What I have done this year that I know you'll absolutely love!

An ecopreneur's life is never dull, that's for sure! In fact, I didn't even know I was an ecopreneur when I started this adventure; I just wanted to solve my own problem in a way that didn't harm me or the planet. It just so happened that after speaking to everyone around me, that I was going to solve their problem too, in the most sustainable, effortless, luxurious way possible.

And voilà, Corbin Rd magically appeared!

...Actually, that's nowhere near the truth! And I have completely spoilt the ending to this thrills and spills 18-month journey where my will to make better choices, align with my values and do good in the world hit many speed bumps along the way!!

Let's jump back 18 months

I'm sharing this story because it's a journey of discovery, and anyone embarking on this same mission - to do good in the world - despite the moments where you'll be thinking "What the hell am I doing... this can't be done?" that it's absolutely worth doing, and it's very, very important that you do.

The problem I was trying to solve was multi-pronged. It dawned on me that the only thing missing in my own skin care routine was a great cleanser that really worked and removed all the build up in my pores, was simple, didn't strip the natural oils, didn't increase the toxic burden on my skin and preferably maintained or restored the health of my skin.

For years I've had advice from well informed and researched skin professionals and I've had a disciplined and structured skin care routine using mostly salon grade products ( I'm a prolific tester of new products so have tried everything), this has kept my skin in good condition, however my skin was still congested.

“You can’t go to bed with your makeup on and think your skin will be alright, and think it’s not going to catch up on you later in life and bite you in the butt, because it will!”

I love those 15 times magnification mirrors because it shows me how successful I am at cleaning my skin because I can actually see when my pores are blocked. I have looked at other people’s and my own skin for 25 years on extreme close up, so while I am not a scientist, I have absolutely done my 10,000 hours.

My research into what works has been real live, real time looking at people’s skin, so I've seen what’s worked and what hasn’t worked, and I know what good results look like for example if something is too harsh on acne prone skin it’s not doing anything kind to it and the skin will go into stress instead of repair. So it has to be very effective or else it's literally money down the drain.

“What I do know is that cleansing is the foundation of all good skin and it does not need to be complicated.”

Pollu-Ageing and Toxic Load

Everything in our daily environment has changed. Life, what we do, and how we do things for our skin has changed. We're exposed to airborne micro-particles and ever-increasing amounts of pollution, and the lotions and potions we put on our skin are increasing the toxic load on our bodies, our waterways and the natural environment.

Added to that, we're now seeing premature ageing, oxidative stress and damage to the skin caused by our blue screens, which we’ve really only become aware of in the last two or three years.

"We need to give our skin a rest for a second, give it some hydration, give it some nutrition, remove all that pollution and build up from it, and just give it a break, and give the planet a break!"

It’s about the health of your skin, and the fundamentals of what skin care is and why you need to cleanse.

The formulation pathway to utter failure

I started out wanting to create a really gentle, liquid foaming cleanser. I had been using microfibre cloths and I loved them because they were just so good at really getting those pores clean and clear. So I started on my formulation but struck my first issue immediately because any liquid cleanser required preservative. I had created a roadmap of my brand values, which was that I wanted to go as clean, organic, natural, as few harsh chemicals as possible to reduce the toxic burden on our skin. But when one of the ingredients in the foaming cleanser got kicked off the eco-cert list, I had to go back to the drawing board.

Then, while I was doing that, I thought it can’t be in glass because it was going to be used in the shower, so it had to be in a plastic bottle. The deeper and deeper I looked into "sustainable plastic" however, I realised that it simply does not exist. It’s an oxymoron. There is no such thing as good plastic.

So that put a downer on things!

Then, to add to my woes, I investigated the microfibre cloths I was so enamoured with. I read as many articles as I could find; friends sent me articles; and I read the Patagonia study about microfibres (see image below) and thought I could mitigate the fibres going down the drain with wash bags but then I realised the fibres still have to go somewhere don't they? And that's into the trash and into the environment.

Photo above: Fibres captured on a 20 micron filter. A micron (or micrometer) equals one millionth of a meter (a centimetre is one hundredth of a meter). The fibres were captured by filtering washing machine effluent after washing a Patagonia jacket. The scale in the photo indicates the length of 1,000 microns. [Photo: Shreya Sonar, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UCSB]

We can catch the fibres in cloth while washing items but then we're still just putting them in the trash and they go into the environment anyway. I suddenly realised that I can’t! I simply can’t use microfibre.

Then I realised I don't have a product... I just don't have a product anymore! And that was my entire brand out the door, gone!

It was then that I went to London and found a fabulous shop there called Content, created by a New Zealand woman Imelda Burke, author of The Nature of Beauty. There she only stocks natural, good, clean skin care products that perform. I realised at that moment that yes, it can be done and people will buy it.

Once you go balm you never go back

It was time to re-focus. I still only wanted to do skin preparation, a cleanser. I realised to remove chemicals and preservatives you have to go balm. I probably tried every single cleansing option in the world and I consistently found that balm is the easiest, cleanest option.

But to my greatest thrill, I realised if I used a balm I can use glass because it doesn’t have to be used in the shower, so that ticked all the sustainability options. (Unfortunately mine currently has a plastic lid, but I am working on that!!)

Then this happened...

In the cleansing process, the cloth you use is the most important part because a balm is not new, and while what’s inside my balm is unique and special, the secret to the really deep and effective cleanse is the cloth. This is because if you’re not going to add ingredients that will wash the formulation off your face then you need to physically remove it , so you need a cloth, but not just an ordinary cloth.

I worked with a couple of companies that do amazing things with wool, hoping it was the perfect New Zealand option, but that just didn't work out. So then I tried cotton, I tried hemp, I tried linen, I tried all sorts of things.

And then I found my silk.

I had a couple of different versions which led me to this incredible Viteve? silk. It really is incredible because it's the tufts on it that do all the deep exfoliation to reach deep into the pores cleanse exfoliate them naturally.

I continued to try different fabrics, I tried everything, but I kept going back to the Viteve? silk.

It was then, that it happened... I thought, "I think I’ve got a product! Woo-hooooo!"

That was August this year, 18-months after I began my search. I had done it!

I gave the Cleansing + Exfoliating system to a trail group. I chose people who weren’t skin people, had skin issues, or were good friends because they were going to be my harshest critics because they might not know how to use it, they might not like it or it simply might not work. I felt if I could get them to like it, then I’m winning, once I got a positive from them then I went for a more scientific approach using a skin analysis machine.

When I got the thumbs up from those trialists , I pressed green for go!

There is still more work to do, most of all educating people and producing more photographic proof of results . But I am deeply proud of my Corbin Rd. Cleansing and Exfoliating System and I can not wait for you to try it because I know you'll love it. Plus you'll love knowing that it's nourishing and protecting your skin, it means that those expensive serums and active skin elixirs you apply to your clean skin can actually penetrate into the cells and work!

I am passionate about protecting our skin and the planet and I can't wait to share what I am doing to make positive change and how you can too.

Merry Christmas and happy, safe holidays to you all!

Wendy Nowell-Usticke, Founder Corbin Rd.