Do you really make your goats milk soaps and cosmetic products yourselves?
Yes everything continues to be handmade by us and to our specification! We know that many small skincare companies choose to use generic cosmetic bases, to which they add fragrances before packaging. But we'd much rather develop our products ourselves and hand make them in-house - we want absolute control over each formulation and the ingredients that are used. We know what's good for sensitive skin so it makes sense to use this knowledge to create something unique that works, rather than just adding a fragrance to a commercial cream.
What's so special about goats milk soap?
On the internet you'll probably find all sorts of claims about using goats milk in cosmetics. Without a doubt it does contain lots of proteins, vitamins and minerals that aren't found in other cosmetic ingredients, but do they really solve skincare problems like eczema and psoriasis? We'd agree that goats milk can help with allergies when it's ingested, but it's less clear what happens when the milk is applied topically. What we can say, is that our original soap recipe didn't contain any goats milk. The soap sold very well, but we decided to see if the addition of goats milk could make a difference to our eczema. So we perfected a new soap recipe which definitely felt creamier than before and introduced a single variety of goats milk soap to the range....and as they say, the rest is history. Within a matter of weeks our customers only wanted to buy goats milk soap, even though it was more expensive than the other soap bars. In the end we stopped making our standard soaps, and our special goats milks soap recipe has been the same ever since!
Should I avoid certain ingredients in cosmetic products?
Definitely - we always encourage our customers to read the labels of any cosmetics before making a purchase! Quite often products are promoted as being natural, but they contain high percentages of not so natural ingredients in their formulations. You will never find parabens, petrochemical derivatives (petrolatum and mineral oils), synthetic detergents like SLS, phthalates, propylene glycol, PEG's, triclosan etc in our products. We're also very picky about colours and fragrances, so will never ruin our natural cosmetic formulations with lurid synthetic colours or fragrance oils. In our experience, all of these can be skin sensitisers and should be avoided if your have a sensitive skin condition like eczema, acne, rosacea or psoriasis. It's far better to select more natural ingredients such as botanical oils, carefully selected essential oils and gentle cosmetic ingredients that work in harmony with the skin, instead of causing allergic reactions.
If you have any queries about the suitability of any of our products, please give us a call or fill in the contact us form - we'll be very happy to offer you further advice so you can select the right products for your skin.
How natural are your soaps and skincare products?
We’d be the first to agree that “natural” is a term that’s often abused in skincare. Many so called “natural” products contain a cocktail of ingredients, with only a small proportion from a genuinely natural source. We therefore guarantee that all of our products contain generous amounts of cold pressed (often organic) oils, butters, hydrolats (flower waters), essential oils and botanical extracts. We only source our ingredients from reputable suppliers – many of whom have Soil Association accreditation or are members of the Aromatherapy Trade Council.
Why do you only use essential oils in your natural cosmetics?
Our founder Sarah is a Clinical Aromatherapist. She's been trained in botany and essential oil chemistry, so understands the therapeutic properties of essential oils and how they can be blended into a synergy that supports the skin whilst smelling gorgeous. At Natroma, we go to huge amount of effort to create skincare products that are as natural as possible. So it seems right to only use essential oils in our products, because they offer so much more than synthetic fragrance oils that only provide a pretty aroma.
I have sensitive skin so can I use your skincare products?
The majority of the Natroma creams contain organic hydrolats, and in many cases this is the only form of aroma within the formulation. The Chamomile range was specially developed to suit sensitive skin and has a calming effect on delicate skin conditions. Aromatherapy grade essential oils are contained within some formulations, so if you have any concerns about using these, we’d suggest that you purchase one of the small tester sizes before committing to a full size product. As a precaution, we'd recommend that you perform a patch test (try a small amount of cream on the delicate skin of the inner elbow, or the skin behind the ears) if you have any concerns.
Are your natural creams like commercial ones?
You will probably find that all of our handmade aromatherapy products are more concentrated than the ones you find on the high street. This is part of the reason why we sell them in smaller containers, it’s better to purchase only what you need so the ingredients are fresh and retain their full potency. We’d also suggest that less is more, so you’ll only need a small amount to provide the correct amount of coverage over the skin. Simply apply a small amount with the fingertips and gently smooth onto the skin, gently patting with the ring finger around the delicate eye area. Try out a small amount before adding more, since the formulations are concentrated but should not feel greasy on the skin – if they do, you’ve used too much.
Why are you packaging some products in plastic?
We have chosen airless pump dispensers for a number of our handmade cosmetics, since these protect the organic active ingredients and help the product to last for longer. Jars aren't hygienic since the product is exposed to the environment and you introduce bacteria every time that you put your fingers into the cream. To cope with this, many commercial products conatin lots of harsh preservatives, to prevent the cream from going mouldy or becoming contaminated. if we did the same and also created harsh products just so we could use cheap jar packaging it would defeat the object of why Natroma was created....to help people with sensitive skin! So by using airless packaging, we can use better ingredients and milder preservatives in lower concentration - so much better for natural skincare products. They are a handy size, and pump out a set measure of the product in a very hygienic way and are lightweight and better for the environment (reducing the weight of our mail order packages). Anything packaged in white containers will contain organic hydrolats or water, so contains a small amount of preservative.
Why are there preservatives in some of your products?
Preservatives are necessary to prevent water containing products from being contaminated by mould or bacteria. As soon as water is introduced to any skincare product it provides the ideal environment for “nasties” to multiply and potentially cause damage to the skin when the skincare product is used. We only use low percentages of a preservative which is accepted in organic Soil Association products, and have deliberately excluded parabens preservatives from all of our formulations. But we can see that some customers would prefer to not have any preservatives in their skincare, so if this sounds like you, please make your selection from products contained within glass or aluminium containers on this website.
Are your products cruelty-free?
Natroma products have been Leapin Bunny approved since 2010, but we have never conducted or commissioned any form of animal testing on our products or their ingredients. We only test our handmade products on human volunteers....and there's usually a queue! All of our Natroma facial products are suitable for vegetarian and vegan customers since our ingredients are botanical in origin. We proactively monitor our ingredient suppliers to ensure that our products contain top quality ingredients that have not been subjected to animal testing.