Behind the Business: Country Lather

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – One woman’s issue with skin sensitivity motivated her to start a hobby to fix it. Now, nearly 10 years later, that hobby has become her full-time job— all thanks to the community’s support and social media.

“September of 2016, I made my first batch of soap,” said Jessie Whittington, owner of Country Lather in Wiggins. “It was hilarious. I didn’t have any fancy equipment that I do now.”

Whittington says she dealt with the ongoing problem of sensitive skin growing up.

“I grew up using Irish Spring, Zest, Bath and Body Works, all the normals, but I would always itch when I was in the shower,” Whittington said. “I’m talking clawing itch. It was awful, but I thought that was normal. I thought everybody itched.”

Whittington eventually discovered the itch wasn’t normal after trying a handmade soap her mom bought her, made of goat milk.

“And from there on, I was hooked,” said Whittington.

Whittington then began mixing up gallons of ingredients daily, creating batches of her signature soap and eventually sharing her product with people in the community.

“At the time I was a school bus driver for George County School District and I had a bunch of soap,” Whittington said. “It was my new thing. My new obsession. So I had piles and piles of soap, so I started giving it away to my fellow bus drivers, and teachers at my kids’ schools, and eventually people kept telling me you need to sell this.”

Whittington cuts more than 100 bars of soap daily, making several batches and even dish soap. She uses various ingredients like lye solution, water, goat milk, fragrance and more.

By 2020, Whittington officially started up her business and grew a large following on TikTok, gaining customers worldwide.

“I have shipped to Great Britain, Canada, America Samoa, and the Philippines,” Whittington said.

WLOX asked Whittington if investing in her small business was worth it. She replied, “Absolutely. If I told you I didn’t have bad days I would be lying to you. Everybody has bad days, but I’m excited to get up and come to this building and get to do what I love. It’s a blessing and if you have something you love to do… why go to work and be miserable every day? Do what you love.”

Visit the Country Lather website HERE. You can also find the businesses TikTok HERE and Facebook HERE.

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