- More Soap Info. -
COST & SCIENCE:
An issue I'd like to straight-up address is THE COST of organic, sustainable ingredients.
YES, they presently do cost more than mainstream crop harvests and synthetic ingredients on the market. However as the demand for cleaner quality ingredients increases, prices WILL drop. What we all need to calculate is the cost of NOT using organic, sustainably-made products ...to our health, and the planet. Your skin, largest organ of your body, absorbs what you put on it. Everything that goes down your shower drain, even when treated through filtration plants, ultimately ends up in waterways affecting plant and animal health. It has been found that even when processed through water treatment plants, synthetic personal care product ingredients (and including pharmaceuticals) are not fully rendered inert and DO make their way into our waterways, adversely affecting fish and plant life. Studies date back decades on this, you can research yourself.
Here are just a couple of studies:
https://news.stanford.edu/news/2004/november3/Perfume-1103.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702425/
​
INGREDIENTS:
​
Our carefully sourced soap ingredients contain no animal fats, detergents, sulfates, phosphates, parabens, phthalates, artificial colorants or dyes, synthetic scenting materials, artificial preservatives or fillers, or inferior or non-sustainably grown and harvested base oils. And our soaps are never tested on animals, only in-house volunteer humans who are only too happy to try new soap concoctions we make!
​
RE: RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil), there has been much attention in the news re: palm oil, how it's planted./harvested, how workers who grow/harvest it are treated, animal habitat affected, and overall climate effects of the clear-cutting/burning, growing and harvesting of palm oil....an ingredient in countless food and other products nowadays, including soap and personal care products. My main supplier offers RSPO palm oil and this is what we have used in the past. The RSPO is a group striving to ascertain responsible/sustainable growing and harvesting of palm oil. It's a work in progress, gaining everyday. From my own study, I find that there are still areas where certification of sustainable practices are still difficult to consistently ascertain due mainly to a lack of manpower, and lately, also affected by Covid-19 restrictions. So I am cautiously and watchfully refraining from using palm oil until I see more reliable, provable, consistent certification. I want to be part of supporting the RSPO by using their certified palm oil, but as said, I would like to witness more consistency in their results first. Many manufacturers have their own opinions on this issue. This is mine. Read more about palm oil HERE:
What our soaps DO contain is,
(as per our very transparent links to our suppliers INGREDIENTS):
​
- Organic base oils: extra virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil, babassu oil, castor oil, virgin shea butter.
- Colorants are only achieved with clays, botanicals, coffee, spices and herbs.
- Scenting comes from only pure essential oils.
The one chemical we do use, sodium hydroxide (lye), is the alkali catalyst that causes "saponification", the transformation of oils/fats into soap. ALL soap of any kind if made with an alkali of one kind or another. In ancient times, it was obtained by leaching water through wood ashes, making "potash". Once saponification has occurred, there is no residual lye remaining in the finished soap product. So when you see "sodium hydroxide (lye)" on our soap labels, yes, it is used to make the soap, but it is not a remaining ingredient in your soap bar you are purchasing/using. So the old connotation about being burned by lye soap can only occur if an inexperienced soapmaker is dabbling with making soap and uses too much lye in their recipe, beyond what is needed to transform oils/fats into soap.
​
LABELING:
​
Soap labeling in the USA remains a funny thing.....true soap, which ours is considered, by definition (not a detergent), is not required to have transparent, list-every-ingredient labeling by the FDA. We are more than happy to supply full, complete, transparent soap labeling as we feel it is your right to know and choose products based on honest full-disclosure. Many soapmakers nowadays skirt the issue or use vague and misleading wording in their labeling, which only serves to further confuse consumers and leave them uninformed, unable to make an honestly informed selection.
​
WE ALWAYS LIST EVERY INGREDIENT WE USE TO CRAFT YOUR SOAPS,
even (as with lye) if it's no longer in the finished soap product. We even provide a LINK for each ingredient directly to our supplier! Check out our INGREDIENTS page! How many soapmakers have you ever seen provide THAT info.?
​
Also included in every bar of soap is our experience & expertise since the early 1990's, and a whole lot of love!
If you ever have questions, please contact us! We're more than happy to answer any inquiry!
​
​