Figgy & Co

10/06/2026

🙊 Hey.... the chemical big wigs don't want you to know this.

Most of the time, simple soap and water is enough.

Figgy's Home Cleaning Castile Soap is made for cleaning your home. Everything is clean and fresh and you have less chemicals in your life.

It's real soap. It's effective. It's gentle.

It's the best cleaner out there, and we'll stake our reputation on it!

👋Figgy & Co is a woman-owned, NZ-made cleaning brand based in Paraparaumu on the Kapiti Coast.

We've been making real soap-based cleaning products since 2014 — handcrafted by our small all-woman team, with fair-trade ingredients and full transparency on every single label.

We started because conventional products were making our co-founder's daughter Hope's eczema worse, and the "natural" alternatives were full of greenwashing. So we made something better.

If you're here for honest ingredients, straight-up education, and a brand that tells you the truth even when the industry won't — follow along.

We're glad you found us 🌿

figgyandco.co.nz

06/06/2026

Really, who wants to waste time running about getting natural cleaning supplies? Not me! That's the story right there about why you can get everything you need delivered to your door 💃

Before Figgy & Co, I would drive to the Hutt to pick up our DIY cleaning supplies from a few different places. Bulk vinegar from one place, washing soda from another and castile soap from a third.

I remember distinctly one time I had my cranky 2 year old with me, she absolutely kicked off in the back seat. She'd had enough, she was tired and hungry and annoyed I was lugging her around here and there 😬 Fair enough too!

It was way too much drama ( for both of us) just to get baking soda 🤪

I wanted & needed something easier.

✔️Everything together in one place.
✔️At a good price.
✔️And delivered.

That was MY problem that I solved by starting my online business.

Now Figgy & Co. delivers all around the country so busy people like you don't have to run the gauntlet with a raging toddler in the back seat.

So much better, right? 💙

P.s. we don't ship to the outer NZ islands like Waiheke because our courier charges a kidney 🤑 Sorry x

👋 We're Figgy & Co — a small, woman-led team making non-toxic cleaning products & supplying DIY cleaning essentials from our workshop in Paraparaumu.

Here, you'll find honest ingredient education, zero greenwashing, and cleaning solutions that actually work for real NZ homes.

If you're done with the spin and ready for the straight-up truth about what you're cleaning with, you're in the right place. 

figgyandco.co.nz 🧼

05/06/2026

Controversial? Maybe. 😅

But as you head into the weekend and do some resetting and cleaning, keep this in mind.

🩵Not as a judgement. Just as an honest little measure worth sitting with.

Because here's what I've noticed — the time it takes to clean a room and the amount of stuff in it are directly connected.

Not in an obvious way. In a quieter, more insidious way.

➡️Before you can clean, you have to tidy.
➡️Before you can tidy, you have to find homes for things.
➡️And when things don't have homes — the cleaning just doesn't happen the way you want it to.

I'll give you a real example from my own home.

🏡 When I moved house five years ago I never put my knick-knacks back on the windowsills. No grand decision. No minimalism revelation. I just... didn't get around to it. And then I noticed two things.

I don't miss them.

And my windowsills get wiped and dusted so much more often now — because they actually can be. Those little decorative pieces weren't just sitting there looking pretty.

❌They were a barrier.

Every time I cleaned I had to move them, find somewhere to put them, clean around them, put them back. Somewhere along the way I just started skipping that windowsill them instead. And the dust quietly stayed.

That's what too much does.

It doesn't just take up space.

It slows everything down — the cleaning, the thinking, the ease of just moving through your own home.

So here is my rule to keep things barrier free. If a room takes more than five minutes to tidy — it might just have more in it than it needs.

📢 Is there a surface in your home you've been cleaning around rather than actually cleaning? 👇

If you do then this weekend — pick one surface. Clear it completely. See how it feels. Then come back and tell me 🙌

👋 Figgy & Co is a woman-owned cleaning workshop based right here in Aotearoa. Real soap, honest ingredients, no chemical waffle.

Come find us at figgyandco.co.nz 🌿

essentialhome | modernhomekeeping | nzhome | intentionalliving | figgyandco

03/06/2026

It's a great question that I have answered many times in emails so here's our answer ✔️

And the honest answer is — it depends on where and how.

Borax gets a complicated reputation online.

❌Some say it's toxic, so never.
✅Others use it for everything.

👉Both camps are missing important context.

🧐Here's the rub. Animal studies in rats, mice, and dogs showed that at very high doses, boron — the element in borax — can cause reproductive effects. Real, peer-reviewed studies. This is where the alarm comes from.

But when you dig into the human studies...

Researchers studied the most borax-exposed humans on earth — mine workers in China and Turkey who breathe it and get it on their skin.

