Local self-care company changing lives, one bath, one candle at a time

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Lynette Lovelace spent most of her career in the restaurant and boutique industry, but, after a series of health scares in her family, her life took a different path.

"My son had a staph infection in his liver at 2-years-old, and then, when my daughter was being x-rayed for braces, they discovered a brain tumor," she recalled shaking her head.

Lovelace herself battled endometriosis since she was a teen, and she eventually had to undergo a hysterectomy.

"I had 15 surgeries before that,” Lovelace said.

A good meal and a bath after surgery and during her recovery turned out to be her aha moment.

"I saw how it reset my frame of mind,” she smiled. “ We don't have to feel guilty, but, as women, we often feel guilty when we do something for ourselves. That's our nature.

That's how Lifetherapy and its products were born.

"I have been doing self-care for a while, long before it became the buzz word it is today,” Lovelace said. “I was driving home from a friend's house and I was like, ‘Wow, choose your mood: mind over matter. How can I connect with women?’ And, I think the product is the vehicle."

Inside a 5,000-foot space in Addison, Lifetherapy is a women-owned-women-operated, women-manufactured brand for women anchored in fragrance.

"We have six scents: Grounded, Energized, Loved, Transformed, Inspired and our newest, Empowered. I created a mantra for every one of the scents to get the mind started,” said Lovelace. "Here in Addison, we make our salts, our scrubs, our pulse point oils, we pour all our own small batch candles here."

On site, they create, sell, package and ship body wash, lotions, candles, diffusers, perfumes and aromatherapy.

"Our tagline of the company is 'choose your mood'. Even with everything I've been through, people ask me how I stay so positive, it's a choice. I want everyone to understand the beauty of how something truly so simple can affect you,” said Lovelace.

Nearly 15 years later, Lifetherapy can be found on QVC, Macys.com, Amazon and in hotels and spas across the country.

"I originally launched with my little baby self, at my boutique with three little roll-on perfumes, three little hand creams and it said, ‘Lifetherapy,’” Lovelace recalled. “Now, we roll out hundreds of products a day. We're in Kohler spas all over Chicagoland and the Midwest."

For Lovelace, Lifetherapy is about slowing down and being present. She says when you change your mood, you change your perspective.

"We've exhausted ourselves,” Lovelace said. “2020 was a perfect example. I think it happened for a reason. It's sick that we needed to be forced to shut down and slow down like that, but it was the best year of my life with this company. We shipped to health care workers for free so they could have a bath, if they even got to go home. That stuff matters to me."

Their sweet spot is gift giving.

"We are a gifted-brand for girlfriends, for health care, for doctors, for nurses, for caretakers, for anybody hurting but also that gift you want to buy yourself."

In honor of the Called to Care initiative and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Lifetherapy will be donating 10 percent of all sales from the entire EMPOWERED collection, until the end of October, to the Lynn Sage Breast Cancer Center in Chicago.

"There is deep intention,” Lovelace said. “ I feel that is my gift, whether it's feeding people in the restaurant, creating pretty things in the boutique, knowing that I have a touching point with women every day as they get ready, it means something to me."

Lovelace says Lifetherapy is changing lives, one bubble bath at a time.

"It's not a thing you do once. It's something you have to do every day in small ways,” Lovelace said. “The bubble bath isn't going to change your life, but what it does,  the connection of the mind really can. Light the candle, take the bath, take the time." she smiled.

For more information on the Lifetherapy mission or to order products, log onto lifetherapy.com .

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