Why Organ-nic’s…Natural & Organic products for mind, body & home ?
The Company is named after it’s founder; Nicola Ena-Smith. A combination of her aim to bring natural and organic skincare & cosmetics altogether in one place combined opportunely with the first part of her name. Hence Organ-nic’s!!!
During her research whilst suffering from multiple chemical sensitivities, she found that many of our skincare & cleaning products can contain potentially harmful ingredients. Further investigation revealed too that some ‘natural’ skincare products may contain as little as 1% natural ingredients. Read Nicola’s full story below.
We now run a shop from a wonderful Grade II listed building in Rye, East Sussex, which was once, ironically part of an apothecary. Read more about our shop here. We stock all the items you see on this website and MORE.
Our aim to provide our customers with a complete shopping experience, where you can purchase all you need in one place, hence; ‘Natural & Organic products for mind, body & home’.
Mind – because we all need to keep our minds active and healthy as well as our bodies. Omega 3 fatty acids have long been renowned as promoting brain power in children as well as showing a significant improvement in behaviour, including attention levels, hyperactivity and short-term memory. See our range of dietary supplements; it’s never too late to boost YOUR brainpower!!!
Body – the outer layer of our bodies, our skin, is our largest organ, and we need to take care of it. It is now widely accepted that up to 60% of what we put on our skin finds its way into our bodies. Any one of us can come into contact with over 100 chemicals a day just from the toiletries & cosmetics we apply to our bodies. This long-term repeated use of these chemical cocktails we are subjecting our bodies to on a daily basis is just completely untested. Any testing that IS done, is in isolation and in one small-metered dose. What is happening to us over a long-term, repeated dose? What we Do know; that no one can explain, is the increase in hormone-related diseases (including cancer), childhood asthma, eczema, not to mention falling sperm-counts. We are quite literally the guinea pigs of the chemical age.
Home – because if you are concerned about what you eat and ‘feed’ your skin, it makes sense to clean your home as naturally, organically and as eco-friendly as possible too!!! It really IS achievable to clean your home naturally. Think back to your granny’s time, she wouldn’t have had access to the vast array of cleaning products widely available in our supermarkets today. She would probably have used bicarbonate of soda, vinegar and natural lemon juice. The chemical-laden cleaners so widely available are all washed into our rivers, streams and sea once we’ve finished with them, where they pollute not just the waters, but the wild-life too. We realise here at Organ-nics that we all have busy life-styles and just don’t have time to make our own environmentally-friendly cleaners, so we stock the Bio-D range of cleaning products. Effective, economical AND environmentally-friendly to boot!!
We are always on the look-out for new products & suppliers – but beware, we are very particular, and you must conform to our Company Ethos:
Company Ethos
At Organ-nics we are truly passionate about bringing our customers top-quality natural & organic products at reasonable prices. That doesn’t mean we will compromise on our core ethics or beliefs, in fact, our aim is for the name ‘Organ-nics’ to become synonymous with truly natural, organic, and eco-friendly shopping.
The products we offer absolutely do NOT contain Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) or Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLES), Parabens, Artificial fragrances, petroleum based oils, phthalates, fluoride or any other unnecessary toxic ingredients; neither have they been tested on animals.
We believe that there should be more transparency regarding product labelling, and as a result we provide a full ingredient listing for every product on this site. We also endeavour to give our customers as much information as to why we believe our skincare products should not contain parabens, SLS/SLES, artificial fragrances and other unnecessary toxic ingredients; see our articles & information pages for further information on this subject.
We absolutely won’t sell you anything we wouldn’t use ourselves nor will we make false claims about the products we sell.
My Story - by Nicola Ena-Smith, founder; Organ-nics Ltd
It was August 2001 and we had just moved to our gorgeous brand-new house. We were excited, the house was SO BIG! Within 3 days I was covered in Urticaria; a skin reaction to an allergy, also known as Hives. It wasn’t for the first time in my life, but I couldn’t understand it; before it had only happened when I’d been in contact with cats; my only known allergy. But this was a brand-new house – no one had lived there before, so no pets had been there. Thereafter, I suffered in varying degrees for the next 6 years. Looking back the only relief was when the builders moved to a different part of the estate for 8 months.
It was towards the end of 2005 though, when I suffered one of my worst outbreaks. It was just one of the worst periods in my life, and one I would never wish to repeat. No part of my body escaped the burning, incredibly itchy raised lumps. My only escape was when I was asleep. What was odd about this outbreak was that my head was literally burning after every shower I had. Thinking it might be the shampoo; I tried shower gel instead, to no avail. I tried baths in just water, but still it didn’t go away. My face was red & blotchy and I absolutely hated going out. Clothes were my enemy as any movement of the material felt like a rasping file against my skin.
