Elm Lab didn’t start with a business plan. It started with Charlie, our middle child. As a newborn, he developed severe eczema on his cheeks and shoulders, red, raw and relentless. Steroids weren’t an option and as a tired, desperate mum, I found myself up late night after night, searching for something gentle, natural and effective. I wasn’t looking for a miracle. Just something that felt safe enough to try. It was Will, my husband, co-founder and dad, who quietly suggested colostrum.
We share milk on his sixth-generation family farm here in Otago and every season we’re surrounded by this incredible, nutrient-rich substance. Colostrum is nature’s first milk, rich in compounds that support early development. On the farm, we have access to large amounts of excess colostrum. With a mum cow producing 15 to 20 litres a day and a calf needing only around 4, we found ourselves with a surplus, colostrum that was quietly going to waste. It gave us space to explore, cautiously and with care. We’d seen what colostrum could do for calves and slowly, we began to ask, what might it offer skin?
We’re both children of farmers and parents of three. We understand colostrum’s power and its gentleness. That led us to the experts, to the research and to testing it on our own and children’s skin. What we experienced was gentle, consistent and gave us real reason to keep going. As parents, we knew we needed more than hope, we needed evidence. So, we worked with a dermatologist and a paediatric specialist to test our formulation for safety and sensitivity. That process gave us confidence to share Elm Lab with other families.
We’re not from skincare backgrounds. I was a property and commercial lawyer before having our kids five years ago. Will was a bank manager before we returned home to the farm. Elm Lab has been a steep learning curve but a deeply rewarding one. We’ve poured ourselves into every formula, every label, every decision and with the same care we give our children and our land. Already, we’re humbled by the stories we’re hearing. Our products are being used by babies, parents and grandparents. People tell us they feel soothed, seen and safe. That means everything.
Elm Lab is still young but it’s built on something ancient: trust, family and the quiet power of nature. For all the mums still searching late at night, we see you, we’ve been there and that’s why we started.
