OUR PHILOSOPHY

WHY WE AVOID THEM

Many mass-market formulas rely on inexpensive oils such as sunflower, canola, safflower and soybean because they’re abundant, neutral and easy to formulate with at scale. In their conventional commodity form, these oils are often heavily refined through processes such as degumming, neutralization, bleaching and high-temperature deodorization to make them pale, odorless and standardized.

The problem is that this processing also reduces and strips away naturally occurring compounds that were present in the original oil, including tocopherols, polyphenols, carotenoids and phytosterols. By the time a heavily refined oil reaches the finished formula, much of the natural character and compounds that made the raw oil valuable in the first place are diminished.

We don’t want the backbone of our formulas made from heavily processed commodity oils chosen mainly for cost, neutrality, shelf life and manufacturing convenience.

WHAT WE USE INSTEAD

We choose fats and botanical oils based on quality, origin, processing and purpose — including virgin cold-pressed coconut oil, extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil, virgin cold-pressed golden jojoba oil, and other carefully selected whole fats and oils.

We prefer ingredients that retain more of their natural color, aroma and naturally occurring compounds, rather than oils that have been heavily refined simply to make them cheap, neutral and uniform.

WHY WE AVOID IT

Solvent extraction is an industrial method used to pull the maximum amount of oil from raw plant material, often using petroleum-derived solvents such as hexane. It is efficient and economical, but it prioritizes yield over minimal processing.

For us, that matters. We don’t want oils that have been subjected to aggressive extraction and additional refining before they ever reach the formula. The more an ingredient is extracted, stripped and standardized for industrial efficiency, the further it moves from the raw material it started as.

WHAT WE USE INSTEAD

We prioritize mechanical cold pressing, careful rendering and supercritical CO₂ extraction — methods chosen to preserve more of the ingredient’s natural character while avoiding conventional solvent extraction.

We believe high-quality ingredients should be extracted with methods that protect their natural qualities — not methods chosen simply to maximize yield.

WHY WE AVOID THEM

Natural oils and waxes have their own color, aroma and character. Industrial refining uses bleaching and high-temperature deodorization to make them paler, more neutral and easier to standardize for mass production. Those processes also reduce naturally occurring compounds, including antioxidants, and move the ingredient further away from its original state.

WHAT WE USE INSTEAD

We prefer ingredients that still look and smell like themselves. Our raw cappings beeswax stays naturally golden and retains its subtle honeyed aroma, while our virgin cold-pressed oils keep their natural color and characteristic scents.

Because we work with natural, minimally processed ingredients, slight variations in color and aroma can occur from batch to batch. We see that as part of working with real raw materials — not something to bleach, deodorize or standardize away.

If an ingredient naturally has color, scent and character, we want you to see and smell it — not a factory-neutralized version of it.

WHY WE AVOID THEM

“Natural flavor” can sound simple and wholesome, but it can actually be a manufactured blend made from naturally derived flavor compounds combined with synthetic carriers, solvents, preservatives and other processing ingredients to create a consistent taste or scent.

The same applies to fragrance and parfum, where multiple chemical components can sit behind a single word on the label.

We don’t want engineered flavor or fragrance systems hiding behind clean-sounding terms.

WHAT WE USE INSTEAD

We use no added flavoring systems — natural or artificial — and no compounded fragrance or parfum. The scent and character of our products come from the actual ingredients in the formula: the subtle honeyed aroma of raw cappings beeswax, the natural character of virgin oils and the herbaceous notes of Rosemary CO₂ Total Extract.

What you smell comes from what is actually inside the product — no imitation scent, no engineered flavor profile and no mystery blend.

WHY WE DON’T USE THEM

Petrolatum, mineral oil, paraffin and other petroleum-derived ingredients are highly refined industrial materialscommonly used in skincare because they’re cheap, stable, neutral and easy to standardize.

They can create a temporary occlusive coating that reduces moisture loss, but that’s not the kind of formula we want to build. We don’t want a balm that simply sits on the surface and gives the appearance of softness while relying on heavily processed petroleum-derived ingredients as its base.

We want every ingredient in our formulas to contribute more than just bulk, slip or a temporary seal.

WHAT WE USE INSTEAD

We build our balms with raw cappings beeswax, virgin cold-pressed botanical oils and whole fats that provide structure, glide, conditioning and barrier support while also bringing their own natural character to the formula.

If we can create a deeply conditioning protective balm from carefully sourced whole ingredients, we see no reason to build it around petroleum-derived materials.

WHY WE AVOID THEM

Many conventional balms rely on silicones, synthetic waxes, emulsifiers, fatty alcohols and texture modifiers to create slip, bulk, uniformity and an artificially “perfect” feel. These ingredients can make a formula feel luxurious while contributing little beyond texture, processing convenience or shelf consistency.

We don’t want a balm built around ingredients whose main job is to make the product feel smoother, thicker or more polished than the core formula naturally would.

WHAT WE USE INSTEAD

We let the real ingredients create the texture. Raw cappings beeswax provides structure, while our oils and fats provide glide, softness and conditioning.

If an ingredient is only there to bulk the formula, manipulate texture or create an artificial sensory effect, we leave it out.

WHY WE AVOID IT

“Vitamin E” sounds like a simple natural ingredient, but the tocopherol added to skincare is typically an isolated and concentrated antioxidant recovered from processed vegetable oils. Even naturally derived tocopherol has to be separated, concentrated and purified before it becomes the standardized ingredient added to a cosmetic formula. Depending on the manufacturer, that processing can involve distillation, fractionation, solvents or other industrial separation methods. 

WHAT WE USE INSTEAD

We use Rosemary CO₂ Total Extract — a concentrated botanical extract rich in naturally occurring antioxidant compounds — to help protect our oils from oxidation and support formula freshness.

No isolated vitamin additive. One purposeful botanical extract doing the job naturally.

WHY WE AVOID THEM

An ingredient list can look impressive while telling you almost nothing about the grade, freshness, origin or processing behind those ingredients. Two products can list the exact same ingredient and still be using very different raw materials.

A generic “beeswax,” “olive oil” or “coconut oil” on a label doesn’t tell you whether it was raw or refined, cold-pressed or heavily processed, fresh or old, carefully sourced or bought as anonymous bulk commodity stock.

That matters to us because the quality of the finished product can only ever be as good as the quality of the ingredients that went into it.

WHAT WE USE INSTEAD

We look beyond the ingredient name itself. We care about where it came from, how it was processed, what grade it is and why that exact version belongs in the formula.

That’s why we seek out ingredients such as raw cappings beeswax, virgin cold-pressed coconut oil, extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil, virgin cold-pressed golden jojoba oil and concentrated Rosemary CO₂ Total Extract rather than treating raw materials as interchangeable commodities.

A clean-looking ingredient list isn’t enough for us. The quality behind every ingredient matters.