An engineering company in Meltham seems an unlikely base for a business importing beauty products. But these are no ordinary hand and face creams, they are cosmetics based on an unusual and exotic ingredient – ostrich oil. Hilarie Stelfox reports

IN AN industrial unit on the Meltham Mills estate visitors would not be surprised to catch a whiff of engine oil.

But they might be surprised to learn that within Unit K5 – occupied by an engine tuning company – there’s an embryonic beauty business reliant on oil of quite a different kind.

Ostrich oil, a by-product of ostrich farming, is the primary ingredient in an entire range of cosmetics, manufactured in Belgium and now being sold exclusively in the UK from Meltham.

How an engineering company came to have an interest in beauty products is a story best told by the employee responsible, Jan Booth, a woman with an unusual background all of her own.

Jan, 53, has a degree in mechatronics (a combination of mechanical and electronic engineering) from Lancaster University and was a mature student of 39 when she decided to go back into education.

The mother-of-two had previously worked as a costume designer, pub landlady and hotelier but felt drawn to science and engineering.

Five years ago she came to work in Huddersfield, joining Meltham-based Triato which imports and sells care engine care products.

The company’s base, Unit K5, is also occupied by a second, affiliated, business tuning cadet car racing engines.

“My final year in university was spent looking into the effect of surfactants on the viscosity of oil, working with Castrol, which brought me into the garage industry,” said Jan, who now lives in Taylor Hill and is involved in sales. “Understanding how it all works helps sales when I’m going round garages and they realise that I know what I’m talking about.”

But her interest in quite a different type of oil came about when her youngest daughter Nichola, a beauty therapist, suggested that her mum should try using ostrich oil on her skin.

“She was inspecting my wrinkles, the way that daughters do, and told me about ostrich oil,” said Jan. “She said the reason that it’s so good is that it’s rich in omega oils.”

After researching ostrich oil for herself and trying it on her wrinkles – saying “it’s great at plumping out your skin” – she contacted a Belgian company called Struislux (which means ostrich oil) for more information.

“The man who owns the company breeds ostriches for meat and the oil is a by-product,’’ said Jan. “They use everything – the meat, the hide, the feathers and the oil.

“You get six kilos of oil from each bird and you get a deep penetration into the skin with it because it is animal oil into animal skin.”