Would I Lye??

Recently, we heard from a lady who asked if we knew if ‘lye’ or sodium hydroxide used in soap could cause eczema.   I replied that anything, including tap water, can cause eczema  in sensitive individuals.

I also mentioned that household ‘lye’ as used in Drano and oven cleaners is not the same as the cosmetic grade we use in our soaps.  Also, when properly made, cured, and ph tested, the sodium hydroxide is no longer present, just two wonderful things; pure soap and natural glycerine.

I know there are various grades of sodium hydroxide, some more pure than others, and that it is also used in many food products, including some white breads, and in many brands of toothpaste, including natural ones.

Alas, I’ve seen some really crude- looking and rough handmade soaps, where I’m sure they’ve just used ‘lye’ from the supermarket meant for cleaning and scouring.  I hope I helped reassure this lady that fine cosmetic-grade sodium hydroxide is much safer than the ashes my grandmother and other pioneers used to make soap.  She mentioned that she ‘had been afraid of soap,” and I felt it was sad that such a common everyday humble yet beautiful item should be feared because of the many misconceptions that surround it.

Many years ago, around 1979,  when I began making soap, people often asked if it were ‘lye’ soap…..but this rarely if ever happens now.  I think  Artisan Soaps like ours, made in the fine old Marsailles tradition, are becoming more widely known, especially as more of us sell over the internet…and more and  more people enjoy artisanal soaps and would never think of going back to the old commercial ’syndets.’

I still remember the first bar of fine imported soap made in the English countryside given to me over 30 years ago by my friend Ranjit!  It was an epiphany…..and I still tell her she led me astray from my budding writing career to become a West Coast hippie soapmaker! So please, don’t ever be afraid of soap…you are missing one of life’s simple pleasures!

Linda Quiring

A Higher Standard in Natural Bodycare!

Someone just returned a product they bought last Christmas…..they didn’t  know it was a natural product, made fresh daily and  not preserved.   When they used it recently, it was a little ’sticky.’   We want everyone to be happy, so we replaced it.

I wondered aloud if other companies get these kinds of returns, and our fantastic shipping angel,  Diane, replied, “perhaps it’s because they hold us to a higher standard!”

I repeated this to another business person, and they agreed that we are basically, “famous for being green, clean, etc.”  That’s good, actually, THAT’S GREAT!!!

Although I am constantly amazed at how few returns we get,  another thing that happens occasionally, is that someone returns a product that seems to smell ‘off.’  But often…it smells O.K. to us and we just can’t figure it out.  Recently, though, someone returned a product and it had been made just a week before.  We passed the product around…and six  of us just couldn’t figure out what was wrong.  Then, BOING! I got it!  I guess that’s why I have the big desk.

Firstly, we use only food-grade oils in our products.  Most, if not all, large commercial companies use some form of mineral oil, aka ‘petrochemicals.’ There is basically no smell to mineral oil, while our expensive nut and vegetable oils do have an actual smell of their own.

Secondly, we use as little fragrance in our products as possible, not to save $$$$, but because  almost 95% of reactions to body care products are fragrance-related.

So, the scent in some of our products may be light, with a slight aroma of the natural oils coming through. In time, I hope more products have this problem; smelling too natural.  I talked to a few locals and friends who use our products  and they all agreed they love that our products do have a nice, light, clean scent…and most used the word, “natural.”

I hope we continue to be held “to a higher standard.”

Bye for now,

Linda

They’re Fibbing!!

Even more funny stuff.  A recent issue of Profit magazine contained a short news brief entitled, “Green Sheen.”  It reported on the government’s recent crackdown on “greenwashing,” which it describes as “the practice of disingenuously marketing one’s products as green.”

It also quotes a “recent report by environmental marketing firm Terra Choice.  It found that 98% of the 2,219 SUPPOSEDLY (my emphasis !) green products it investigated committed at least one of the seven greenwashing “sins,” including “being too vague, (e.g., “all-natural”), making claims that are irrelevant, and fibbing!”

98%!!???  That sound like a lot, doesn’t it?  And yes, they ACTUALLY SAID FIBBING!  Apparently, the Competition Bureau of Canada (didn’t know we had one!) just fined seven retailers who were fibbing.

I hope we aren’t fibbing.  We try, honestly we do.  We recently caught ourselves using something that we are always railing against; propylene glycol.  We were importing a really nice herbal extract, and just found somewhere on the shipping documents that it actually contained propylene glycol.  We thought it was a pure extract,,,so of course, we discontinued it, and did manage to find one without that pesky ingredient.

But, we are too picky.   Another VERY large soap company uses it as the first or second ingredient in their soaps.  Also, it can be found in really natural (so-called) toothepaste and yes, folks…we are actually eating it!  It is in lots of food products, as a thickener I guess, including ice cream.

So,  if you catch us fibbing, let us know.  If you catch someone else fibbing, let them know.

Good Luck!

Linda

Bye for now,

Linda Quiring