Valentines Contest

Just a little bloggery mention of a nice contest over at; Keira-anne.com
Keira-anne is running a Valentines contest for her audience and we are proud to be included.

The details are here;

http://www.keira-anne.com/2011/02/07/giveaway-celebrate-love-on-vancouver-island-and-win-one-of-three-great-prizes/

Good luck and happy Valentines Day.

xoxoxo,

Gary

Check out our NEW Website!

Great News!  Last week our new shop opened.  Online, that is.  We’ve been online for a lot of years now, maybe ten.  I think this might be our third website…but….

I can’t believe it!  Jayson, the tech guy, and Gary our tech guy/soapmaker have really worked hard for months and months, with great new product photos by David Borrowman, and some copy by me….and the result is the most amazing website…. colorful, not clinical like lots of body care sites…..and pretty sophisticated I think, for a soap company on a small island in the Gulf!

The next thing we’re working on, is a complete ingredient listing for all of our products.  More and more, we all want to know what’s in our body and hair care products.  So, we are valiantly working on this and hope to have them all up soon. Also, working on the shopping cart , it’s on the way!

Let us know how you like the new site!  We’ve already had an amazing response, and lots more orders coming in, so I’m thinking the new site is a BIG SUCCESS! Thanks, people!

Also, on Saturday, we closed our shop in beautiful downtown Ganges after 18 years!  But hey, we’ll be reopening in spring in a bigger location down the street, and there’ll be some exciting new things!

So, check out that great new online SALTSPRING SOAPWORKS SHOP!!

I’m off to Palm Springs for some hiking, biking and checking out all the soap shops in the desert.  Next post from the land of Sun & Sand!

That’s all folks,

Linda Quiring

Founder

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS!

We are SO busy…all the little Elves are here at Saltspring Soapworks shaping bath bombs, blending our famous Christmas potpourri and mixing huge bowls of Mulling Spice. I will be giving all of these away for Christmas besides taking lots home for myself!

With our 30+ year focus on Handmade and Local….it seems we have exactly what everyone wants! A small indulgence that doesn’t cost the earth, handmade, preferably by

someone nearby, not by a machine in Southeast Asia. Driving to work yesterday, the radio voice was commenting that this is the big thing to do in 2010: SHOP LOCAL!!!

I go along with that!

All I want for Christmas…let’s see… I can always use a good book, some dark chocolate…I mean really dark, the 70% stuff…new slippers, hiking socks…the usual stuff…and of course…I always get some luscious body care….natural, organic, maybe something I haven’t seen before. Maybe it’s just me, or the recession or something,,,but people seem to be calming down about Christmas….not so many harried trips to the Mall, not so much junk, but more gifts that are homemade, handmade, small, local, natural…..like fudge and handmade soap.

The soap thing is even bigger this year it seems,,,with folks walking out with 12 soaps,,,one for everyone…and 12 Lip Balms, one for everyone…There! That was Easy!

Or so people are telling us….they wander down the street in our small town, finding treasures that are made, right, here on Saltspring…………like eight flavors of bath bombs, ten kinds of chocolate, handmade pottery, knitted scarves and mittens, and of course, the handmade soap we’re famous for.

Handmade and Local is a trend we are enjoying……so, get up, get out, go shopping! We’ll be there with 12 Spicy Soap Scents, 11 Fizzy Bath Bombs, 10 Body Gelato’s. etc. etc.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Linda Quiring

CEO and Founder

Commended by AVEDA!

Yes, we have been commended by AVEDA, no less!  I’m so glad that just as we keep track of their environmental efforts, they are keeping track of ours!

If you read my most recent Blog, you will remember that one of Canada’s biggest packaging mag, Canadian Packaging, stated in an article about being GREEN, that Aveda had recycled over 37 plastic caps.  We instantly thought, hey, we’ve done even better than Aveda…………and we let you know.

