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A new place to get bubbly

Toledo celebrates the opening of the new cosmetic shop The Ticklish Giraffe

Amber Thomas, Community Co-Editor

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It’s a real-life Pinterest hack and something that many people wish they had the guts, or the idea to do: open their own store selling homemade beauty supplies. The Ticklish Giraffe is one of those places, located on 2443 Collingwood Ave.; it held its grand opening Saturday, Sept. 3 from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Julia Alkire, co-owner of The Ticklish Giraffe, describes the store as a “quirky Bath and Body.”

“We wanted something that didn’t just scream, ‘I make soap, I make bath bombs,’ but something that would make people happy and that they would remember,” Alkire said.

She continued to say that her motivation for opening The Ticklish Giraffe came from the amount of money she was spending on bath products.

“I was just wasting too much darn money, and I’ve had these recipes since forever,” Alkire said. “I would do them as a hobby making them for myself, the kids and stuff and I was finally like, ‘Let’s just do it.’”

This retail store specializes in selling bath products in a unique way, from bubble baths in IV bags, milk soaps packaged in milk cartons and whipped soaps that look like parfaits. To top it off, the fragrances of each product are just as distinct.

“We just don’t do lavender or very typical scents; we do Fruit Loops, doughnuts and beautiful agave cactus,” Alkire said. “There are a lot of people who sell the natural products that’s amazing, and I’m all jealous of them too, but I knew I wouldn’t be that happy selling something that was more calm because I’m so not calm.”

The shop also sells hand-crafted soaps, clay masks, body butters, bath teas, bath salts, poopy sprays, jelly soaps, foot soaps, bath oils, bath tools and even candle wax melts.

Ed Alkire, additional co-owner of The Ticklish Giraffe, is in charge of making the wax melts. He said he uses a special wax called ‘wow wax’ because it works a lot better than regular paraffin and soy.

Even with the variety of products they sell, their bath bombs still reign as number one.

“We make crazy-amazing bath bombs. We sell our recipe to professionals, and it’s been all the way around the world a couple of times,” Alkire said. “Thousands of people try to master it. Not all do; it’s tricky because they are very finicky.”

After opening up in April 2015 on a website called Etsy, which allows users to sell their homemade wares, and making a couple of sales, the business reached its debut last fall when a website featured one of their products.

“In September 2015, a website picked us up and featured one of our Halloween bombs, and we started exploding,” Alkire said. “Christmastime hit and we exploded even more, and as each month passed we nearly doubled in sales.”

With the demand increase for bath bombs, Alkire realized she couldn’t make the 20-22 batches from her home anymore and needed a new location. She said that bath bombs have to be nurtured because so much goes into making the sphere substance.

“You have to know how to adjust them to the weather. Every day the temperature is different, the humidity is different and your recipe has to change to meet it or else they fail, so it takes time to learn it. It’s not baking powder citric acid and smush,” Alkire said.

With all of the long hours and hard work Alkire has put into the business, her family couldn’t be more pleased, especially her daughter. She says it leaves her really busy, but when she comes home she’s covered in glitter, which then coats the whole house; she loves it.

“I am so proud of my mom because she’s had so little in life before and she’s made so much. To be honest, everyone thought this was just going to be a hobby for her and she took it seriously,” said Chloe, the daughter of the owner.

You can find The Ticklish Giraffe at the Toledo Farmers’ Market, Dundee Farmers’ Market, Etsy or their website theticklishgiraffe.com. If you have any questions, please contact theticklishgiraffe.com or by phone (419) 720-5675.

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Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919.
A new place to get bubbly