Our Story

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but a mother will also do whatever she can to help her child. Such was the driving inspiration for SVEDA founder Shannon Shiell.

Her daughter Lauren had struggled off and on with eczema through childhood and adolescence. Along the way, Shannon and her husband Ian had purchased countless creams and salves online and in stores claiming to treat eczema, but to no avail. Then one day, Lauren called from away at college saying her roommate had given her some homemade tallow balm her parents made to try. Remarkably, within a couple of weeks, Lauren’s eczema had disappeared.

This intrigued Shannon. What was tallow and why had she never heard of this “miracle balm?” Her subsequent deep dive revealed that tallow had been used for centuries all over the world to help soften skin, heal wounds, minimize acne, and – you guessed it – treat eczema, all without clogging pores or irritating skin.

How? The secret lies in its similarity to and high compatibility with human sebum. In fact, “sebum” actually means “tallow” in Latin. Produced by our sebaceous glands, sebum is our skin’s natural lubricant, protectant, and all-in-one treatment serum. When it’s out of balance, so is our skin, and natural tallow can help restore that balance, and in turn, the appearance and function of healthy radiant skin.

As encouraged as Shannon was about the skin-beneficial properties of tallow, she was equally unimpressed by the tallow-based skincare on the market. In contrast to the homemade balm her daughter had tried, most other tallow creams she found felt heavy, looked greasy, and smelled – well, less than appealing.

That’s when Shannon and Ian decided to develop their own line of tallow-based skincare. With daughter Lauren and son Drew (necessitated by some stubborn adolescent acne) as the ultimate critics and real-world test cases, they invested months of time and energy sourcing the perfect organic ingredients to achieve the perfect textures and scents, then finding the perfect US-based FDA-certified and GMP manufacturing partner to produce the best tallow-based skincare possible.

But what to call this perfect tallow? Shannon, Ian, Lauren and Drew brainstormed words to describe the rich history, natural properties, and skin benefits of tallow. With a nod to Ian’s Scandinavian roots, they came up with SVEDA – an acronym for the proprietary blend of [S]acred [V]ital [E]mollient [D]ermal [A]ctives in every SVEDA natural skincare product.

The Shiell family is excited and proud to share their tallow skincare creations with others looking for clearer, smoother, healthier skin, so they too can experience the visible and tangible results that are the promise of SVEDA skincare.