If you also read the comment shortly after by Evan Miller, of Aveda Corp., you’ll see that ‘yes, it was a typo.’  In fact, they have recycled “more than 90,000 lbs. of #5 plastic bottle caps.”  I’m not sure exactly how many caps that is, but probably a lot.

I was thrilled to receive an email from Aveda Corp., and even more thrilled to read Paul’s comments:

“P.S. I commend you on your efforts to ensure that your carbon footprint is kept in check.”

There!  Even here on the Rock, we’ve attracted the attention of one of the world’s largest corporations for our efforts to be truly green.

I’m impressed!  How about you?

Linda Quiring

Founder & CEO

Post Consumer Recycled Bottles? (maybe a typo?)

We tried, we really, really tried to turn to PCR bottles for  the items, like shampoo, that don’t work in glass.  Basically, people don’t want glass in the shower.  We  found a supplier who had them…but had to wait while a sample came from England.  Do the bottles themselves come from England?  Actually No.

But,  they weren’t  in production in the U.S. yet.  We finally got a sample and it was great!  Perfect for our shampoo and conditioner…..but, the price was prohibitive.  Mostly, because they would be shipped from Georgia or somewhere….We had to make a decision….get plastic from Vancouver  or somewhere a lot closer than the Southern States….and not use PCR?

We wondered, how environmental, or green, is it to use  a container  that has to be shipped for 5000 miles?  So, we made the decision that PCR isn’t yet common or available enough. So, I was fascinated by a short article in the Sept 2010 issue of Canadian Packaging which states:

“  the extensive use of PCR plastics by the U.S. -based AVEDA, which claims to have recycled over 37 polypropylene caps through its  “Recycle Caps with Aveda’ marketing campaign.”

Yes, it does say 37 caps.  I read it several times………must be a typo.  Hey, we could recycle 37 caps, no problem.  Are we head-to-head with Aveda in our attempts to be really, truly green and not just green-washing?

Maybe there will be a retraction in the next issue….if so, I’ll let you know! Meanwhile, all joking aside, we really do try to do everything we can to have a light environmental footprint here at Saltspring Soapworks….being on a little island makes this even more important I think….as everything comes to us by truck and the ferry system.

We’ll let you know the instant we can convert to PCR….and we hope YOU are recycling all of our bottles and caps!

Linda Quiring

CEO & Founder

SHAMPOO BARS

YES!!  I have been raving about our old/new Shampoo Bars….and it seems so has everyone else…well, maybe not everyone.  But here’s an email from Sandi Johnson who tried it and liked it!

“When I first tried Saltspring Soapworks new shampoo bar I liked it so much I wanted to call and compliment them.  My hair had body; my hair had shine.  I wanted to compliment them on the easy lather.  From the substantial way the bar felt in the palm of my hand, I could tell that it would last a long time.

When I dialed the Soapworks number the answering machine picked up.  I didn’t want to leave a message because I wanted to tell them in person how easy it is being green with a shampoo bar.”

There!  Couldn’t have said it better myself.  Sandi stopped me in the supermarket because she wanted to tell us in person what a great product we have!  It’s so nice to be supported locally,   and I can’t believe how many people have mentioned it to me.    It IS easy being Green with this kind of product.

We have a contest on locally to see how many shampoo’s someone can get with a ShamBar……and it’s up to 100……I have to confess though, he didn’t have a lot of hair!

Soon, we’ll be introducing another product from the 70′s or 80′s that we dropped long ago.  Keep in touch!

Linda Quiring

Founder,

Saltspring Soapworks

I Should Have Known Better! Or, are you even using soap?

Says Dr. Robert McDaniel in the July/Aug issue of the Saponifier, (the soapmakers newsletter).

Dr. McDaniel tried “to compare market share and composition of commercial bar soaps.”

I guess it wasn’t easy…he says this info is as classified as the Manhatten Project! (I think they developed the nuclear bomb!)

