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As time dictates we will endeavour to expand on this section of the website.
We hope you find it helpful and informative, please use this only as a general guide and we suggest that you do your own independant research.
We get asked this quite often, are all our products natural?
Firstly it's about business and personal ethics and what one believes. We have found everyone's view on natural is different from no parabens, no formaldehyde donating ingredients, no sulphates, no estrogen mimiking ingredients, no mineral oil, no propylene glycol, no sls to many others. By the way we don't use or have any of these in our products.
So are we all natural?
Our answer is no we are not totally natural, we do have some products that fit this category but we prefer to create safe products. Totally natural cannot be bright and pretty and being totally natural would not allow us to show our creative flare and talents to their full capacity. We don't like dull and boring soap, just like most people don't like dull and boring food.
So not everything is all natural, our products are all approved for cosmetic use. Yes they surely are, not just for Australia but for other countries where their laws are more stringent and rigid than those in Australia. We list the totally natural products in an area that is easy for the consumer to find, the choice is yours. We also list all the product ingredients so the consumer can see just what they are getting. You will find no mistruths, sneaking or hiding the truth here we just don't do it period, it's not our style.
Ingredient listings:
We do not leave out a preservative on the end of our product ingredient list, we do not just list the active ingredients or list the ingredients in the wrong order so they sound or look good. Many do and we believe this is very unfair on the consumer. Our product ingredients are listed from the largest proportion of an ingredient down to the smallest. Anything less is unacceptable in our books.
Listing of ingredients in these forms are unacceptable to us: ie vegetable oil blend, essential oil blend. So what is in it? What vegetable? What essential oil? Am I allergic to something in there? Hmm so what are they hiding? We let you choose what you want to use.
Worst of all is when there is no ingredient list, this is a total no no. Just don't buy the product, it's simple as that you don't know what you are getting. No manufacturer name or contact details is even worse. Just don't buy it as it's not worth the risk.
Buying something that you thought is or was something else, is not only disappointing but it also leaves a very bad feeling of total mistrust. Watch out for companies mixing essential oils with fragrance oils as well, this is common practice and they try to pass them off as natural or something like (nature identical scent or fragrant oil)
A business or product may appear to be all natural don't be lulled into a false sense of security by looking at the first few products and they are all natural, dig deeper and you may just find fragrant oils the likes of peach, mango, apple etc these are not natural. Keep your whits about you.
We don't claim to be all natural or organic, but we certainly don't try to mislead the consumer that they are buying an all natural or organic product when they are not. Like a lot of manufacturers both large and small do at times. If we have it listed on the ingredients list then it is in the product, not just waved over a 2000litre vat or a couple of drops added to this kind of volume and then list it as an ingredient. We are not saying that this is common practice but think about it, it is possible.
How do I know that something is really organic?
If you are not buying from a certified organic processor with a registered processor number with a current registration then you are just taking the manufacturers word for it. How do you know it contains certified organic ingredients? Are just taking their word for it and hoping for the best? Who knows you could be being mislead.
Now here is a really good example of how a product can be certified organic but not necessarily good for your body if you are avoiding certain ingredients.
A body cream with wonderful organic hydrosols (floral water), luscious exotic organic oils and butters totally drool worthy and then at the end, propylene glycol (to make it feel better on the skin and give it a silky feeling in some cases) methylparaben etc. This is an example of beautiful oils and butters being spoiled with 2 undesirable ingredients. Yes it is organic but it may not be good for you, it depends on how you look at it.
We get many calls and enquiries about other products that are out there in the market place and especially those claiming to be either organic or natural. Our customers and new customers call us for our input and we think it is great that a customer or potential customer would take the time to contact us to help them clarify if something is natural or not.
We also try to help the consumer, as time permits with places to look so that they can educate themselves about this subject, there are so many mistruths told on the internet and via word of mouth that it can become a minefield for the consumer to find out exactly what is natural and what is not. Don't believe all you see or hear, look further, dig deeper if you want the truth.
So what is natural let's get to the nuts and bolts of what we believe is natural and what is not. Lets start with colorants as we see a lot of people out there, especially soapmakers with colorants claiming that they are all natural or trying to look all natural.
Colorants
Ultramarines - ie blue or purple in soap and other products - Ultramarines which are suitable for cosmetics are made in the laboratory to ensure that it is safe for consumer use. Naturally occurring ultramarine can contain heavy metals and other undesirable substances this is why it is made like this. Cosmetic grade is the only acceptable form/grade of colorant when using ultramarines for skincare. Naturally occurring Ultramarines are what Artists use for painting.
Oxides - minerals that are naturally occurring and mined from the earth but these are not cosmetic approved if they are mined directly and used. They are then further refined, crushed and checked for heavy mineral content and other undesirables. Therefore the cosmetic grade oxide is heavily refined and put through many processes. We do not believe that oxides are natural due to the processes they have to undertake to become cosmetic approved/cosmetic grade.
Mica - mineral makeup a lot of mica's are man made and so are a lot of other substances that are used in mineral makeup. So they are not all natural. Are they safe for us to use? If they are cosmetic approved then yes. Are they all natural? Look up the ingredients one at a time. Never buy a product without an ingredients list and do your own research you will be amazed at what you find here.
Cosmetic safe colorants - man made and tested to ensure their safety for consumers. We try to list all the inci numbers for our colorants. Inci this is an internationally recognised and standardised numbering system for ingredients. Look up Inci on the internet there are many sources to check up on ingredients.
Preservatives
This is a massive topic and one that many don't like to discuss as there are many differing views and opinions on this and we get asked quite a lot on this subject for our views. Any product that contains water or may get contaminated with water or any fluid substance should be preserved for the consumers safety.
Generally an oil and butter only product does not need a preservative unless the user contaminated the product with foreign matter or water. Once water has been added to a product or any organic substance like a plant extract or organic matter then it needs to be preserved against fungus and mould which is gram positive, ie able to be seen with the naked eye and also gram negative which needs a microscope to see these micro-organisms that can grow in a product.
If a product contains aqua or water and a preservative is not listed then either the preservative is not listed or the product will have a very short shelf life and the consumer is at risk when using any product like this as it maybe contaminated. Emulsified lotions and creams which use the likes of water or aloe vera a liquid plant based substance must have a preservative. Look for the preservative, if it is not listed ask the manufacturer.
We will list a couple of preservatives and those that are common place and discuss our views on these.
Grapeseed extract is not a total preservative and we prefer not to use it in our products for our customer's safety as there is not enough trusted reliable and supporting data for us to use in our products. We will not use this as a preservative alone as it will not stand up to the rigid testing required.
Rosemary extract this is not a preservative it is an antioxidant which helps preserve and stop oils and butters from spoiling and helps extend the life of a product for the consumer.
Vitamin E is not a preservative it is an antioxidant as well.
Optiphen Plus is a trade name for a proprietary or trade secret mixture of Phenoxyethanol and Potassium Sorbate.
Phenoxyethanol is a non formaldehyde releasing preservative, it is paraben free, propylene glycol free, DEA free and sulphate free. It is also used within the medical industry to preserve some immunisation serums.
Potassium Sorbate a food grade preservative
Botanical Extracts - these are concentrated extracts and some may never have thought about what these are preserved with. It has come to our attention that a lot of suppliers of extracts don't disclose the preservative unless you really dig for the information. Extracts come in a few different forms, like dry ie powdered, in glycerin or in oil. Extracts in glycerin are preserved, we always make sure our extracts are not preserved with parabens. Just another thing to keep on the look out for.
As time permits this section will be updated with more information, so keep checking back.
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