Are your products tested on animals?

No, we vett all our suppliers’ animal testing policies and ensure that none of their products are tested on animals. Instead, products are tested on willing human volunteers, usually friends and family!!! If truth be known, we at organ-nics like testing the products out too!!! Should you have any queries regarding animal testing on any particular product, please email us.

Is your packaging recyclable?

Yes, product-packaging predominately comes in recyclable plastic bottles or glass pots. Usually the only thing NOT recyclable yet is the lid. We actively welcome all attempts to reduce unnecessary packaging; therefore we recycle all the cardboard boxes from our suppliers. Where new packaging is required, we use only recycled cardboard boxes, we also shred all our unwanted paper to use to cushion the products in transit, as well as corn-based biodegradable chips, which actually disappear when you pour water over them!!! In our shop we use recycled paper bags which can re-used and all our stationery is printed on 100% recycled paper.

Should you have questions about whether you can re-cycle specific product packaging, do not hesitate to email us.

How long will my order take to come?

We endeavour to prepare all orders for despatch within 24 hours of receipt. Then, depending on weight, we send your order either by Royal Mail First Class post or Business Post, both of which should be delivered within 1-2 working days of despatch. Business Post parcels require a signature upon delivery; so if you are not going to be in, please give us instructions of where your parcel can be delivered, i.e. leave with a neighbour.

Do you deliver to P O Boxes, Scottish Highlands, BFPO's, the Channel Islands & Eire?

Our standard delivery charge applies to the UK mainland ONLY. Should you live in the Scottish Highlands, the Channel Islands, Eire, Northern Ireland or use a BFPO, please contact us for a delivery cost. We are UNABLE to deliver to P O Boxes.

Are your products suitable for vegetarians and vegans?

All products are suitable for vegetarians and most are suitable for vegans. We give a full ingredient listing on each and every product in order that you can make an informed decision when purchasing. Products are registered by the vegan society where you see this symbol:

Why are natural & organic products more expensive?

There are two reasons why Natural & Organic products cost more:

1. The ingredients in conventional bubble baths, shampoos and other toiletries, are mass-produced and cost just pennies to manufacture.  In fact, an article in the Daily Mail on 13th July 2007, stated that a study had found that the cost of contents of Lynx Shower Gel were ‘negligible’ costing just 10p to manufacture. Considering the product retails for around £2, the overall cost of the product to the consumer, is just not very good value for money.
   Conversely, Natural & Organic products are very good value for money.  More often than not, they are handmade, in small batches daily using good quality natural & organically produced ingredients. In order to bring you products of the highest quality, a labour intensive process has to have taken place, which all costs money.
   Natural & Organic products are usually more concentrated too, so you only need to use a small amount!!!  A 250ml bottle of shampoo will usually last us for over 2 weeks – and that’s for a family of 5!!!!
   
   
2. Many of the products we offer have gained some kind of certification (for instance from the soil association), which proves to the consumer that the ingredients and manufacturing processes have been carried out to their strict guidelines and practices.

How long do natural & organic products last for?

They vary in length from 6 months to 2 years. Natural & Organic products don’t contain synthetic chemical preservatives, which can be toxic to our health (see our scary reading section). Instead, essential oils tend to be the mainstay preservatives in Natural & Organic products. In order to keep your products in optimum condition, keep out of direct sunlight and in a cool place. Buy little and often in order that you always have a fresh supply.

Do your products contain SLS/SLES (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate/Sodium Laureth Sulphate)?

Categorically NO!!! Neither do they contain, parabens, artificial fragrances or any other harsh additives.

Both SLS & SLES are very effective foaming agents, chemically known as surfactants and are commonly contaminated with dioxin, a known carcinogen.
Although SLES is somewhat less irritating than Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, it cannot be metabolised by the liver and its effects are therefore much longer-lasting.
The sodium lauryl sulphate found in our soaps is exactly the same as you would find in a car wash or even a garage, where it is used to degrease car engines.
In the same way as it dissolves the grease on car engines, sodium lauryl sulphate also dissolves the oils on your skin, which can cause a drying effect. It is also well documented that it denatures skin proteins, which causes not only irritation, but also allows environmental contaminants easier access to the lower, sensitive layers of the skin.

Perhaps most worryingly, SLS is also absorbed into the body from skin application. Once it has been absorbed, one of the main effects of sodium lauryl sulphate is to mimic the activity of the hormone Oestrogen. This has many health implications and may be responsible for a variety of health problems from PMS and Menopausal symptoms to dropping male fertility and increasing female cancers such as breast cancer, where oestrogen levels are known to be involved.

