Rootfoot Provides a Modern Ritual for the Conscious Festival Crowd

Rootfoot is a small essential oil company that is grounded in eco-conscious practices and reverence for plants. Founded by Laura Huth, 31, it features roller balls with essential oils, each named after a different spirit animal; aura-enhancing anointing oils with names like Goddess, Warrior and Mystic; organic single-note diffusing oils, eye pillows, and handcrafted leather and vegan medicine pouches in which to hold these special oils.

“I’m trying to make the brand accessible to everyone and playful,” Laura says. She lives in the countryside of Boulder, Colorado, but travels to music festivals throughout the west like Euphoria, Sonic Bloom, and Arise, doing self-guided meditation, aromatherapy sessions in a teepee, or even coming up with a special blend just for that festival. “I talk to the festival organizers about their intentions for the festival, what they want people to experience, and then create a blend specific to them,” she says. “’There’s a disconnect with our generation in particular, not knowing much about essential oils. These are products that have been around for thousands of years and have been valued by so many different cultures. So I’m bringing it into a way that our culture can appreciate them.”

“I’m an experienced, practiced nose, so I’m hand selecting the oils, and doing my own distillation and wildcrafting as well. Essential oils are only about 10% of the world’s plants naturally. They are used as the plant’s immune system. They attract pollinators and deter pests. We’re dependent on plants for our survival, so I think it’s really cool to access their immune system for our support.”

“In my childhood I was really fascinated by plants, I would grab rose petals and try to make potpourri,” Laura says. She moved to Boulder in 2007, and started teaching yoga in 2008, which brought her to aromatherapy and Ayurveda. When she was introduced to essential oils, she fell in love. When she went on hikes, she would save little pieces of tree resin because she loved the way they smelled, popping them in her freezer, not knowing what she would use them for. For a while she was the brand manager for the organic skincare company Pangea Organics, and also blended some of their oils. “I’m just so inspired by them for their efficacy and authenticity,” she says. Her husband is also an entrepreneur (and also a festival buff – he runs a non-profit shuttle bus service, Bus To Show, for festivals and other high-risk events, complete with a DJ on board) so she waited until they felt financially stable and had enough experience, then launched the brand last year.

Rootfoot’s oils are organic, and her ingredients consciously sourced to support sustainable agriculture. For example, the sandalwood is from a project in Hawaii that supports reforestation. “Sandalwood overvalued, and is over harvested in so many countries, almost like blood diamonds,” she says. “I’m so excited to be finding sources that I feel good about.” The packaging is sustainable too, with recycled glass bottles and biodegradable labels made out of stone.

Each product she creates has an intention built in. She worked with an energy healer to create the popular Spirit Animal line. “She had been wanting certain products for her clients. She said, ‘I really need grounding for certain clients, or feminine energy, or leadership.’ A lot of people have an animal that they relate to or something that could inspire them for the day. It’s a modern ritual.”

She sent me the rose water and Eagle Spirit Animal oil to try.* With a spicy scent composed of palo santo, cedarwood, geranium, sweet orange, cinnamon leaf, I’ve been rolling it on my pulse points at home and at festivals in order to inspire me to lift above the mundane.

Recently she introduced the resin to her line as a smudging ingredient. She offers it alone in a jar, or in a kit with a custom ceramic plate, charcoal starters made out of coconut husks, and Palo Santo/cedarwood-infused oceanic sand. “I’ve noticed that people really connect to things they don’t have access to in their daily lives, like pine trees, or other experiences in a natural state,” she says.  “You get the husks red hot on the smudge plate, and drop a tiny piece of resin on top. It’s inviting a time for ritual or ceremony within your space at home.”

Rootfoot‘s products have also been featured in Brides. Laura says it’s great for stress relief, to feel beautiful (a misting of rose water on the face refreshes and dews the skin), and – because scent has a strong tie to memory – to create a way to evoke that happy time. “I took an aroma with me to the Virgin Islands when my husband proposed, not knowing at all. So when I use it now, it takes me back to the moment.”

*As a free gift