Oxford Stories: Young Entrepreneur’s Luxury Bath Line Becoming Popular In Oxford

A Yazoo City native knows how to create explosive bath products. Sarah Carson, 22, creates luxury and handmade bath bombs.

At a recent Oxford Makers Market event, Carson erected her own stand beside seasoned professional artists. Even though she only started her business eight months ago, she is already thriving and growing.
Growing up, Carson could always be found participating in arts and crafts. She often switched between art mediums, such as knitting, crocheting, plaster, embroidery, painting, sewing, weaving, and jewelry making.
Her company, Thistle & Myrrh, creates artisan bath products, including bath bombs, salts, and scrubs. They are made with all natural ingredients and scented with natural essential oils.
They come in a variety of sizes, colors and smells. Prices depend on size, but all are less than $10. She named her company “Thistle and Myrrh” because she wanted it to connect to the idea of natural herbs and remedies, and she believed it evoked the feeling of her company.
“I started this business with my best friend about eight months ago,” she said, “and about a month into it, I took it over for myself. It was a lot of internet research and experimentation. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for over a year.”
Former business partner Channing Lomax said she has seen Carson’s work ethic firsthand. “She’s creative, intuitive, and totally passionate,” Lomax said. “Now that she’s running Thistle and Myrrh on her own, I’m even more impressed by the level of success she’s achieving. Sarah is producing high quality bath products and managing an entire business independently, and I couldn’t be more proud to call her a best friend of mine.”

Carson started selling at the Oxford Makers Market held the first Saturday of each month. The market includes local arts and crafts and provides vendors the opportunity to get their art out there and show off their handmade goods.
“My favorite part about participating in the Makers Market is definitely the sense of community I have felt since I started back in June,” she said. “Eventually, you get to know the other vendors. You learn their stories, their own business journeys. Everyone shares tips and even products with one another. It’s so much fun to get myself out there, meet new people, and connect with other entrepreneurs.”
The next step for Carson and Thistle & Myrrh is to establish a line for customers. Carson wants to her improve her website to retain more online orders and have a bigger social media presence. Her products can be found in the future at thistlemyrrh.com. Currently, her website is still being worked on and so products can only currently be bought offline. The Instagram handle is @thistlemyrrh.ms.
Carson works out of her own home, but her goal is to find a separate space just for her work and business. In the next five years, she hopes to have her own store.
Thistle & Myrrh products have been found all over Mississippi. They have been sold at Neilson’s on the Square in Oxford, as well as Parks Place in Columbus. Carson is restocking her products to hopefully send to these stores and is waiting to see if they will have concrete orders placed for the products again She hopes more stores will pick up her products soon.
Carson finds many of her product ideas online. “My inspiration for my products mostly comes from Pinterest,” she said. “I’ll spend hours at a time going through the website. If I can get my hands on any books that are about essential oils or natural remedies, I also get a lot of inspiration from those as well.”
Carson has been working with High Point Coffee to create a new Coffee Sugar Scrub, which will eventually be sold in their store on the Square. This product should be coming to the store within the month.
She has also been trying to create new homemade shampoos, conditioners, and shaving creams, and her experiments have gone well thus far.
Carson said her favorite part of work is the enthusiasm and support she has received. She said she is pleased when customers report they loved how relaxed her products made them feel.

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By Emma McCabe. Read more stories like this on Oxford Stories.
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