Ten years. Four names. Same scrub.

It started life in 2016 as a mechanics scrub, which was true but too small. Then it was Good Bugger, which retail couldn't cope with. Then True Grit, until we found someone else already had it. Now it's Old Mate, which is what it should have been called from the beginning · because that's who's been buying it all along.

What it actually does

New Zealand milled pumice does the lifting. Grease, oil, paint, soil, fish, diesel, silage, two-pot, the stuff that laughs at ordinary soap. It goes.

The difference is what's underneath the pumice. Most heavy-duty hand cleaners strip your hands and leave them worse than they found them · cracked, dry, splitting at the knuckles come winter. This one is built on our whipped bath butter base: cocoa butter, shea butter, calendula oil and vitamins. So hands come out clean and conditioned. Soft enough to cuddle the wife without complaint. Soft enough to tickle the kids without them squealing about it.

And the smell

Vanilla whisky toffee. On a hand scrub. We know.

It's the thing people mention first in every review · and the reason it gets stolen off the bench by everyone else in the house. Suspiciously delicious, for something that just took engine grease off a set of knuckles.

Who it's for

Farmers, tradies, mechanics, gardeners, fishermen, boaties. Anyone who works with their hands and has given up expecting the cleanup to be pleasant. It's on farm sheds and it's on superyachts, which tells you most of what you need to know.

How to use it

Dry hands, no water yet. Scoop a decent amount. Work it in properly · knuckles, nails, the creases. Then add a little water and keep going. Rinse. That's it.

Old Mate's Rules

Wash your hands before you sit down. Take your boots off at the door. Say thank you. Buy two · one for the shed, one for the house, because otherwise the house one disappears. And no job too dirty, no hands too rough.

The details

Handmade in New Zealand by us since 2016 · vegan · cruelty free · PETA certified · Buy NZ Made. Formulated without parabens, PEGs, SLS, BPA or hormone disruptors.

Fair warning: it looks like dessert. It is not dessert.