They studied over 1000 workers. Testing for blood boron, semen quality, and compared family sizes against neighbours in the same region who didn't work in the mine.

Do you know what they found?

Even at EXTREME occupational exposure, blood boron levels were 2-4x below what caused issues in those animal studies.

🍃Importantly In humans: No reproductive effects. No difference in family size. Nothing.

What this means is your chance of hitting those animal levels from safe cleaning with Borax is zilch!

That opens the door to genuinely brilliant cleaning — without bleach fumes, without ruining delicates, without toxic insecticides for the ants.

Figgy says yes to borax here 👇

Bathroom ceilings in winter 🧹 Borax and tea tree as a second wipe after hot soapy water slows mould without the bleach.

Laundry powder 🧺 Not absorbed through intact skin. No meaningful boron exposure. Full stop.

DIY ant killer 🐜 Small amount with honey, placed out of reach, is targeted and effective — no insecticides inside your home.

Washing delicates 🌿 Softens water and gently whitens old lace and woollens without damage.

📢Where Figgy & Co draws the line though

Dishwasher powder. Not because the risk is large — but could boron build-up in a child's system over time from residues? Potentially. We'd rather play it safe when it comes our kids.

Did you find this useful? Drop a comment — questions welcome 👇

borax safety | ingredient education | natural cleaning nz | non toxic home | figgy and co

02/06/2026

🍳 Cast iron pans can seem tricky right? 👉 They're different, they're heavy, food sticks and there seems to be lots of rules about 'not ruining' your pan, plus you can't put these pans in the dishwasher - are they really worth the hassle 🤷‍♀️

Here's the thing, they are only a hassle until they are demystified! And it turns out that many of the rules for cast iron pans are folk tales!

Cast iron pans are a delight to cook with!

Plus, the health benefits of NOT using a Teflon non-stick pan is big. It's well documented that humans and non-stick coatings don't mix - these coatings load your body up with forever chemicals that are bad for us, but also continue being bad for us because our bodies can't process or get rid of them 🫤

😍 Here are our best (back to basics) tips so you can cook with and take care of your cast iron pans simply and with confidence from now on.

In our castiron care blog you will find 👉

1. How to clean you pan properly with real soap
2. What exactly is seasoning your pan
3. How to season your pan (we give you a DIY balm recipe to use)
4. How to fix an oopsie like letting your pan get rusty 🫠

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01/06/2026

🍃 Eczema and Cleaning - This is the transformative journey from a baby with itchy miserable skin and a very stressed Mumma to a wellness that mum thought was out of reach.

Caylin's mum needed help, his eczema was out of control. Read how Courtnee ditched toxic home cleaners & switched to Figgy & Co.

31/05/2026

🍳 Cast iron pans can seem tricky right? 👉 They're different, they're heavy, food sticks and there seems to be lots of rules about 'not ruining' your pan, plus you can put these pans in the dishwasher - are they really worth the hassle 🤷‍♀️

Here's the thing, they are only a hassle until they are demystified! And it turns out that many of the rules for cast iron pans are folk tales!

Cast iron pans are a delight to cook with!

Plus the health benefits of NOT using a Teflon non-stick pan is a big one. It's well documented that humans and non-stick coatings don't mix - these coatings load your body up with forever chemicals that are bad for us, but also continue being bad for us because our bodies can't process or get rid of them 🫤

😍 Here is out best (back to basics) tips so you can cook with, and take care of your cast iron pans simply, and with confidence from now on.

In this blog you will find 👉

1. How to clean you pan properly with real soap
2. What exactly is seasoning you pan
3. How to season your pan (we give you a DIY balm recipe to use)
4. How to fix an oopsie like letting your pan get rusty 🫠

Everything you need to know about how to look after your cast iron pan correctly. This practical guide covers cleaning, seasoning and dealing with rust.

30/05/2026

🧐 Are you curious about natural cleaning? Find out here why making the switch will be one of the easiest things you'll do to do make a big, positivity healthy change in your life!

Here's 3 things to get started

1. Make a change where you clean most - the reasoning here is all about chemical burden, where are you loading up on the most exposures? remove these and you are already winning — think wiping your bench several times a day, you could well be using a spray with ingredients known to cause lung damage.

2. Zero in on what's irritating you - Is it washing your hands? Are your clothes making you itchy? Does cleaning the shower feel like you need a hazmat suit?
🍃Hands 👉 check out the Figgy DIY foaming hand soap pack
🍃Clothes 👉 Figgy's laundry options are ideal for sensitive and eczema skin.
Shower 👉 Figgy's cleaning paste is a cult favourite for just this reason - scrub the shower while you are in it. Picture this: Deep clean with no nasties and an uplifting scent of peppermint essential oil to give spa day vibes not chemically burnt nostrils!

