LAUREN'S STORY

Like many other inspiring success stories, mine began completely by accident. I started making Lauren’s All Purpose Salve 

as a burn cream to heal my hands and forearms from working as a line cook in the kitchens of NYC in 2014. I wanted a simple formula with organic ingredients. There were no organic burn creams to be found, so I decided to make my own. I noticed that there were a few core ingredients in every product marketed for organic skincare. Taking these, and adding in a few ingredients I learned about while apprenticing as an herbalist, I created a balm that could be used for everything: Lauren’s All Purpose Salve. My friends started asking me what I was rubbing all over myself 24/7 and eventually started buying it from me in 2016 while I was in grad school at Columbia University for Nutrition. Word spread and after many Saturday nights spent making salve in my Greenpoint, Brooklyn kitchen, I decided to drop out of grad school and pursue Lauren's All Purpose full time.

For the first few years LAP Salve was the only product I sold. I grew my business with one hero product, Lauren’s All Purpose Salve.  I’ve now added a few more products to the lineup while staying true to the minimal, organic ingredient list.

Lauren’s All Purpose is not just a cream in a jar. It’s a ritual of caring for yourself so you can be there for others. My purpose is to spread a tender touch. I believe being tender with yourself and touching yourself, both physically and verbally, are essential for individual and collective healing. Lauren’s All Purpose Salve was the tool I used to begin doing this and I still give myself a tender touch of LAPS on the daily.

Lauren in November, 2020

Giving a tender touch is an action we want to promote in the world. We believe the world would be a better place if more of it happened, personally and communally! The word ‘tender’ is very intentional. We think that tenderness gets a bad rap for being weak and breakable when really, being gentle and loving takes enormous amounts of strength. It is hard work to do but looked down on - We want to change that.
We want to champion giving a tender touch as an uplifting act to both the giver and receiver. We want giving a tender touch to be a tool people use to
mend themselves and others. We want tenderness to be available to all people, at all times, in all places.

Lauren in 2015, working in the kitchen