Meet Anna & Mo from Clean & Natural in this months Ethical Business: Ethical Life.

the clean and natural family

Anna & Mo, from cleanandnatural.co.uk, began their ethical journey during a distressing time for their family. Their middle child had severe eczema and reacted badly to the conventional, petrochemical based treatment. Following a tip from a friend, they discovered that Shea Butter was the soothing solution they needed: two years on and both their family and their business have blossomed!

So how and why did this all start?

African black soap
African black soap

“We began our business when our middle child had severe eczema as a toddler.  We quickly realized that he was hyper-sensitive to the petrochemicals that are in all of the prescribed medication for eczema. He had a severe allergic reaction to the infant oilatum bath and E45 cream we were given.  He was very distressed when we put him in the bath anyway, because his eczema was so itchy and sore. But after he’d been in the bath with the oilatum, within 20 seconds, his screaming reached a peak and we quickly took him out.  The already irritated eczema patches had become red raw, weepy, and hives had come up all over his tiny 3yr old body.”

That sounds awful!

“Yes, we were devastated and wished we’d listened to our gut instincts when the bath additive smelt like petrol when we initially put it in.  Everything was telling us that we didn’t want to use the products we had just been prescribed, but we were desperate to soothe him and at that stage, assumed the Dr knew best, sadly that was not so for our little son.”

So what happened?

“We had been given some natural Shea Butter by a friend of ours to try, and we hadn’t used it up until then. However, we were desperate and we didn’t dare use anything else the Dr had given us, we put some on his skin after we’d rinsed his skin with plain water.  After a couple of minutes, he suddenly began to smile, and he was obviously feeling the soothing effects immediately.  From that day on, we never used anything except natural products on his skin and continued with our research to find natural alternatives.  The difference was instantaneous and the relief was immense!”

“It was a blessing in disguise, because had it not been for his severe reactions, we never would have made the #Change4Natural ourselves, and we still would be polluting our skin with hazardous toxins.”

natural products

So what did you do next?

“From 2013 (during 3rd pregnancy), we were working out how we could access the natural products we wanted to use on our family, and found them very difficult to source so we ended up buying in bulk.  From this, we realised there was a gap in the market for affordable high quality organic natural products, and we eventually registered our business in September 2014.  For the 18 months in between, we were networking, having new start up business meetings (with a brand new bundle as well in a sling until he became mobile!) and doing small fairs to educate people about natural alternatives. We grew from there, constantly researching, updating our products and so on.”

Did moving to natural body products lead to any other changes for you?

“With our #Change4Natural in products, our food choices have gradually changed as well, to plant-based and wholefoods. It is thanks to the wonderful education of alternatives we have had access to at the Vegan Fairs we have taken part in.  We had our first vegan fair in Leicester in 2016, and soon afterwards we went to Nottingham, then Cambridge. For the whole of 2016-2017, we have been following the vegan fairs around the Midlands, as well as taking part in Vegfest Bristol and Brighton.  We have been astounded at the response we have had from the ever-growing vegan community, and we are so grateful for all the support we have been given.”

natural shea butter

And what about the future?

“Plans for the future include traveling further afield to areas we have not visited yet with the vegan fairs. Further North and to the London area, and we are very excited for the future.  Thanks again for the support guys, and please keep sharing the love and supporting us so we can continue to offer high quality, organic products at an affordable price for all.”

Checkout their website and Facebook page.

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