He talks about syndets, which I’ve been talking about for years; meaning synthetic detergent bar.  Looks like a soap, smells like a soap, squeaks like a soap, but is nasty chemicals.

I did NOT know until now, about “combars”, which “combines soap with a synthetic (usually anionic) detergent.

WOW!  Things are getting even trickier in the soap bar biz.

Here’s the ingredient listing he finally dug up  for one of the biggest selling bars in North America!! I won’t mention any names, although Dr. McDaniel did. Hope you are not using it!  Here goes:

“Another superfatted combar:  anionic surfactants (potassium lauryl sulfate, sodium cocoglyceryl ether sulfonate,) magnesium cocoate and magnesium tallowate, sodium cocoate, sodium tallowate, superfatted with lauric acid, coconut fatty acids, palm kernel acids and an unspecified palm kernelate.  In additon there are stabilizers, salts, fragrance, pigments/colorants and the active deodorant triclorcarban.  I assume that the included sodium silicate is present to minimize the formation of insoluble soap residues, though it could also function to adjust the pH.”

Gulp.

Compare our bar of Seaweed Soap:

Saponified Oils of Palm, Coconut and Olive, Spring Water, Irish Moss Seaweed, Oat Bran, Chlorophyll, Essential Oils of Lavender, Rosemary & Lemon.

What’s saponified?  Means that we mixed the base oils with H2O and Sodium Hydroxide…until the mixture thickens and turns into soap; basically the triglycerides in the oils turn into soap and glycerine.  When thick, we add the extra ingredients like essential oils and scrubby things like the oat bran.

Use our soap!  It will be good for you, for our staff, for our family, for our island,  and for the planet.

Linda Quiring,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Founder

Saltspring Soapworks

MORE 'POO BAR! (Handmade Shampoo Bar)

Yes, something old IS  new again!  All 3 flavors of the new/old Shampoo Bar  have been flying out the door since we re-introduced them.   It was the most requested item on our customer ‘Wish List.’

At a Salt Spring Island Conservancy meeting last week, an old friend rushed up to tell me she’d just bought and used it…..and NO CONDTIONER!  Her hair looked GREAT! of course…

Yesterday, Molly Phillips showed up….we knew Molly as a toddler when her family lived down the road….later, as a teen, she wrapped soap after school, and as a young lady in university, spent summers working in the shop.  Here she was visiting from the city with a sweet little toddler of her own.  Mollie needed some Baby Care for Charlie…..and asked about the Shampoo Bar!  Heard about it it town…..so I gave her one I had curing on my windowsill  for some reason!  Oh yeah, it was from our test batch.

Lately, I’ve been using two different shampoos; one from the U.S., $22.00 per 8 oz bottle…and the most organic and natural product I’ve ever used.  It smelled divine!  But, I couldn’t get it to lather, and used it all up in a few shampoos by just pouring it on.  But, even with their expensive conditioner, which I liked, my hair wasn’t great.

The other was a national brand, about $18.00 per bottle, and it was nice…lovely scent, lots of lather, but my hair felt like straw after, even with loads of their and/or our conditioner.

Sunday, we biked for 40km up the Galloping Goose!  I was exhausted!  But couldn’t show up anywhere with helmet hair…so, just after falling asleep in the tub, I grabbed a Shampoo Bar, the one for blondes, of course, lathered up in the tub..rinsed off, a quick dry and fell into bed.

Monday a.m., my hair was softer and more shiny than in ages!  O.K. so now I know for sure who has the best shampoo…YES!!!  IT’S  SALTSPRING SOAPWORKS!!!

And no one can believe how long they last!  And NO PLASTIC BOTTLE!

O.K. Back to work….working on the world’s most natural Home Remedy and first aid products!  Coming Soon!!! (I hope!)

Linda Quiring

Founder Saltspring Soapworks

Something Old Is New Again!

Recently, we reintroduced a product we made  25 years ago:  Our Handmade Natural SHAMPOO BAR!

