She started making the products in 2008.
Founder of Naturals Beauty, Tanya du Bois. Picture: supplied
What started as a mother’s concern about the products her family used has blossomed into a growing beauty business, with products now available across South Africa.
After a doctor advised the family to rethink their exposure to chemicals and take a closer look at the products they used every day because of her autistic son, Tanya du Bois decided to take matters into her own hands, and Naturals Beauty was born.
The paediatric neurologist asked the family to look at cleaning products, food preservatives, body lotions, and personal care products in their bathroom. Du Bois felt she couldn’t find products right for her son, so she began making her own in her kitchen in 2008.
Mother solves problem
In the beginning, it was just her trying to solve a problem she could not find on shop shelves, with no business plan, no investor and no five-year strategy – just a month with a young son diagnosed with autism.
Today the homemade solution has just earned her the 2026 Nedbank Business Ignite title. The Nedbank Business Ignite is a mentorship, competition, and investment program in South Africa designed to support, reward, and scale small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
“I was stuck. There were no products on the shelf that could help my son, only potentially harm him, so I had to take things into my own hands,” said Du Bois.
Mother driven by curiosity
She started making the products with no background in cosmetic science. Du Bois was driven by curiosity, determination, and a 1960s natural home-remedies book her grandmother had passed down, which she used as her starting point.
She began experimenting in her kitchen, making small batches of body lotions, washes and butters. She read, mixed, tested, adjusted, and kept records, trying to find something she felt comfortable using on her young family.
There was no grand ambition to build a beauty company, but very soon other mothers who were part of the autism support groups she belonged to began asking what she was using on her son.
“They were looking for the same answers that I had been and were struggling to find them. They started asking me where they could get the same products I was using,” Du Bois recalls.
Side hustle gets serious
Du Bois’ attempt to solve a personal problem at home quickly became a small side hustle. The kitchen batches became orders, and demand grew exponentially, eventually forcing her to consider whether her homemade formulations could become something more.
Du Bois knew that if Naturals Beauty was going to grow, she needed to move beyond homemade formulas, developing more sophisticated products while retaining the principles that had driven her from the beginning.
“Finding the right cosmetic chemist proved to be one of the first major hurdles. For close to a year, I searched for someone who understood what I was trying to build and was prepared to work with a small, values-driven natural skincare business rather than simply push me towards cheaper or easier alternatives,” she said.
Finding help
There were moments when she considered walking away, but eventually, she found a cosmetic chemist who understood the brief, and that relationship still holds strong today.
It was an important turning point for Tanya, as Naturals Beauty was no longer simply something she made at home, but a fully-fledged business with real potential.
Unexpectedly, the business has continued to grow alongside her family. When her daughter was born, Du Bois developed a baby range; when her son became a teenager, a teenage skincare range followed, and when her sister and her mother began looking for more active skincare, she developed the company’s serum range.
Naturals Beauty
Today, Naturals Beauty has evolved into a substantial South African business manufacturing skincare, body care, hair care and family ranges, with more than 50 products across the board.
However, the most interesting evolution is happening beyond its own shelves. Du Bois has built a bespoke product-development arm that works with other businesses to create products from concept and formulation through to the finished range.
It extends the same instinct that started Naturals Beauty: listening to identify the problem, understanding what is needed, and creating a solution.
One of her latest projects is a collaboration with Cape Town wine estate Klein Constantia, where Naturals Beauty is developing a substantial bespoke range spanning body care, skincare and men’s grooming, scheduled to launch in November 2026.
