Brisbane Extra Story Script

Aired in Queensland on Channel 9 in August 2001

There are some occasions when you're glad you're a bloke, especially when it comes to cosmetics. There is a real argument over whether they (cosmetics) really work. What there is no argument over is that doctors say we all need a sunblock and a moisturiser.

It’s not that simple though…. moisturisers come in two different kinds!

For those of us on the outside of the beauty business, all those cosmetics seem like the triumph of hope over genetics. That hasn’t stopped us spending multi-millions of dollars a year looking for the fountain of youth in jars and tubes of cream.

Like nurse Danielle Osman, who is trying to preserve her perfect skin. “I used it everyday on my hands and wondered why I still had dry hands. I'd apply the cream during the night as well, but I wasn't putting a moisturiser on at all - it was barrier cream.”

The products Danielle was using were cheap and trusted for generations, but (they were) not moisturisers.

Kim Volp has a Bachelor Degree in Applied Science and her own skin care range, called Vegesorb ... but she says you don't have to take her word on why it's a better moisturiser than Baby Oil and Sorbelene.

The oil in Vegesorb comes from almonds. Somehow Kim has found a way of manufacturing it almost as cheaply as the mineral oils.

Now Danielle uses it as the basis for her own homemade creams. “You buy yourself a nice cream that smells nice and it costs a lot of money and you won’t use it. But I found this Vegesorb and I realised I could mix my own oils and make my own hand cream and body care lotion.”

Danielle's “kitchen company” is by no means a threat to Kim's. Kim's has been adopted by the Wesley Hospital to treat the tender portions of its new mums and bubs.

And Vegesorb itself, on sale for $7.95 a tube, is about to be exported from Brisbane throughout the world. Not that Kim expects to topple those giants of the mineral oil world ...but she hopes we're all better educated about what oils do.

Vegesorb, the moisturiser, is available from chemists and health food stores.