Life Lessons From a Natural Cosmetics Formulator

Hello. This is me. LisaLise – the person behind this website and Formulators Kitchen.

Today, I'll be dispensing a bit of unsolicited advice and doing a self interview of sorts. This is because you asked (which would make it solicited advice, come to think of it).

Shall we begin?

Since Forever Ago

I've been doing this 'plant-based cosmetics thing' a long time before I started blogging about it in 2010 – and very long time before it became trendy.

For more years than I care to count, that placed me in some kind of un-categorizable spot in the cosmetics world that – more often than not – triggered reactions such as belittling, sneering, or patronizing.

OK, fine.

You do your thing and I'll carry on doing mine.

Fast Forward to 15 Years Ago

Things have changed quite dramatically over the past decade and a half and the cosmetics formulating world is looking much greener than it used to.

Slowly, snickers have turned into questions, and some (greatly appreciated) admiration.

In more recent years, people have even begun asking me:

'I want to do what you do – I want to follow my own path and do things 'my way'. How do I go about that?'

So today – for every one of you who have asked me this question, I'm going to tell you.

Here's how to go about doing what I do.

1: Love What You Do

Whether you want to create skincare, develop your own unique ingredients, or invent the perfect all-natural hair dye, your work should bring you joy, because here's the biggest secret of all – your work is the reward.

Let me repeat that: your work is the reward.

• not money

• not recognition

• not subscribers

• not likes

• not followers

You are not on a fast track from point A to point B, but embarking on a journey of discovery that will undoubtedly bring you delights, but also disappointments.

If the work doesn't excite and inspire you; if it doesn't bring you joy and passion – then you need to find that unique thing that does.

2: Be Curious

Being curious is not looking for a cheat sheet to solve an immediate problem, but happily and willingly embarking upon a quest for understanding.

Attaining real knowledge and experience cannot be faked or fast-tracked.

If you are genuinely curious and genuinely love what you do, you will even feel excited about doing work-related 'menial' chores.

And you will grow and learn even more, and discover the more you learn, the more curious you get.

At one point, you will in all likelihood discover your unique combination of love-of-work and curiosity is even inspiring to someone on a similar path.

This is a bonus reward for doing what you love – sharing your passion.

Even though you may feel you are still on a long path of discovery, you may find some people have begun to regard you as a teacher.

Don't let that go to your head. You're still the same person you were yesterday.

Those who come to you for guidance deserve your kindness, respect, and honesty.

3: Be Honest

You don't know everything. You never will - even if you have spent oodles of time studying something, there will always be more to learn. Admit when you don't know the answer to something.

And for the sake of all that is right and good, admit if you discover you were wrong about something. You owe it to the people who regard you as an educator. You also owe it to yourself.

Learning is a lifelong process and life is an ongoing process of learning.

Be honest about who you are.

Be honest about what you do.

Be honest about what you know.

Be honest in everything you do.

Be honest.

4: Nurture Your Energy

While sharing your passion is wonderful, it can at times feel demanding.

It's OK to 'unplug' when you need to. Better to stay silent or out of the picture until you have had time to recharge. That may mean you need an at-home spa day, a walk in the forest, a long coffee break, a night on the town or a family fun weekend.

Whatever it may be, allow yourself this, because it is not a luxury. Remember that you cannot contribute anything to anyone if you are depleted.

Therefore: guard and nurture your energy.

Associate and surround yourself with people who feed your spirit and energize you - these people are your tribe.

Do not associate with toxic people. You will recognize them. They are barbarians who seek to drain your energy and break your spirit. Dismiss them from your life – block their access to you.

5: Be Prepared to Pay the Price

There are going to be bumps along the way. Following your passion has a price. People who have not yet found their own passion will see you as a threat. Some may even be colleagues. Others will be callous, insulting, condescending, or surprisingly hateful for reasons completely unknown to you.

You may experience being

• harassed

• lied about

• ridiculed

• copied

• plagiarized

• stolen from

It will be hard to ignore negativity of this type, and as disappointed and devastated as it will make you feel, there is only one way to overcome it.

