Sisters company hits with ‘skin therapy ’ for working people

Tara O’Keeffe says even the manliest of men needs a good moisturizer.

That’s why O’Keeffe, president of O’Keeffe’s Co. of Sisters, created a moisturizer for the "working man" who frequents home-improvement stores. But women are catching onto the product, too. The moisturizer is oil-free, hypoallergenic, unscented and sold in cans that look like car wax containers.

The unique packaging is part of the marketing strategy for O’Keeffe’s Working Hands: lotion for working people — including surgeons, U.S. Postal Service workers, farmers and construction workers — who need serious moisturizing for their hardworking hands.

A pharmacist, O’Keeffe invented the product 11 years ago for her father, a cattle rancher in the Klamath Basin. She sold 300 jars her first year. Almost every year since, sales have doubled.

The Sisters resident now sells 500,000 cans of the lotion annually in the United States, packaged in a fluorescent lime- green canister with tangerine print, a rubber grip and a holographic lid.

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The can, shaped like a hockey puck, is unlike most cosmetic packages.

That’s why it recently won awards for packaging design and innovation in a new category of cosmetic products in hardware and home improvement stores.

O’Keeffe said she needed the unique design to make using cosmetics appealing to women and men.

"We have a leading skin therapy for not only men, but anyone who works with their hands, or whose hands are affected by the work they do," she said. "So we created a package that belongs at Home Depot and Lowe’s, because that’s where our customers are."

She wants to get her product in those two home-improvement giants. For now, the lotion is available in farm stores in every state and Big R is the largest seller, she said. Rite Aid, Ace Hardware and Walgreen’s stores also sell the cream and it’s available online.

Besides home-improvement store shoppers, those in the cosmetics industry have noticed O’Keeffe as well. Last summer, she went head-to-head with more than 100 worldwide cosmetic retailers like Estee Lauder at the 18th annual DuPont Awards for Innovation and Packaging. Her product won the gold award for the design of Working Hands packaging, the highest award for packaging designers.

The DuPont event is an international, independently judged competition to recognize food and nonfood industry advances using plastic packaging materials. The recognition has helped O’Keeffe spread the lotion sales to every state.

One year ago, Rev. Sydney Titus picked up a can of Working Hands cream at a store in her hometown of Grapevine, Texas. The chaplain hadn’t heard of Working Hands and thought she’d give one last shot at curing her painfully dry hands and feet.

"Being a chaplain, I’m working with 100 patients a day," Titus said. "I’m constantly on my feet and constantly washing my hands, so my cuticles and hands were a mess. And my dry heels ... let’s just say I couldn’t wear sandals."

Within two days, Titus’ skin started to improve and now she orders O’Keeffe’s products online. She has lotion cans in her bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and purse, in case of emergencies. She says it makes her job at Richardson Regional Medical Center easier.

"I’m holding hands all day," Titus said, "so it’s important to not have nasty-looking hands."

With personal testimonials and gold ribbons under her belt, O’Keeffe says she’s revving up her marketing strategies to sell Working Hands cream in more home-improvement stores.

O’Keeffe used her knowledge as a pharmacist to develop the product. Work on the ranch made her father’s hands so dry that they bled. His feet had such dry skin that they developed deep, infected cracks and he endured multiple foot surgeries as a result of the infections.

In an attempt to alleviate her father’s agony, O’Keeffe began working on a salve to help heal her father’s skin. Since then, she’s perfected the product’s chemistry.

The lotion’s success can be attributed to both the packaging and product, O’Keeffe said.

Most hand creams are made from a mix of oil and water, but O’Keeffe’s product has no oil. Instead, it is made from water and glycerin, which draws moisture to the skin. She also adds a chemical agent to keep the moisture from evaporating off the skin.

And it has no fruity, flowery or talcum-powder smells.

"Our skin therapy has no fragrance, it smells like air," she said. "That’s a big advantage for men who don’t want a smelly product."

"This is skin therapy for the hands that go under all those construction gloves," O’Keeffe said, adding that the container fits right into a tool chest and the color of the hand lotion is green.

"The color is manly, it doesn’t look like a cosmetic. Is it car wax? Is it boot grease? That’s helpful because working men don’t see themselves as using cosmetics."

The cream wouldn’t work so well on a car, but O’Keeffe said many customers use it on cow udders and for sled dogs’ cracked paws.

O’Keeffe uses it just about everywhere. What worked for her father also works for her.

"I use it on my face, hands, feet and body," she said. "I have fairly dry skin that I inherited from my father, so I couldn’t live without it."

On the Net:Working Hands: www.okeeffescompany.com