Business Profile: Cold Spring Apothecary
Where can you go to purchase natural remedies and personal care items without potential hazardous chemicals?
Look no further than Cold Spring.
The Cold Spring Apothecary has been offering natural produces with a Web site established in the summer of 2010 and its retail store that opened in April 2011.
Stacey Dugliss-Wesselman, who lives near her retail store on Main Street, is its founder.
Cold Spring Apothecary is the first business owned by her, though she said last week helped manage other businesses.
Offering natural products is the emphasis of Cold Spring Apothecary.
“Cosmetics are often laden with synthetic, cheap to mass produce, chemicals that are very harmful to both our bodies and the environment,” she said last week. ”The bottom line is their main objective is not the well being of the consumer. When I developed an allergy to synthetic ingredients and preservatives, I started researching the cosmetic industry and quite frankly I was scared of what I learned. There is so much the average consumer is not aware of. At Cold Spring Apothecary we hand blend all of our products at our manufacture site here in Cold Spring (or what we term ‘the lab’) this way we can ensure that only the best, most healthful ingredients go into our products. We are extremely mindful of what ingredients we use and where we source them from.”
Using natural products was an important part of Dugliss-Wesselman’s life well before she opened her business. “I’ve been mixing my concoctions since childhood. Then in my late 20’s I developed allergies to many synthetic ingredients used in cosmetics, because of this I started mixing up my own lotions, shampoos etc.,” she said.. “Then I started creating them for my clients (I was a hairstylist) and family. It was with the encouragement of those clients and family that I started creating my blends to sell.”
Dugliss-Wesselman said her shampoos are particularly popular. “Our shampoos, one of the first products I created, are always great sellers,” she said. ”They all have unique scents and in keeping with the craft of the ‘apothecary’ each blends a mixture of herbs and botanicals with a medicinal purpose, from thinning hair, to dry scalp and more. We also have a line of medicinal salve blends that sell out almost every weekend, and they include a joint blend, a sleep blend and a breathe ease blend. And of course, there’s our bug spray that we can’t seem to ever make enough. It’s gained a bit of a cult following for not only its bug deterring ability but it smells great too.”
A variety of clients purchase items for their stores via the Cold Spring Apothecary Web site. “Our wholesale clients are both smaller boutiques and large stores all over the US and Canada,” she said. “We hope to be wholesaling internationally by the end of the year as we get international requests almost daily. Because we are a small company we are limited to the number of wholesale accounts we can take at any given time, so at times it forces us to be somewhat selective.”
Dugliss-Wesselman uses the products that she sells.
“I only use my own products when it comes to skincare and hair care, so selfishly a lot of the line was develops out of my own needs,” she said.” But my daily regime would include the Calendula & Sweet Fennel Cleanser, Deep Cleansing Mask, in the summer I use the Seabuckthorn and Sweet Fennel Lotion and in the dryer winter months the Rosehip and Lavender Lotion. For my hair I use the Basil & Hibiscus Volumizing Shampoo and the Lavender and Vetiver Daily Conditioner and I’m never without my Citrus Ginger Sea Salt Spray.”
Cold Spring Apothecary is located at 49 Main St. Cold Spring. For more information, including how to obtain their newsletter, visit ColdSpringApothecary.com or call 845-232-1272
