Many people do not know the personal story behind Grahams Natural Alternatives, but it truly has played such an important part in the business, particularly with the development of the products. In celebration of Eczema Awareness Week, we want to highlight how life-changing Grahams Natural Alternatives products can be to those who suffer from eczema.
Geoff (the owner) was one of the worst cases of eczema as a 3-month-old baby in the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Having lived with this condition his whole life, it wasn’t until his son Ryan was 14 months of age and suffering from severe eczema that Geoff decided to do something positive about it.
Through Geoff’s personal experience with Eczema over the years, he had “seen every doctor and dermatologist and used every product available on the market”. Understanding that there was no quick fix to Eczema, he set about developing a product that would keep the skin hydrated and ultimately help prevent flare-ups. He did not want to create a simple moisturising cream, but instead a total treatment product (Anti-Bacterial, Anti-inflammatory, and hydrating) that catered for all the components of a skin condition. Geoff knew by doing this, not only would this provide the best total treatment, but provide effective relief to sufferers and hopefully a treatment solution for them, so that they would be able to enjoy and engage more in a normal and routine life. Not a band-aid, but a total solution.
Geoff knew he didn’t want Ryan to use traditional treatments that contained chemicals which are found in most eczema relief products as through personal experience he felt that long-term use of chemicals can have negative side effects on the skin. The search to find a natural alternative began and this is seen as the start of Grahams Natural Alternatives.
Geoff and his wife Shannon began to mix different raw ingredients which he found relieved his eczema symptoms and thus the C+ Cream was born. After extremely success results for both Geoff and Ryan with the cream, they went on to list the C+ Eczema Cream with the Therapeutic Goods Authority (TGA) in Australia.
Geoff now uses a combination of Grahams Natural Body & Bath Oil and Grahams Natural C+ Eczema Cream to control his eczema. The C+ Cream contains the powerful ingredients of Manuka Honey which is good for controlling bacteria on the skin and liquid herbs of Calendula which has anti-inflammatory properties.
Geoff’s top 3 tips for treating eczema:
- Always try avoiding the allergen
- Keep skin moist and hydrated at all times
- Take essential fatty acids
Geoff and Shannon continued their research into other skin conditions like Psoriasis and Rosacea. They didn’t just want to create one cream that provided for all skin conditions as they felt they all had different properties. Therefore, the Grahams Natural Alternatives Psoriasis Cream and Rosacea Cream were developed. “The more research we did, the more we found skin conditions are not only an external problem but also an internal one.” From this the Mega Oil was developed which is an internal oil covering the essential fatty acids omega 3, 6, 9 at the correct ratio of 2:1:1. This personal experience and trial and error is how many of the products in the Grahams Natural Alternatives range came about.
Geoff and Shannon then took this to the next level so now the core products (including the C+ Eczema Cream) are scientifically formulated, so that anyone buying a Grahams product can have the absolute confidence that the product is not only natural, but also clinically formulated to work against their specific skin condition.
Grahams Natural Alternatives now export to 15 countries all over the world and sell over 100,000 tubes of the C+ Eczema Cream annually. However, it all comes back to the start of Graham Natural Alternatives and the quest to develop a product that would naturally treat their son’s severe eczema and provide him with a normal life. This has grown to help the huge proportion of people that suffer from skin conditions globally.