Products commonly found to contains Sodium Lauryl Sulphate or SLES
Soaps
Shampoos
Bubble-baths
Tooth paste
Washing-up liquid / dish soap
Laundry detergent
Children’s soaps / shampoos
Stain Remover
Carpet Cleaner
Fabric glue
Body wash
Shave cream
Mascara
Mouthwash
Skin cleanser
Moisture lotion / Moisturiser
Sun Cream
Read our article: SLS Health Implications.

What are the reasons for using toothpastes free from fluoride?

Many of us buy fluoride-containing toothpastes in the belief they will protect our teeth. There is, according to Pat Thomas, (Health Editor to The Ecologist) little convincing scientific evidence to support this.

She says fluoride is in fact a “poison — and that there is enough fluoride in the average-sized tube of family toothpaste to kill a small child if ingested.”
Anything that contains the wording ‘do not swallow’ or ‘supervised brushing’ that enters your body orally is just plain wrong!! Fluoride has even been linked with the condition ‘dental fluorosis’.

For years, we have been told that fluoride consumption is a healthy necessity and safe (like so many other now banned chemicals & pesticides). The shameful reality is that these ‘fluoride’ compounds do not prevent dental cavities and are in fact constituents of nerve gas and rat poison. Hexafluorosilicic acid, for example, the most widely used water fluoridation compound, is raw industrial hazardous waste. Why are we being mass-medicated without our consent when these compounds, designed to protect our teeth, in fact destroy them through dental fluorosis? In any case, anyone with a varied diet receives sufficient fluoride. More information can be found at http://fluoridealert.org/

Conventional medicine hasn’t worked for me, can I try anything else?*

Certainly YES!!! When suffering from my Urticaria at it’s worst, I found my local homœpath invaluable. Others too have found remedies that have worked for them promoted by so-called ‘alternative’ practitioners so often shunned by the conventional medical establishment. On one visit to my g.p. I was practically laughed out of the surgery with a comment of “you didn’t believe that did you?” when I told her I’d been to see a homeopath.

The products in our ‘Dietary & Therapeutic’ section have been found to help a wide variety of complaints. The ingredients in these products have been carefully selected to harness the healing powers provided within nature itself. If you find something works for you, DO let us know, so we can pass this invaluable knowledge onto others.

*The information or advice provided on this site is intended to be helpful and educational. Neither the information nor the advice supplied or offered should be construed in anyway as a substitute for medical attention or prescribed information.

Why do some of the products you offer contain non-organic plant material?

In order to claim that an ingredient is organic it has to produced to internationally recognised standards and be certified as organic by an approved body such as the Soil Association or Organic Food Federation. Unfortunately, there are some plant materials that are not as yet certified by one of these bodies and so we cannot claim that they are organic even though they may have been grown without the use of agricultural chemicals.

Examples include vegetable glycerin, seaweed and Spirulina, and some essential oils such as sandalwood, benzoin and myrrh.

Why do some of the ingredients sound like chemical names?

Under EC legislation all ingredients have to be given their Latin, INCI name (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients). Some ingredients do sound like chemicals even though they are from natural sources. Examples include foaming agents, e.g. Decyl Glucoside derived from corn; emulsifiers, e.g. Cetearyl alcohol - not an alcohol but fatty waxes derived from plant oils.

See our glossary for more details on specific ingredients, or email us.

Many of your products contain essential oils. Are these safe to use during pregnancy?

There has been a great deal of conflicting information regarding the use of essential oils during pregnancy. One or two essential oils have been specifically targeted as being unsafe to use during pregnancy - these include pennyroyal, sage and thuja. The reason that these have earned this reputation is because some women have, in the past, deliberately misused these oils in misguided attempts to bring on miscarriages. They have actually ingested large amounts (30ml) of the pure essential oil in these attempts, and have harmed themselves in so doing.

The truth is that using essential oils diluted at the normal levels of between 2 and 5% in products designed for topical application has never been shown to have any adverse effect whatsoever during pregnancy.

We give a full ingredient listing on each and every product in order that you can make an informed decision when purchasing, however, if you still have a query regarding specific products, please do email us or contact a qualified aromatherapist or homeopath.

Some of your products come in small sizes, why is this?

