Some of the best ideas come from chatting about your passions with friends and that was certainly the case for the founders of eco-friendly nourishing skincare and sunscreen brand We Are Feel Good Inc. Three couples, including a doctor, builder and professional surfer, were sitting around a campfire on a family surfing holiday and they found themselves lamenting the lack of a sunscreen they could really feel good about wearing. Not just from a physical standpoint but from an environmental and sustainable standpoint too.
Years of research, developing, refining and testing ensued, with the resulting brand We Are Feel Good Inc finally launching into the market. And the founders, including Dr Scott McGregor and Jake Patterson, are thrilled with the resulting products.
“Just like our customers, we’re real people with real needs and beliefs around what we put on our skin. We understand life in the sun from inside the industry,” Scott explains.
“Our aim was to produce the world’s best broad spectrum sunscreen. One that performs well in Australia’s harshest environment, yet has beautiful wearability and makes applying daily sunscreen an easy lifestyle choice.”
Since its inception, We Are Feel Good Inc. has branched out, with their range sporting several types of sunscreen for different skin types, as well as nourishing body milks, lip balms and other nourishing skincare products.
Scott says their main focus as a brand is to be both effective and ethical. “We strive to be a brand with integrity that people can trust. A brand that gives our customers confidence to live the life they love, knowing they are really protected from the damaging effects of the sun,” he says.
The Australian-owned and made brand has developed its products in consultation with their very own in-house team of experts. These include Scott, a skin cancer and cosmetic physician who made a career out of dealing with the damaging effect of the sun’s harsh rays, and professional surfer Jake who spent years in and out of the water honing his craft and trying every sunscreen under the … well, sun.
Together they’ve created products that are TGA approved as both a broad spectrum SPF50+ as well as nourishing skincare product. “They’re enriched with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant rich ingredients to soothe the skin, combat sun damage and protect against future UV damage,” Scott says. They’re also free from parabens, PABAs, oxybenzone and octinoxate, products that are known to be harsh on both the skin and the reef and associated wildlife.
As well as doing good for the skin and the environment on a formulation level, We Are Feel Good Inc. are also committed to environmental sustainability with their packaging. It’s an initiative that’s usually really tricky for sunscreen producers, but the team were determined to do something to make a difference.
“In Australia, sunscreen is classified as a cosmetic or therapeutic good which means all our packaging must be glass, aluminium or ‘food-grade’ virgin plastic” Scott explains. “Currently, by law, we cannot use recycled plastics as these could hold contaminants. To date, we haven’t found a suitable alternative to our food-grade plastic packaging, however, our bottles are 100 per cent recyclable once used.
“So we joined forces with Precious Plastic Margaret River, Precious Plastic Victoria and Precious Plastic Melbourne to recycle our We Are Feel Good Inc. bottles and lids. We currently have over 100 stockists signed up as collection points and are continuously working to grow this program to make it easy for our customers to return their bottles and lids.”
Ultimately, Scott says, it’s about making sure that customers can feel good on a physical and mental level when using their products. “We want people to trust that they are not only protected, but that they’re also putting the best ingredients on their skin to keep it nourished and hydrated.”
In her spare time, she likes long walks down the makeup aisle and performing in Brisbane theatre. You can follow her adventures on Instagram and TikTok @thebeautypalate.