I went to see a wonderful local homeopath whom did some allergy tests. She said that I was completely allergic to my shampoo – that explained the burning then! Although she couldn’t test me for individual ingredients, she said her ‘best’ guess was that I was probably allergic to the foaming agents in the shampoo, of which there were two! She advised me to buy some shampoo and shower gels from Green People (a brand I still stock today). I started researching Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) & Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLES), very effective but also harsh foaming agents. (For more information on these ingredients see our information & articles section). I found out that this ingredient was in just about every skincare product that foams, including toothpaste! So I threw away everything with it in.
I improved enough to be able to carry on everyday life, but I was still far from well. I had also been to see my g.p. who referred me to a dermatologist. She had completely disparaged my visit to the homeopath, so I held out little hope of a miracle-cure at the hospital. He prescribed me yet more anti-histamines; that now meant I was on two types at the same time so felt like a zombie most days. Plus the alcohol gel you have to put on your hands in hospital these days caused a terrible reaction – typical I thought!!!
By January 2006 I had changed my cleaning products, laundry powder, deodorants – as well as my skincare products. By now I was purchasing from lots of different sources and paying through the nose for delivery from all those different suppliers. “If only there was a shop where you could go and get all this stuff” I mused to my husband one day. Why not you, he said, you could do it and you have personal experience of allergies – you could help others.
It meant selling our house, which by now felt like it had become cursed anyway – I’d never been in good health since we moved there. I improved dramatically when we removed the carpets and replaced them with laminate flooring, but by now the builders were building new houses on the wasteland at the end of our cul-de-sac and I’m sure that just wasn’t helping my allergies.
Once we moved, I managed to cut down on my anti-histamines – just one at night! But one day I had yet another particularly bad flair-up whilst using a Peppermint & Tea Tree shower gel – I had remembered I’d used a cleaning product with Tea Tree in it previously so decided to avoid it at all costs. Yes, I (and anyone) can also be allergic to natural ingredients – even essential oils. I now know it’s best to avoid Tea Tree, Chamomile, citrus based oils & eucalyptus if you are a sensitive-type like me.
By the summer of 2007 I was as well as I had been for over 6 years. Looking back I think my body had been bombarded for so long that it took time for it to detoxify and heal itself. I had found my shop in Rye and we were busily kitting it out. We were also moving – again! After months in temporary accommodation we moved into a 400 year-old house, it couldn’t have been more different to our brand-new house I’d been so ill in. Drafty windows & doors - but I was well and that’s all that mattered. I too had my shop opening to look forward to (it had seemed so long since I’d had ANYTHING to look forward to).
I have been consistently well now for some time – I know what I can use, and what I can’t. I steer clear of anything with a strong fragrance and if I want to try anything new – like a shampoo or styling product, I have to use it for a good few weeks before I can declare myself able to tolerate it.
It doesn’t mean I’ll never suffer again; experience has unfortunately taught me that I can go for years using a product, then bam; I’m allergic to it. I’m by no means alone; I have met many people in the shop suffering just as I did. I feel for you all. I hope by reading this you can take heart that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I never thought I’d get to where I am today and I’ve had some very dark days along the way. True allergies change lives, and those of their families too. My family had to watch me scratch, cry & get very depressed. My overriding desire to set up Organ-nic’s was to help others; others whom are now or have at some time suffered as I did. That’s why we operate the ‘try before you buy’ service in the shop. We will let you take a small sample home to try* – all we ask is that if you don’t have a reaction to it, you come back and tell us and buy the full-price product. Testimonials from our customers are invaluable – so please DO let us know if you find something that has worked for you, particularly if you haven’t found anything else that has worked previously. We can then pass this information onto others.
I can now look back and although suffered terribly at the time, can take some invaluable lessons forward with me. I don’t think it’s too dramatic to say I was being poisoned. My body simply couldn’t take all the toxins it was being bombarded with. I have learnt that some of the ingredients in our skincare products are more than a little suspect. I, like many others, was completely uneducated to the effects that some of these chemicals can evoke within our bodies; symptoms ranging from headaches, nausea to severe allergies and even cancer. Even where the effects aren’t proven, I would just rather not take the risk when there are alternatives. I would never allow my children to use another toothpaste containing fluoride – it has a higher poison rating than lead.
My allergy forced us as a family to make a complete lifestyle change. We didn’t know it at the time, but every little step we took, brought us closer to a brighter, better-informed, but above all – healthier future – not just for me – for all of us. They have shared my lows and supported me in my goals; to them I am truly grateful.
* doesn’t apply to ALL products, please contact us if you would like to enquire about our try before you buy service on any particular product.
|
