In a recent interview, In Good Company had the pleasure of chatting with Elka de Wit, the visionary behind 34.4º Skincare Naturally. As the founder of this eco-conscious brand, Elka is not only a dedicated entrepreneur but also a fervent advocate for sustainable living, making a positive mark on the community. The inception of 34.4º stemmed from Elka's personal journey of experimenting with various ingredients to nurture her skin. The brand's commitment to being bee-conscious, cruelty-free, and harnessing the remarkable skin-repairing properties of honey and beeswax sets them apart in the realm of skincare.

Interview with Elka: 

Tell us about 34.4° Skincare Naturally

We founded the company as a social enterprise; it's a registered Community Interest Company (C.I.C).  Our ultimate aim is to give 50% of profits to social causes. We have always donated 3.44% of every single sale to the Natural Beekeeping Trust and this goes to the rewilding project. So it's not about honey farming, it's actually about providing natural habitats for wild bees. We have a collection of about 48 different products, all handmade by me and a whole group of volunteers in the background who help us with labelling, marketing and all sorts of other jobs that I no longer have time for. 

We only use natural ingredients and mostly all organic now, which is amazing. It means that we are big enough to procure organic products as opposed to standard products, and we also have three different collections. One of them is essential oils, also mostly organic. Then we have two different collections of skincare, one with essential oils and a slight water content, using natural preservatives and the other collection completely and utterly water-free. I'm really into water-free products because the less you put in water, the less you put into the environment. Also, water-free products are completely biodegradable. This is important because everything you put into water, you will end up drinking it. So if you want to be environmentally friendly, come and look at what we've got! We're online and we also have a little shop unit in Stoke Newington, open by appointment. We reuse all of our glassware. So once you buy into the brand, for every six empty jars you send back, you get one freebie up to 30 pounds. We take reuse very seriously.

How and why did you get started? 

Initially, I got started in skincare because I had terrible skin. I like to think that now my skin is pretty good. I had eczema and problematic skin from the age of about 14 until I started this brand in 2014. What I realised was that my skin wasn't sensitive, it was reacting normally towards chemicals, and it was chemicals that were making my skin raw so our brand is chemical-free. We use essential oils in some of our products but no essential oils for people with sensitive skin and no water content. The main thing is that no water content means you do not need to use preservatives. 

What is your mission?

Well, we are the antithesis of skincare brands! We are on a mission for people to use fewer of our products for more purposes. This means that you can travel with only three products; a moisturiser, a soap which washes both your hair and your body, and a cleanser. But actually, even our moisturiser can be used as a cleanser. So we want people to use little things more often, with only one product or two products to do the job of everything. We do not believe in a 13-step skincare regime. We’re also on a mission to reuse glassware because the more that people buy from us the more they give back to us, and the fewer receptacles we have to buy. So we make people think about what they're doing. We are encouraging conscious consumerism.

What are your biggest challenges?

Well, the biggest challenge on the whole is to get our brand known and to get people to buy into the brand and persuade them away from existing brands. I am sorry to say that many commercial brands contain a lot of chemicals and preservatives – which upset people's skin and most importantly, they upset the environment. 

What is your favourite good company?

I adore companies that have as part of their setup, giving money away. Who Gives a Crap toilet paper– I love those guys because 50% of those profits go back towards good projects in the world. I like Paul Newman sauces, 100% of their profits go to good projects. These are the kind of companies I like to buy things from because I like to think that everything that I buy affects something else. 

How can people help your business? 

Because we are a social enterprise and as the founder, I do the bulk of the work, we need help with various things in the background. Specifically since opening this unit in Stoke Newington, which is a disused stable, what I would love is for friends to get together and help run the shop-office so that we can explain to local people what we're doing and what the products are. We open for four to five hours a day on Saturday and Sunday

The other thing we can hope to achieve is to buy a unit in Stoke Newington where we teach local kids how to cook because food is the basis of healthy skin and mental health. And we want to expand into the region of teaching people about gut bacteria, diet, and so on. So we're looking for a sponsor to buy us a building. I don't think it's too much to ask for; other people have done that. 

That's really what we're looking for, people who are altruistic believers in what we're doing and who can help us to the next step so that we can have a proper home and that we can help local people to improve their health all around. 

You can watch the full interview with Elka here.

Please check out 34.4° Skincare Naturally and visit them if you’re in Stoke Newington.  It's worth it. 

And if you want to discover other amazing places with purpose in London, try our platform now.