What happened to simply cleansing and moisturising?

That was your mother’s whole routine. No 10-step plan, no double cleansing. And yet how many grandmothers do you know with genuinely good skin, who never went near either?

Here’s the truth: washing your face twice a day with a harsh product can strip your skin’s natural protective barrier — leaving it dry, tight, flaky, or stinging. Over-cleansing is as much a problem as under-cleansing. Read more at…

Done properly, cleansing should remove dirt and makeup without disrupting your skin’s balance. It’s the first step that lets everything else work — but only if it’s gentle. We’ve had to be honest with parents that we can’t treat acne — but gentle, consistent cleansing helps.

What to look for on the label (using our own product as the example, since it’s the one we can speak to honestly):

• Cleansing agent:Decyl Glucoside — a mild, plant-derived surfactant. We use under 2%; many foaming cleansers use up to 10%, with measurably more barrier disruption.
• Preservatives:Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate — both used in the food industry, both effective against bacteria and mould. “Preservative-free” is often just a scare tactic; an unpreserved cleanser is a breeding ground, not a safer one.
• “Alcohol”:Cetyl Alcohol, Xanthan Gum, Locust Bean Gum sound harsh but are gentle thickeners — not the drying alcohols people fear.
• Moisture support:Glycerin, Sweet Almond Oil, Argan Oil, Grapeseed Oil — replacing what cleansing takes away.
• Fragrance:Natural essential oils (we use Ylang Ylang, Orange Peel) can still cause sensitivity — and synthetic “parfum” isn’t automatically safer just because it’s man-made.
• Hyaluronic Acid:heavily marketed, but it’s on your face for seconds before rinsing off. Honestly? Its role here is minor compared to a serum. We include it anyway, but we won’t oversell it.

We’re also lucky to work with clean Ayrshire air and water, and we run everything through our own filtration to strip out any remaining micro-particles before it ever reaches the bottle.

Simple, honest cleansing. That’s the whole philosophy.

With our kindest regards