Minnesotans hope to clean up with bath, body products

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Feb 12, 2001 | by Cahalan, Steve

LA CRESCENT, Minn. - They've been selling their allnatural bath and body products in the area for the past year.

The owners of Radiant Hands Inc. near La Crescent, Minn., want to expand their market this year to health stores in the Twin Cities, Chicago and perhaps Denver, Colo.

Roger Thicke and his wife, Susan Wally, operate the business from their home.

He makes the products in their kitchen. "I do more of the production," Thicke said last week. "She designs the labels and does more of the creative work."

Radiant Hands makes all-natural moisturizing creams, moisturizing soaps and lip balms. Besides selling those items individually, the business sells a gift bag that includes a combination of those products plus a small cellophane bag of "fizzy bath."

Thicke said "fizzy bath" is a combination of cornstarch, baking soda, citric acid and essential oils and goes into a bathtub full of water. "It's fun and relaxing," he said. "But the product is also good for the skin."

Thicke said he and his wife, who are both 48, have gradually expanded their product line. Their next product - which probably will be available within a month - will be an unscented moisturizing cream. "That's because of the growing number of people who are sensitive or allergic to any fragrance," Thicke said.

Radiant Hands' moisturizing creams are available in a variety of aromas - such as citrus, lavender, peppermint, angel's touch, baby silk and pain-ease. Its soaps come in a variety of aromas, and its lip balms come in a variety of flavors. Each product contains organic essential oils, such as peppermint, citrus and lavender.

The products are good for the skin, Thicke said. "Our essential oils have a therapeutic quality, and they absorb very quickly into the skin," he said.

"Peppermint has an invigorating property, and citrus is uplifting," Thicke said.

Thicke is a massage therapist and has had a practice in La Crosse since 1995. He sells Radiant Hand products to clients at his massage therapy office in Suite 201 of the Sampson Galleria building, 600 N. Third St. They also are sold at several area stores.

Thicke and his wife started making products for their own use four years ago. "The main reason we got started is because we had been going to health-food stores, looking for high-quality moisturizing creams and soaps in a good price range," he said. "What we found was pretty expensive."

Thicke and Wally started selling their own products a year ago, after friends said how much they liked them. "We wanted to produce something that was all-natural, but was in a good price range," Thicke said.

"Everything we produce is made in small quantities," he said. "So we have better control over quality." A year ago, the Good Life Nutrition store in Red Wing, Minn., became the first store to carry Radiant Hands items. "In the summer, we started selling them at craft shows and at the People's Food Co-op" in La Crosse, Thicke said.

Today, the items also are sold at the Franciscan Skemp Health Care pharmacy in La Crescent, The Violet Flame lame in La Crosse, Rockwood Gardens in Onalaska and the Viroqua Food Cooperative.

Thicke hopes Radiant Hands products will be sold this year in health-food stores in the Twin Cities and Chicago. And he might introduce them in the Denver market, because the low humidity there results in dry skin. He also plans to have a Web site in a few weeks.

In 1994 and 1995, Thicke and his wife lived in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he attended the Colorado Institute of Massage Therapy. After graduating, he started his Radiant Hands Massage Therapy business in Colorado. But two months later, Thicke and Wally returned to the La Crescent area. "We felt we needed to come back" because of family ties, he said.

Wally was raised in La Crescent, and Thicke was raised on a farm near La Crescent. He was a dairy farmer near La Crescent for 23 years before deciding to become a massage therapist.

"It was time for me to do something different," Thicke said of the career change.

Wally was a school teacher in Winona, Minn., when her husband was a dairy farmer. Today, she is a substitute teacher at area schools.