We  began making it in the mid-80′s.   Several older people had bought my pure white simple soap to use as a shampoo.  When I inquired, they all said the same thing:  In their younger days, there was no such thing as shampoo in a bottle.

I found an old recipe for a shampoo bar, made up a batch and began selling it.  Over time, it’s fame grew, and it became a best-selling product.  Then, I began having trouble with the formula.  This bar is notoriously difficult to make

It seems my supplier had changed the source of my secret ingredient….not only did the bar get really expensive, I lost several batches.  By now, we were also making shampoo in a bottle, with naturally-sourced ingredients, not petro-chemicals.  It became so popular, I scrapped the shampoo bar.

But now, 15 years later, people are still asking for it!  What’s going on??!!

I feel it’s the green thing, and our new Shampoo Bar was recently featured in the Green Section of our local paper.  Hey! No plastic bottle , non-detergent,  all-natural, no conditioners needed, and best of all, lasts forever !  We’ve been giving them to staff and regular fans to use for months while we developed the new formulas….and people have said: “30 or 40 shampoos and still going strong!”

Maybe it’s the secret ingredient!  But, we’re listing our ingredients so I guess it’s no longer a secret!  Yes, CASTOR OIL!  Used for decades as a hair treatment.   Ladies apparently groomed their hair, eyebrows and lashes with it for a glossy, shiny, healthy look.  It was in all kinds of soaps and shampoos in ‘the olden days.’

Comes in three types:

JOJOBA with extra superfatting for fine, dry or treated hair.

CALENDULA & CHAMOMILE  for light hair.

ROSEMARY MINT for normal to oily, and dark hair.

Wow! ARE WE GETTING RAVE REVIEWS!

We’ll be introducing more of our original old hippy herbal products in the near future, like herbal first aid and  home therapy.  Keep in touch to see some things old become new again.

Linda Quiring

Founder,
Saltspring Soapworks

WOW!!

Sometimes, we just have to pat ourselves on the back!  Like when we get rave reviews like this one….from Kira in Vancouver who emailed us….Subject: Kudos

“Hello Linda & Family,

I just had to pass along a quick “WOW” to you folks after using your Vanilla Body Gelato.  I am not a “lotions & potions” kind of person (honestly my boyfriend has more hair and skin care products than me) but the Body Gelato was given to me as a gift and so I figured I’d try it out.

WOW – I don’t ever remember my skin feeling so smooth & soft!  I actually feel CLEAN after that shower!

I should also mention that I’m not the “email strangers with WOW comments” kind of person either, but I felt compelled.  I found your site and read through your history and I totally admire your family & business.

Thanks for the great product (I’ll be looking for more…) and best of luck for many more successful years of business.”

WOW!  Now, that’s the kind of feedback that’s kept us going for over 30 years! After that, what more can I say, except:

Thanks to you, too, Kira!  WOW! What a great customer!

Linda

Heather Invented A Soap!

Actually, Two Soaps!

Heather has been my right-hand-man, I mean woman, I mean assistant, I mean side-kick for around 15 years!  Besides being the Mom in our company, meaning she remembers the birthdays, orders in Chinese, keeps track of the party fund…..she has actual duties at Saltspring  Soapworks.

Heather organizes and helps the soapmaking crew,  does all the ordering and inventory and things like that…but most importantly, I think, she helps create all of our incredible products!

I get to invent new things….because I am the oldest and have been here for 31 years!  I get an idea, like what if we did a new Bath Bomb for summer…how about strawberry and something….maybe vanilla?  So, I tell Heather my idea (she always likes it) and then she goes in the back and makes one.  Sometimes she comes up with little or big changes and the new thing gets even better.  But now, well,,,,I am not sure how I feel about this…but Heather invented two soaps!

She didn’t tell me she was doing this…they just appeared on my desk one day.  A creamy white one, to which Heather added some of our Once Day Cream, some cold cream, essential oils and buttermilk!  It is to die for!  Why didn’t I think of that??!!  Is she trying to get my job!!??  Oh No!  What if her soap creations are better than mine?

