dermatologist and a diagnosis of eczema, I learned that age; diet; dehydration; genetics; products and skin care routine (or lack thereof) were all factors.  Two prescription creams later I knew there had to be another way. The creams prescribed didn’t work for me or stop the spreading of the dry patch and it caused more burning which resulted in scarring.  After some research into the ingredients of the creams prescribed, I learned that some of them were actually drying my skin out. I learned that prescription creams and other skin care products are not for everyone. My skin had become unsightly, gray, scaly and appeared lifeless. To say the least, having an ugly foot was not cute at that time in my life.

In desperation, I began researching home remedies for dry skin, specifically for ingredients that would absorb easily in thick, or otherwise damaged and dry skin. I learned about plant-based oils that extended the life of skin’s moisture retention so I could go all day without feeling the effects of a lack of moisture (itchiness). The more I learned, the more I realized that the ingredients I truly needed were from nature, from plants. These plant-based ingredients didn’t need to be cut with water, petroleum, parabens or other chemicals, and in fact doing so made them less effective. So, I set out to take the information I learned and make my own all-natural body butter that would help reverse my dry patch and prevent it from ever returning. 

Several recipes later, I found a winning formula in Mo’Shea All-Over Body Butter w/tea tree that I’ve used as my primary moisturizer for myself and my daughter since. It has helped fade stretch marks, uneven pigmentation, maintained skin health and protected it from hand sanitizers and over-washing of the skin. I didn’t stop there. I had an increasing desire to replace every skin, hair and body care product I had with an all-natural plant based alternative with the same effectiveness and results that I liked in the artificial products I was using. For every product I replaced, the better I felt externally, and internally because I actually knew what I was putting into my skin and that it was all good. There is truly nothing better and I wanted to share that with other people who could benefit, before running into skin issues or resolving existing skin issues. I’m thankful for the ability and willingness to continue to make plant-based skin, hair and body care products from my own experiences so the benefits can be reaped by the many and not the few. My prayer has always been for every batch made to go toward the benefit of the wearer in health, healing and happiness.