Owner Of Duckish Wants To Give ‘Tired-Ass’ Women Some Joy
HALIFAX–Life, in general, is stressful–and that was before we all had two years’ worth of pandemic to deal with. Since 2020, we have had to deal with schools and offices opening and closing, a changing office environment, and constantly juggling home and work life, all while trying to adapt to new rules and social norms.
Carolyn Crewe, the owner and founder of Halifax company Duckish Natural Skin Care, has noticed this heightened stress has especially impacted women, who are busier than ever in their work and home lives.
“Women are burnt out all over the place; it’s like a second epidemic, if you will. I, myself, am definitely a tired-ass woman,” said Crewe.
“I started talking to a lot of people, either they own businesses or they have small children or they’re in their 40s. And everyone was just commiserating on how exhausted they were, and they just needed a little joy.”
Seeing all these “tired-ass” women gave Crewe the idea for Boom Box, a subscription delivery box filled with products designed to give women that extra joy.
“It just started nagging on me and the idea just kind of hit me that, if I could deliver joy to people’s doors, that would go a really long way for these women,” says Crewe.
The box is filled with products that come from seven Canadian businesses, all women-led: Wildcraft Skin Care, Duckish Natural Skin Care, Aeryon Wellness, Metavo, Doodle Lovely, MaskerAide, and Made With Local.
The products were chosen to help stressed women with six important “S” categories: sleep, snacks, supplements, skin and hair care, soul, and sanity. The box costs $99 with free shipping, even though it contains $150 worth of goods.
Duckish is taking orders on the Boom Box until December 8. So far the company has sold 50 of them.
Boom Box gives women some products that spark joy, it promotes female entrepreneurs and, as a third win, $5 of every sale will be donated to the YWCA.
“It’s to help them continue to deliver their amazing programs and services,” says Crewe. “They really don’t toot their own horn anywhere near enough. So, anything we can do on our end to help was really important to me. It’s meant to be this win-win-win.”
Out of the seven companies, three (including Duckish) are Nova Scotian companies. Doodle Lovely, owned by Melissa Lloyd, makes products that promote the therapeutic powers of doodling.
“Melissa’s books are amazing for calm and dealing with anxiety, and just taking a little timeout for you, which I feel a lot of women don’t do,” says Crewe.
Made With Local, as the name suggests, uses real local ingredients to make a healthier option for snacking.
“I specifically chose Made With Local because I’m obsessed with their bars…if we can find whole grain foods that are delicious, you feel like you don’t give up anything and you’re getting additional nutrition from it.”
Then, of course, there is Crewe’s company Duckish, which makes skin and hair products that use less waste. Crewe focuses on making her products ‘waterless,’ meaning you get more bang for your buck with a concentrated product.
“When you buy a bottle of lotion (from a typical store), about 85 percent of what’s in that bottle is going to be water, which is kind of a bummer,” says Crewe.
Duckish has also found ways to cut down on plastic usage. One of her products is a shampoo bar, which you lather like soap to use. One concentrated bar is equal to two or three bottles of shampoo and doesn’t come with a plastic container you have to throw away later.
As for the company’s unique name, it comes from Newfoundland-Crewe’s childhood home. Duckish is what most people refer to as dusk, when the sun is just about to set before nightfall. It’s Crewe’s favourite time of day.
“In Newfoundland, they do colourful things with the English language. Duckish was just an expression I grew up with. When I was a kid, that’s when I had to be home–when the streetlights came on, when it was dusk.”
“Duskish is my favourite time of day and it ties in with what we make. We make natural bath and body care. If you take time to spoil yourself, it’s going to be around that time of day.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].