6: Fight Hate With Love

This is a hard one to do. It really is. It will feel like it takes more purpose and conviction than you can imagine possessing.

But here's something life has taught me: nothing constructive or positive ever comes from spreading negativity.

Ever.

Answering ugliness with ugliness only makes more ugliness. Stirring up hatred is toxic. Do not feed toxicity. Turn your back to it.

This does not mean don't fight back.

It means: fight negativity with positivity.

This will not be easy to figure out in the heat of any given moment, but I promise you – if you have made a conscious choice to fight hate with love, you will figure out exactly the right thing to do at exactly the right time.

Do this, and you will always be able to see beauty – not just in the mirror, but you will recognize it in (almost) every face you see.

Do this, and you will always be able to stay focused on your passion – and that's what got you started in the first place, isn't it?

Afterthought

Reading back over this, I realise it might all sound like some kind of old idealistic hippie creed, but the truth is, that's what I am – a real life idealistic old hippie.

Peace and love, baby.

Thank you for reading.

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Pine Tar Soap

Pictured above is not a fudge brownie (although I can see how people could mistake this for something edible). What you are looking at is pine tar soap.

This particular soap has a very long history of use (over hundreds of years).

Pine tar is made by burning pine wood. It is a dark, sticky mass that has a decidedly smoky smell - similar to smelling concentrated campfire.

Pine tar was originally used to protect and preserve wood and has its roots in Scandinavia. Throughout history, it has made its way into - of all things - soap. Despite the rather 'medicinal' and pungent smell pine tar soap has, it is loved by many - especially those with sensitive skin.

Today, we're going to learn a bit about this soap from a maker of it.

Sharon O’Reilly is the owner of Two Sheep Soapery located in Ireland. A post by Sharon on social media about pine tar soap stirred memories from years gone by, so I asked if she would be willing to share a bit about how she makes her pine tar soap and help dispel a few myths about pine tar.

Please join me in welcoming Sharon to the blog!

Thank you for joining us today Sharon. You have been making handcrafted soaps and cosmetics for over 2 decades, but your pine tar soap is special. Could you share a bit about how you got started making it?

Thank you for inviting me. This is very exciting & I'm honoured you have asked me to join you today.

I have been making handcrafted soap & cosmetics since 2011. I've made my own Balms & oil blends since I qualified in aromatherapy in 1996.

I found out about cold process pine tar soap around 2012. It was in an online American soap group & it was being talked about for skin problems. Since having chemotherapy for breast cancer, my skin has become quite sensitive, even my sense of smell/taste changed, prone to dryness & I've become very allergic to insect bites which scar horribly. This was one of many reasons why I started to make my own products after my diagnosis.

Pine tar soap is really good for skin problems. Historically in European pharmaceutical products, pine tar has been used for eczema, dry skin conditions, psoriasis, dandruff, in veterinary preparations to aid healing & as a fly deterrent on any shearing abrasions in the sheep. I use it a lot on my farm here in Ireland & find it really useful.

It's very healing.

Is pine tar a difficult ingredient to work with?

When I make my pine tar soap, I just follow my usual cold process formula (you can hot process it too which I've done) & add pine tar to my warm oils including any FO/EO (fragrance oils/essential oils).

Pine Tar is like thick, sticky brown syrup. I measure mine out separately & keep to one side until needed. I am assessed to use 10% but some soapers use as much as 20%, others only 5%. Then I add the lye solution as last thing. I never stick blend, just stir with a spoon until emulsified because it only takes a few minutes to get really thick & you have to work really fast getting it in the mould! Please don't use a stick blender or it's instant soap on a stick! Lol.

The soaps look like beautiful chocolate brownies (so I get told all the time by people), but you really don't want to eat it....Yuck!

There are some studies that conclude wood tar preparations (including pine tar) contain carcinogenic constituents that may induce skin cancer, yet ironically, pine tar soap has a long history of use specifically for skin conditions. What has been your experience with this soap and how it works?

There have been various discussions regarding the safety of various tars etc. I think where people are getting confused is between the different tars.

Coal Tar is prohibited & can have carcinogenic substances in it.

Pine tar is perfectly safe which is the one I am assessed to use. I work with an amazing cosmetic chemist.

