Cottage Industries - Montana Style: Liz Schramm's Montana Naturals

It should come as no surprise that Liz Schramm knows her bath and beauty products, having started making them twice and both times when it seemed the best course of action for her. The first time was more than 30 years ago in Las Vegas and more recently, here in Whitehall six years ago.

Shortly after her daughter was born, Liz and her husband John realized she had skin issues and couldn't use any soaps, even baby soaps, or laundry detergent. With no Internet, Liz turned to her grandmother who explained a lot and shared her original recipe for mild skin products.

Though Liz sold everything and moved to Montana 21 years ago, it wasn't until six years ago that Montana Naturals' bars and original lotion got its start, helping Liz with health problems and providing her with direction.

"I really think someone knew I needed something to do; it was right at the time my bipolar medicine quit working," she said. "At first I wasn't okay; I hid it and very few people knew, and I hit some really hard rocky roads."

Montana Naturals are 100% naturally made. When Liz started the second time she only used essential oils but had many requests for fragrances; adding those increased her sales by 75%. Popular fragrances include Sweater Weather and Peony Suede; men love Beer Camp and Liz uses a good dark beer in it. Her Let's Be Frank was from her grandmother and contains frankincense essential oil.

Over time Montana Naturals has slowly continued to grow as Liz has expanded her bath and body product line. Her inventory now includes homemade soaps, both bars and foaming hand wash with cocoa butter; whipped soap that contains a lot of extra oils; and lotions and bath bombs that shoot out colors, fizz up and help loosen damaged skin and are super moisturizing. Liz's sugar scrubs are all in one.

"My sugar scrubs are a soap base; you rub it on your legs and the sugar exfoliates your legs and then you have a nice creamy lather to shave, you rinse your legs and they're already conditioned – it's everything," she said.

Liz is a firm believer in using lard; it's very conditioning on the skin and makes a harder bar. She also uses soft oils, including hemp oil and Shea butter. Everything is made in her studio and each batch is tested; she checks the final pH and that no traces of lye remain.

Creating these products and running her business has had a positive effect on Liz's well-being and self-confidence. "I never had faith in myself but with my daughter I learned I could do something," she said "I battle depression and bipolar so I took some time off not too long ago. With our mental health, we think that we can do it all and we can't always."

Getting calls for her products and making contact with people from outside Montana are positive experiences. Liz recently sold a shampoo bar and soap to visitors from Germany and a family from Canada who were excited to pick up Montana-made products to take home.

She credits living in Montana with providing her with the small-town atmosphere where it's easier to get to know people and cater to their needs. For those who can't handle coconut oil, Liz makes products without it, same for others who can't use any milk products. The result is her line of hand and body lotion that's very absorbent into the skin. And as Liz stated: "I wouldn't have made Beer Camp for sure."

Up to now her customers have come to her by word of mouth, either contacting her by phone or email. Liz is in the process of doing her website, MontanaNaturalsLLC.com, and is looking for someone with good writing skills to help her describe her products, someone who won't charge what a big company would.

"That's where I have a lot of problems because there are some terms I can't use," she said. "There are young kids out there that are so good at this and may want to make a little extra money; I'd rather help the community."

While Liz is proud of her products and how Montana Naturals has taken off in the last year, she'd also like to be recognized as a natural caregiver. Starting with convincing her grandmother to move in with her in Las Vegas, helping her husband's family and family friends when they needed it, to being a foster parent.

"It took me a long time to know that I was a natural caregiver and I don't feel that I'm anything special," Liz said. "I adore my family time and I really enjoyed being a foster parent. And if someone needs to talk about depression or whatever, they're welcome to call me. It's something that needs to be talked about."

For more information:

Montana Naturals, 406-287-7965,

montananaturals@gmail.com.