Body care

In the UK alone, it is estimated that people spent close to one billion pounds in 2006 on facial and body care products such as moisturisers, creams, toners and hand care lotions. Sadly, the vast majority of these products are made with chemicals which are known carcinogens, pesticides, reproductive toxins, endocrine disruptors, plasticizers, degreasers and surfactants. Some of these ingredients are known to cause skin irritation, itching and to accelerate ageing. To make matters worse, many of these facial and body care products are marketed to the unsuspecting customer as ‘natural’. In some cases, they are even labelled as organic even though they contain a minimal proportion of organic ingredients. The advertisements tell you that these products will help to make your skin young and beautiful. Yet, the majority of them contain all sorts of toxic chemical substances which actually work against your skin and overall health.

In contrast, Raw Gaia’s skin care range is made with 100% natural ingredients and is completely free of chemicals. The typical ingredients we use are cold-pressed oils and butters, essential oils and floral waters, nothing else.

A key aspect of our facial and body care products is that they are made with cold-pressed and unheated ingredients and through a special low temperature process, which avoids temperatures beyond 40 degrees. The reason for this is as follows: Plant-derived oils (like apricot kernel, jojoba and rosehip) and butters (such as cocoa and mango kernel) have some of the best skin moisturising and nourishing properties. Yet, if these ingredients are heated, their life energy is gone and most of their antioxidants, vitamins and minerals are destroyed. Moreover, heating oils and fats creates highly toxic trans-fatty acids and free radicals, which may be absorbed into the cell membranes, causing them to become porous and weak.

Therefore, we make our facial and body care products with cold-pressed ingredients and through a low temperature process, to ensure that the vitality and goodness of the ingredients is retained while avoiding the creation of free radicals and trans-fatty acids.

Raw Gaia’s range is also 100% organic. This is important because if a facial or body care product is not made with organic ingredients, you could potentially be rubbing pesticide and fertiliser residues into your skin. We also use wildcrafted ingredients, which are harvested from the wild and free from chemicals, so one could say in a way, that these are even better than organic ingredients.

As a result of using truly natural and premium ingredients and making our products in such a way that retains all the goodness in the ingredients, our organic skin care range has outstanding nourishing, beautifying and healing qualities. Many people have commented on the wonderful results that they have obtained by using our products, as you can see on our testimonials page.

Organic skin care

Raw Gaia has introduced a completely new concept in facial and body care by making the world’s first full range of living skin care products. The idea to develop such products was born out of necessity and here is the story behind our company: For many years, Lisa Lennon suffered from very dry, sensitive skin. She searched high and low for a really good moisturiser, something with ingredients as gentle and as close to nature as possible as well as free from any chemical and toxic ingredients. However, she was unable to find anything suitable, so Lisa started doing some research of her own and experimenting in the kitchen.

By that time, her and her husband Hector had been following a diet high in raw foods for the last five years. The principle behind a raw food diet is that uncooked vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and sprouted grains provide the body with the best possible nutrition. In their natural state, these foods contain much more life energy, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs, etc., than when they are cooked.

So it made sense for Lisa to try and develop a cream following the same principle. And since the couple would only buy organic food and are passionate vegans, Lisa evidently wanted to make a facial and body care product that reflected these choices too.

After months of trial and error, research and perseverance, Lisa came up with the first ever living skin care product, what is now called “For Her Daughters Living Moisturiser”. Lisa was amazed with the results - her skin condition improved hugely within days! The reason for the effectiveness of the moisturiser was simple: all the life energy, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins and natural goodness in the natural ingredients were truly nourishing and healing her skin.

Lisa was so pleased with the moisturiser that I gave it out to some friends to try. Their feedback and response was really amazing, so the couple soon realised that they had a brilliant product on their hands and that, without intending to, Lisa had created a completely new concept in skin and body care. So she got back in amongst her jars and measurers and soon began to develop a whole range of living skin care products.

Raw Gaia started trading in May 2006 and its growth has been remarkable. The company now sells over 40 different facial and body care products to customers all over the world. Raw Gaia’s natural skin care range can be purchased online and through an ever growing number of health food shops, beauty salons and online stores in the UK and abroad.

As a company, we feel inspired from knowing that many people have truly benefitted from and enjoy the purity and living nature of our organic skin care products. Our customers often mention how their skin feels better, looks more toned and healthy, etc. We have also have heard of many people, teenagers and parents with babies, suffering from skin conditions such as severe dermatitis, eczema, psoriasis, etc., who have experienced dramatic improvements as a result of using our range of facial and body care products. Many people write to us to express how much they agree with our ethical principles too (see below).

It has also been gratifying to see our business grow steadily as a result of word of mouth recommendations as well as through people hearing about us, trying out our products for the first time and then becoming loyal customers.

Natural skin care

Raw Gaia is a company built on very strong ethical, environmental principles. Firstly, all of our ingredients are organic and completely chemical free. We also source, as much as possible, fair-trade ingredients.

Secondly, all of our natural skin care products are certified vegan by the Vegan Society and cruelty-free by BUAV (British Union Against Vivisection).

We have gone step further and adopted an unprecedented "ethical marketing" approach to beauty and ageing. Many skin care companies and most advertising aimed at women have created false standards of beauty and have made women feel unsure about their bodies and in particular about ageing skin. We believe this is a very cruel (and crazy) thing to do, so in June 2007 we decided to remove any mention in our products about de-ageing, wrinkles, rejuvenation, etc. All our marketing literature was carefully scrutinised to remove anything that would make women feel unsure about their skin and body. On our website, a section was created to provide information on how to achieve healthy skin through right diet, natural skin care and a positive mental attitude. (We’ve never used models either to advertise our products).

We would like to emphasize that we decided to adopt this policy even though we were well aware that the market for anti-aging products is the fastest growing segment in the skin care industry. But we felt very strongly about doing this and decided to take the risk.

Happily, the announcement of our ethical approach to beauty and ageing was very well received widely praised by a multitude of people, customers, distributors and the media. We have received hundreds of enthusiastic and positive comments from women of all ages, ranging from their 20s to their 70s, and from different countries too. All the comments unanimously welcomed our ethical marketing approach. For example, women told us that our ethical stance felt like a breath of fresh air, that at last somebody was speaking sense, and that they agreed wholeheartedly with what we are saying.

As a company, our purpose is to offer the purest organic skin care products that truly promote healthy and beautiful skin, but not at the expense of making women feel insecure or unhappy. We are absolutely passionate about what we do and uncompromising in what we stand for. Our customers love us for our unique range of living facial and body care products and even more so now that we’ve taken what we feel is an honest and kinder position on beauty and ageing. (Our ethical marketing approach to beauty and ageing can be read in our skin care information section)

Finally, we support Tibetan refugees in India through a glass bead making project. Our plans are to start commissioning the manufacture of some new products by these Tibetan refugees, as a way to help generate additional job opportunities.