Photos courtesy of Rumaneh Nourish
Rumaneh Nourish’s product line focuses on simple, nontoxic, easy to read labels with ingredients from fruits, plants and minerals.
The simple, satisfying holistic products of Rumaneh Nourish are rooted in self-care from the lenses of love and healing. The business reflects owner Bisan Muna’s desire to connect people to nature.
Muna’s products, made with non-artificial, organic ingredients, include body oil and scrubs, complexion and aftershave mists, and clay facial masks. In addition to cleansing products, she sells tatreez decorative items.
Rumaneh in Arabic means “pomegranate.” Muna named her business as an homage to her grandparents’ garden in Palestine. “I would go very often and visit my family there,” she remembers from growing up. “The summers that I would go, I just remember pomegranate trees everywhere, and I wanted that to be a reflection of me.”
Muna dealt with skin problems growing up, and it was difficult for her to find the right remedy. “I tried everything you could think of,” she recalls.
Muna collaborates with her mother who cross-stitches the tatreez totes, picture frames and recycled bookmarks.
After researching the products she had been using, Muna found a lot of ingredients that she did not recognize or could not even pronounce. But once she learned about beauty and skin care products that use all-natural ingredients, Muna began trying to recreate some herself. “It was sort of a hobby thing for myself, just kind of playing around with it,” she continues. “Then I branched out and started giving things to my family and friends.”
Positive feedback from her products motivated Muna to officially launch Rumaneh Nourish as a business in 2017, which she balances with her full-time career working with children in special education at an elementary school on Milwaukee’s south side.
The ingredients that Muna uses are simple, nontoxic and easy to understand, and they convey the powerful, purifying forces of fruits, plants and minerals. “My goal has been to not use so many ingredients and get the right results,” Muna affirms, “and for it to be accessible and affordable.”
Muna incorporates several different carrier oils like coconut, apricot, almond, baobab and jojoba into her moisturizing beard, body and baby oils, packaged in recyclable glass bottles. Her aftershave and complexion mists are made with aloe vera gel, witch hazel and hydrosols.
Bisan Muna, owner of Rumaneh Nourish, creates her products with intention and care, connecting people to the power of natural sources like pomegranate.
“I’ve been very intentional about what these oils are good for,” Muna explains. “The oils in the beard oil not only keep it a stylish product, but they also help the skin underneath the hair. As far as the baby oil, I only use two oils that are more subtle and I do not put any scent in that particular product because a baby’s skin is pretty sensitive, and the flowers I use are safe and good for irritation.”
Further into the Rumaneh Nourish shop is a pink grapefruit-scented body polish made with Himalayan salt and cane sugar, a soothing clay mask made with rose and chamomile, a minty pomegranate lip polish, and lip balm available in three different scents.
“Himalayan salt is really good for your skin – combining it with the cane sugar, you really get that exfoliation and it’s still natural.”
In terms of cleansing products, Rumaneh Nourish offers two variants of bath salts, calming lavender rose and awakening citrus. There is also Palestinian white sage for sale, to be used either for smudging or added to tea (instructions for either are listed on the website under the product description).
“It goes back to what I grew up with, being Palestinian, and keeping that alive,” Muna says about the sage. “I get it imported directly from my family in Palestine, and people love it!”
Several Milwaukee stores carry Rumaneh Nourish products, including Milwaukee’s BizStarts Community Market, GoodLand Home & Goods and URSA.
Muna also sells several tatreez items hand-embroidered by her mother. “I collaborate with her as far as design,” Muna notes, “but the cross-stitch is all her.” These designs include a tote decorated with a pomegranate and olive, a picture frame stitched on burlap canvas, and recycled bookmarks that are currently available in several stores including BizStarts in Milwaukee and Chicago’s Pilsen Community Books and Inga Bookshop.
Red and white kuffiyeh masks from Rumaneh Nourish are available as well. Digital gift cards may be purchased, and a gift set that includes body oil, body polish, sage and a heart-shaped loofah is the perfect idea for Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day.
Rumaneh Nourish can occasionally be found vending at local markets and events. “People want to see skin care products in person and test it before committing to buying it,” Muna observes. “Markets have really helped with that, and having those conversations with customers face-to-face has been such a great experience.”
Muna hopes to continue expanding her knowledge of herbalism as Rumaneh Nourish grows, and she looks forward to expanding her products into more stores and markets in Milwaukee and beyond.
“Now that I have a connection with BizStarts, one of my goals is to do their business certification course,” Muna concludes. “I’m trying to take it hopefully in the spring and have that better understanding of owning a business.”
