Our story

Hi. We're Should Just Be Normal.

A small family brand from South East Queensland, built on one simple belief; what goes on your skin should be something you actually recognise.

Est. 2025 · Handmade in Queensland

The honest version

Here's what actually happened

It started with a family problem and a lot of research. The business came later.

THE BEGINNING

Where it all started

It started with our eldest son, Oakley. Like most parents, we thought we were making decent choices for our family until we watched him react, strongly and consistently, to everyday additives, preservatives, artificial colours, flavours. Things that were in everything. It was frustrating, heartbreaking, and eventually the push we needed to start looking harder at what we were putting on our skin, in our food, and into our home.

Once we started looking, we couldn't stop. We went all in. No gradual shift, just a full commitment to doing things differently. That journey led us to tallow, a nutrient-dense ingredient with centuries of history in cooking and skincare. Our thinking was simple: if we wouldn't cook with seed oils, why would we put them on our skin? Erin, who had battled hormonal acne for years, already knew that topical fixes alone couldn't solve what was happening underneath. This was bigger than skincare. It was a way of living.

The Market

We wanted to do it for the right reasons

When we launched Should Just Be Normal in March 2025, tallow was having a moment. New brands were appearing constantly, most of them treating it as a business opportunity more than anything else. We understood it. It was trending, and it had a good story attached to it.

But we had been working on this for two years before we ever opened the doors. Testing, formulating, refining. This wasn't us jumping on something new. By the time we launched, tallow had been part of our daily life for years. We wanted to build something affordable, honest, and genuinely connected to the lifestyle we were already living. Not another brand cashing in on a trend. Something real, from a family that had real reasons for being here.

THE HARD PART

We almost walked away

Running a small business while working 12 to 17 hour days as a fuel truck driver is not sustainable. I was home every night, but home didn't feel like home. We were exhausted, stretched thin, and after six months of trading, we had made roughly $3,000 for the financial year.

We made the call. Close the business. Move to Western Australia. Get a FIFO role in the mines or find a trucking job over there. At least that way, the time away would be purposeful, and the time home would actually feel like it meant something. We started a closing down sale and prepared to move on.

THE TURNING POINT

Then you showed up

In the first week of our closing down sale, we did $10,000 in sales. At 50% off. We couldn't explain it. We looked at the numbers, adjusted ad spend, tried to understand what was happening, and just watched the orders keep coming. By the time we ran out of product, we had filled over 2,500 orders in four months and done $197,000 in sales.

But the number that hit hardest wasn't the revenue. It was the 2,500. That's 2,500 families who found us, tried us, and came back for more. Even during the sale, people weren't just buying once. They were returning, reordering, telling us the products were working. That told us everything we needed to know.

We couldn't walk away from that. The community had spoken, and we listened. We decided to stay.

RIGHT NOW

Back, and better for it

We took the time to rework everything. Redesigned the website. Redid our labels (because by then, other businesses had started copying our colours and some of our products). We came back fresh, with a clearer head and a proper plan.

Same ingredients. Same values. Same commitment to keeping it honest. We're still a small, family-run operation handmaking everything in South East Queensland. We're just not going anywhere this time.

The people behind it