Green People and fairly traded ingredients

At Green People, we have always tried to support the people who make our products possible, right at the start of the chain: the growers.

Here are some of the real stories behind the ingredients which go into our products:

Organic Cocoa butter - Dominican Republic

Cocoa butter comes from the cacao bean, which is fermented, dried, roasted and then shelled. The beans are then ground into a mass, before being melted into a liquor. Finally, this allows the butter to be separated from the solids.

We get our Cocoa butter from a project in the Dominican Republic which provides decent wages and living conditions for the 10,000 farmers who contribute.

We use it in the following products: Mum & Baby Moisturiser, No Scent Baby Lotion, Hydrating Body Lotion and Soft Glow Gradual Tan.

Myrrh – Namibia

Myrrh resin is the dried sap of a number of trees, although the Commiphora myrrha tree – from which we get ours – is the primary source. It gathers in crevices at the base of the plant, where it can then be collected.

The Myrrh used by Green People comes from a project in Namibia which supports the Himba tribe, who are dependent entirely on the income from the collection of Myrrh resin. When the resin is collected, it is placed on pieces of slate or rock and graded by size.

We use very small amounts of Myrrh in many of our products, including our No Scent Baby Lotion, Candyfloss Lipstick, Cinnamon Lipstick, Cherry Lipstick, Rejuvenating Cleansing Balm, Rejuvenating Facial Oil, Sensuous Sugar Scrub and all of our natural sun lotions.

Organic essential oils – South Africa

Organic essential oils make up much of what goes into our natural skin care products, as these oils have beneficial properties for the skin and also a beautiful scent. This allows us to avoid using artificial fragrances, to which many people have sensitivities.

A number of the organic essential oils that we use come from South Africa. There are a wide range of projects going on in the country which support local communities, providing employment and a fair wage for the producers.

Our fairly traded ingridients are:

Palm oil, Sesame oil, Shea butter, Cocoa, Lavender oil, Coconut, Bergamot, Rose Geranium, Cinnamon, Myrrh, Spearmint, Peppermint, Lemon grass, Sugar, Vanilla, Chamomile, Palmarosa, Vetivert, Eucalyptus, Clove, Rosemary, Ylang Ylang and Ginger

We use these in a large number of our products, too many to mention, but here are some which use these as primary ingredients:

Rose Geranium – Vita Min Fix, Day Solution, Revitalising Face & Neck Serum, Eye Cream

Spearmint – Minty Cool Toothpaste, Spearmint and Aloe Vera Toothpaste

Rosemary – Rosemary Shampoo, Rosemary Conditioner, Rosemary Deodorant