Are there any precautions people should take before making their own pine tar soap?

Do have a go at making this wonderful soap! Initially, the smell is very strong. Perhaps put it in a shed to cure or dry out. It has a very woody, smoky, little burnt smell.

After a few weeks of curing/drying, I think it smells like like the old fashioned medicated vosene herbal shampoo! I've had both men & women say that they like the smell & I think it's suitable for all skin types. It is a very gentle soap. I make mine with a tallow base.

Good luck to everyone who has a go making the soap & I hope you enjoy the skin loving qualities it brings you.

Thank you so much for sharing these tips and insights to pine tar soap Sharon!

Find Sharon and Two Sheep Soapery here.

More About Pine Tar Soap

Pine Tar; History and Uses (LINK)

Effect of Pine Tar on Disease severity in moderate-to-severe childhood eczema (LINK)

Topical Pine Tar: History, properties and use as treatment for common skin conditions (LINK)

Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Cosmetic Products and Non-Food Products intended for Consumers concerning Wood tar and Wood Tar Products (LINK TO PDF DOCUMENT)

Dr Squatch - Benefits of Pine Tar Soap (LINK)

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Are Seed Oils Dangerous? An Interview with Susan M Parker

After seeing numerous posts/comments and memes on social media warning about seed oils as health hazardous, I contacted the one person I knew would be able to set the record straight about seed oils. I am absolutely thrilled that Susan M. Parker agreed to answer my questions and be interviewed here on the blog.

Susan is author of Power of the Seed (the Bible of any cosmetic formulator interested in understanding carrier/fatty oils) and the Founder of the Lipid Oils Academy (links below). I regard her as The Lipid Trailblazer – apart from being incredibly knowledgable about all things lipid, she is an all around lovely lady.

Please join me in welcoming Susan M Parker to the blog.

Welcome to the blog, Susan! You are known as the primary source of information about vegetable and plant oils in the beauty industry (and probably beyond). How did you learn about the properties of carrier oils?

It is funny that I am known as the primary source! I only arrived at this point as I needed help finding enough information on the oils that made sense to me. I started an herbal products business after my herbal apprenticeship, where making herbal infused oils was magical.

Herbal infusions led to balms and salves, soap, then I branched out into facial care - and I kept pottering away and bought books on essential oils and herbalism but there were no books or websites to understand the carrier-type oils.

I had a chemist friend who gave me some pointers about fatty acids in making soap, which led to a self-published booklet that was the infancy of Power of the seed. This was in 2000 and 2001. The title only came later from my publisher when the "real" book was in the works in 2014.

When I got the go-ahead for the book proper, I dove in to try as many oils as I could - this was where I discovered that applying oils to wet skin in the shower or bath could tell you a whole lot about the nature of the oil. I still recommend this to my students to learn about the oils intimately on the skin. Not just by fatty acid pie charts.

So the book came out in 2015, which was a long time ago. Once I started working with Olivia to put courses online, the research kept expanding. And every time I rewrote the Lipids Decoded course, I learned more and wanted to include it, so my knowledge base kept growing too.

And I have just rewritten the course and reformatted it again 2022. Believe it or not, new information about oils - primarily within botanical families - appeared, so I got all excited again. The botanical families of lipid oils are fascinating because big themes jump out when you put oils from a family group together with pie charts and color photos.

Like in the Rose family - almond, apricot, apple, pear, raspberry, rose hip - a few of the 14 oils fall within four different fatty acid groups! Trees and shrubs are different growing shapes, but the fatty acid groups grew from two to four over about three years as new oils appeared and staked their part of the family.

The other family that is so much fun now is the palm family - even with all the issues with using palm oil as a social problem. I have had people want to string me up if I mention "palm oil," but there are 14 of them, too, from 12 different trees, and only one is the problem because of who and how it is grown. —- But going past all that, I have recently found two distinct fatty acid profiles in the family, and each group is very different from a color point of view. One is all red and green oils, while the other is white, tan, and cream colors.

I could only have seen that by rewiring the course and laying out the material in a new way with new photos. I have an art background so laying out the courses helps that part of my brain. I have no real science except what a few friends have helped me with, so it is kind of crazy that I am the primary source, as you say. I get interested and dive down rabbit holes, and that is where the discovery happens.

