OUR INGREDIENTS PHILOSOPHY

Y natural is beautifully straightforward. 

We’re scientists, and we speak with appropriate scientific precision in our lab. For our conversations here on our website and on social media, we take care to communicate clearly and effectively in everyday language that fits the context of what’s being discussed.

If you’re prone to shrieking, “But there’s no definition of natural! There’s no definition of organic!” it might help you to know that we agree with you. It is a problem in this industry that some things are poorly defined and unethical people can be manipulative and green-wash, pink-wash, whatever-wash their operation to make it look like something it isn’t.

We can’t police others.

We can honour our values and make sure we stay true to our promise to you.

We’ve done that for over two decades, and we plan to keep doing that for a long, long time. Not because it’s our niche, but because it’s who we are.

My co-founder’s experience as a long-time hair and beauty professional and breast cancer survivor is influential in where we draw our lines. As the industry with the highest rate of breast cancer, it’s clear there’s something wrong, and that’s why we remain so committed to offering something different.

A number of factors guide us in our choices – we give a few here, however there are many, many more examples we can share over time, and will. We believe clarity and consistency are important, and we hope they help bring trust and certainty – qualities that are sadly in short supply in this industry.

Rather than engage in long complicated debates about where to draw lines about what is or is not acceptable to use on humans, we simply choose the best. By that, we mean best for skin and best for its purpose in safe and effective skincare formulations, and coming to us (and to you) without harming humans, habitats, communities, instead positively contributing in some way.

Some boundaries are consciously chosen for the sake of clarity.

For example, we don’t use petrochemicals, and we don’t make exceptions because then we’d get tied up like pretzels having to justify why we use X, but not Y or Z. For my partner, this was important because of potential health implications. For me, it started as wanting to protect the world for our next generation, but to be honest it’s also become a bit of a crusade against the oil and gas industry that extends well beyond skincare ingredients to researching how we can rid the world of the scourge of plastics. That’s a lofty goal, but 100% worth pursuing.  

We also choose natural, because we’re focused on health. Using luscious certified organic ingredients mean you get so much more than (to give another example) something that delivers emollience. You get vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, all sorts of things. A feast for your skin.

Sure, we could use synthetics. Not all of them have question marks attached to them, not that I’d want to be the pretzel trying to justify which ones we were going to use. There are plenty of synthetics out there that are cheap, easy to use and give predictable outcomes. But that’s kinda like choosing to live forever on fast food – ultimately your body (and your taste buds) want more than that. So why choose synthetic when we can go gourmet?

We see this as the better, more delicious way. We hope you enjoy feasting with us.