North Fork Shop Offers 'Comfort Food For Skin', Memories Of Home

SOUTHOLD, NY — A North Fork pop-up shop will remain at least through Christmas and perhaps longer — and for those visiting Rica, a bath, body and provisions store on Main Road in Southold, the hope is that the warm, inviting oasis will stay forever.

Walk into Rica, and be enveloped by the inviting aromas and sensations — handmade, hand-poured candles and beauty products, baskets, slippers, blankets, soft, cozy robes and clothing, and an atmosphere as warm and nurturing as stepping into your longtime family home.

(Courtesy Deborah Feingold)

And for owner Dr. Kristina Ivy, that sense of history, tradition, and family shaped the vision for Rica, a line of "bath, body and bungalow provisions," handmade, handpoured, handpackaged and fresh made to order in small batches in Brooklyn.

"We are your skincare personal chefs — comfort food for the skin," a release for Rica said.

The products are inspired, said Dr. Ivy, a holistic clinician specializing in women's health, by her childhood in the South.

As a little girl growing up in Virginia, Dr. Ivy's great-great grandmother, known as "Big Mama," used fresh farmland ingredients to make healthy beauty products — and those memories of making perfumes by infusing oil with rose and jasmine, and cornmeal facial masks with honey, have shaped her vision for Rica's "farm to vanity line," made with organic and local grown ingredients, many sourced from North Fork farms.

"We are not a trend; we are a tradition," Dr. Ivy said.

The products are made without synthetic preservatives, colorants, parabens, sulfates or petroleum, and everything is fresh-made to order daily in Brooklyn, with the hope of ultimately moving operations to Southold, where Dr. Ivy and her husband, Ben Wartofsky — a popular comedian whose stage name is DC Benny, he also helps out at Rica, along with a dedicated staff — own a home and are nurturing deep roots in the community.

(Courtesy Deborah Feingold)

Bath and body provisions are a delight for the senses at Rica, and, available in scents including Honeysuckle + Quince, White Pepper + Sugar Cane, Salt + Shore, Coconut Husk + Turbinado, and Peony + Weeping Willow, the products conjure up images of places and times that color memories and the moments that make up a lifetime.

"Scents transport us to our past," Dr. Ivy said. "It's pretty powerful. We've had so many customers email and say a scent reminds them of something or someone that they've lost. They said, 'Oh, my mother used to wear this. When I smell this, it makes me feel like she's still with me.' Having people take the time to tell me about what the scents mean to them makes me the proudest. It's always very moving."

Even Rica's best-selling moisturizers inspire personal stories, with some women reaching out to say that they've helped to soothe dry, peeling skin during chemotherapy. The moisturizers are crafted with just butter and oils, no alcohol or water, and are available in delicious options including "Butter All Over."

For Dr. Ivy, the journey is deeply personal. "Growing up in Virginia, we had a lot of land. My great-grandmother would mix things in her kitchen with farmland ingredients, and she taught my grandmother. We lived next door, and we would sit at her kitchen table and make perfumes and body scrubs. It's historically significant, something women in my family have always done."

In 2001, Dr. Ivy took something that began as a hobby and began to play around with recipes, shaping a future about to unfold. "I became a mad scientist," she laughed, as she watched dreams become a new reality. From her first show in the back of a church, to when she began gifting her magical products, to being approached by major retail giants, her odyssey was the next chapter in a story that began generations before, in the hearts and with the hardworking hands of women who guided her path.

When asked about advice she might give to others with a dream, Dr. Ivy said, "I always say it's just like Nike says: 'Just do it.' You're going to make mistakes along the way. We paralyze ourselves with the fear of 'what ifs.' I'm a big proponent of always just trying. And the philosophy has worked really well."

Rica's line includes roll-on oil perfume, jumbo linen candles, tub salts, olive butter foot balm, and linen drawer sachets; bath delights including bath bon bons, bathtub tea, oak and honey milk bath, tub salts, remedy rocks; body products such as Oil Up and Butter All Over moisturizing lotions, Clementine Body Polish, and Body Tonic; face products such as fennel and rose hip face serum; and foot products such as olive butter foot balm. Home products include aromatic room sprays and much more.

Her products, now sold in more than 400 stores worldwide, including Anthropologie, Crate & Barrel and West Elm, and are also sold at www.ricabody.com.

For Dr. Ivy, who earned her doctorate at 27, the focus has always been on women's health and wellness, spotlighting stress reduction.

"The line really is an extension of that philosophy, which is that women have to learn to take better care of themselves," she said. "We are so stressed about what's going on with our mothers, our husbands, our elderly parents, our children — just everyone else. It's not easy to take the time to focus on ourselves," leading to heart disease. While there is much that cannot be controlled, stress and what women eat, can be controlled, Dr. Ivy said.

"The line is about helping women to relax, feel beautiful. It's about taking a bath, putting on moisturizer, comfortable slippers after you get home from work. It's about asking yourself, 'How do I transition to creating my own sanctuary?' That's what I want the store to do. We have tried to create a space that's relaxing."

Dr. Ivy is aiming to create a space were those who enter can share ideas and engage in dialogue; an information board with tips on baby-sitters, for example. "It's a place for us to be able to come together and help each other." Lives are busy, she said. "How do not lose yourself in the process? Anything I can to to help women feel healthier in life is a primary goal," she said.

She'd also like to give back to local organizations in the community, including animal shelters, Dr. Ivy said.

Having lost her father recently, Dr. Ivy is embracing lessons her grandmother, who died at 105, imparted — that the human connections, those ties formed around a kitchen table, sharing love and joy and the stories of our lives, are everything.

On the North Fork, where she and her husband plan to move soon full-time, Dr. Ivy has found the same sense of community that shaped her childhood in Virginia.

"Everyone is so supportive," she said. "The energy, it feels like I'm home. There's such a sense of community. It's just a very special place."

The shop, she said, has opened up beautiful new horizons. When her father died, at first, she thought, maybe it wasn't the right time to take on a whole new venture. "But then I thought, 'I have to try this.' And the warm welcome has been overwhelming. I'm pinching myself, it's really amazing."

And so, Dr. Ivy, who grew up riding horses, said, "I'm grabbing on to that horse's mane and just going with it. As we get older, we ask ourselves, 'What do I really want?' With all that's happening in the world right now, how do you embrace the good and get rid of the negative?"

The North Fork, she added, is a place where friends gather for dinner parties, where they reach out with a kind word and a helping hand.

"We're all ultimately looking for something we may have lost along the way. For me the North Fork has become everything that I loved about my beginning," Dr. Ivy said.

Rica Bath and Body, located at 54127 Main Road in Southold, is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To her relatives that came before and inspired, Dr. Ivy says "Thank you for watching over me. Whenever I have a trade show or event, I imagine I'm walking in, holding hands with my grandmother, my mother, my aunt, my sister. I'm not alone. In any situation, we're stronger in numbers."

(Courtesy Deborah Feingold)