The second soap has some of our Gardener’s Hand Cream added, some powdered clay, bran for a little scrub, with essential oils.  It is a lovely grey color….and a really lovely soap.    I would never dream of using the creams in a soap, as it would make them more expensive…but hey!  Would you pay $1.00 more for what may be the two nicest soaps in the known universe! One for the face, and one for the body, and two for the soul!

After 30 plus years of soapmaking, looking at soap, making soap, reading about soap, checking out soap on the web, I have to say she is right up there with the best!

Congratulations, Heather….and NO! You can’t have a raise!

Linda

Awash with Green!

So reads the title of an article in the May issue of Canadian Packaging by Lisa Beutel, a consultant and marketing manager.

Seems, “53 per cent of North American consumers instinctively mistrust what brand-owners tell them about their supposed moral and ethical superiority.  Beutel said that companies who fail to back up their claims with clear facts risk long-lasting damage to their reputations, citing the still-lingering effect of child-labor allegations plaguing the global sportswear giant Nike, Inc. ”

I loved their definition of  green-washing:  “a mixed bag of half-truths, meaningless sloganeering and plain wishful thinking.”  The article cites statistics that say “90 per cent of consumers are concerned about the environment and how their purchasing behavior affects it.”

This means that throwing a little green-washing into your product, labels, marketing, advertising etc. really pays off.  But hold it!  Apparently the market is full of ‘excessive green-washing’ and consumers are becoming more aware of this.  So, we might look to a brand that has certification from a third-party certifier who can verify the claims we read.

Well, hold it again!  Seems that “economic-impact calculators from six different organizations to estimate the carbon-dioxide output from producing one metric tonne of unbleached packaging produced a range of scores from a low of 773.62 kilos to a high of 3,538 kilos.”  In fact, “the data was incredibly varied.”

So, apparently there are “pitfalls of simply purchasing one of the many readily-available, seemingly credible certification eco-labels and slapping them on the products” without first checking the credibility of the certifier.

So, who CAN we trust???  If green-washing really sells products, and it pays off even more to add a questionable eco-label….well, all I can say is HELP!!

We see so many companies adding ‘organic’ to their name, labels and marketing when they really aren’t.  We  tell the truth, as we are a small company who has to depend on real people buying and loving our products, and we can’t fool them.  Actually, we don’t want to!  But, are we being penalized for telling the truth?  By not touting a product as organic which just has a few organic ingredients, are we losing market share?

I was recently wondering if WE should get an eco-label that says Certified Organic or something, but apparently, it doesn’t mean that much.  Actually, I was surprised that only 53 per cent of people mistrust eco-claims, (did I just make up a new word?)

It’s back to the beginning for me: still harping on ‘read the labels, read the labels.”  A  company called “__________ Organics” recently introduced a product that actually contains NO organic ingredients in it’s listing.  At least they are being truthy there!  Baclically, the packaging mag agrees with me, “When it comes to greenwashing, we all need to be aware of all the possibilities and to do all the due diligence.”

So there.

Linda

The Best Handmade Soap in the World!

For all of the 31 years we’ve been making soap, people have been telling us it’s  ‘the best soap in the world.’

I remember writing years ago in a newsletter, (that thing we read before blogs) that our customers thought we made the best soap and who were we to argue???!!! Lately, I’ve been thinking that as we’ve gotten better at making soap, the rest of the world has gotten worse! (Artisan Soapmakers excluded!)

We started out with a tallow base (ugh!) because 100% of the soap available in North America was tallow!  It was still better than commercial soaps, as they had morphed from tallow ….to being detergent-based, meaning petrochemicals.  Many people  don’t realize they are using “syndets,”  short for synthetic detergent!  Does your current bar actually say it’s soap??

