This week we feature two more local companies that have put their names forward for the Royal Tunbridge Wells Business Awards 2016.
Time is running out for those who have yet to submit their entry for the Royal Tunbridge Wells Business Awards 2016. Closing date is April 15. To find out more about the awards and how to enter visit www.tunbridgewellsbusinessawards.co.uk.
It has been nearly 50 years since Jane Healy, then aged nine, was left permanently scarred after a camping stove filled with methylated spirit blew up, setting her nylon pyjamas ablaze. She suffered third-degree burns covering 75 per cent of her body.
But as Jane grew up she became determined to turn her ordeal into something positive. Today, working alongside her 26-year-old daughter Laura, she has created a range of mineral based cosmetics called Seacreme which helps rehydrate the skin.
The fledgling company has its products stocked in the Tunbridge Wells department store Fenwick and also sells online. Sales are going from strength to strength, since its launch.
It was Jane’s experience of visiting the sea as a child, which was the only thing that could truly relieve her agony following hours of surgery that has formed the basis of what Seacreme is all about.
She said: “After I was burned I discovered the sea was always a great healer, so throughout my life, every time I grew, or needed an operation, I went to the coast to heal and get better.
“I was convinced it was the saltiness of the water that was making my skin softer and being in the sea was the only time I ever felt good.
“As I got older I realised there wasn’t really anything on the market other than Dead Sea products, but it wasn’t what I needed. I just needed regular sea water in a pot.”
Jane’s resolve to create the product was bolstered after she told a plastic surgeon post operation that she was going to the coast to heal, only to be met with a disparaging remark.
“She just looked at me as if I was mad and asked why I didn’t just use E45 cream. I was so angry with her and that was when I knew I had to do something myself.”
Jane and Laura set about creating the perfect product, a process that lasted over a year, with Jane focusing on the ingredients while Laura developed the branding and packaging.
The process cost just over £50,000 in total, most of which was funded by money left aside for Jane by her own father after he had passed away.
“My father died suddenly at the young age of 52 and all through his life he was worried about what would happen to me, although he never saw me grow up past the age of 18.
“So, in his will he left me the money which was meant for anything that could help me with my life.
“He thought perhaps I could go to America for treatment, but I never needed the money medically.
“Then I got married and my money just sat there, until I needed it to create Seacreme, although we have probably gone a bit over budget.”
The company is run as a partnership between mother and daughter, with each owning a 50 per cent stake, while bringing their own experiences and expertise to the process.
It took around three years from conception to finished product, with the first batches of Seacreme going on sale at Fenwick’s in January.
WHAT IS SEACREME?
Seacreme costs £21 a pot and is made from a mixture of Himalayan sea salt, carrot seed oil, algae and beeswax. There is no animal testing on the products, which come in the form of a day cream, night cream, soap and soy candle and are made in Sussex and Cambridgeshire.
The product is not medicinal in nature, but helps rehydrate the skin and is described as a ‘beauty product.’
WHERE IS IT SOLD?
Fenwick, online at www.seacreme.com and at The Pantiles market.
