From Hide to Plate

Ivana Petr Founder of Bohemian Cosmetics, certified nutritionist

This is my story.

If you manage to read it to the end, you'll understand why we're not just "another" brand riding the beef tallow trend, but why we approach skin, ingredients, and the planet differently, innovatively, and responsibly. :)

Before founding Bohemian Cosmetics, I was dealing with a completely different problem: myself.

I've lived with psoriasis for over 12 years. For years I tried cream after cream, diet after diet, and none of it made sense to me as a whole until I understood one thing: skin is not an isolated problem that you solve from the outside. It's a reflection of what's happening inside, your diet, sleep, stress, and only then what you put on your skin.

From the butcher's counter to top management

Before dedicating myself fully to this, I went on a journey that at first glance looks like a collection of disparate stops, but in reality, it all fits together. I started as a butcher, continued at Sony DADC, and gradually worked my way up to top managerial positions, such as Group Category Manager at Ahold Delhaize and Regional Purchasing Manager at Škoda Transportation.

It was in the food industry that I saw behind the scenes of the entire chain, from the farm to the shopping cart. I knew what happened to food before it reached the counter and how little of that the average customer actually knew. This left me with a lasting need to ask what was really in the ingredient, not just what was written on the label.

Additionally, I spent part of my childhood in Ireland, where people eat completely differently – fewer processed foods, more emphasis on quality ingredients directly from farmers. The contrast between how people eat there and how they eat here remains a reference point for me to this day. I learned something that I still use now: to trust nothing that doesn't have data, origin, and results behind it, whether it's my own business, food on my plate, or caring for my own skin.

Bohemian Cosmetics was born out of necessity, not an idea

I founded Bohemian Cosmetics at the beginning of 2025 after dealing with several skin problems in my family at once – atopic eczema, ichthyosis, psoriasis – and couldn't find a product that worked with the body, not against it. Bohemian Balm is the result of that search: bioidentical lipids from organic beef tallow from Czech farms, without water, without unnecessary substances, clinically proven by the State Health Institute for atopic skin.

Recipes that started with my parents

Bohemian Balm wasn't born solely from my own need. Our recipes are based on family recipes that go back a generation. My dad made creams for my mom, who had psoriasis, even before I started to understand the topic. My mom, in turn, made products from goat's milk, including soaps, which I completely fell in love with as a little girl in Ireland.

So when I decided to found Bohemian Cosmetics, I wasn't reaching for something new and unknown. I was returning to what I had seen at home my whole life, but with the knowledge and standards I had brought from business, and with the determination to have it independently clinically verified.

Why we care about where we source our ingredients

I also have experience with farming, and I care about what's happening to the landscape, monocultures, and depleted soil today. We run a small farm ourselves, and that's precisely why I know the fundamental difference between an ingredient from regenerative farming and one from the industrial chain, even if they look the same on the label. That's why we meticulously scrutinize where we source our ingredients, not because it's easy or cheap, but because otherwise, I wouldn't be able to look myself in the eye.

This conviction extends to our packaging. I have three children, and I care about what we leave behind. That's why all our products are in compostable biopolymer containers, not plastic, even though it costs us more money and more effort. I dare say we are the only Czech brand, and perhaps the only one in Central Europe, that addresses this so consistently, from soil to ingredient to packaging. It's complex and costly, but it's worth it because everything we do today will be borne by the next generations. It's my commitment to my children.

Why I also became a nutritionist

My skin showed me that cosmetics alone would never be the complete solution. That's why I studied nutrition counseling, so I could offer people I talk to about their skin the other, equally important half – what to give the body from the inside. I see it repeatedly in myself and clients: only when lifestyle adjustments, diet, and barrier care come together does change truly manifest and, most importantly, last.

What I'm currently preparing

In addition to Barrier Boost products, I am now preparing packages focused on lifestyle, a combination of a practical e-book with a meal plan and a personal consultation with me. It won't be a universal diet or a miracle plan; it will be the same approach I've tested for years on myself and am now testing with clients: understanding what your body and skin specifically need, and building a sustainable change on that, not a temporary solution.

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