Purely natural, simply sustainable: Discover Red Buffalo Skincare
- Article by Bonny M, April 3rd 2025 for The Real Glitz Magazine
Red Buffalo skincare is a brand inspired by the need of skincare that could lock in moisture in the extremely dry Kunming climate. Sore, itchy and flaky dry skin was the reality of a family which lived in Yunnan province, South Western China for 13 years.
The frustration from the amount of moisturiser bottles they went through due to the dry Kunming climate inspired founder Cornelia, to create a solid lotion bar with zero plastic waste. Which would lead to the formulation of an intense moisturising skincare range that addressed her family’s need for sensitive prone skin and skin concerns such as sore, itchy and flaky dryness.
As her friends found out about these amazing moisturiser bars, Cornelia started making them for others to use and in no time the range of products grew to include lip balms, deodorants, body scrubs and more.
The name Red Buffalo came from our honeymoon trip in Northern Thailand, says Cornelia. There were water buffaloes everywhere working in the rice paddies, walking in big herds along the roads and some even had little kids on their backs while their mothers lead the buffaloes along the fields.
One day as we travelled, I saw an albino water buffalo whose skin was a striking reddish pink. That buffalo was the inspiration behind my company’s name. The actual image is from the Naxi tribe of Yunnanwho do not have a written language but only pictographs. It is one of the last remaining cultures that use a pictographic script.
The Naxi script for a buffalo is the top part of the logo and the symbol underneath is the script for water. This image has now been approved as my registered trademark by the CIPC. It is something to remind me of an extraordinary honeymoon with the man that would be my partner for life.
Red Buffalo Skincare products are made using natural ingredients, and do not use any chemical additives, preservatives or stabilisers to make them. As such, in colder weather they could be harder than they would be in warmer weather. To address this, a variation is used in their recipes to create product stability depending on the season.
To emphasize their commitment to sustainability in using less plastic, their products are either in biodegradable paper push-up tubes, or reusable and refillable glass or aluminium tins. Plastic tubes are hard to recycle and can sit in landfills for hundreds of years, breaking down into tiny harmful particles, while paper tubes, on the other hand break down naturally and don’t leave behind toxic residues.
Because Red Buffalo Skincare products are all made in small batches of about 20-40 at a time, the full control of their products helps ensure quality and effectiveness in their skincare formulations and that their products reach the customer as fresh as can be. In addition their ingredients are purchased from reputable, long standing retailers such as Essentially Natural and Holistic Emporium.
