Willow By The Sea

Willow By The Sea is a 100% organic baby skin care collection, made in small batches by the beach in Newcastle, Australia.

HUNTERhunter had a chat with Luke Ryan, one of the faces behind the magic at Willow By The Sea. The local brand run by Luke and his wife, Corina was developed in order to provide mums and their bubs, a trusted organic product that is free of toxins and nasties that irritate the skin. 

There are more beauty and skin care brands than ever claiming to be eco friendly, sustainable and contain ethical ingredients? What makes Willow By The Sea stand out?

One of the main reasons we created Willow By The Sea was to actually provide a 100% certified organic product and cut through all of the 'greenwashing' marketers are using on products. Calling yourself 'natural' or 'organic' these days does not really mean much unless the product is actually certified organic.

Companies use these words on packaging to persuade people into believing a product is actually better for you than it is. You can simply read the ingredients on the back and notice how 'natural' these products are. Natural simply means the ingredient itself is not chemically derived, but that does not mean the process to develop the ingredient is natural at all. For example a crop that is not certified organic can still be sprayed with pesticides or other toxins and still pass as a natural ingredient in your product. You are still putting toxins of the pesticides on your skin.

The second thing that separates us from the pack is that we are completely waterless meaning that you are only paying for the ingredients that matter. The reason many products come in big containers is that the main ingredient is water (or aqua). The product is diluted and you need to use a lot at one time. With Willow By The Sea, you only need a tiny amount each time as it is concentrated with highly effective botanical ingredients.

What does it mean to be 100% certified organic? How long did this process take to come together?

To become a certified organic company, the process can take up to a year (or longer) depending on what you are manufacturing / growing. It means that everything from the people that supply you ingredients, to the way you manufacture your products, the cleaning of equipment, quality control methods used, track and trace of all ingredients to the farms where they where purchased is accounted for and has been audited to meet the strict Australian organic standards.

Why is it so important to use 'green, natural products' rather than the average store bought skin care products?

The big thing really is that anything you put on your skin is absorbed into the body and can find its way to every organ. For an expecting mum who is heavily concerned with the health of their growing baby or a parent who wants the best for their little one, why on earth would you put something on your body that can cause damage?

Skincare products containing toxins like parabens, plastics, phthalates or even pesticides used in the development of products cause hormone disruption linked to a myriad of issues like depression, autism and neural degeneration.

There is also the ability for products containing toxins, chemicals, fragrances, parabens, GMO's, fillers, dyes, surfactants or any other nasty to strip the natural oils of a babies sensitive skin aiding in skin irritation issues.

Is the brand targeted at only mums and bubs or can anyone use your products?

The original products where initially designed for babies and mums but we are finding a lot of people are buying our Belly Butter and Belly Oil to use as hand, body and face cream. The feedback we get is that they love the purity of the product, how absorbent it is on the skin, and how it makes their skin feel. As it is 100% pure there is nothing to irritate or dry out the skin.

Where can we get our hands on Willow By The Sea's products?

At the moment you can buy directly from us online at Willowbythesea.com. We proudly manufacture all of our products right here in Newcastle where everything is kept to a 100% certified organic standard.

What does the future hold for Willow By The Sea? We will be seeing more product development e.g. sunscreen?

For right now we are focused on providing mum and baby with the best possible skincare choice but we have been asked about sunscreen quite a few times now so we may look into it and also the idea of developing a couple of products specifically for the whole family seeing that they are being used beyond mum and baby.