There are various reasons why Natural & Organic products are packaged in smaller sizes than conventional products:

1. As more natural preservative systems are used, they would be less effective in a large size bottle. The larger the bottle, the stronger the preservative needs to be and this is not the aim of the manufacturers who want to bring you as natural a product as possible.
   
   
2. Natural & Organic products tend to be more effective using smaller quantities; it’s just a case of getting the knack!!! For example, a hazelnut-sized squirt of shampoo will effectively clean my shoulder-length hair. I have found that rubbing the shampoo around the palms of my hands first until it just starts to foam, then rubbing all over my hair works really well. I have found the same with other Natural & Organic products, I tend to use much less of them than when I used my conventional counterparts.
   
   
3. It is actually not healthy to keep products for a long time; once they are opened they are a haven for germ breeding and can harm our health. Research has shown that we do not throw away our opened cosmetics and personal care products when we should. It is therefore healthier to buy little and often and throw away anything out-of-date!!!

Why should I buy from organ-nic’s over other ‘natural’ products?

The rules governing the labelling of organic food is very strict. They vary according to whether the claim is made in the name of the food or elsewhere on the packaging.

Unfortunately the guidelines regarding labeling on personal products is largely unregulated and therefore open to misuse. Only 1% of the ingredients needs to be natural for the term to be used on the packaging. Not only are there no official standards, but there also is no agency policing the label claims on personal care products and nutritional supplements.

We therefore give a full ingredient listing on each and every product in order that you can make an informed decision when purchasing. You can also be safe in the knowledge that we do not stock any products containing: SLS/SLES, parabens, artificial fragrances, synthetic preservatives or any other harsh additives.

Can there be such as thing as being ‘too’ clean?

Certainly there is an increasing argument that too much cleaning could actually be detrimental to our health and could actually increase our tendency to allergies. The chemical compounds contained within our anti-bacterial household products, are designed to ‘kill’ the bugs and we all feel better for knowing that – don’t we???

Modern day commercials prey on our fe ar of ‘germs’ and bacteria, often playing on our vulnerabilities: children or babies. They often depict a child in a high chair, using quotes such as “your babies food tray contains more germs than your toilet seat”

However, Dr Stuart Levy, director of the Center for Adaptation Genetics and Drug Resistance at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, and chairman of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, says: ‘What is being touted as an antibacterial in household products is really, clinically, an antibiotic.’
Anti-bacterial agents are now incorporated into 100’s of products; despite some years ago the American Medical Association (AMA) issuing a startling statement saying that antibacterial soaps were no more effective against germs than common soap.

However, the drawbacks of repeated use of these products according to Pat Thomas’ article Dawn of The Domestic Superbug is that bacteria are becoming resistant to these anti-bacterial agents. We could even see a repeat of the problems experienced in our hospitals, where super-bugs are becoming increasingly resilient to our cleaning solutions, in our own homes.
Bacteria can be found everywhere; good and bad, but these cleaners are killing off the good bacteria, as well as some of the bad, thus giving the more virulent strains room to reproduce and thrive.
Of course we all need to keep our homes clean, however, before you reach for that anti-bacterial spray or wash your hands with anti-bacterial soap, read the article Dawn of The Domestic Superbug, and in particular the section ‘The Perils of Being Too Clean’

See our Home section where you will find a selection of natural and bio-degradeable cleaning products. We also wish to compile a list of natural cleaning recipes and tips, so do contact us if you have any.

My first tip starts here:

1. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Cola into the toilet bowl and .......Let it sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.

What do the product symbols mean?

Click here to visit our symbols guided page

You seem to be completely anti-chemicals, but do they not benefit us too?

We feel we must point out that we are not against all that is chemical, although it may seem that way. The word chemical conjures up an image of test tubes with bubbling contents, spilling out over stained work benches in a laboratory operated by a mad professor character similar to the stereotypical image portrayed so well by the actor Christopher Lloyd in the “Back to the Future” film trilogy.

No that’s not where we are coming from. After all chemicals, even the so-called “Man Made” ones start off life as a natural product in some shape or form. If we didn’t have chemicals we would have no televisions, computers, or cars, in fact the list is endless.

What, however, we are concerned with is the increased use of synthetic petro-chemical compounds that, we feel, are unnecessarily added to our everyday products.

Nature might not provide the exact unaltered recipe for producing all the components needed to build the computer you are using to view this web-site on, but it can supply most things for our normal personal and home use.