MADE THOUGHTFULLY: IN CONVERSATION WITH WILD HERBARY

Here at TLSE, we are always on the hunt for new natural-ingredient based products, so when we find ones we love - we cannot wait to share them - ESPECIALLY when it's products that are so useful (and necessary) like hand sanitiser, bug repellant, sleep aids and soaps!

Founder of Wild Herbary hand-crafts, Bat-Ami, has crafted a thoughtful range of environmentally conscious products - all entirely cruelty free and handmade right here in Aus. In an industry where green-washing is so prevalent, Wild Herbary began with the intention of creating a truly natural essentials brand, designed to nourish your skin without any of the nasties so many skin products seem to include these days.

If you're unfamiliar with green-washing, it's basically when companies present themselves and their products as more environmentally conscious than they are actually are with misleading and deceptive information. Wild Herbary actively works to challenge this by enlisting a through and through environmentally conscious product, all the way from the production to post-use.

Our top pick

While we're totally obsessed with the entire Wild Herbary range, one of our favourites would have to be the Deep Natural Sleep Aid. Made with magnesium oil, the sleep aid promotes relaxation, as well as relief from sore muscles and cramps (need we say more?).

We were lucky enough to sit down with Bat-Ami and pick her brain from all things green-washing to the design behind the lifecycle of her products (start to finish), so keep reading to get personal with Wild Herbary.

[TLSE] Can you tell us a little bit about the process behind the sustainable concept to post-use nature of the

products?

[Bat-Ami] We try to buy everything locally, from our ingredients to all our packaging/printing etc.

Our PET bottle packaging comes from one of Australia’s only Carbon neutral factories were the bottles are

recycled and recyclable. Our soaps have minimal packaging and the card we use to wrap them in is 100% recycled and recyclable paper. Our soaps are also 100% natural which means no chemicals go into our water ways.

The soap bags are 100% organic and 100% biodegradable and the vines used in making these are grown

without irrigation or cultivation.

If you had to sum up Wild Herbary in 3 words, what would they be?

Purposeful, mindful, intuitive

How did Wild Herbary begin?

In 2016 we moved our young family from the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, to the Northern Beaches, to what we

call ‘Paradise’, our new home right in the centre of a National park and on the water. With this beauty

comes unwanted mosquitoes, bugs, ticks etc. and we were all getting eaten alive! I was in desperate search for

truly natural products with high quality ingredients that I was happy to use on my three young kids including

my then 8 week old baby. I wanted a high quality, clean product that was gentle (no alcohol) on their skin,

smelled good (so they would be happy to have it applied on them), truly natural and high-quality ingredients

that worked. This was much harder than I thought! While still on the search I decided to make my own formula, using quality ingredients that I was happy to use on my children. During our Christmas get together in our new home my guests all asked what I was spraying on us, the kids and around the house, as it smelt so good. All our

guests asked to get sprayed as they were also getting bitten and asked to take home to spray at their place. The

feedback was ‘You have to sell this stuff!’ It works, smells amazing, feels so good on the skin and the kids also

love it. Wild Herbary launched in Oct 2017.

Can you explain what ‘greenwashing’ is?

These days we see words like natural, sustainable and organic thrown around the clean beauty industry – but

all of that is only true on the surface. Some of these words are even used as part of the brands name which

makes it even more misleading and confusing to consumers.

How do you approach being a sustainable brand in an industry full of ‘sustainable’ brands?

When I started WH I set out to create products that would have a meaningful impact on our customers

everyday lives. Still now, I focus my attention on researching and refining my product, I think as long as I am

creating products with purpose WH will always have meaning even in a sea of brands

What has been the most challenging thing about owning your own business?

Doing everything yourself and being 100% accountable. As well as having to balance a young family and

growing a business at the same time.

What has been the most interesting?

I’ve done a lot of learning and experimenting with ingredients and products I never even knew existed before I

started WH - I love that aspect of what I do.

How do you find that perfect balance between keeping the products as natural as possible, while ensuring

quality?

It’s so important to us that the suppliers we work with care about quality as much as we do. I do a lot of

research on the ingredients we use and the suppliers we buy from, we also work with a chemist who advises us

on the efficiency of our formulations.

What’s your go-to Wild Herbary product?

Buzz stop – I use it for everything – from keeping mosquitoes away to a room spray and even as a face mist. I

keep some in every room around the house and in the car.

What’s next for Wild Herbary?

I’m super excited about launching our new body range which is due to come out later this year- which will

include our 2 in 1 body & hair oils and some other products we are in the process of finalising.

Check out the rest of the collection here, and start feeling good about the products you're using for more reason than one.

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WORDS | Brittany Ross

IMAGERY | Wild Herbary