3. Simplify your routine and get back to basics - Real soap is the best way to keep your home perfectly clean and dramatically reduce the cleaning chemicals in it. Because when it comes to a clean healthy home, soap is enough. The healthiest homes simply have less chemicals in them, when you cut out the products that work against your wellness - the alternative is clear. Simple is best! Our Home Cleaning Castile Soap is made for cleaning, we hand batch it in Paraparaumu for you to feel good about your cleaning and it does an amazing job, no matter what you throw at it!

Use this guide to detox your cleaning routine. Learn why natural cleaning is how to find the toxic chemicals lurking in your cleaners—and get rid of them!

28/05/2026

🫤 CRUNCHY WASHING | Is your washing just a bit too stiff when it comes in off the line? This is a common complaint and why even though fabric softeners from the supermarket are known to be so terrible for us and our washing they are still being used!

👉 Linked here is out blog that compares 2 methods of making washing feel softer: coating fabric in fabric softener & rinsing with traditional vinegar to freshen & soften washing

Now, it's true, we all want washing that feels nice against our skin right - but when you break up with fabric softener is can leave you with stiff washing.

🧐 Often it's not just one thing that will leave you with stiff washing, so here is a 'usual suspects' list to help banish those 'scratchy' towels!!

1. Too much washing powder - especially in front loading washing machines. These use less water and rely more on the cycle length and agitation to remove soiling. Try reducing the amount of wash you are dosing with an match it to the level of soiling you are washing away.

2. Not enough rinsing - again front loaders use less water and so you may need to select a cycle that includes an extra rinse or combines your preferred cycle with an extra rinse.

3. Spinning too fast - This is more of a front loader issue because they reach very fast spin speeds - but these fast spins flatten the towel and clothing fibres so they are anything but fluffed up - try reducing your spin speed, especially for towels.

4. Deactivate residues - more simply, add vinegar to your rinse cycle. Laundry washes are alkaline, and if you think you are getting a bit of residue lingering, a final rinse with vinegar will mop them up because vinegar is acidic and the two will cancel each other out so to speak. Vinegar has been used for a long time to help soften laundry.

5. Give it a shake! A shake out might be just what your washing needs before drying to fluff up the fibre and bring back some softness.

6. Tumble drier for the ultimate fluff! Even the crunchiest towels will fluff up after being dried in the drier. The heat and movement physically softens the stiff fibres leaving them soft and floppy. To save on power, washing can be mostly dried by hanging and then finished off when only damp. 10-15 minutes is often all the drying time needed to fluff up towels.

🍃 With a couple of small tweaks to your wash routine you can enjoy soft, fluffy washing every time you do a load. Better than that, now there will be no need to coat your laundry in fabric softener or expose your skin to the issues that go with it.

Here's the pros and cons of using vinegar to replace regular fabric softener. Get confident with ditching unsafe chemicals from your laundry and home cleaning routine.

28/05/2026

📢I wish the woman doing most of the cleaning knew that their bench spray refills might be saving a bottle, but are still blasting their home with unwanted chemicals... Not very eco at all!

🔎Refill tablets? Mostly tabletting agent—to hold the tablet shape and then citric acid to break it apart when it hits the water. So there's barely any actual cleaner to get the cleaning done [this is the same with eco laundry sheets!!].

💦Other refills? Concentrated with Sodium coco sulphate, SLS, SLES [all known irritants], harsh acids and synthetic fragrances. Some popular "eco" ones literally carry big red warnings about sink irritation and environmental toxicity — turns out their 'good for you' cleaners are only actually not harmful when you water them down..... 🧐 Make that make sense!

Plus they add dyes 🫤 and you know what that cleans.... nothing. Just another chemical added for looks.

I feel like I harp on about this 👉 ingredients matter.

When we formulated our Everyday spray refill we STARTED with the ingredients that work with you. Your wellness and your cleaning.

💃 If I'm wiping my bench several times a day, this is the kind of cleaning I want.

Clean. Refill. Repeat. Done in the time it takes to pour a coffee.

And here's what people who've tried it are saying... 🙌

"A Fantastic daily cleaning product. I use it for all surfaces in kitchen, dining, bedroom, bathrooms. I like all the scents! I get the refill option and it’s genius!" — Rosie T.

"Love my new everyday spray. The first cleaning spray I have ever used that doesn't give me a headache or want to block my nose." — Dani S.

"Love this product, everyone who comes to visit asks what I've just sprayed. Works wonderful too" — Amber G.

"Makes it super easy to make up bench spray when you're in a hurry!" — Jane M.

"I love this spray! It smells divine and I love knowing there's nothing nasty in there, makes my kitchen smell incredible" — Elsa Y.

🍃I'm so proud of this product for you to use in your daily cleaning.

We do enough of it ladies, so why not make it better!

www.figgyandco.co.nz — Everyday spray refill 😍