Manly moisturizer softens up rugged hands
SISTERS, Ore. — Tara O’Keeffe says even the manliest of men needs a good moisturizer. That’s why O’Keeffe, president of O’Keeffe’s Co., 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 Oregon’s Klamath Basin. She sold 300 jars her first year. Almost every year since, sales have doubled.
The Sisters, Ore., 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.
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.
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. 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.