Meet the Maker: Linda from Nature Knows Better
Welcome to the Cosy Craft Club's DIY skincare month! We really want to encourage you to have a go at making your own skincare, and we'll be sharing the key things you need to know to get started. You can find all our DIY skincare posts in one place here.
We love to meet the makers behind our kits, so today we are getting to know Linda from Nature Knows Better who created our lovely DIY skincare kit!
Please can you introduce yourself?
Hi there! My name is Linda and I’ve been making my own skincare and toiletries for more than 20 years but have only recently turned my passion into business: Nature Knows Better.
How did you get into DIY skincare?
I became as interested in the ingredients going ONTO my body as I was in the contents of the food I was putting INTO my body in the mid-80s, when my children were little.
Back then I just monitored labels to check the ingredients in what I was buying, though. I didn’t really get into making my own skincare products until the late 90s, after I had paid an exorbitant amount for a facial serum. It wasn’t until I opened the box that I discovered there was only just over a teaspoonful of oil in a bottle that I had just paid £50 for!!
I still feel as horrified now as I did then!
I was working as a researcher at the time and started to look for recipes so that I could make my own hand creams, facial cleansers, toners, moisturisers and lip balms. But only for fun. And only for my own use. I also studied clinical aromatherapy and medical herbalism for interest, too.
However, a few years ago friends started to ask me to make all-natural skincare products for them, too. This progressed into running a few demonstrations showing groups of people how to make their own products. And now I have a business selling kits and running demonstrations expounding the virtues of making your own all-natural products that are not only good for your skin, but are also cost effective to make, as well as being good for the environment.
What do you enjoy about it?
I like being able to choose the oils, flower waters and essential oils that go into my skincare and toiletries so that they are bespoke to me. I also love the simplicity and ease of making my own hand cream, body scrubs, shower gels etc. It is embarrassingly quick and easy, but most people assume that they won’t have time in their busy lives to make their own skincare and toiletries.
What kind of things can you make for yourself or others?
The range of starter kits that I sell at the moment focuses on skincare: facial cleansers, toners and moisturisers; hand cream and lip balm; hand scrub and hand cream; foot scrub and foot cream; and a children’s hand cream and lip balm kit. However, I am expanding the range next year to include bath and shower products, kitchen, garden, and pet products that can be made at home, in minutes, from all-natural ingredients.
What do you need to look for when buying supplies for making natural products and where can you get them from?
It took me a while to source my suppliers as I wanted to be sure that they could provide the provenance for the flower waters, essential oils, beeswax, mineral salts etc that I would be putting into my kits. And I supply refills for enthusiasts who get hooked on making their own products and need to make more, either for themselves, or to give as gifts.
What resources would you recommend to someone who wants to learn more about making their own skincare?
The beauty of making your own skincare is that it’s just like cooking. The utensils required can be found in most kitchens. In fact, many of the ingredients in your kitchen cupboard can be used for beauty purposes! Our great grandmothers and their mothers and grandmothers didn’t have access to ready-made beauty products, so they had to rely on what they could find in their larders, or in the forests and fields.
My starter kits contain all the ingredients required to have a go before you decide to invest in essential oils, flower waters etc, which can prove quite expensive initially. And the refills I sell range from 50ml to 1 litre bottles, so that you can make your own high quality luxury products for a fraction of the price you can buy them for.
What questions do you get asked most frequently about natural skincare?
It’s not so much the questions I get asked as the assumptions that are made about making your own all-natural products. We are all so busy these days that when I speak to people about making their own skincare the most frequent response is that they don’t have time. However, it takes less time to make your own moisturisers, cleansers, toners, hand creams, lip balms etc than it does to put your coat on and go to the shop. And faster than firing up your laptop and going online to place and pay for an order. It really is that quick and easy.
For me there are so many benefits of making your own all-natural products:
You can choose the ingredients to suit your own preferences (floral, fruity, herbal)
You know exactly what’s going into the products you make and, therefore, what is going onto your skin
It is environmentally friendlier as you can be sure that your ingredients are as natural as possible; you can reuse your bottles; there is less packaging to recycle; and you are reducing the carbon footprint of distribution
It is easy, quick and fun
It can be more cost effective when compared with similar quality ready made products
Thanks Linda! I think she’s done a great job there of selling the benefits of making your own skincare, it definitely makes me want to have a go. You can find out more about Nature Knows Better on Linda’s website and Instagram - go and check them out!
Rachel x