Hi! I'm Kiley, a traveling yogi turned homesteader and one of the creators of Somera alongside my friend Cristina, a beauty executive turned mindful mother.
Cristina and I ventured down two very distinct paths to discover the magic of tallow as a new staple in our lives. Putting beef fat on your skin — yes, that's what tallow really is — definitely requires an "ah-ha" moment, and we were both pleasantly surprised when we had ours.
My moment came as I started to engage more deeply with my land. Hydrangeas, tomatoes, chickens, roses, berries, bees, compost. I was discovering so much richness in the simplicity of ancestral ways of living – hands in the dirt, sweat on the brow, using my body and mind to build a life for my family. When I came across the idea of tallow-as-moisturizer and learned that many ancient communities are said to have used tallow, I was excited to get my hands on some. Once I tried it, I knew I had to make a better, unscented version. When I was postpartum and breastfeeding our son in the desert of Mexico, my skin was uncomfortably dry. This balm was the only thing that quenched my skin. It became my holy grail nighttime product.
It was around this time that my husband told his business partner, who happens to be married to Cristina, about it. We sent them a jar, and as Cristina admits, it sat on their counter for a good three weeks before she picked it up as a last resort to try and get rid of a stubborn rash on her infant daughter. Spoiler alert: the rash cleared up in just two days. So then Cristina tried it on her face every night before bed for a week and was blown away with how her skin felt and looked after a couple of days, so much so that it got her wondering why she'd never heard of tallow in the ten years she spent marketing products at the biggest beauty company in the world.
So we made some more, and sent it to our friends. "Beef fat?!" they would say. Oh yes, beef fat. An ingredient we are now convinced will become a household name in the years to come. Timeless, simple, natural, and more effective than that product with ingredients you can't pronounce.
Slowly but surely our friends discovered what we did. Our little jars of tallow — evolved over the last year to include other all natural, organic ingredients like honey, beeswax, and castor oil — were becoming hits!
"I'm running out! Send me another jar!"
"My boyfriend uses it every day... I'm speechless."
"I can't believe I'm rubbing tallow on my face, but here we are (it WORKS)."
So if you're up for trying something new and want to catch this wave early, give Somera a shot! Whether it's your night time skincare routine, dry skin, a rash, sunburn, or just some hard-working hands that need a little love, we know you’ll be happy with Somera.
Kiley & Cristina