Whew!

Is there a difference between oils produced for skincare and for consumption? If so, what should people be aware of?

The oils for skin care and eating are pretty much the same, but there are things to watch out for - not that there is any harm, but most cooking oils are more highly refined than those for natural skin care. That said, I am seeing more natural unrefined cooking oils - avocado is one. Big bottles for cooking are usually mostly clear with little color, so refined, but I do have a few that are very green and unrefined - so lots of unsaponifiable goodies in them.

The other thing to watch out for is toasted oils - sesame oil is the one most people encounter, but lots of oils are toasted for flavor, which is just too strong a scent for most skin care. Not harmful, but strongly scented of dinner might differ from what formulators are looking for.

There are currently many rumors circulating about 'seed oils’ being bad for your health. Could you shed some light on this?

Yes, the rumors circulating are about PUFA (PolyUnsaturated Fatty Acid), seed oils, omega-6. People are completely misreading the nature of these oils.

And there is an issue with internal consumption versus topical application on the skin.

Internally, omega-6 oils are mostly from seeds, and omega-6 is a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), so they are the same thing. This is linoleic acid, and it is one of two essential fatty acids. Both of these fatty acids need to be consumed in relative proportion because they work in tandem with the body. Omega-6 linoleic acid promotes inflammation that we need to heal when we are sick or injured. Omega 3- its counterpart, a-Linolenic acid, checks that inflammation keeps the body in balance.

Most of our modern diets skew towards omega-6 rather than omega-3 because of food processing and agriculture because omega-3 fatty acids are more highly susceptible to oxidation than omega-6. Common ratios of O-6 to O-3 are 30 or more to 1. To be in balance, it should be more like 3 or 4 to 1.

So needing to understand the dual nature of both EFA essential fatty acids in the problem - not omega-6.

And don't get me started on "seed oils" are bad for you - All plant oils are from some sort of seed, and we call them kernels, grains, beans, or pulps, but they are still the reproductive part of the plant - the seed.

So what is it that people are misunderstanding about seed oils? How could they possibly be bad for health?

The seed oils reference the omega-6 or PUFA oils - they all fall into the same group - usually high in polyunsaturated linoleic acid. And these oils can also be commodity oils - soybean, sunflower, cotton seed, and others, and the argument is that they are "full of toxic" compounds. This is a valid point if not grown using organic practices and use a lot of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. But there are many wholesome oils to use, olive, coconut, avocado, ghee, peanut, and even red palm, where you get the benefit of a strong dose of carotenoids which are pro-vitamin A.

The quality of the oils does matter. And who is growing and processing it matters a lot. So these commodity oils can be of lesser quality. Still, then if, in addition, the omega-6 fatty acids are consumed in too great a ratio to the omega-3 I mentioned above, we get out of balance, and then our health can be pro-inflammatory rather than in balance. These oils are often made into margarine and shortening to extend their shelf life, but these are very bad for our health as recent studies show.

But when they use the term seed, they don't realize that all oils are from some aspect of seeds. Olives are seeds; we just don't call them that, avocados too, and all the rest.

I hope this will allay fears!

What about rancidity? There seems to be discussion about the dangers of oxidated oils as well.

Some people are afraid that oils applied in the morning will go rancid by tea time! This isn’t true unless you live in a hot oven, in which case we wouldn't make it to tea time!

It takes several hours at 110℃, which is 230℉, for rosehip seed oil to oxidize. For apricot and avocado, it takes 10 hours at those temperatures, so the idea that oils can go rancid in a day is not reasonable.

People hear "rancid" and "oxidize" and figure it happens fast, and they get scared without thinking about the process.

Thank you Susan for giving us your insight into the world of lipid oils!

“Applying oils to wet skin in the shower or bath can tell you a whole lot about the nature of an oil. I recommend this to all my students to learn about the oil intimately on the skin and not just by reading fatty acid pie charts.”