Then, another Ephiphany!  I tried a soap from a natural body care company in Florida…..I had been buying and trying every bar of soap I  met….to confirm we actually WERE the best soap in the world.  I had to admit their soap was better! OH NO!!

A little research showed they used palm, coconut and olive…not tallow or petrochemicals!  How to get palm oil?  I had never heard of it.  Turns out most of the palm  imported into Canada was used to fry potato chips.  So, I called the Big Chip Company and they told me they imported palm from Portland, Ore.  Called them and they said, “sure, we bring it in from the Phillipines or somewhere, and we sell it by the tank car!”

Well, we didn’t need a tank car, but they occasionally drew off a 45 gallon drum for some weird hippy soapmaker who lived back in the back-country and they could probably do the same for me!  So, Bill and I drove the mini-van down to Portland, loaded up a couple of 450lb barrels of palm  and headed back. Oops, forgot about the border, the paperwork, etc.  Several hours later we had given a broker a lot of money  and were the first hippy soapmakers in Canada to have PALM OIL!!!

Very bland, a high lauric acid content for extremely mild lather, not a petrochemical or animal by-product!  And it made the most wonderful bar of soap I’d ever used!  The next time, we paid a trucking company to bring it to Vancouver, and our local freight company  delivered it to our door.  Now, you can buy a drum of palm anywhere, but we still use only food-grade.

So, yes, we still make the best soap in the world…because Palm, Coconut and Olive are the highest state-of-the-art in Soapmaking.  Also, we use spring water from the heart of the Salt Spring  Island countryside, high-quality and essential oils, organic when we can.  No petrochemicals, no pre-made soap chips, no dyes and yes, Gary still stirs the soap pot each day and he, Heather and Claire still pour each bar by hand.

Arguably, the best soap in the world!

Linda Quiring

Founder,

Saltspring Soapworks

Glass Packaging is Good!~

For the past several years……we’ve been thinking about going back to our roots in many ways…we started out with glass bottles and jars, and handmade labels.  Not that I want to actually handcraft all our labels again…but we’ve definitely been trying to move to glass again.

Recently, I found this short article in Spa Magazine, and again…everything seems to be confirming  the direction Saltspring Soapworks is headed!

“Glass is Good,” says SpaMag.  “Look for products packaged in glass, which can be recycled over and over again in a closed loop.  Because it’s a nonporous substance, glass safeguards against moisture and oxygen invasion.  In addition, amber, cobalt and green glass filter out UV rays, protecting product integrity – particularly important with organic and natural products that don’t include preservatives.”

I loved that this article confirmed all the reasons we are moving to glass for many, maybe most of our products eventually.  A few challenges are that glass has gone out of fashion and isn’t readily available in the sizes and shapes we need.  Also, many people don’t want to use glass in the tub or shower,,,so we will probably use it for moisturizers and creams more than for shampoo and conditioner, for example.

Let us know what YOU think about glass making a big comeback….with Peak Oil, perhaps it will be coming back sooner than we think, and in a bigger way!  Remember, you read it here first!!

Linda Quiring

Founder,

Saltspring Soapworks

Cosmetic ingredient knowledge is priceless!

Thinking about cosmetic ingredients again….these days, it seems that’s all I ever think about re: our products!  How can they be better…and better….and better!!?? Then I ran across this short article in the May/Jun 2009 issue of Spa Magazine, entitled, “Research your current beauty routine.” http://www.spamagazine.com/

“Do you have a favorite makeup-, shampoo, or sunscreen that you just can’t live without — even though you suspect it’s not necessarily safe or eco-friendly?  You can find out exactly how toxic it is (or isn’t) on a scale of 0 to 10 (zero being “low-hazard” and 10 being “high-hazard”) through the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep cosmetic safety database (cosmeticsdatabase.com), which checks thousands of products against dozens of toxicity screens.  We tried it and happily learned that some of our favorite products that aren’t marketed as green are still very low on the toxicity scale.”  (that would be Saltspring Soapworks!)  “Once you check out how your beauty staples rate, you’ll be empowered to make informed and conscious purchases.

