A Cortez woman who has made her livelihood from the oil-and-gas industry has taken the recent slump as a sign to go after her passion: creating her own line of all-natural skincare products.
Kathy Candelaria has been making her own lotions, soaps, and shampoos for the past two decades from her home kitchen, often using her family as product testers.
In October, she decided to turn her hobby a business, and launched High Desert Naturals.
“I sold drill bits to the oil-and-gas field – my family has done it forever. I’ve had this on my mind for years, and with the downturn in the oil field, I thought ‘I have the time now, let’s do it,’” she said.
Using all-natural oils from palm, olives, almonds, coconuts, jojoba, Candelaria creates everything from colorful bar soaps that look more like sculptures, to shampoos, conditioners, body lotions, body butter, old fashioned cold cream and deodorant.
It’s a hobby that was borne out of life in a dry climate.
“This climate is hard on your skin. You have to experiment to find something that works, and I’ve found that these work well for people that can’t find products in the stores,” she said.
Being a one-woman show, Candelaria has spent the past few months not only creating the products and packaging, but getting them on local and digital store shelves.
So far, High Desert Naturals items can be found at FB Organics in Cortez and Zuma Natural Foods in Mancos. Candelaria also has found a customer base using the online marketplace, Etsy and her business Facebook page.
While she’s glad she made the leap to turn her home-concocted hobby into a money-making enterprise, she cautions anyone thinking of doing the same to be ready for a lot of hard work.
“You better be determined to not quit. There is setback after setback, and even though your business is home-based, there are so things to look out for like copyright, legal ramifications, labeling, business insurance,” she said. “There are times when we can’t get in here to cook and we get mad. But its the sacrifice you make.”