Introducing Raw Nature

Raw Nature is a small New Zealand brand who were pioneers in a particular type of packaging that we're all taking for granted these days, those cardboard tubes our plastic free natural deodorant comes in.

Raw Nature was founded by Nicky Jagger, and we had a really lovely in depth conversation with her about the whole range, how she got started, how the packaging was developed and her foray in to introducing the range to the Australian market.

The brand has grown to a global multi-award winning eco powerhouse using only plant based ingredients and plastic free packaging. The range is also waterless and free from palm oil.

Why is waterless an important feature?

There are two main reasons why we love waterless products at Shop Naturally.

Reason 1 - the environment

The first one is purely from an eco perspective. Water is a filler. Many products work just fine without it and you add your own water as you use them. Water makes the containers larger, and many of these larger containers are plastic. It also makes them heavier to ship, take up more room in our warehouse and drive up freight costs and pollution to ship around.

The average shampoo bottle contains around 70% water. Fill a delivery truck up with shampoo bottles or only fill a delivery truck 30% of the way with shampoo bars instead of bottles. How much less petrol is being used to ship that around?

Reason 2 - preservatives

Water in any product = the risk of bacteria growing in a product. As soon as water (quite often listed as Aqua in the ingredients list) is introduced, a suitable preservative needs to be put in to the product to ensure its safety. It also means that once opened, the products are likely to have a shorter shelf life. There are cheap synthetic preservatives like phenoxyethanol on the market, but they're not natural. They can be used safely in low concentration for people who aren't sensitive, but the natural industry has stepped away from this ingredient. Other natural alternatives are pricey and drive the cost of the products up significantly.

Raw Nature is Ethy Verified

Ethy is an organisation that has created an easy and affordable way for brands to verify sustainability claims they make about their businesses. Raw Nature have verified the following sustainability claims with Ethy as an extra layer of trust in the brand.

• Female Led
• Clean Beauty
• Gives to Charity
• Waterless Products
• Empowered Employees
• 100% Vegan

The following information is also talked about on the Ethy Raw Nature page. Everything in the Raw Nature range is packaged plastic free, they are certified vegan and cruelty free, they use only 100% natural and chemical free ingredients and they are also free from palm oil.