Left:These creamy body wash is easy to rinse off, and leaves the body feeling totally silky. - Andrew Smith/Photography Editor   Right:Elaine Hayden, producer of Nature's Garden line of products. - Contributed

Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter

At a time when some soon-to-be mothers would be focusing on the upcoming birth of their child, Elaine Hayden was thinking of ways to occupy her idle hands.

As a young adult, one of Elaine's hobbies was making candles. So as she sat at home during her maternity leave two years ago, she thought she would occupy her time by making candles.

But as she searched the Internet on ways to make candles, Elaine stumbled upon recipes to make home-made bath and body essentials from natural ingredients.

A light bulb went off in her head and she acted on the idea.

"I was particularly interested because I can't use soap and my daughter and son both have severe eczema and cannot use most soaps," Elaine told Flair.

She decided to experiment with the recipes and found she preferred them to making candles.

"I started out just making bath gels and lotions and then I made sugar scrubs and I have a girlfriend who absolutely loved it and then I made more for family and friends," she explained.

NATURE'S GARDEN

Two years later, Elaine has launched a line of products called Nature's Garden.

The line includes: shower gels, creamy body wash, facial scrubs, body scrubs, lotions, body butters, body sprays, foot scrubs, and bath salts. Nature's Garden features a men's line and a women's line.

Elaine was the guinea pig for the products. After making a batch, she tested them for how long the fragrance lasted, the consistency of the product (if it was too greasy etc.), and if there were any skin reactions.

"The good thing about most of the products I make is that they are made largely from natural products, so you don't get the residue that some of the chemical-based products would leave," she noted.

The main base for all products are essential oils (plant oils).