In the ’90s, Cynthia Gaultney was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and neuropathy, and the side effects from her medications were causing her pain.
In the ’90s, Cynthia Gaultney was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and neuropathy, and the side effects from her medications were causing her pain. Gaultney decided it was time for her to experiment with herbal ingredients to help remedy her pain.
Now, Gaultney spends her time in her kitchen creating homemade health and beauty products to help those like her with their pain. Gaultney said it took years of a trial and errors for her to create a formula of organic and herbal ingredients to help with her chronic pain.
When Gaultney finished her formula for her chronic pain serum in 2018, she launched her own organic health and beauty products business, None of Your Beeswax. Through None of Your Beeswax’s Facebook page, Gaultney sells her products to clients throughout the U.S., but her largest customer base is Delaware County, as she also sells her products at The Mailroom and the tattoo parlor Black Sword Alliance.
Using oil-infused ingredients like lavender, mint and yarrow, Gaultney said she delivers 10 to 20 orders each day with various products in each package. Gaultney said her most-sold products are her organic pain balm and massage oils. Recently, Gaultney launched an organic fibromyalgia pain cream and an organic neuropathy pain cream.
Janessa Erickson, a jewelry vendor and one of Gaultney’s clients, said she met Gaultney when they were both selling their products at the Muncie Farmers Market. Erickson said she uses Gaultney’s organic pain balm on her hands after working in her garden and to alleviate her son’s leg and shoulder cramps. Although Erickson was skeptical at first, she said she likes how affordable Gaultney’s products are, and she plans to stick to her products as much as possible.
“Cynthia is not only a good business person but a kind person who goes to extended lengths to make sure everything is organic,” Erikson said. “I love everything [Gaultney] makes. [I] love her soaps, [and] they don’t dry you out.”
As Gaultney makes her organic health and beauty products in her home, she works alongside her husband of 26 years, Jeffrey Gaultney. Jeffrey began wood carving at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. Cynthia bought Jeffrey a carving knife, and while he was “stuck at home,” Jeffrey said, he watched YouTube videos to learn how to carve wood.
“Once I started seeing how amazing his carvings were, I knew we had to sell them,” Cynthia said.
Because Jeffrey doesn’t use social media, Cynthia has promoted Jeffrey’s business, Woodchuck Carvings, since May throughout Facebook groups. She also created an Etsy page for his wooden gnomes, country men and other characters. Currently, Jeffrey has sold 20 of his wood carvings, and he plans to make more after he finishes remodeling their home. He enjoys making all his characters and doesn’t have a favorite, he said, but the Santa Clauses he carves are the easiest.
As Cynthia looks toward the future of her and Jeffrey’s small businesses, not only is she thankful for their customers, she said, but she is also grateful for her husband, who helped her while she was in pain and taking medication with hurtful side effects.
“My husband held up our family when I got sick,” Cynthia said. “Once I decided that traditional medicine wasn’t working anymore, he supported me through years of trials and tribulation. He literally is my hero, as are my children … Honestly, we each do what the other can’t do or doesn’t necessarily want to. It’s definitely a partnership made in heaven both personally and professionally.”
Contact Lily Staaz with questions or comments at ljstaatz@bsu.edu.
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