— Susan M Parker

Find Susan M Parker Here

The Lipid OIls Academy

Susan’s Blog

The Power of the Seed

Getting Serious About Seaweed with Vivienne Campbell

Today, I’m absolutely thrilled to share this exclusive interview with Vivienne Campbell of the Herbal Hub. Many of you may already know Vivienne is a medical herbalist, but did you know she has extensive knowledge of seaweed and its many uses? I asked her if she would share some of her seaweed-y wisdom and she graciously accepted and even offers us her top seaweed tips.

Let’s dive in!

Welcome to the blog Vivienne. You have a bit of a passion for seaweed. Can you share how that came about?

I grew up on the coast, so playing in the rock pools on the beach was a normal pasttime. I was surrounded by seaweed but I had no idea about the wide-range of properties it has. I came across these in the mid-90s. I was vegan back then so I was thrilled to discover how nutritious seaweeds were and I started cooking with them to enrich my diet. I bounded into work one day, enthusing about them, at which point a lady I worked with replied with disgust: “Seaweed! That’s what the poor people eat!”. I’ve never been able to use them since without remembering her comment and laughing! Between them taking pride of place in gourmet restaurants or being star brand ingredients in €200 jars of skin cream, it really is funny how times and prespectives change!

When I went on to study herbal medicine (I did a BSc and qualifed in 2003), I then learned about their medicincal properties too. Medicines extracted from various seaweeds became a staple in my clinic. Working in Ireland, where their use as home remedies and wild foods was still a strong tradition, I learned yet more about them. When I started to grow vegetables, I used them as a fertiliser for the garden. I love that they are so prolific, so humble, so easily available and have such potential to improve life on a wide range of levels. From improving health to creating a sustainable local economy: seaweed shows the way! Now that I’m based in Portugal, I’m having great fun discovering which varieties grow here too.

You created an entire skincare line based on seaweed several years ago. Could you tell us about that?

Yes, that wasn’t planned at all, it happened quite by accident. I did a weekly foraging feature on a televison series in Ireland, making wild foods, herbal medicine or skincare. One week we were at the coast so I made a seaweed face cream. When that episode was broadcast I received a lot of requests from people who wanted to buy it, so I got some nice glassware and put it together for the Christmas markets to try it out. It was a hit and people asked for more products. So quite without planning to do so, I ended up with a whole professional natural cosmetic range! There were 12 products, half of which contained seaweed. All the nourishing face and body creams were seaweed-based.

The seaweeds I used were types of Wracks (Serrated Wrack [Fucus serratus] and Bladderwrack [Fucus vesiculosus]). These are traditionally used in Ireland for skincare, usually via therapeutic seaweed baths. They are abundant and grow all year round, so it’s a very sustainable variety of seaweed to work with. Other types of seaweed are more expensive because they are more scarce, only being in prime condition for harvest once a year. The wracks are beneficial because they are very rich in minerals, alginates and other compounds that help to nourish the skin, hair and nails so I really enjoy working with them.

Some years ago, I had some good results with a (purchased) seaweed extract that promised increased hair growth. It was a combination of Channelled Wrack (Pelvetia Canaliculata) and Oarweed (Laminaria Digitata). Are these specific to hair care or are they useful skincare as well? 

There are so many varieties of seaweed and, as far as I’m aware, they are all very rich in minerals (because they grow on rock and in the sea). Minerals tend to be of particular benefit to the hair and nails, they help to strengthen them. So any seaweed that is safe to eat should be safe to apply to the skin or hair.

I haven’t tried using Channelled Wrack for natural cosmetics but yes, it absolutely does have well-documented benefits for the skin as well as the hair. It is sometimes used in commercial cosmetic products because it is thought to reduce the appearance of wrinkles, because extracts from this seaweed seem to stimulate the production of collagen. It is a more expensive seaweed to work with because it’s quite a small plant. Whenever the plants are smaller they require more care and work to collect them, this usually makes them more expensive to buy than larger seaweeds.

Oarweed: Yes, this is commonly used in cosmetics, especially for skincare. A lot of the seaweed wrap treatments used in spas are based on this seaweed. It’s also a popular one in commercial gels, eye creams and regenerative skin treatments. It’s very high in antioxidants. It grows under the sea though, so it’s an awkward one to collect. It tends to only be visible at certain times of the year.

