I HAVE secretly wanted to create my own toiletries, or at least make my own soaps. Wouldn’t it be nice to lather up in scents that are customized and go even farther than that by actually making your own?
Yet, I know it takes more than just desire to make plans work. It takes technical knowledge. Presenting biochemist Mary Aidine Galvan, who succeeded in creating her own cosmetics, earning from it, and helping local suppliers.
Mary Aidine makes soaps from shea and cocoa butter, mangosteen, carrot, papaya, moringa and rose extracts. She also sells these for P25 (25 grams) and P15 (20 grams) at her Growbio Natural Systems store just beside the Negros Farmers Weekend Market along Magsaysay Road in Bacolod City.
The store looks like it sells art and knick-knacks because of its cluttered Bohemian vibe. In a way, it does if you consider artisanal stuff as actual artistic products. Somewhere in the building is the laboratory where our subject channels her expertise into.
Aside from the soaps, our biochemist makes lip balm, colognes (I like her Yellow Chamomile and Green Tea and Ginger), lavender body wash, insect repellant which uses rice bran oil as its carrier oil, and bugnay wine.
The premium organic wines come in three sizes. That is 250 ml for P65, 375 ml for P85, and 500 ml for P120. Bugnay is a healthy berry that is rich in anti-oxidants. It also has anti-cancer properties.
Drinking bugnay wine assures one of his quota of all that healthy goodness even during times when the fruits are no longer in season. Drinking up for good health must be the primary goal of Aidine. Oenophiles will find the bottles unusual and I, in fact, teased our local oenologist that she’s presenting her wine like a tonic.
Aidine also raises chickens fed a non-antibiotic diet with feed enzymes for probiotic eggs. She even makes soft white cheese which she also sells at the weekend market.
Our biochemist is a UP Diliman graduate who has been a consultant for 10 years now especially on good manufacturing practices for cosmetics companies in Malaysia. She is also a consultant for customized organic fertilizer production for our farmers. In other words, she can create particular fertilizers according to the needs of your farm.
Aidine is a staunch supporter of food security and she is currently excited over urban homesteads. She encouraged me to revise my garden plan in order to maximize space and sunlight source. Backyard gardening is a satisfying hobby and can even fuel one’s entrepreneurial spirit. Growing your own food is exciting and therapeutic. Aidine makes it easier for you. Perhaps, she can teach me how to make my soaps one day.