The story of Erda starts pretty simply. I was rubbing cooking tallow straight on my skin after showers and thinking there had to be a better way.
Growing up, I was always outside. Swimming in lakes, playing at the beach, building things from wood and clay, rarely wanting to be indoors. Nature was just where life happened. That relationship with the natural world shaped how I think about almost everything, including what goes on my body. When I started paying attention to skincare ingredients, I kept running into the same thing: long lists of synthetic compounds in products marketed as gentle and natural. It did not add up.
The First Batch
I made the first batch of tallow balm with my now wife after deciding that grass-fed cooking tallow applied straight from the jar, while it worked surprisingly well, could be better. We experimented with formulation, researched the science behind why tallow works so well on skin, and landed on something we were genuinely proud of. That first batch became the foundation of what is now our Tallow Body Balm: grass-fed and finished tallow, organic jojoba oil, organic vanilla essential oil, and arrowroot powder. Four ingredients. Nothing you cannot pronounce or understand.
More Than a Skincare Brand
Erda started with tallow balm, but the vision has always been bigger than that. We want to build a brand that spans everything connected to natural living, from skincare to clothing to furniture. Products made the right way, from real materials, by people who actually live the lifestyle they sell.
That last part matters a lot to us. We eat real food. We drink clean water. We rise with the sun. We spend time outside because being outside is good for you, not as a performance of wellness but because we genuinely believe it. We follow the truth and try to live with intention and gratitude. Erda is not a brand we built and then went home from. It is how we live.
The Ingredient Philosophy
Every ingredient in an Erda product is there for a specific reason and has earned its place. Our Face Balm has a more complex formula than the Body Balm because the skin on your face has different needs. Squalane adds a lightweight skin-identical emollient. Bakuchiol supports cell turnover without the irritation of synthetic retinol. Vitamin K2 and vitamin E contribute healing and antioxidant support. Lavender and frankincense essential oils provide real skin benefits alongside their scent. Still, every single ingredient has a clear function. Nothing is there for appearance or to bulk up a label.
We believe life is simple and is meant to be enjoyed. With a positive mindset, gratitude, and love, even the hard parts of life are navigable. That same philosophy applies to what you put on your skin. Simple, real, made from things that exist in nature, by people who care about getting it right. That is Erda. We started about two years ago and we are just getting started.