Many formulators consider seaweed a 'stinky ingredient' that has to be masked in a formulation. Are there some seaweeds that are preferable to others?

My experience is that the strong smell has less to do with the variety of seaweed used, and more to do with the choice of solvent used to extract it. Water makes for a distinctively seaweedy-smelling extract. Water-containing solvents such as vinegar or alcohol also have that characteristic strong smell.

Seaweed has a much more subtle scent if you extract it in oil. Infused oils of seaweed are absolutely beautiful and have a very mild, subtle aroma, that can easily be completely masked by other ingredients. It is commonly assumed that we need to use water to extract seaweed, but there are plenty of fat soluble compounds in it which is why it makes such an a great infused oil.

However, it’s also possible to balance water extracts in your formulations: I’ve been able to do so just using sweet-smelling herbs (not even needing essential oils, much to my surprise). It's a question of balancing the ingredients with the blending and formulating. Another option is making a feature of the seaweed smell by putting it into products and blending it with ingredients that match it well. For example salt or sugar scrubs with rosemary or mint, or some woody-smelling essential oils. These robust product types suit seaweed well.

Your newsletter a while ago inspired me to try your easy to make Irish moss foot soak and it was truly a joy. Do you have a favourite way of working with seaweed? 

It’s hard to choose a favourite because I genuinely do love it all so much! I teach a whole Seaweed Spa class and we have a great time trying out different forms of seaweed and ways to extract them, we even make a simple DIY gel. It’s so interesting to compare the results and effects. From DIY home treatments to professional formulations: there is vast scope for using seaweeds. In either category it’s possible to create something that feels really luxurious, beneficial and is highly nourishing.

Personally, I love seaweed infused oil in a facial serum. I use this a lot, and it can be made in the space of a few hours so it’s very handy.

However, if I had to choose a favourite then it would be a seaweed bath (a full bath or just a foot bath) because it is so simple, convenient, budget-friendly and effective. It’s nourishing, energising and deeply relaxing. I tend to combine seaweed with other ingredients that I have to hand: a few rose petals, a sprig of rosemary, sea salt, a dash of infused oil, a few crumbs of shea or cocoa butter.

And when I go away working at busy conferences or events I always bring a bag of dried seaweed with me to have a bath in my hotel room. That’s how I keep up my stamina during these busy, demanding events [thanks so much to Irish seaweed specialist Dr Prannie Rhatigan who gave me that tip many years ago!].

Here’s another tip: for extra goodness when you get out of the footbath or full bath, I recommend that you don’t towel dry your skin. Instead, wrap your feet or yourself in a towel and sit for 10 mins, allowing the skin to dry more slowly. This gives more time to absorb the minerals and other benefits from the residue of the bathwater. You’ll also be so much more relaxed for doing this, and your skin will be extra soft. It makes a big difference.

Vivienne’s Top Seaweed Tips

TIP 1

For those of you interested in using fresh seaweed from the coast, please be aware that you can’t just use seaweed that you see washed up on the beach because it is already starting to rot and degrade. That would be like making skincare extracts from vegetables out of your compost bin! If you want to use seaweed for food, herbal medicine or cosmetics then you’ll need to learn how to properly identify, cut, harvest and process it. You’ll need to check if collection is allowed in the country where you live, or if it requires a permit. You’ll also need to learn the times of year when it’s in season, as well as monitoring the tides so that it isn’t covered by the sea and otherwise you won’t be able to get to it!

TIP 2

You do NOT need fresh seaweed to make seaweed skincare & haircare. Most extracts work really well made from dried seaweed and that’s easy to buy from health stores or dried seaweed companies who sell it for food or skincare uses.

All photos courtesy of Vivienne Campbell, The Herbal Hub

Visit Vivienne at the Herbal Hub.

This Green Powder Cleanses both Skin and Hair

This lovely green powder is an all-natural cleanser for both skin and hair with a lovely herby fragrance and a unique ability to foam when wet. The company that produces it was kind enough to gift me the sample pictured above, and after I tried it (and got all excited about how cool it was to work with), the founder agreed to be interviewed and tell me a bit of the story behind this amazing ingredient.

