Body care is a ritual, not a routine.
Shannon Davenport, Founder
Esker was born from burnout, a certification in aromatherapy, and the discovery that the future of body care is thousands of years old.
"Esker's Founder is on a mission to make your me-time a truly next-level experience"
The Bathroom Saved Me
I spent twelve years as a trend forecaster in New York and Los Angeles, consulting for brands like L'Oréal, Unilever, and Beiersdorf. My job was to research across beauty, fashion, design, art, and consumer culture — and then tell these companies what was coming next. It was intellectually stimulating. It was also relentless. The travel was constant. My nervous system was fried.
The one thing I could always come back to was the bathroom. The bath. It didn't require a gym membership or a workout schedule. It didn't require an appointment or driving somewhere. It didn't require anyone else. Fitness routines fell off. Therapist appointments got rescheduled. Other self-care required going somewhere, putting something on a calendar, coordinating with another person. But the bath was always there — twenty minutes of warm water and quiet that could reset an entire day.
That's where the idea for Esker started. Not in a boardroom. From a bathtub, during the most burned-out period of my life.
Here's the thing about spending twelve years in trend forecasting: you're trained to look forward. What's next, what's emerging, where's the white space. But the deeper I went into body care, the more I kept arriving at the same place — thousands of years back. The ancient Greeks and Romans built their entire civic life around the bathhouse. They didn't have body wash. They bathed in oil and scraped their skin with curved bronze tools called strigils. They used aromatic plants to restore the mind and heal the body. Aromatherapy, oil cleansing, exfoliation rituals — none of it is new. These cultures figured it out millennia ago.
My career trained me to look forward. Esker is what happened when I finally looked back.
Becoming an Aromatherapist
While still working full-time, I enrolled at the New York Institute of Aromatherapy — evenings and weekends. I learned how lavender activates the parasympathetic nervous system. How eucalyptus opens respiratory pathways. How plants have been studied for centuries for their measurable effect on the body — while synthetic fragrance is a chemistry-set shortcut that doesn't even have to be disclosed on a label.
Once you learn the difference, you can't un-learn it. Every Esker formula is built on that training.
From the Bathtub to the Brand
Then I got pregnant with my first daughter, and couldn't find a body product I trusted. Everything was either overly cosmetic or overly clinical. The beauty industry was treating body care as an afterthought — skincare got all the innovation, body got the leftovers.
In 2018, I launched Esker with three body oil formulas — Firming, Restorative, and Clarifying — each formulated with responsibly sourced essential oils to do something specific for the skin. Not just smell nice. Actually work.
Esker was born right around the same time as my first little one. It's been a family business ever since — created in Los Angeles, now based in Austin.
"Esker makes me feel clean, not stripped"Halle Berry
Why the Name
An esker is a geological formation — a winding ridge of gravel and sediment shaped by meltwater flowing beneath ancient glaciers. The pressure from the ice pushes the water uphill, carving uprising curves into the earth.
The first time I saw one from above, it looked like a vein. The connection between our skin and the earth. The journey of water traveling uphill to create something of beauty. That image inspired the name, and it inspires everything we do.
The Body Plane
Remember the strigil — the curved bronze tool the Greeks and Romans used every day in the bathhouse? Our Body Plane is a modern reimagining, redesigned in premium teak and sterling silver-plated stainless steel. Same principle, same results, built for the way we live now.
That's the whole philosophy. We're not inventing wellness. We're looking back at what human beings practiced for thousands of years and bringing it forward — with better materials, cleaner ingredients, and the science to explain why it works.
Everything You Need, Nothing You Don't
Every product is formulated by a certified aromatherapist with real essential oils — plant compounds that cross the blood-brain barrier and create measurable changes in how you feel. Synthetic fragrance doesn't do that.
Organic. Vegan. Paraben-free. Sulfate-free. Leaping Bunny certified. Plastic Neutral+. EU Certified Organic. Made in the USA. Safe for pregnancy and nursing. The bathroom is the most absorptive environment in your home — everything you put on your body should rise to that standard.
Why body care
People ask me why not skincare — the bigger, more glamorous market. Honestly, I just love body. It's sensory and slow. It's the part of your routine where you're not staring at a mirror scrutinizing pores. You're in the shower. You're in the bath. You're standing in your bathroom with warm skin and a few quiet minutes before the rest of your life starts again.
I wanted to make that time matter. Not in a way that requires ten products — but in a way that makes you come out of your shower feeling like you actually took care of yourself. That your skin is softer. That your mood shifted. That you had five minutes where nobody needed anything from you.
— Shannon
Protecting Pollinators
Everything Esker makes starts with plants. And plants start with pollinators. We partner with the Xerces Society to protect endangered pollinators worldwide. A portion of every purchase supports their conservation work, and our body oils ship with a packet of wildflower seeds.
I maintain a pollinator garden at home — native plants, pesticide-free.
From the Journal
Explore the Rituals
Step-by-step guides for every body care ritual — the products, the technique, the science behind why it works.
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