Frankly Good for Baby
There's nothing like the exquisite newness of a baby's skin, the soft suppleness and that smell. When choosing products to bathe baby in it's important to consider ones that are as natural as possible with the least amount of chemicals. Not only will this decrease the risk of sensitivity but also gives you peace of mind. We've found an amazing brand created in Australia by two sisters who are both Mums and were driven to create products that are as good for the earth as they are for humans, big & small.
Frankly Eco founders Anna Scullie and Lilly Scullie also work in the community for mothers and children. Anna has a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Public Health) and a Diploma of Breastfeeding Management and is particularly interested in human evolution and brain development in infants. A mother of two boys and twin girls, she is passionate about helping and supporting other Mums, especially those with newborns.
"The Nipple Ointment was the first product that we created. Anna was finding it hard to source a safe, natural, Australian made nipple ointment that she could recommend to mothers she was working with. When she contacted me I told her how I was “completely freaked out by using sheep fat on my nipples” (Lanolin) and then letting my baby feed so we decided we would use plant power to develop this product.
The first ingredient we needed to choose was one that acted as a moisture barrier and we chose Candelilla Wax. The ointment also contains Chamomile and organic Calendula to assist in soothing delicate skin that is sore and inflammed. We made sure the product was able to be applied to the nipple and if bubba needed feeding then could be fed straight away- Mums don’t need another thing to think about. The ointment doesn’t contain any synthetic fragrances as we wanted bubba to be able to smell the breast/mother."
How quickly after the Nipple Ointment was created were the other products developed? Which was second and why?
"The second product we developed was our Baby Wash. We adore the smell of our own babies so we wanted to create a product that wasn’t over powering with its scent but still cleansed babies skin. It doesn’t contain any synthetic ingredients, its packed with essential oils for a subtle scent."
Why is it important for you to advocate for producing plant-based vegan skincare? What kind of innovation is required for this to develop further?
"I am (Lilly) vegan and knew that we didn’t need to include any animal or animal bi products in our range. We were still able to produce beautiful products without having to harm others.
I believe even if you don’t choose to be vegan you can still start to eliminate some products containing animal and animal bi products, including skin care and house hold products.
Vegan skincare also has less of an environmental impact by decreasing the amount of green house gases and far less water usage, just to name a few."
Your company’s core values are ethically minded – would you say your emphasis is on people over profit?
"All of our suppliers are Australian, mainly women-led businesses and we often partner with wonderful women owned and ran businesses.
Everything we buy creates a job for someone here - our printing, materials, boxes! It is all domestically made, even if it is a lot cheaper to go off-shore.
Our community-based work is in the organisations we support and in Anna’s support of mums and new families in the community.
We donate a lot of products to refugee centres and crisis support centres for women - we do not advertise this as we think it is our responsibility and there is no need to advertise this."
Can Frankly Eco products be used by all family members? Which products are loved by older kids and adults?
"Absolutely- our range can be used by all. We have had people from all ages saying that they have had overwhelming relief from using our Baby Bum Cream to help soothe redness and irritations.
Our Natural Sunscreen is perfect for the whole family. It provides broad-spectrum protection without chemical UV absorbers. It features high-quality Natural Zinc Oxide to create a physical sun barrier by reflecting the UVA & UVB rays away from the skin - together with Candelilla and Coconut to nourish and moisturise."
Can your products be used on children with sensitive skin? Eczema?
"We have had wonderful feedback from people with sensitive skin and Eczema, they are able to use the range every day and get relief from their skin irritations. Our hero for anyone with sensitive skin is our Baby Bum Cream. Our Baby Bum Cream has high quality Natural Zinc Oxide that is combined with Melaleuca Oil (Australian native tea tree oil) to provide the skin with a natural anti-bacterial moisture barrier.
With so much wonderful feedback on this product we have considered changing its name to THE WONDER CREAM."
Do you have any new products in the pipeline?
"We have two new products that are in the pipeline. I can’t give too much away but I can say one of them is great for winter and one is used mostly in summer."
What drove Anna to study Breastfeeding Management – was it from personal experience?
"Anna felt the injustice to new mums when she needed some support with her first. Anna had that one friend who supported her positively through her journey and decided she wanted to be that for new mums. She has now supported in a voluntary capacity over 100 new mums with their early parenting journey over the past 6 years.
She went on to study obsessively about infant development, normal infant sleep and secure attachments.
Anna is a huge fan of co-sleeping, baby-led sleeping and baby-led eating.
The main role is just reassuring mums and giving them no doubt what-so-ever, She believes she doesn’t usually need to adjust much but just lend an ear for fears and concerns and the slight tweak to breastfeeding here and there."
Is Frankly Eco a full-time job or are you both still working in the Education sector and Community?
"For me it's very much a full time job. Anna does "the get 8 hours work done in 4 hours per day" and I (Lilly) run the warehouse and wholesale so needs to be more available and “at work” than Anna. Our warehouse is located on mine and my families kiwifruit farm in country Victoria.
Anna has never taken a wage from her community work with mums. She does also manage special projects at her husband’s brand “Eddie’s Lil homies” more info eddiebetts.com.au or eddieslilhomies.com
This series is being made into a TV-series for children this year! This is full time work as well."
What are your plans / goals for Frankly Eco?
"We will eventually spend some time on exporting our products to the rest of the world but for the time being we are enjoying the domestic growth (NZ-included sorry we claim you guys as we are in love with your prime minister…….)
We are really quite focussed on the now and want to ensure our service is amazing and our products and processes are amazing.
As we have lots of small children between us so steady growth is good for us while our kids are young."
Explore the Frankly Eco range here.