Please join me in welcoming Huda Ahmed, founder of Huda Organics.

Welcome Huda! Would you share a bit about how you came to create Huda Organics?

I founded Huda Organics in 2017, while I finished my Master’s Degree in Business at Brunel University.

Although I grew up in Norway, my family is originally from Somalia. Qasil powder is a staple in Somali homes. I was accustomed to seeing my mother, aunts, and grandmother using Qasil powder both as a face mask and a cleanser. It was second nature to see my mother running around the house or doing chores with a bright green face. I never actually thought much of it until I reached my early teens.

It’s fairly common, although unfortunate, for young girls to become self-conscious about their skin and their bodies at this age, and the same was true for me. During this time, I became really interested in skincare. I was up to speed on all of the latest creams, serums, active ingredients, and gadgets. This wasn’t because I had particularly problematic skin, but because I had formed the terrible habit of being critical of every inch of skin on my face. I convinced myself that if I did not have the latest beauty product I could never have perfect skin or be beautiful. I now know that this thinking is absolute nonsense and it’s something I actively try to prevent our customers from feeling. Nevertheless, it was difficult for me to view things in any other way at the time.

What ended up happening was that I ended up with extremely irritated skin and a beauty routine with about 500 different steps. This was not just impractical, but also extremely expensive - especially during my last years of high school, and when I became a university student. As many students can attest to, university (particularly exam time) is extremely stressful, and things as inconsequential as brushing your hair or cooking a proper meal can be viewed as major successes. I, like many other students, was juggling going to university and working part-time. It’s no surprise that the mere thought of completing all of the steps in my skincare routine was becoming increasingly more overwhelming, especially as my skin just stayed constantly irritated and inflamed.

I realised that instead of listening to everybody else talk about what worked for their skin, I needed to listen to what my skin wanted and needed. I also needed to buy back some of the time I was wasting on such an elaborate routine every day. I have always had a keen interest in natural beauty, which I inherited from the women in my family, and of course, at their insistence, I have used Qasil powder sporadically over the course of my life. In an effort to improve my skin and simplify my routine, however, I decide to listen to my mother and go back to our ancestor’s tried and true product, Qasil powder, to see whether it would make a difference. I cut out all other products and started using Qasil powder daily. To begin with, I used Qasil as a cleanser, and later on, I started to mix it with either honey, yoghurt, or turmeric to create face masks. My skin started to clear up pretty quickly and was no longer as inflamed as it had been for several years. My friends commented that my complexion was brighter than usual. Qasil powder was definitely working for me, just as it has worked for members of my community for centuries - that much was clear to me. What I wasn’t so sure about for a few years was whether it was working for us because we all shared similar complexions and skin concerns. I thought the only way to find out was by giving Qasil powder to as many of my friends as possible to see if they noticed any difference in their skin. Practically every single one of them got back to me with hugely positive feedback about how their skin looked and felt after using Qasil.

After receiving some great news about how it was helping a friend with acne, I decided to Google Qasil for the first time. I was a little shocked to find there was practically nothing about it online. That was my lightbulb moment. That was when it truly clicked that instead of waiting for somebody else to carve their own niche selling Qasil, I could create this space myself. I was studying Business at the time, so it made perfect sense to combine my love for this product with the knowledge I acquired doing my degree.

Once I got the idea of starting my own Qasil company, I developed a bizarre sense of urgency. When you’re the first one to do something, there’s a huge amount of pressure and responsibility to get it right. In my case, nobody around me believed this would be anything more than a small and temporary side-hustle that I would eventually give up on once I finished my degree and found a ‘real’ job. I’m quite stubborn and hate to feel that people are placing bets against me, so instead of viewing this as Plan B, I made this my Plan A. I initially started selling on Etsy, and even though I rarely made more than about 2-3 sales a month for several years, I used the time to bulk-make videos, and other graphic content, and really cultivate a space on the internet for Qasil that hadn’t ever existed before. Part of me continued to pursue this, despite low sales, because I truly believed in Qasil and knew it could be the stepping stone for more than just a beauty company, but a lifestyle company that could give back to my home country of Somalia. Two of my main passions are female empowerment and sustainability. I was well aware that because the powder comes from Somalia, where there is little employment regulation and an ongoing climate crisis, that selling this type of product could lead to the unmitigated exploitation of land, resources, and people. I also knew that when Huda Organics became a more well-known company that other companies selling Qasil would emerge, but because we had already set an ethical precedent they would be forced to answer to the same expectations and questions our customers have become accustomed to.

