My Story
As far as I can remember, I have always been interested in the healing power of herbs and oils. One of my earliest memories as a child is watching with fascination as my Italian grandmother made soap in a thick, heavy metal kettle over a hole in the ground, and a wonderful cream using glycerine, rose water, olive oil, honey, and beeswax from her beehive. However, money and the availability of raw ingredients were very limited in those days.
The essence of her intuitive and unique method of making these wonderful products, ensuring that none of the essential properties and nutrients of the raw ingredients were lost during the process, still lies at the core of the way Unica products are made and formulated. It is such a shame that I did not inherit her cooking skills as well.
When I started to suffer from skin problems myself, I decided that it was time to put my passionate interest in natural skincare into practice. After a spell of bad health, my skin changed, becoming very dry, rough, and my fingertips began to ulcerate. I could not touch anything without wearing cotton gloves, and any moisturizer I tried, even the most expensive ones, would only exacerbate the problem, while the steroid cream prescribed by the doctor caused my hands to swell up. It became apparent that my skin was reacting to the products. Later, I realized that I have a sensitivity to all the silicone-derived ingredients which can amount to 70% of the product!
Feeling desperate, I decided to try applying olive oil to my hands and noticed that, at least, my skin was not reacting negatively. My grandmother used to say: "When nothing else works, try beaten olive oil." It was then that I seriously started considering using only natural ingredients to soothe my skin, initially using raw ingredients like a bit of shea butter mixed with olive oil and water. After taking several courses, reading many books, and, above all, relying on the invaluable teachings from my beloved grandmother, I started to produce my own skincare products, and I have never looked back! That's how I healed my skin and those painful ulcers on my fingertips, and to this day, my skin remains healthy, soft, and nourished.
This is how UNICA came about and what Unica is all about: products made using only 100% natural and organic ingredients I would use on my own skin and nothing else.
Sonia 🌱