about me

My name is Wendy Stirling. I launched botanicals in 2004 after one of my daughters suffered a severe skin reaction to a natural-sounding 'herbal' shampoo.

I tend to be a careful shopper, preferring to buy organic products where possible. The label on this shampoo said it contained 'high quality ingredients derived from pure renewable plant sources', as well as 'herbs grown under certified organic conditions - no petrochemicals or pesticides'.

Checking the ingredients

So when my nine-year-old daughter came out in a rash after using the shampoo, I took a closer look at the ingredients listed on the label. I was surprised to find it was full of potentially harmful detergents (SLS and SLES) and parabens (chemical preservatives).

The tiny amount of herbal ingredients used may well have been grown under organic conditions, with no petrochemicals - but the shampoo itself was full of them!

On doing some more research, I found there were very few producers of truly natural products in the UK. I also discovered that large commercial brands find it very difficult to offer 100% natural products because:

• Cost and shelf life dictates a product's ingredients - rather than
  consumer and environmental health and well-being.

• Consistency in colour and fragrance is difficult to achieve - no two natural growing plants are identical.

• There aren't enough specialist suppliers to provide large retailers with sufficient stocks of plant-based ingredients.

Detailed research

I spent the next year talking to lots of people, doing more detailed research, developing products, and getting everything in place to launch botanicals. My husband is a graphic designer, and he created both the website and the label designs - which was a great (and cheap!) help.

All our products are produced in small batches and preserved naturally - to ensure high quality and optimum shelf life (usually one to two years), and sold direct to the consumer via this website.

All Botanical's products have been professionally formulated and comply fully with the European Cosmetic (Safety) Regulations.

I'm always very grateful for any advice, suggestions or feed-back (although I can't always promise to respond straight away!). If you'd like to get in touch, please use the botanicals contact form