When Tracy Allin-Baker’s youngest son was born prematurely with delicate, sensitive skin, her journey into natural skincare began out of necessity and love. Struggling to find truly gentle, toxin-free products – even among those labeled “natural” – she dove deep into researching botanical ingredients and hidden chemicals in mainstream skincare. What she discovered changed everything. Driven by a desire to protect her son and support other parents, Tracy re-trained as a clinical aromatherapist, specialising in safe, natural solutions for babies and children. Her passion evolved into AromaMum – an empowering platform offering evidence-based, accessible education on natural skincare and aromatherapy for families. Here, Tracy talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind AromaMum, her biggest breakthrough, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
My youngest son is my inspiration. He was born prematurely, and so had very thin, delicate skin. I quickly realised that I had to be really careful with what I used on his skin, as even some of the ‘natural’ baby washes and creams that I had used with my other son made his fragile skin react.
I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could about ‘natural’ and organic skincare. It didn’t take me long to discover that when ‘parfum’ or ‘fragrance’ is included on the ingredients list of a product, manufacturers can hide a whole host of ‘ingredients’ that are undesirable at best (and unfortunately in some cases, a whole lot worse). We assume that skincare products that we can buy from a shop or online are free from harmful ingredients (and they should be!) but sadly this is not always the case. I found that it was not easy to navigate what is and what isn’t harmful.
This research led me deeper and deeper down a rabbit hole, and ultimately, I ended up re-qualifying as a clinical aromatherapist. I decided to choose a particular aromatherapy qualification that was non-massage, but instead focused on making aromatherapeutic botanical remedies for skin (as well as essential oil inhalation blends for health and mood). This gave me a wide understanding of different types of botanical and natural ingredients (as well as what to avoid!), giving me the skills to make safe, organic skincare from scratch to soothe my son’s sensitive skin.
Becoming qualified meant that I could help other parents too with their children’s skin – focusing on removing harsh, synthetic ingredients and replacing them with gentle, natural alternatives. I’m seeing a growing number of parents who are wanting a transparency of ingredients (no ‘hidden’ nasties under ‘fragrance’ for example) in skincare products, so that they have peace of mind knowing exactly what they are putting on their children’s skin. Our skin is our largest organ, and what we put on it can impact our health. This is even more important for babies and young children, who have thinner skin than adults.
I also have mums who contact me asking about how to use ‘natural’ solutions (basic aromatherapy) for minor first aid ailments (such as: nappy rash, sore patches of skin, bumps and bruises, and even to aid sleep). Unfortunately, I have seen some very worrying aromatherapy ‘advice’ for children given out online by unqualified people. This spurred me on to make it my mission to share correct, accurate and safe knowledge about using aromatherapy with babies and children. Aromatherapy can be very useful (with babies and young children), but needs a very different approach than when using aromatherapy with adults.
Before I re-trained in aromatherapy, I worked in teaching and education for twenty years. So, delivering courses, combined with botanical skincare knowledge and my passion to share accurate information, felt like the perfect fit. It seemed like the natural next step to create an online course that could reach more mums and parents. Natural skincare solutions and basic aromatherapy go hand-in-hand for me, and so they blend perfectly together in a course. Hence AromaMum was born! The aim of the course is to empower parents by giving them evidence-based research, allowing them to make informed decisions on what to use on their baby/child’s skin. I fully understand that parenting life is busy, and so I have condensed all of this information into one (roughly six-week) course. There is plenty of information on practical applications too – e.g. which products to use when, and what for.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
This article is a big part of the launch for the AromaMum Natural Skincare Solutions course! I have used it as a deadline, to get everything done, tested and ready with the course. Originally though, after qualifying, I started out by setting up a private clinical aromatherapy practice (specialising in women’s well-being and children) where I see clients on a one-to-one basis. I then make them bespoke aromatherapy products from scratch according to their individual needs (such as: an inhalation blend, balm, cream, gel, lotion, wash, etc). I also began running ‘in person’ aromatherapy workshops at local wellness centres; to impart safe, accurate and practical advice on using aromatherapy at home to help support wellness. During the workshops, and individual consultations – there has been a definite increase in more mums wanting to take a more natural approach to their baby/child’s skincare, as we have become much more aware of the toxic load. Skincare is one way of decreasing the toxic load.
Parents are also saying to me that they are interested in finding trustworthy basic aromatherapy information to help with basic ailments, but were not sure where to turn. This is when I came up with the idea of running online courses, with all of this information in one place, so that more parents could be reached – especially those that didn’t live close enough to be able to come to an ‘in person’ workshop.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
The biggest breakthrough was having the idea to create an online course. For busy mums juggling everything, going online means that learning can take place at their own pace. You don’t need to leave the house or arrange childcare. You can learn completely at a time to suit you – watch the videos/read the resources at night-time, during the day – fit it in whenever works best for you. With lifetime access to the course, videos can be watched/resources can be read over and again as needed. For example, bumps and bruises are not really relevant for a baby, but in all probability will become relevant as baby gets older and becomes a toddler or young child. The course has been designed to be released in bite-sized chunks to prevent overwhelm, and to make it manageable. I’ve used my previous course design experience to try to think of everything, to make it easy as possible for busy parents to access the course, and to get the knowledge that they need. Being a mum myself means that I have structured it from a practical perspective, and thought “what does a parent actually need to know”?
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Now that my children are a little older, they are both at school. So, I try to work as much as I can during school hours, so that I can be ‘present’ for them (both physically and mentally) after school, as well as doing the school runs. However, being self-employed means that there is still the odd occasion when I do have to do a bit of work outside of school hours. I have learnt (with practice!) to be much kinder to myself, and to slow down when I’m feeling overwhelmed with juggling being a mum and running a business! Sometimes, a few hours of rest or going out for a walk is actually much more productive I find in the long run, rather than trying to push through.
