From the harvesting of herbs to attending to the mischievous tribe of goats, Nichole Croteau Baker’s tasks as the owner of Lazy Daisy Soap Company could be considered a way of life, a fully inclusive existence, rather than a job. Indeed, within the routine and the means, there is a consuming cinder that lights her energies.
 

While Croteau Baker describes herself as organically inquisitive and says that as a kid, she liked to make her own soaps and face wash, her own bouts with cancer galvanized the resolve to generate skin products that were simple, healthful, and transparent.
 

In 2002, Croteau Baker was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age 22. Despite a battery of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, the cancer reemerged even more aggressively in 2008, which led to the removal of her thyroid and parathyroid glands. Her mother suffered from thyroid cancer, too, chemical exposure suspected as the cause.
 

"Most often thyroid cancer isn’t hereditary, it’s an environmental issue," Croteau Baker says. After assessing the skin care products she used, she decided to create a minimally processed line of goat soap and lotion products.

Since then, Lazy Daisy Soap Company has focused on natural, whole, and non-cost-prohibitive skin care, lovingly made to satisfy small-batch requirements. Croteau Baker utilizes a wide range of homegrown herbs, such as rose petals and rose hips from the banks of the Missouri River, as well as hops, calendula, lavender, eucalyptus, safflower oil, and juniper berries. Other ingredients, like honey, are sourced from as nearby as workable, and she incorporates oils from almonds, coconut, avocado, and shea butter.