Freshly Made From the Kitchen Table
Before the industry awards, the spa partnerships, press coverage and the SAMH fundraising, there was a kitchen table in Edinburgh, a collection of natural oils and a Dumfries-born marketing professional who had decided she was ready for something completely different.
This interview, originally published in Dumfries & Galloway Life Magazine under the headline Bryden's Blends, captures the very beginning of the JustBe story. Told in Gail's own words, just three years after she left her corporate career to build something new.
From Big Brands to Artisan Aromatherapy
Gail's career had taken her to Newcastle, London and Dublin, into the world of marketing and big brands, working for companies including Heinz, Scottish & Newcastle and Diageo. It was a busy, demanding life and after years of the daily grind, she did what many people dream of doing: she left.
Already a qualified life coach, Gail retrained as a holistic massage therapist, specialising in the Hawaiian Lomi Lomi method, which she describes as the "Rolls-Royce of massage for relaxation and stress relief." It was this training that became the catalyst for everything that followed.
"It was a challenge to find a massage oil that I wanted to work with, so I thought: why don't I make my own?"
She contacted an expert at a natural remedy store in Edinburgh and began learning to blend oils herself. Throughout the process, a phrase kept returning to her: Just Be. She found that people simply wanted to be themselves and so a name was born.
The Philosophy Behind the Blends
From the beginning, JustBe was built around a clear intention: to balance mind, body and emotions and enhance a sense of wellbeing. Using flowers, fruits, natural oils, herbs, plant extracts and even Scottish peat, Gail developed ranges for the face, body, burning aromatherapy oils for the home and a spa treatment range.
"People have done this since the medieval age. To be working with plants, mixing different ingredients, it makes sense to me. The same philosophies apply to baking: the best cooks use a lot of intuition as to what works best. Sometimes ideas come to me in the middle of the night and I have to try something."
She called it artisan aromatherapy. And it still is.
Scottish Peat - One of Nature's Most Powerful Ingredients
One of the most distinctive early JustBe treatments used Scottish peat in a thermal wrap - an ingredient Gail describes as "simply incredible." Peat has been traditionally used to treat a wide range of conditions, from mobility problems and arthritis to hormonal imbalance and muscle recovery in sports medicine.
"It's a rich source of minerals including iron, zinc, copper and magnesium, which help heal, nourish and detoxify. It has powerful preserving effects and excellent moisture-retaining qualities, which help to firm up the skin and improve elasticity."
This deep respect for nature's most effective and underestimated ingredients has remained at the heart of JustBe Botanicals ever since.
Still Doing This, Every Day
Perhaps the most enduring part of this early interview is its closing note. Asked to reflect on the journey so far, Gail said:
"Sometimes I look back and can't quite believe how it's all come together. It feels very organic. I feel quite blessed to be doing it. I remember how it felt to be getting up every day for the daily grind and to be now getting up every day and doing this, I'm really enjoying it."
More than a decade later, JustBe Botanicals is still independent, still hand-blended in small batches in Edinburgh, still built around the same philosophy and still very much enjoyed.
Interview by Anne Armstrong. Photography by John Need Photography. Originally published in Dumfries & Galloway Life Magazine.
