It all ends up back in the local watershed.

That’s Julie Miller Lober’s philosophy about the bath and body products most people use on a daily basis. From soaps to shampoos to lotions, Lober says most commercially-made grooming goods are hazardous to the environment – especially in places that happen to be a stone’s throw from the Great Lakes. Her business, Freshwater Trading Company, just opened its first brick-and-mortar location in downtown Suttons Bay, with a simple mission of creating “fresh, all natural products that contain just the essentials, nothing else.”

Once upon a time, Lober says, it wasn’t uncommon for bars of soap to be the product of natural oils, butters, and fragrances. Shortages during World War II pushed beauty brands to pivot to mass-produced synthetic detergents for their soap. When the war ended and supply chains went back to normal, a lot of those brands stuck with synthetics because they were more cost-effective.

“Commercial soap is really just detergent with petroleum-based fragrance,” Lober says. “Handcrafted soap is much healthier. It’s made from natural oils and butters, and the fragrances are distilled from plants and flowers and citrus.”

While Lober’s background wouldn’t exactly indicate a path toward cosmetics and chemistry – “I was a double-major in marketing and history,” she says of her college years – she became fascinated by the building blocks of beauty products thanks to her upbringing in northern Michigan.

“I’m a Slabtown kid,” she says, referring to the neighborhood just west of downtown Traverse City. “I grew up two blocks from West End Beach, so I was always close to the water. I realized that, if you're putting on petroleum-based fragrance lotions, or using petroleum-based soaps, then when you wash those things off in the shower again, it all gets returned to our waterways”

So it was that Lober started making her own soaps. It was a hobby at first – just figuring out the process and how to incorporate the right fragrances. Then, a decade ago, the director of the Montessori school where Lober’s kids were enrolled invited parents to come in and share a talent or skill. Lober opted to give a “rudimentary chemistry lesson” about how to make soap.

The segment was a hit – and unusual enough that Lober started getting calls to bring the same tutorial elsewhere, from other local schools to Boy Scout troops. The soap bars she was making also started to improve, and before long, she had a few wholesale commercial accounts under her belt, including the likes of Oryana, Crystal Mountain Resort, and Coastal in Glen Arbor.

Now, after years of selling wholesale and online, Lober has finally taken the leap into brick-and-mortar retail. The new Freshwater Trading Company storefront can be found at 321 North St. Joseph Street in Suttons Bay, in the space formerly occupied by HomeTown Pharmacy. Lober says it’s the realization of a long-held dream.

“I love my wholesale accounts, but what you don't get when you sell wholesale is that one-on-one contact with your customer,” she tells The Ticker. “That’s what has drawn me to the retail side, because I really like interacting with people, forging relationships, and having connections. When you're from Northern Michigan, you're kind of an ambassador of the north. People come into the store and ask, ‘Oh, what should we do in town? Should we go to this place or this place?’ I love giving that kind of advice.”

Freshwater Trading Company stocks mostly Lober-made originals, including bar soap, bath bombs, lotion bars, soaking salts, and soy candles. As part of the store, though, Lober has also launched a new “refillery” concept, featuring liquid products that aren’t house-made but are “sourced from companies that have plant-based, toxin-free cleaning or personal care products.” Customers can buy empty bottles (or bring their own) and fill them up with shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap, laundry detergent, baby shampoo and body wash, and bubble bath. Lober is hoping the concept will take off especially with local Airbnb owners, as a way of cutting down on single-use plastics.

As for the educational tutorials that started this whole journey? Lober says those could become an off-season fixture at Freshwater Trading Company, depending on demand.

“Growing up in Traverse City, I know the seasonality of business up here, so offering classes in soap, bath bomb, and candle making throughout the fall and winter is definitely something on my mind,” she says. “I think there's a lot of people are looking to kind of ‘get back to the land’ and back to the simple things, and this could play into that nicely.”