I remember when I first met Johnny. He came to my place to drop off some of his cleaning products for me to trial, and we yarned on the porch for ages. Johnny told me about his passion to get his prices so low that everyone in New Zealand could afford sustainable cleaning products instead of the harsh, toxic stuff. We also bonded over our new roles as dog-parents, and planned a future BBQ hang out.

You think this blog post is all about New Zealand made cleaning products, and it is. But Conscious is produced by people: and it’s the people who have turned Conscious into one of the most (if not, the most) affordable sustainable cleaning companies in New Zealand.

Above (from left to right): November 2019, June 2020, December 2019 Caz & Johnny.

Conscious offer sustainable cleaning products here in Aotearoa New Zealand. I’m talking Liquid Castile Soap, Floor Cleaner, Laundry Powder, Toilet Cleanser, Laundry Booster, and Surface Spray. All products come in glass or compostable packaging (truly, actually, properly compostable in your home compost).

Conscious key values:

Palm oil free
Chemical free
Affordable and accessible for everyone
Ethical
Cruelty free
Carbon neutral goal by the end of 2020

I know what you’re thinking… with so many brands claiming these values but doing dodgy stuff behind the scenes, it’s hard to trust a company. After knowing the makers and owners, Johnny and Caroline, for well over a year, I know these claims are legit.

I hope my story telling helps you trust and understand them too.

The Conscious ‘beginning' story’

Like all successful businesses, Conscious grew out of a personal experience. It began because Johnny didn’t want to continue wrecking his skin.

Johnny started a cleaning business in Australia several years ago… “After a couple of weeks of cleaning showers with bleach and just using other “normal” cleaning products I was having a shit time. My hands were peeling and it’d irritate my lungs no end. So I jumped on a few Mum’s websites looking for alternatives, dove down a few online rabbit holes, discovered Liquid Castile Soap, and that was basically of the start of Conscious.”

Who and how?

Conscious products are made by Johnny and Caroline in Northland. Oh and their pup, Poppy, helps a lot too.

“We make all of our products by hand, from scratch, in small batches (although batch sizes have grown a fair bit in the last 12 months from 10 / 20L batches up to 100L). Up until very recently, all we used was a large drill, a few large paint stirrers, and a 20L bucket with bathroom and kitchen scales for our powders. We’d mix our sprays and floor cleaner directly into their 20L containers and for our soap we’d have 4 -5 slow cookers running (which created a few inconsistencies).

The only thing that’s changed is that I bought a 100L honey heater for cooking our Liquid Castile Soap and it just so happens to double as a vat for making larger quantities of everything. Still using the same Stanley drill though, and I still get bloody sore arms making laundry powder and toilet cleanser haha.”

Johnny and Caroline literally do it all themselves. I laughed when Johnny explained how the home compostable labels work…

“They’re a pain in the arse to put on (cast your mind back to air bubbles in your school books) and we occasionally run into condensation problems in winter. We’re hesitant at looking into alternatives though, as they need to be properly home compostable. But if I sit down for a day and really nut it out we can get through about 150 – 200 labels.”

Sustainability + Ethics

“We try our hardest to be Zero Waste.”

Johnny and Caroline try really REALLY hard to be the most sustainable option.

A few things they do to combat waste:

Take back all their bulk/wholesale containers for reuse
Packaging is glass or raw cardboard
High quality spray bottle triggers so they can last at least 20 refills (send them back to them when they’re broken)
Utilise recycled containers
Soft plastics sent to be recycled into fence posts
All waste paper goes into their massive worm farm (the worm farm is made from old recycling bins from North Shore Council)

Affordability

“We just want normal people, on normal shitty wages to be able to afford and use products that were created with care in mind.”

This is one of the main values of Conscious that stood out to me. Sometimes sustainable products can be ridiculous prices. Although I realise this is generally because you get what you pay for - high quality, carefully crafted products - Conscious are constantly pushing their prices down to make their products work for everyone. They didn’t accept the higher cost of their sustainable ingredients and continue with business as usual. Conscious know that a sustainable lifestyle can be unaccessible, and they’re pushing to change that.

My Review

Personally, their laundry powder and surface cleaners are my favourite products in the Conscious range. The surfaces cleaners come in a two delicious scents, enough to make your home smell good enough to eat. The laundry power is effective on grubby items, like muddy dog towels, though don’t use too much of it as it will leave white dust on black things - this goes for all laundry powders, so I’ve found.

I have used the Liquid Castile Soap to successfully wash my car and also my shoes. It’s one of those multipurpose items that you could use as your sole cleaner if you wished! Conscious also wrote a helpful blog post on the 26 different uses for their Liquid Castile Soap. I haven’t tried them all, but maybe one day!

I’ll leave you with this.

To finish our wee yarn, I asked Johnny what his favourite part of running Conscious was.

“I’ve battled some pretty hectic anxiety issues for a few years and this really helps me keep a lid on it. (hence looking at donating 50c or $1 from each sale to an environmental and mental health focused charity). I have no one else to hold to account for my actions, practices and outcomes expect myself. I’ve learnt so much from all of this just about business in general as well. It’s pretty invaluable. The community of people that I’ve discovered through all of this; they’re all so amazing and there’s a real sense of support from most people that I’ve had interactions with. It’s quite warming. And our products are bloody awesome, particularly the sprays – we know they outperform a lot of what’s out there, so hearing that back gets a couple of endorphins flowing.

Plus, I get to hang out with my dog Poppy all day.”

If I haven’t made it clear enough, Conscious are a brand I will continue to support, purchase from, and use going forward. They now have refill stations popping up around Aotearoa New Zealand, and you can find all their stockists here.

Shop Conscious online, and use code ETHICALLYKATE for 10% off if that helps you.

A sneaky sniff of the Liquid Castile Soap

As a rule, I only work with brands I love, use, and can whole heartedly back. This is a sponsored blog (I can't pay my electricity bill with free products), but 100% my own words, photos, and opinion.