Can a shower give you better ideas? Studies suggest that it’s possible, and chances may improve with a neuroscience-backed functional fragrance in the mix. This hidden potential for heightened creativity was enough to inspire a few best friends to launch Baude (sounds like “bod”), a bodycare line utilizing patented scent technology designed to generate brain activity.
“The three of us realized that we always get our best ideas in the shower,” says co-founder Heather Rosenthal of conversations with Monica Ha and Charlotta Hellichius. Next came the R&D: years of research and countless rain baths, then first collection, named Darkwave Utopia. It’s a wash and lotion that eschews marketing minimalism for nostalgia-drenched maximalism.
“Beauty has a special place in my heart because most of my family works in the industry,” says Ha, who “was essentially raised in a beauty salon.” The trio spent over a decade together as friends and amassed the kind of collective work experience that city life brings, like Ha designing denim and running a creative agency, Hellichius specializing in branding and product innovation, and Rosenthal working with fashion houses like Tory Burch and Opening Ceremony (designer-turned-restaurateur Humberto Leon and Moda Operandi’s beauty director Jessica Matlin are Baude’s advisors)—plus lots of late nights out dancing. Bodycare became a day-after recovery tool, and Ha remembers the group “constantly sending recs” before realizing that the simple act of bathing was having a shared benefit.
“There’s nothing new around fragrances changing how you feel,” Hellichius admits. “Scented body care is an ancient tradition that’s been around since the Greeks.” What’s new is the level of stimuli in our lives. “Sometimes the shower is the only time I’m really getting a break in my day,” she says, praising its absence of screens and distractions. The concept has long fascinated scientific and artistic communities: In Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act: A Way of Being, he describes seemingly boring tasks as a way of unlocking creative thoughts, something that’s discussed in a study where participants reported moments of insight happened in the shower, and Einstein is often credited for wondering why do I get my best ideas in the shower? “Your mind wanders and it often makes really interesting connections,” Rosenthal says. “We thought, if this is happening to us, this must be happening for other people—then we started to look for waterproof technology that could really stimulate the brain even more, and we found functional fragrance.”