SOAP Questions:
What’s in our handcrafted soap?
We use a little extra pigmentation so that our soaps stay their beautiful vibrant color all the way to the last use (a.ka. Please don’t use your best white washcloth to lather up with our soaps. It WILL stain and may not come out in the laundry). All our soaps (with the exception of the Oatmeal Soap) contain at least one ‘nut’ oil: Most of our soaps (with exception of Oatmeal soap) may or do contain Shea nut butter (Butyrospermum parkii) Mango butter (Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter) Avocado butter (Persea Gratissima {Avocado} Oil, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil), Cocoa butter (Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter) Apricot Oil (Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil),Castor Oil (Ricinus communis (Castor) Seed Oil and contain additional nut or fruit oils such as Apricot, green tea, chia seed (Salvia Hispanica (Chia) Seed Oil), Sweet Almond Oil (Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond)) Grapeseed Oil (Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil) Green tea (Camellia Oleifera (Tea Seed) Seed Oil) Kukui Nut (Aleurites Molucanna (Kukui Nut) Seed Oil) peanut and walnut oils and lard. We also use essential oils containing citrus and plant based products. If you have a known sensitivity to a particular ingredient and you would like to double check the ingredients before purchasing, please e-mail us directly at info@kalenamama.com and we’ll tell you exactly what’s in our soap if it’s not clear on the product description page of each of our soaps. Handcrafted soap manufacturers are not required to list their ingredients of their soap , but we do, because we believe you need to know. We are also registered as a small batch soap manufacturer with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and we test every batch of soap we make before releasing it for sale with Phenolphthalein. This is to ensure their is no residual high alkalinity left over in our soap after the saponification process.
Do we test our soap on animals?
Nope. Never. That’s what friends, family and enthusiastic volunteers are for. We aren’t sure if they washed their dogs, cats, hamsters or gerbils with our soap, but Kalena Mamas Artisan Works doesn’t do animal testing.
Do we use animal products in our soap?
Yes. In the summer of 2023 when all prices for essential oils, fragrances oils, butters and oils used in our soap, lye and shipping went up, we were tasked with looking at alternative ingredients. We did some further research and learned that palm oil displaces orangutans, children are being used to pick cocoa, monkeys are forced to pick coconuts for long hours and migrants are being forced to pick olives for olive oil without pay. According to the United States Department of Labor Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, together, produce nearly 60% of the world’s cocoa each year, but the latest estimates found that 1.56 million children are engaged in child labor on cocoa farms in these two countries. Yes, cocoa is what makes chocolate. Big sigh, we went back to our palm, cocoa and shea butter distributors and found they are manufacturing their butters and palm oil responsibly. Our butter supplier is a woman owned business and empowers other women in Africa by supporting sustainable and ethical production methods. We found joy in their dedication to promoting equality, fairness, and economic independence for women. We started researching how every oil we use in our production process is made. Coconut oil isn’t ethically sourced in at least Thailand. For eight months, from December 2021 to July 2022, PETA Asia conducted its third investigation into Thailand’s coconut industry, in which chained monkeys are forced to spend long hours climbing tall trees and picking heavy coconuts. So where do we go from here when yes, coconuts are fruit, making them inherently vegan. But it’s how they are picked and harvested that means they’re not always free from cruelty? We can ensure our coconut oil is ethically sourced. When we looked at using animal products in our soap due to prices, we understand noone is raising pigs to get lard. We are, by purchasing lard, keeping it out of the land fills though. We chose not to use beef tallow, as a good friend of ours has Alpha Gal. Sadly, we are no longer claiming to be vegan friendly but we still produce many soaps without animal ingredients.
Do we Superfat our soap? Super what?
Yes. We superfat all soaps to 10% so that there are extra oils left in the soap that your skin can use. Superfatting just means that we reduce the amount of lye used in the soap making process so that there are leftover oils that aren’t turned into soap.
Do we need to use lye to make bar soap?
Yes. Soap isn’t soap without it silly.
How long do our soaps last?
This question comes up a lot more than you’d think and there is no solid answer. It depends on how often you’re using the soap and how much lather you need. It’s a personal preference and we’d rather not get into the details of how long you shower and lather, but some of our customers tell us their soap is lasting 3-4 weeks in a daily shower and up to 6 months for handwashing. Please know that this depends on the size of the bar and how many are in your home or business using the soap.
What should you do to make your soap last a long time?
Great question! Purchase our acrylic soap dish that allows air to circulate around the bar of soap when it’s not in use. A good soap dish is one that will either raise the soap so that air is able to circulate freely around it between use, or have sufficient holes under the soap to allow excess water to drain away from the soap. If you let your soap sit on the edge of the shower or bathtub after use, we guarantee they will turn to a gooey mess that will leave you frustrated and spending extra time cleaning up. Our soaps will last a long time if you take the time to store them properly after use.