The Monkey + Moon 'My Allergy Story" trilogy is told from the perspective of our Founder, Maxime Renfrew. These three allergic reactions spanning five years were pivotal in the founding of the company, bringing to light the unregulated use of preservatives and chemicals in the UK's cosmetic and personal care industry:

Fast forward and I have moved to London to start my first job. By now, I have pretty much recovered from my last allergic reaction in Shanghai, and my eyes feel and look normal. My lips, however, remain chapped and painful most days. I put this down to it being winter and just sort of accepted them. Again, months seem to pass and my lips actually get worse, swelling and blistering as they did in Shanghai. I sit in the office smothering them in vaseline to no avail – the symptoms remain and if anything, are exacerbated.

This image shows the extent of my suspected toothpaste reaction affecting my lips

Covid hits and lockdown ensues. I escape my six bedroom flat share in South London and make the ten hour drive to my mother’s house on the West coast of Scotland. Noticing my chapped lips, she believes the ingredients in my toothpaste are the culprit. My whole life I have used Colgate Cavity Protection toothpaste – the most basic of all the Colgates. We take another look at the ingredients – indeed it is full of allergens: aroma, Cellulose gum and the infamous Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (a foaming agent known to cause allergies), to name a few.

These photos show my permanently chapped and swollen lips over the Autumn/Winter period of 2020.

How can I suddenly be having a reaction to a product I have used my whole life? And how can I live without toothpaste? We ditch the Colgate and set about researching allergy free toothpastes. This time, however, toothpaste formulas which are actually allergen free are few and far between. Unlike my quest for allergen free makeup, there is literally no allergen free toothpaste on the market. So many brands call themselves “organic” “natural” and “hypoallergenic,” when on inspection, their products are laced with allergens in the form of preservatives and perfumes.

And so, my mother took it upon herself to craft a truly allergy free formula.

Sourcing the ingredients online from family run businesses, and some rough charcoal from a local tree surgeon and good family friend (which she pulverised herself in a pestle & mortar at the kitchen table), my mum would create variations of her toothpaste every week, and we would test them together. At first, I found it hard to adjust to the flavour of the mineral toothpaste. Rather than using artificial chemical flavours to make our toothpaste taste fresh, we sourced the best organic peppermint oil and birch xylitol for our recipe. The abrasive charcoal made my teeth appear whiter and feel cleaner than ever, removing tough stains and gently polishing the enamel.

My family and I began using my mum’s toothpaste every day. She would make it in small batches in her kitchen in Scotland and post it to me when I moved back to London. Because of the grey colour of the tooth paste I would use it in tandem with a copper tongue scraper to remove any build up on my tongue, which doubled as an excellent way to freshen breath (bad breath is caused by bacteria build up on the surface of our tongues, rather than our teeth!) With this routine my teeth felt extra clean and polished from the toothpaste, my breath was fresh from using the tongue scraper and most importantly, my chapped lips recovered.

My allergy journey took me from the photo on the left of a self-conscious 20 year old whose life was controlled and impeded by her allergies, to the one on the right - a full of life happy and healthy 26 year old.

It was not until I returned home for Christmas later in the year that I entertained the idea of selling the toothpaste. I wasn’t sure if there would be a real demand or if customers would like the taste. I tested one of my mum’s batches again and thought: 'wait a minute, this actually tastes great!' I was suddenly driven to do something, to use my knowledge and experience to help other allergy sufferers and create a truly chemical free brand which they could trust. I remembered all the internet forums I had scrolled through trying to find chemical free products, and the countless other people with the same problem as me.

Maybe my days spent agonising over what was causing my reactions, pouring over academic studies of allergens and spending hours in the shops deciphering long-winded ingredient lists had a purpose after all – to help others navigate their allergies in a chemical obsessed cosmetic market.

I made the decision to bring my mum's charcoal toothpaste to market make fragrance and preservative toothpaste the new normal, where ingredient lists are short, readable, and transparent.

Almost a year later, in August 2021, Monkey + Moon was founded.

Check out our mouth care range and browse our ingredient lists.