Keeping your bathroom shelves sustainable isn’t an easy gig. Products might be natural, organic, vegan, ethically sourced and made using local ingredients, but are often housed in single-use packaging. It’s a complex area to navigate – and one a handful of UK-based natural beauty brands are trying to tackle with refillable beauty products. Here are six brands transforming the way we buy beauty.
On Repeat
Australian-born, West Cornwall-based Micaela Nisbet is “super entrenched in the refill space”. When she looked for suitable refill options for her natural beauty line Neighbourhood Botanicals, she couldn’t find anything viable. “So I started a second company and developed a whole compostable refill service for other brands,” she tells Broadsheet.
That side project became On Repeat, which is now run by her partner Ben Proctor. “Refilling the packaging you already have is the obvious solution to reducing your personal bathroom waste,” Nisbet says. She has since taken it to the next level, formulating powder-to-gel sachets of Neighbourhood Botanicals’s Soft Wash body wash which, along with cutting down on packaging as well as reducing carbon emissions from transportation, smells incredible, has a spot-on texture and really works. “To really move the needle we need product innovation and a refill model,” she says.
neighbourhoodbotanicals.com
onrepeat.world
Bramley
On Repeat’s packaging has long been used by bath and body brand Bramley, which is in the bathrooms of hotels like The Rectory in Wiltshire, Penally Abbey in Wales, Glebe House in Devon and all of the Pigs. Bramley not only sells compostable pouches of its bestsellers – including its bubble bath, shower oil and body wash – but also has a miniature refill funnel to make sure not a drop is lost. They also sell five-litre refills of hand wash, body wash and more in recycled, recyclable or biodegradable packaging.
Nini Organics
Refills aren’t limited to bath and shower products, either. Sibling-run natural skincare line Nini Organics results-driven refills include hyaluronic acid serum, detoxifying face oil and a firming and brightening moisturiser.
Fussy
Meanwhile for the body, Fussy leads the charge, with refillable natural deodorants and soap-free body wash bars. Founder Matt Kennedy had to battle a major misconception when developing his brand: that natural deodorants don’t work (his do). Fussy’s cases are designed to last a lifetime. They’re made with recycled plastic and are fully recyclable, while refills come in packaging made of compostable waste sugarcane. “Our mission has always been to banish single-use plastic from the bathroom,” Kennedy tells Broadsheet. Both Nini Organics and Fussy have Dragons’ Den backing.
Commune
Commune founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux also forgo single-use plastic and instead champion the use of highly recyclable aluminium to house their plant-based body washes, bath salts and haircare. They have a design-led shop in Bruton in Somerset and the business won the Business of Fashion Global Beauty Award for Positive Impact earlier this year, confirming that a brand can be fully committed to circularity while also being cool.
Formerly Known as Haeckels
Kent-based beauty brand Formerly Known as Haeckels (which was formerly known as Haeckels) has long offered compostable refills, but is also keen to remove the packaging arc altogether. It invites customers to bring their old Haeckels bottles (or any other bottles) into its stores in London or Margate and have them filled with product. “Just as long”, its founders say, “as we don't have to produce new packaging.”
