Frequently Asked Questions
What is label transparency?
As a family we are avid product ingredient readers, and questionable ingredients always deter us from a product. Honesty and transparency is important to us and so all our products have ingredients listed as used. No hidden ingredients means there isn’t something labeled as one item when it’s actually made of several different ingredients. All our raw materials are single source items. We provide a full list of all the ingredients in each product. This way you can make a clean and informed choice about which product is right for you.
Where is the expiration date?
We make all our products in small batches to ensure freshness and consistency. We make products every month and we do not store our products for years like commercial products are. We do not use artificial preservatives or chemical stabilizers. But natural oils, butters, and essential oils have their own stable shelf life when they are pure and stored properly.
Soaps – The soap you buy from us is made within the year and soaps do not “spoil”. The soap will harden over time (lasting longer during use) but the pure essential oils scents will fade or become lighter. The colors may soften as well. But the older a handmade soap becomes the better and steadier the lather. To preserve your handmade soaps better we recommend keeping them in a breathable packaging (like our cotton bags) in a cool dry place, away from excessive humidity and sunlight.
Other skincare products – We have incorporated an open jar logo with a 6M or 12M within, which means we encourage to use the product within 6 or 12 months of opening. Ways of handling and storage will also extend the life of the products. Using a spoon or scoop to take out butters, not getting water inside the containers, or storing it in a cool, dark place instead of directly in the sun will extend the life of the products.
How long does a bar of soap last?
It depends on how you use it! Typically for one person, it will last 4-6 weeks per bar for the body, face, and hair. Our Black Bars if you use it just for your face can last up to 6 months.
Keeping your bar dry after each use and not leaving it in standing or running water will help it last longer as well.
Do you use GMOs?
We avoid consuming GMOs as a family and we do not use any GMOs in our products. We find and source certified organic ingredients and use only NON-GMO, virgin, or unrefined oils and ingredients. Most of all our ingredients are food grade quality. We use the same type of organic oats we eat for breakfast in our soap, the same organic cloves and cinnamon we cook with - we really mean “Skin Foods”.
What is the white “ashy” stuff on the soaps?
No, it’s not mold! It’s soda ash, a completely natural occurrence in the cold method soap making process. Soda ash is not harmful in finished and cured soap. It occurs when any free sodium in the sodium hydroxide (lye) reacts with oxygen. It is purely an aesthetic thing. Many soap makers will spray soaps with alcohol, wipe them, wrap them. But we choose to appreciate the natural processes and its footprints.
My Body Butter/All Day Moisturizing Face Cream melted?!
Our Body Butters are a completely natural moisturizer made with organic and unrefined whipped oils. It has a fluffy light texture, which melts on your skin upon contact. They are made without any synthetic ingredients unlike commercial products. Commercial lotions and moisturizers contain a plethora of chemicals such as phthalates, cocamide, DEA, MEA, etc to remain viscous and be stable through various temperatures. We try our best to keep it cool during the hot summer shipments! If the butter has melted during shipment or if you left it in a hot place, it will harden again in the fridge, but it will no longer be a “whipped” texture. It will feel like a lotion bar, but will still melt in the warmth of your hands and body. The whipping process creates air bubbles in the butter, but once melted the air bubbles escape causing the volume to decrease, so your jar maybe a 1/3 less than it was when packaged. The natural reaction of oils and butters towards heat is to melt, but the nutrients and healing properties of our butters is not affected by the heat.
Why are your soaps better?
We created our first bar of soap for the love of our children. We needed something better than the mainstream brands out there that contain all kinds of toxic ingredients. We researched, read and experimented. Cooking our first batch of soap for our kids was meaningful and rewarding when it turned out just right. And over the years we’ve made better and better bars. We focus on the quality and purity of ingredients. We never skimp on our ingredients, continuously striving to find the best sources for each of our ingredients. We try to use unrefined and virgin oils to keep the integrity of their natural goodness. We find the right synergy between the ingredients to create truly natural, yet powerful and nourishing soaps and skincare.
Many “natural soap makers” use ingredients and processes that don’t truly mean made from scratch. Many soap makers use ready-made, mass produced soap bases and then just melt it and add fragrances or colorants. It’s like buying cake mix versus truly making it from scratch. All of our products are made by us from the individual ingredients listed on the packaging.
How do you make your soaps?
Our natural soaps are made in the cold process method. We meticulously calculate and weigh each oil, milk, and natural additives and blend them all from scratch, to create mild, skin-nourishing, healthy, longer lasting bars. We cure our soaps for a minimum for 8 weeks before selling them.