Alabama Mom Makes Eczema Soap to Successfully Treat Son's Skin Condition

alabama mom eczema soap skin condition son

By Veronica Chan , Parent Herald Sep 02, 10:41 pm

An Alabama mom, Krystn Keller, found the solution to intense eczema after visiting 14 doctors for her son's skin condition. Even though they applied many over-the-counter and prescription creams to Elliott Keller's face, still nothing happened. Thus, the mom set out to create a soap that would nourish her son's irritated skin.

In a YouTube video, Krystn recounted the backstory of how she founded "Keller Works." She said that Elliott was not reaching his milestones properly because he was so focused on relieving the itchy feeling. It was the hardest thing for her to see her son go through the irritation.

(Photo : Instagram/kellerworks)

Watched soap making video on YouTube

Krystn set out to create a soap for her son's skin condition. Her son was allergic to more than 50 foods, and one of them is meat. Krystn had no choice but to exclude goat's milk because Elliott could not tolerate it. Meanwhile, she watched "The Soap Queen," Anne-Marie Faiola, churn out beautiful soap bars on YouTube.

After six months, Krystn was finally able to cold-process a soap that is like a real bar of soap. The soap she cured for four weeks was made of organic palm, coconut, castor and rice bran oils, sunflower, shea butter. and oats. She used it on Elliott's face, and after two weeks, everyone in the community noticed that his eczema was gone.

Everyone was curious about how Krystn did it, and they wanted to buy the soap that she never intended to sell at first. In December 2011, "Keller Works" was born. It started to take off when a chiropractor, Michael Bucknell, owner of Redbar Espresso & Market, became Krystn's first wholesale account. He was the one who encouraged the mom to use natural remedies for her son's skin.

Brand expansion

The brand is now found in 20 retailers and will soon hit its target sales of $150,000. From Elliott's Oatmeal Soap, the original oatmeal soap, the brand has expanded to 14 different soaps and 14 non-soap items, which are priced at $6 to $16.

Through YouTube, Krystn's motherly love and persistence have made the brand's tale fly an Expedition Media crew from Los Angeles to Mobile a year ago. Since its upload on April 22, Krystn's video was already viewed 82,100 times.

Her brand became known to YouTube after an article from AL.com mentioned how she relied on YouTube videos to make soap. For five days, the platform followed them and it was the coolest experience for Krystn because she felt like a movie star. She is hoping that YouTube could give her more exposure on a national level because now, they are based on the Southeast.

Krystn's brand has touched the hearts of many moms. She explained that they get emails almost every day from moms or grandmothers who have a child or grandchild that suffers from severe eczema. She felt gratified after receiving before and after photos because she hopes to be a household name.