LOVELAND, Colo. — It’s just another morning at Linda Mae Fogwell’s home in Loveland. She’s making sure every Coloradan has more salt in our lives — but not the sodium chloride kind.
"I’ve had people say they can’t have a salt lamp because they have high blood pressure. I laugh and say, 'you're not eating it!" Mae told Denver7. "This whole business has surprised me," she said.
Like walking barefoot on the beach, Fogwell thinks a steady diet of holding these Himalayan salt orbs might just connect you to the earth a little bit more.
Mae said the earth is always putting out negative ions and that's why we feel better walking barefoot on the beach.
She said enough of them can make inside feel like outside after a spring thunderstorm because they release negative ions. But what would happen if you could hold on to that — literally.
"People would ask me if holding a hot Himalayan salt ball would help their anxiety, or back pain, or even Parkinson's disease? I tell them that I don't know, 'but here's some hot balls, now just sit down and try it.' People say it helps with headaches, toothaches, and all kinds of things," she said.
Mae's booth at shows like the Windows to Wellness in Longmont attract a lot of attention.
"It's great to do shows like this because people will tell me it's like a ministry, and I used to be in ministry for years," Mae said.
Mae and daughter, Erika, barely have space to live in their house.
"We have three bedrooms upstairs, one is a shipping room, one is a building room," Erika said.
"My son was lining here when we found out we had to move back into the home because of tariffs," Linda said. "So I kicked him out and now this bedroom is packing and shipping."
They used to have a warehouse and showroom, but gave it up because her salt and lamp parts, all imported, cost her more.
Robin works in another bedroom. She was a customer, but now she's a helper. She just feels more people need to know about Mae’s lamps.
"I’m actually a retired RN, so advocating people for health and wellness has always been a thing for me and this falls right into that for me," Robin said.
Mae has a lot of packing to do today. She finishes each box with a packing slip and a refrigerator magnet that says, "I held Hot Salty Balls" along with a web address for her shop.
