The Year We Chose Real: Reflections on Soap, Sustainability and Community

As this year comes to a close, I wanted to pause — not to launch anything or sell you something — but to say thank you.

And to wish our community of soap lovers a heartfelt Merry Christmas and a calm, hopeful New Year.

2025 has been a big year for us.

We’ve grown.
We’ve broken things (sometimes by accident, sometimes because they needed breaking).
We’ve welcomed so many new customers who decided to take a chance and try something different.

And none of it — absolutely none of it — happens without you.

Because choosing ANSC isn’t just choosing a soap. It’s an action.

It’s a decision to take back a little control over what comes into your home and onto your skin. It’s choosing to think for yourself in a world that makes it very easy not to.

This year reinforced something I feel deeply: our community is smart. You don’t fall for greenwashing. You don’t want to be soothed by vague promises or leaf-slapped “eco” claims that exist purely to make us feel better about a system that is, frankly, deeply broken when it comes to caring for our planet.

When you really stop and think about it, the absurdity becomes obvious.

Using a product that is mostly water and detergent, shipped in a plastic bottle that — despite the claims — is very unlikely to ever truly break down, just to wash your face…
Is that really what thousands of years of human civilisation has led us to?

Our soap lovers are saying no to that.

They’re choosing solid skincare. Less waste. Fewer resources. Products that do the job without unnecessary packaging, filler, or fiction. Not because it’s trendy, but because it makes sense.

And there’s a social impact to that choice too.

Every time you choose Australian made and Australian grown, you’re supporting real people, not faceless supply chains. You’re backing local jobs, local manufacturing, and local ingredients. You’re recognising that a product isn’t just a product or a status symbol — it’s the hands that made it, the land that grew it, and the resources that went into bringing it to life.

That matters.

2025 was also the year I stopped telling myself that our products weren’t good enough — and that I wasn’t good enough.

Our soaps don’t look like big beauty. They never will. Some people call them old fashioned. I see them as honest.

They’re real.
They’re functional.
They’re made with intention.

There is nothing outdated about choosing substance over spectacle. There is nothing unreasonable about wanting skincare that respects your body and the planet — even if the industry would prefer we didn’t question it.

As we head into a new year, my hope is simple.

That we keep choosing real over manufactured.
That we keep questioning what we’re being sold — and how it’s being sold to us.
And that we recognise marketing for what it is: persuasive by design, not always truthful by intent.

To everyone who placed their first order this year — thank you for taking that step.
To everyone who’s been with us for years — thank you for believing in what we’re building.
To everyone who shares our soaps, talks about solid skincare, and quietly pushes back against the nonsense — you are the reason this business exists.

From my family to yours, thank you for being part of this community.

Have a beautiful Christmas, a restorative break, and a New Year grounded in thoughtful choices.

I can't wait for what 2026 has in store for us!

Soapy hugs,
Emma xx