Body Budda business focusses on affordable skin health

RIO RANCHO — As the holiday season echoes in the background of the last days of fall, people may be starting to dread spending more money on stocking stuffers, knickknacks and small birthday gifts for all of those fall babies.

A small but new business inside Second Hand Sam’s and one that frequents events as a vendor may just be the answer people are looking for.

Heavenly Body Budda craft connoisseur Hattie Gordon knows just how expensive those soaps, bath bombs and other scent-filled things can get. Her influence to start the Body Budda business came from concerns for her own health.

“I went to the doctor, and after a lot of tests they found out I had a blood disorder, and they said my blood mutated. I was so angry at that moment. I said, ‘I did not go to lunch with Fantastic Four and I didn’t go on a date with the Hulk ... so how did it mutate?’ I mean, when we say mutate, it’s like, this flower turns into a cow, right? So they put me on chemo, and I was taking it twice a day. I moved out here, and they realized I was being over-chemoed. I take it by pill so I could still work and everything. They’ve reduced my chemo to half of what it was,” she said.

Gordon added that she believes her products helped her reduce the need for chemo.

“I was diagnosed in 2017, and I stopped using everything when I got to an ingredient that I could not pronounce,” she said.

She became conscious of the chemicals she was putting on or in her body, and that’s how her business started.

“I learned the hard way we use too many chemicals. Our bodies were not meant to digest chemicals. We’re like little toxic tanks walking around. By virtue of me having a blood disorder from God knows what, and I’m going to blame it on the chemicals in our system. It’s not as hard as people think to not use chemicals,” she said.

She wanted to make sure her product was good for people but also affordable because sometimes all-natural products are unnecessarily expensive.

“Because when they say it’s all natural, it’s like they put God in heaven down in a bar of soap and now it’s $15. I was a single mom; I had two kids. I had a job; I had a mortgage. Bubble bath was not on my radar,” she said.

So her products are only a few dollars here and there. More importantly, she says the products are homemade and good quality.

“The cream I make, I was giving it out in little Ziploc bags at work. I was a court reporter and I’d take it to work, and people would just buy it. So I ended up making more and more. Then when I moved out here, I retired as court reporter and I didn’t have anything to do,” she explained.

As she started going to events locally after she retired at 62, her product started becoming more popular.

“Now I call it a business, and I’m very happy with it, and I love what I do,” she said.

Her product is meant to feel good on the skin, and she says it has helped people with their skin disorders.

“Body Budda is a blend of about eight or nine essential and natural oils, that the way I put it, the good Lord put here for us to use to heal, soothe and moisturize our bodies without the use of chemicals,” she said.

She says she has watched it heal eczema, psoriasis, dandruff, skin sores and even calluses. She admits she is not a doctor and does not prescribe anything, but she has seen her product work for some things.

“I also do art with soap and bath bombs,” she said.

For the upcoming holidays, Gordon has created soaps and bath bombs but dresses them up in outfits like top hats or cowboy hats. She also has bath bomb cupcakes. All have different scents.

She also makes bubble bath powder that creates bubbles just like the bubble bath soap she says she could not afford.

All of it is sold at Second Hand Sam’s, and people can also find Gordon at local events.

“The reason I am at the indoor mall now is because once craft season ended, I ended up with a lot of inventory that didn’t sell all summer and I had no place to sell it. Once I finish with the pre-Christmas fairs at schools and churches and stuff, there’s no way to sell my product,” she added.

She has an at-home business license and can’t open a storefront unless she gets a new license, which can be costly for some. She says the Rio Rancho Indoor Mall has been helpful for her to sell her product.

“I do a full line of all-natural soaps, hair, skin bath and body products there. My soaps come in at least 30 different scents. I’m getting ready to add some more,” she said.

For Gordon, the important thing is people don’t go broke buying the product.

“It’s not about making money hand over fist. It’s about providing something back to the citizens of Rio Rancho and the surrounding areas where they know they can go get some clean products. They’re good for babies. They’re good for kids. They’re good for adults,” she said.

People can find more information on the Heavenly Body Budda Facebook Page.