Huda Organics did take off, albeit three years after I started selling on Etsy, when a TikTok video I posted went viral in mid-2020. Fast forward to 2022, we’re now a team of nine people working between London and Somalia - and we ship worldwide! We’re fortunate enough now to have been able to establish our own supply chain and we’re actually in the process of starting our own environmental charity. As we are still entirely self-funded, it has been a little bit of a slow burn when it comes to finding sustainable and biodegradable packaging, but we’re really happy to begin incorporating that element into our company. We’re also just as excited for the release of a new product (a Qasil moisturiser) this year, which has been two years in the making.

Could you tell my readers a bit about how your product is produced?

Qasil powder comes from the leaves of the gob tree, which grows all over Somalia. As I mentioned earlier, we have nine members in the Huda Organics team. Five of our team members work in our office in Somalia. I’ll break down the process of how the Qasil powder is picked and processed from start to finish.

First and foremost, the leaves need to be picked from the tree. Unfortunately, there isn’t any industrial machinery available in Somalia that can pick leaves out of the trees, and it is also extremely difficult to import a tool of this nature. This could be interpreted as a curse that extends the harvesting process as the leaves need to be handpicked. However, in some ways, it could be viewed as a positive - we are able to harvest the exact quantities we need to prevent having too much overstock or creating excessive waste.

Once the leaves have been picked and put into sacks, they are driven to our local office area where the leaves are put out to dry in the sun for about 2-3 days. The climate is extremely dry and arid in Somalia, which is why the drying process is quite quick. When this process is complete, the dried leaves are separated into piles and ground into a fine powder using a contraption that resembles a mortar and pestle. This powder is then strained several times to remove any stubborn chunks that may have survived the pulverisation process.

The powder is then packaged in Somalia and shipped over to us in the UK where it is labelled and warehoused.

I was very impressed at how this green powder foams up and cleanses both skin and hair. Could you share some of your best tips about how to best use Qasil powder?

Qasil’s strength is in its versatility. As I mentioned earlier, part of my thought process for making this a staple in my routine was to save time by using a product that could do multiple things at once. A great hack that I use is to mix the powder with enough water to create a thick paste. I apply this paste onto my skin, like I would any face mask, and leave it on for around 15 minutes as I potter about the house doing other things. As Qasil is rich in antioxidants and vitamins (particularly vitamins C and E). As such, leaving on the skin a little longer allows these compounds to penetrate the skin more deeply than they would if you just washed them off in a minute or so. Once I’m ready to rinse it off, I just run my hands under some water and add it to the mask so that it starts to foam up (just as it would if you used it to simply cleanse your face). By doing this, I get the added bonus of a gentle exfoliation that leaves my skin feeling extra soft and supple!

Qasil is also great for hair, but I recognise that people’s sensory expectations when using shampoo are very different to using a face product. As you’ve probably been able to gather, getting the water-to-Qasil ratio can be a little tricky at first, although I do believe that it becomes intuitive the more you use it. While I don’t think people are as fussy about their face products lathering up like a bubble bath, there is something quite satisfying about the experience of shampoo foaming up and being gently massaged onto the scalp. For this reason, I recommend putting 2-3 tablespoons of Qasil powder in a bowl, and adding 2 glasses of water, and beating it with a fork just as you would an egg mixture! This will create a foamy lather that will stay super creamy when applied to the scalp! You’ll retain all of the usual sensory experience of shampoo, while gently exfoliating the dead skin cells and excess oils from the scalp, which can help to accelerate hair growth!

Thank you so much for sharing your story Huda! Please visit Huda Organics to try Qasil powder for yourself.

(most) photos in this post are used by kind permission from Huda Organics.

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