My sister and I, who grew up in Hamilton, have been mentioned in the Glasgow Times:
HER home-made natural beauty and wellbeing products have fans around the world. (Her midgie salve, for example, is legendary. People as far afield as Corfu and Thailand love it.) But Margaret Ozgur made her latest range of products for someone much closer to home – her sister Jane, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June.
“It was a scary time,” explains Margaret, who lives in Mount Florida on the south side of the city. “I started looking up everything I could about breast cancer, the history of it, treatments – I am very interested in mind, body and spirit and I read stories from women who had it. “I discovered Olivia Newton John, who both Jane and I have loved since childhood, also had breast cancer and she swears by hemp, so I looked into that and her approach – healthy eating, yoga, meditation – it all resonated with us.
Jane agrees. “I think natural healing is something more and more of us are interested in,” she says.“My diagnosis came out of the blue – I had been recovering from surgery to remove a cyst in my bowel, when I noticed one of my nipples was bleeding. The word cancer is difficult to hear.” Jane, who lives in Inverness with her husband Conor and daughter Francesca, who is seven, had a mastectomy in July and is recovering well.“I have good days and bad days,” she says. “During my treatment, my skin felt very dry and Margaret came up with a beautiful face mist. It was so refreshing and it made me feel a lot better, especially at night. “She gave me a salve to rub on my neck and my scar and it was lovely, very velvety to the touch.” Margaret has now decided to include the products she made for her sister in her Cubby’s Salve range.
The company is named after her son Baran’s nickname when he was a baby.The business grew out of Margaret’s frustration with chemical-laden baby products. Her first salve was an instant hit with family and friends, so she took the next step and started to sell online and in local shops.
For Jane, who had a mastectomy in July, Margaret used a combination of rose, frankincense and hempseed oil to create the face mist, salve and body bar.
“The earthy, grounding smell alone of frankincense is so healing, it promotes relaxation and mindfulness,” says Margaret. “It reminded me of going to church with Jane when we were young.”
“Jane loves her body sprays, so I wanted to create something natural and refreshing, something really special. I blended organic rose water and frankincense and it was a great, a real mood booster.”
Jane and Margaret grew up in Hamilton with their parents and brother Edward.“Our parents instilled in us from an early age the value of caring for others,” says Margaret “Thanks to the amazing doctors and nurses, all of Janes’s cancer was removed in the op.Margaret smiles: “She has love, she has courage. She is my big sister – we are just taking things one day at a time.”
