Ten years ago, Clair Divert was looking for a better, safer, more natural way to fight chronic pain.

His interests not only stemmed from having been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, chronic migraines, and other painful ailments, but also because of the dangers the prescribed pharmaceuticals presented. 

“My physician and my rheumatologist kept giving me medications and more medications,” Clair recalls. “One day I took one medication too many and I wound up in the ER.”

Being prescribed even more medications as a result of his emergency visit, understandably, did not sit well with Clair at that point, so he decided to go a different route. “I started making and developing some lotions and topicals that would help with arthritis, pain, inflammation, and things,” he says. “I was guinea pigging a lot of people in my fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and chronic pain group.”

Keeping it natural was a key aspect of developing these lotions. Clair insisted on not using lab-made chemicals or painkillers like lidocaine. Instead, he used essential oils; terpenes, which are the aromatic compounds that give most plants and flowers their characteristic scents; and cannabidiol oils (CBDs). 

The research and grassroots testing resulted in success on both fronts. Clair says, “We found some natural pain relief and stores start picking us up. That’s what started off our wholesale.”

Growth came gradually but steadily. “Massage therapists started picking us up, as were chiropractors, and some other groups and little shops. We started attending trade shows where we picked up larger accounts,” he adds. “We started making the lotions in our little shop, using little generic-looking bottles,” Clair laughs. “I was printing labels out with a DYMO [label maker].” 

Now, Drizzledab products are available and sold in shops from Maryland to California and Alaska. Despite that wide distribution, Clair says they are not super well known locally. “We’re not quite that big,” he admits. “We just have a local following.”

This may be due to fact that, from the direct retail side of things, Drizzledab is a ‘dab’ younger than its wholesale side. “Three years ago, we opened up the retail side to focus more on local, Midwest, and U.S. products,” Clair points out. “We do have some foreign products in here, but we try to limit those.”

Drizzledab sells coffee roasted, flavored, and ground in Peoria Heights; products using honey sourced from a place 10 miles to their north; local glass and soaps; and some locally made jewelry. Even their label-making (no longer done on Clair’s DYMO) is done locally.

Even though Clair describes Drizzledab’s retail front as a sort of “head shop and essential wellness shop,” its mission started as and remains achieving pain relief. “We believe in more holistic health and less pharmaceutical health,” he says. “I understand there is a place for pharmaceuticals, but we tend to overreach for medications, I think.”

So, if you’re looking for pain relief, something among Drizzledab’s selection of lotions, body budders, drops, and gummies may help. “Our products can help with arthritis and inflammation, stress, anxiety, or PTSD,” Clair says. “We also make pet drops for pain relief and anxiety relief as well.”

With Clair as president and his wife as CEO, Drizzledab has been family-owned and operated since 2015. Their storefront is located at 2516 East Washington Street in East Peoria, Illinois. You can contact Clair by calling (309) 453-6999. If you’d like to see what else Drizzledab has to offer, visit them on the web at www.drizzledab.com. 

With more and more CBD shops and dispensaries opening up all over Illinois, Clair is proud to set Drizzledab apart from others by the three most important things: “We are sourced locally,” he states. “We are patient-driven. And we only look for things that make results.”