Are your products suitable for vegetarians and vegans?

Happily, pretty much every product we offer is suitable for vegans, with the exeption of our Lip Balms and Lip Gloss which both contain beeswax.  Vegetarians can feel good about using the range too, we don't test anything on animals at all, ever.  And if you're a Viva member, let us know, you get a discount.

What do you mean by chemical-free?

Most natural substances, with the obvious exeption of water, can be chemically synthesised.  And many natural substances can be fatal (digitalis for example), even water can be fatal if you take in too much of it.  This does not mean that the ingredients we use cannot themselves be defined as chemicals, they can, the rather scary sounding tocopherol acetate is actually Vitamin E for example. So we are not stating that every chemical is bad for us.  We just believe that limiting our exposure to things that may do us harm over time is a good thing.  We have, as consumers, been grossly misled by people in lab coats too often to simply believe without question everything that they declare is safe, so by creating Pure Nuff Stuff we simply wanted to take back control of what we put on our skin and to give you the same option.

Nature provides for us humans very well indeed.  So we choose to use cold processed oils over the cheaper alternatives because the properties of the oils are preserved rather than degraded by heat in other methods.   We choose not to use chemical preservatives because we've researched them and got scared by what they can do (Google some of the ingredients you see on bottles in your own bathroom and see if you agree with us).  All this said, essential oils do not grow on trees in a useable form, they must be processed first; cocoa butter does not emulsify in water of it's own accord, it needs a bit of heat and a wax of some kind to persuade it to to that.  So there is some involvement from laboratories to get the raw materials we use, but we make every effort to ensure that thier properties are not affected by that processing before they can be applied to your skin. 

Pure Nuff Stuff products have been carefully formulated so that you get the best of what nature intended and without getting awfully yoghurt and sandals about it, we like to think that Mother Nature would approve of what we've done with the ingredients she gave us.

What is your environmental policy?

A huge subject, but we'll try and be brief...

We are careful about the provenance of our products throughout thier entire lifecycle from plant to jar and wherever possible, we use locally produced ingredients but we do have to be realistic, we don't grow everything we use in this country.  So yes, we use imported oils but wherever possible we opt for a Fairly Traded item, even when this costs more.  We go out of our way to find importers that use ships to transport goods rather than planes.   All of our packaging is recylable and we use recyled bubble wrap to keep items safe in transport.  Any other packaging you may see in boxes such as air bags and foam bobbles have already been used once - we collect it from two shops other here in town to use again.  We recycle everything we can from the workshop - the local council do little to help us here, so if we can't re-use items (which is why you may get a pre-used box or envelope) this means we spend quite a bit of our own time at various bottle, paper, plastic and cardboard banks, but it's worth it in our view.  We'd like in the future to be able to take bottles and jars back for re-use and when we've saved enough money for the machinery that requires we'll let you know.  Our traditional production methods mean that our impact on the water table is minimised and we don't produce any harmful waste that needs special treatment.  We don't throw away any surplus or ex-display stock, we give it to the local Fishermans Mission so rescued or unlucky fishermen can get clean before they go home.  And we walk to work :)

Like we said at the start, it's a huge subject, so if we've not covered anything here that you'd like to know about then please drop us an email (info@purenuffstuff.co.uk) and ask, we're a friendly lot and will get back to you as soon as we can.

What's your animal testing policy?

From day 1 we've been against animal testing for any reason.  None of our products are tested on animals, neither are the raw materials and we don't deal with any company that supports or funds animal testing.  In any event, the raw materials we use have been largely used for many years in the cosmetic industry and have been proven safe over that time. 

All our products are indpendantly tested for safety but prior to that we carry out our own product tests on ourselves first, then friends and family, then finally on our wonderful group of willing volunteers (all of them very much human, even the teenagers).

What if I don't live in the UK?

The postage charges quoted on the site are for the UK mainland only, but if you live outside this area, we will weigh your order and confirm the charge with you by email before we send it.

What if I want something in a bigger size?

Well that's no problem, just drop us a line, quoting your order number, and we'll write straight back and tell you what we can do for you.  We like to help :)  We're also looking at some bigger bottles this year for Hair Cleansers etc., so keep an eye out for changes coming soon.

How do I track my order?

When you've placed an order online, you can see the status of that order is set to Pending.  Once we've packed and posted your order, we change that status to Completed, so you can see when it was sent. 

Why aren't you certified organic?

To be quite honest, there are a number of reasons we haven’t gone down the certification route. Number one is because organic ingredients are more expensive because it's a very expensive process. These costs would have to be reflected in the price of the product and we want to make natural toiletries affordable for everyone. Also, many of the raw ingredients we use have never been farmed in-organically - the growers and producers have never had the money to afford organo-phosphates and other chemicals in the first place, or have never needed to because many plants (such a lavender for example) are very resistant to disease on thier own - so organic certification for them is unnesesary expense, it merely means that distributors can make more money.  So we've chosen to source as many Fair Traded products as we can instead.

Reason number two is actually because the Soil Association allow the use of certain ingredients we wouldn’t dream of using – so organic certification is no guarantee of products being free from things like parabens. We are in the process of joining with like minded companies to form our own trade association with a code of practice that bans such substances.

What if I don't like some of the essential oils that you use?

We try to please everyone as much as possible and because we make our products in small batches daily we can adjust the essential oils to anyone’s preference. Please call us if you have any special requests. Special orders may take up to seven working days to produce, but this service is free of charge.

Why do you have such a silly name?

Yes, we know, it’s a bit strange. We didn’t want anything twee – you know, Lavender Lane and all that – and we figure our name reflects our beliefs. Things have to be pure enough to go into our formulations. So it’s Pure Nuff Stuff!

How much is postage?

We charge a flat rate for P+P, £1.50 for a single item and £3.50 for any more than that.

Overseas orders are also simple, just fill in your addresss and we'll contact you by email to confirm what the postage charge will be before we send the order.

How long will my order take?

We can normally turn an order round within 3 to 5 working days and all orders are sent either by Royal Mail or ANC, depending on the weight. If we are experiencing any delays we endeavour to let customers know to avoid disappointment.