Ùr Nua

What is Natural Skincare?

When I started this journey, it was sort of something I stumbled upon. I had no intention of making my own lotions or skincare products, but one discovery led to another and...sort of like Alice in Wonderland....down the rabbit hole I went.

The word "natural" is being used everywhere these days. As we become more aware of what's good for us and what isn't, people become more conscious of what they look for in the products they buy.....which is wonderful! I am on that same path, continuously learning as I go. But as I learned and became more aware of what's out there, I was shocked by how vague and misleading most of the marketing messaging is when it comes to natural cosmetics and skincare (bodycare) products. You see, the word "natural" is not regulated. And it can be interpreted in several ways, leaving LOTS of ambiguity and often times false assumptions about the products that are being labeled as "natural".

You see, a 100% natural lotion that you buy in a store is rarely ever completely natural. Why you ask? Because of stability issues.

Making lotions is sort of like cooking. Each lotion has a unique formula (like a recipe) and is always made of a percentage of water based ingredients, and a percentage of oil based ingredients. Since oil and water don't naturally mix, they require an emulsifier to help bind them together so that your lotion doesn't end up becoming a blobby mess within a day or two. Although beeswax is often used as a natural "emulsifier", it really isn't very effective and the oil and water will eventually separate, unless other emulsifying aids are added.

But the real debate regarding natural lotions revolves around preservation. You see, nature does not preserve anything. In nature, everything is made to eventually decompose and break down. That's how the cycle of life continues. Keeping that in mind, there truly is no such thing as a "natural" preservative. There are preservation systems that are nature derived....meaning that they are made from natural products through chemical processing...but if you want something 100% natural, then no...preservatives are not natural. And yet, a lotion that you buy in a store MUST have a preservative to make it safe for you to use. If it does not, the ethical thing for the producer of the product to do would be to clearly state that the product is not preserved and must be used within a day or two before being discarded. Why is that important? Because, whether we see/smell them or not, within just a few hours of being made, teeny tiny creepy crawlies (bacteria) begin to form to start the decomposition process of the lotion. And these bacteria when applied to our skin can potentially cause more harm to your skin and health, than a lotion with a properly used preservative would.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because it's the basis of my journey. I've bought countless products claiming to be "natural", only to find out that either a) - their marketing was misleading to the point of allowing me to think the product was preservative free, when in reality there was a preservative added under the name of "Parfum" (yes....when you see "parfum" in the ingredient's list, it's actually a preservative...a preservative that smells good....not a perfume like you are led to believe).... or b) - the product truly was all natural without any emulsifier or preservative, but it felt yucky, smelled yucky, or had terrible information on the label (or was missing extremely important information on the label....for example, a truly all natural lotion MUST be kept in the fridge and should be used up within a week of opening, otherwise it will have bacteria)

Ùr Nua will be different. Ùr Nua products may not always be 100% natural, but they will always be 100% honest. That's an Ùr Nua promise. It's my promise.

Have you started your journey to healthier skincare? What has your experience been like?

What's in a name?

Finding a name for a brand that represents your product and image to the best of it's ability is never easy. When I started toying with the idea of actually creating a unique skincare line, I knew that whatever name I chose would have to represent not just me personally, but also my community (Nova Scotia) and be unique enough to stand out in a sea full of natural skincare products. After months of research, Ùr Nua stuck.

You see, Ùr Nua is gaelic and means "Brand New". To me, this venture is a new purpose, a new beginning, and in a way......a new me. My goal is to create authentic and natural body care products that will help make you feel brand new too. The purpose of my brand is also to be a "new" way of looking at skincare....with honesty, authenticity, and transparency. You see, although the world is being flooded right now with "Natural" beauty products, what you see on the label is not always what you get in the product. I hope to unveil some of the vagueness and confusing (and sometimes misleading) information in the skincare world, and offer not necessarily a better product (there are lots of great products out there), but a more authentic one.

Thanks for joining me on this journey, and stay tuned for what's to come....