About Us

Welcome to Beneficial Basics Skincare, we are thrilled for you to join our family of fellow tallow lovers! I'm excited to share with you our journey to this point.

Growing up I struggled with oily and acne prone skin, it wasn't till my later years into early adulthood I experienced "stepping away" from commercial treatments and cosmetics.

My skin does not respond well to chemical laden products. My careers were extremely male dominated and so make up was never worn due to their environments. The environments I ended up working in, were harsh on my skin. From originally a farmhand in central NSW, out in the sun all day spraying harsh chemicals on noxious weeds. Then into the role of roustabout in the shearing shed, where I first learnt what benefit the lanolin in a sheep's wool could do. This was my first step into chemical free, skincare. Granted this skin care wasn't in a bottle nor jar. I experienced first-hand how soft my skin was following the day's work in the shearing sheds, constant contact with lanolin. That moment my curiosity was peaked in alternative skincare.

Following years of working in the sun, from both sheep farms in central NSW to western Qld on the cattle stations. My skin continually took a beating from the sun and the weather. I will admit, I used very little sunscreen and or products due to their oily, greasy feeling that I found clogged my pores.

Finally, I ended up working in Zinc refinery on the outskirts of Townsville, North Qld. This place really did wreak havoc with my skin, from the high acidic environments and the excessive high heat and humidity from its production process. Again, I used very little products, given the amount of sweating that happened in this place. Nothing lasted the day.

Upon leaving the refinery and workforce after the birth of my daughter, I finally started to take care of my severely neglected skin and complexion. Also, ensuring what I put on her delicate skin was safe and gentle.

Granted my acne since had stopped from the years of avoiding pore clogging cosmetics and skincare products. I still dealt with oily skin. I had some good success with natural based products. When starting to dabble in the wonderous world of herbs and their benefits. I started to source skincare based on certain herbs and benefits.

Given we live rurally about 50kms from Townsville and raise our own livestock, naturally the paddock to plate occurs in our house. We raise goats, sheep cows, chickens, guinea fowls and pigs. Initially the fats were disposed of, but it was my husband who had started looking into tallow benefits within cooking. Which then led to my interest as tallow products for the skin. So, I made my very first balm. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't in a fancy jar. But what it did for my skin was noticeable. I eased off my current bought in skincare products and started making my own. Following the balms, came the interest in soaps. 

My skin has never looked or felt better!

When I started the journey into tallow, I didn't think my family and friends would like it as much as me. My boy has a vitiligo area on his neck, which is an area of pale skin that is more vulnerable to sunburn. He needs sunscreens on daily in that area in particular. This is where I dived into researching on a UV protecting, toxin free cream to help protect that part especially on him. He takes after his father in skin tone being very fair skinned also.  We fell in love with it immediately upon making the first batch. He loves the feel of it over anything else, he is very pedantic about the way things feel.  Putting creams on became a nightmare! The tallow products he tolerates as they don't feel heavy on his skin, nor do they run into his eyes when he sweats.

I gave some to friends and family as gifts. A good friend who has two fair skinned and ginger locks daughters tried some of my Harsh Rays Day Cream (at that stage it wasn't named, nor in a fancy jar again) gave me such positive feedback on how it felt and worked. This positive experience was followed up by my own sister, who has a reaction to commercial creams. Her feedback was astounding, one word- "WOW!"

The cream is not a sunscreen and is not labelled nor promoted as one, but the ingredients have natural UV barriers and non-toxic ingredients. Given my sister is reacting to certain chemicals in the commercial creams, this was a safer and more natural alternative. Which in her case, worked. 

To top it all off, was my husband's feedback. He would fish ALL day in the scorching sun. Copping all the glare from the reflection in the water. He loves the tallow-based barrier cream (Harsh Rays), calls it the "good stuff" in his terms. Refuses to keep anything else in his boat now! It just takes the bite out of the elements. Even then though I was still only making the products for us.

The final shove unfortunately was the uncertainty of my husband's income, his current employer had some contracts fall through and there was a possibility of no income for weeks, right before Christmas time to of all timings.

Upon telling a dear friend of the concerns she was like, "go for it. Sell your products". It was after the positive feedback, financial uncertainty and the support and help from my friends Beneficial Basics Skincare was born.

We source our products from local and Australian owned businesses. I do not import any active ingredients. Our tallows come from paddock to plate businesses in and around Townsville, branching as far west to charters towers. We source only hormone free and ethically raised suet. So, we know first-hand the ethical practices behind the raising of the cattle that produce this wonderous product. Some of these families are up to fourth generation farmers! 

The most humbling experiences came after our official launch! The support we have received from the community, selling out in the first 2 weeks and even making it to the Queensland Country Life Newspaper! We could never have imagined this amount of interest in such a unique and simple ingredient like tallow. We appreciate every single valued customer who has helped us make this possible.

We aim to maintain our foremost reason in our journey onwards as Beneficial Basics Skincare. That our products are safe for the whole family. Mine and yours!

Thank you again for reading our story so far! If you want to stay up to date with new products and updates, follow us on social media. We have both an Instagram and Facebook account.

We have plans to expand our product line in the future, your support has been invaluable. We look forward to sharing our progress with you.

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Going down your own tallow journey and using our products, you acknowledge and agree that you are responsible for your own health and well-being. Beneficial Basics Skincare is not liable for any damages or adverse effects arising from the use of our products.

While we ensure that our products are made within the guidelines set out by both the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission). The statements regarding our products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or (TGA) (Therapeutic Goods Administration) or any other regulatory body. Our products are not intended to diagnose or cure any disease.