Is this oil given to our WWII soldiers the next big thing in beauty?

Researchers at the University of Western Australia have been studying the antimicrobial properties of tea tree oil since the early 1990s. It was reportedly used by the Bundjalung people of northern New South Wales, who treated colds and wounds with crushed leaves. Tea tree oil was also included in the kit of Australian soldiers during World War II.

“When we were looking at how the oils were being formulated in consumer products, it was clear that they weren’t playing to the research strengths of these oils. Everywhere we turned, it became such a compelling proposition.”

The oil deep dive overcame Horwood’s reluctance to return to the beauty industry frontlines.

“After years of developing and launching Australian consumer brands, the last thing on my mind was to do that again. Does the world need another sculpting serum for the bottom? Do we really need to put on eight oils and serums before we leave the house?”

Instead, Horwood developed the concept of ‘Australian Aid’, with a range designed to appeal equally to facialists and fishermen. The concise Etto collection features a Tea Tree Whipped Cleansing Foam that can used on the body or scalp, a clay mask and spray combining eucalyptus and tea tree oil.

The feedback from international buyers has been positive, with the range launching through Sephora in the United Kingdom next month, with custom collections planned for online e-tailers Mr Porter and Net-a-porter.

“Most of the senior buyers say they haven’t seen anything like it in a world swamped with celebrity brands.”

This time there is no celebrity spokesperson, although Horwood enlisted leading photographer Simon Upton to shoot a sleek Etto campaign with Indigenous Australian model Billie-Jean Hamlet and her equally photogenic partner Robby Bain. Horwood prefers to focus on the brand’s work reforesting parts of WA, south of her father’s farm in Geraldton, with blue mallee eucalyptus trees.

“When we first looked into eucalyptus the majority of oil in Australia was from elsewhere,” Horwood says. “To be bringing production back to Australia and re-greening a dry, windswept corridor of the WA coast is exciting. The growing, distilling and manufacturing is taking place here. There is only one product being manufactured overseas, and that requires South Korean technology, but we are open about that.”

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Horwood is leaning into Etto’s philosophy of “radical transparency” about the company’s sustainability and culture.

“It comes from how our team operates and how our board operates,” Horwood says. “It takes bravery and removes the temptation for trickery and clickbait. We like to believe you can be successful doing it that way.”

“I have found my happy place with the team I have and the work I’m doing. This will be an iconic Australian brand. It’s a long game.”

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