Our Story

Rooted in Place, Refined by Science

I became an environmental scientist because I believe what we put into the world comes back to us. I studied with the researchers who launched the American environmental movement after the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. I researched ecosystem management in the Channel Islands and fire policy in the Sierras. I spent years as an environmental planner — helping communities along California's Gaviota Coast take the long view on land-use decisions, working on waste reduction and energy conservation in Colorado. The thread running through my career has been one question: what are we exposing ourselves to, and does it have to be this way?

That question became personal the day my son developed eczema. I knew what to look for on those labels — and there it was: the same endocrine disruptors and bioaccumulative chemicals I'd spent my career working to keep out of ecosystems and communities, now marketed as "gentle" for my son's skin. Not happening. Not for my family.

So I formulated my own. Three ingredients. It worked. That balm became BARRIER, and BARRIER became NICER.

We build every product the same way: 3 to 9 ingredients, each proven safe and effective by peer-reviewed research. We source organic, regenerative, and wildcrafted ingredients wherever possible, and we handcraft everything in small batches near Park City, rooted in the botanicals and minerals of the landscape around us.

That landscape isn't incidental — it's the starting point. The ancient mineral deposits beneath these foothills. The beeswax from hives foraging on native wildflowers. The high-desert climate that demands products which perform without compromise. I formulate from what the land provides, the way I was trained to read a landscape as a geographer — listening to what's already here before deciding what to make. Park City is our first chapter. It won't be the last.

I structured NICER as a Public Benefit Corporation — legally bound to protect human health and the environment, not just talk about it. No investor, no acquirer, no market pressure can undo that commitment.

The result is bodycare that never asks you to choose between luxury and integrity. This is luxury that loves you back.

— James Birchler, Founder + Chief Scientist