We discovered Murchison-Hume on a recent trip to Australia. After visiting many fine dining restaurant bathrooms in both Sydney and Melbourne, we started to notice Aesop and Murchison-Hume products were the popular choice pretty much across the board. While we were already familiar with Aesop’s well-loved products, Murchison-Hume was new and exciting to us, just as white Australian grapefruit was when we first discovered it (we don’t have them in North America, you see).
We just had to investigate further outside of these bathrooms and were delighted to discover Murchison-Hume, the new kid on the block, since 2008 when the company founded in Sydney by a husband and wife duo. Born out of an allergy their son developed after exposure to household cleaners, which are known to be quite abrasive, when they were unable to find any natural alternatives that worked just as well, they decided to make their own.
The company has since expanded its range to include naturally household cleaners of all sorts, brushes and scrubbers, superb garment cleaners and protectors (for designer suede and leather), as well as hand care.
We had the chance to test drive their intoxicating Original Fig superlative liquid hand soap and velvet glove hand cream after having withdrawals in North American restrooms with bad mass market cleaners. Oddly enough, lotion is almost never offered, even in finer restrooms, despite our harsh winters (and mass market soaps) leaving nearly everyone’s hands completely parched.
Murchison-Hume to the rescue! On first try the Superlative Liquid Hand Soap is refreshing, but not overly perfumed, and leaves our hands feeling clean but not overly dry. On second try, you can really notice hits of rose hip, wheat, and soothing chamomile are working hard to combat stripping your hands of moisture. The formula itself is coconut-based, biodegradable, and plant derived; three super important columns to check if you’re a frequent hand washer.
We followed with the Velvet Glove hand cream which smells similar to the original fig hand soap, with more coconut and shea butter coming through. We can see how perfect this hand cream is for frequent hand washers, because it’s not in the slightest bit greasy, instead absorbing super quick into your hands, leaving your skin nourished and protected with grape seed oil and shea butter. Kind of like those freaks who wear gloves to bed, only way more normal.
After carefully evaluating these two delicious products, we’re starting a campaign to put better hand products into public restrooms and our homes. We think you’ll find once you switch to products that are good for you, at the basic level of hand washing, there’s really no going back to drugstore brands.
Murchison-Hume products are available online and locally in Toronto at Tearto Verde and The Drake General Store.