Knowledge is priceless – and in this case it’s free!”

Linda Quiring
Founder,
Saltspring Soapworks

Right on Track!

At Saltspring Soapworks we get lots of ideas…some of them a little weird, I think!  But sometimes, we get ideas….and like the Hundredth Monkey, or the Collective Unconscious…it seems like other people are getting the same ideas.  When our ideas and others’ match…..it looks like we are RIGHT ON TRACK!

I liked this short article from the Canadian Natural Health Retailer, March – April 2010 issue:

“Manufacturers are becoming more aware of their impact on the environment and implementing strategies to reduce their footprint.”

Here’s the part I like, the same ideas we are working on…..and you’ll soon see the results:

“More manufacturers are switching to glass bottles and jars.  While plastic can be recycled, glass can be washed, sterilized and reused.  That is good for the environment.  Boxing is now being made with recycled materials, and more products are being manufactured locally.  Canadian manufacturing of body care products has grown substantially over the past few years.  Buying locally is one of the best ways to reduce our environmental footprint. ”

Thanks to Colleen Hague of Awaken My Senses for the above…..and thanks for letting us know we are RIGHT ON TRACK!!

Linda Quiring

Founder,
Saltspring Soapworks

More News….confusing ingredients.

Amber says I am always going on about ingredients! I thought about it, and it’s true…….

I really watch what I eat, and we grow most of our own food organically, yes, even our own eggs and wheat.  So, I am just as watchful about what goes ON my body.

Forget the beautiful ads, or  the claim that it’s all natural, or organic, or bio-dynamic. Just look at the first few things on the ingredient list, although I found this too can be confusing. On my recent trip to the States, I was in a garden mall where they were demonstrating a new moisturizer.

I tried some.  It smelled and felt wonderful….so, I went in and looked at the label.  It was confusing because there were about 40, I kid you not, 40 ingredients.  That didn’t confuse me, OK, maybe a little.  But, 20 of them were really GREAT ingredients; natural, organic, herbal and pure.  But, the other 20 weren’t just average, or not so great, they were quite awful!  Was this a great product, or not????

I then read a  piece in the paper that the Sierra Club was lobbying to make the manufacturers of ‘natural’ household cleaning products  list ingredients.  They don’t have to tell you what is in your window cleaner, laundry detergent, tile or  tub cleaner.

Apparently many of the so-called ‘natural’ cleaners DO list their ingredients.  But Sierra Club is trying to make them list percentages.  What does this mean?  I don’t know for sure.  But I would guess that maybe some not-so-great things may be there in large amounts, while the advertised ‘great’ and ‘green’ ingredients may be there in really small amounts, making these products really no different from the ungreen normal products, which incidentally are much cheaper.

So, Good Luck, Sierra Club!  I hope I have the info correct, as I misplaced the actual article…..but things like this make me feel there is light at the end of the tunnel, and someday soon we will all know exactly what is in everything!!!

Linda

p.s. you can just use white vinegar to wash your windows!

Coffee News!

O.K.  So I stole this from the Cowichan Valley  “Coffee News!”

Allergic to Water:  Michaela Dutton is allergic to water..known as aquagenic urticaria.  Just a drop of water can cause her to experience a painful burning rash on her skin.  She has a 10-second shower once a week.  She’s afraid to leave the house in case it rains.  The only liquid she can drink is Diet Coke.(???)   She’s a prisoner in her own body and doctors are baffled.  There is no known cure.”

There!  I knew it!  I have been saying for years people are even allergic to tap water and now I have  written proof!

When I was younger, I was allergic to everything: bar soaps, face creams, shampoo.  I always had weird rashes of some kind.  Then, I found a recipe in an organic gardening book, made some soap and creams, and suddenly, No More Allergies! What I actually had were sensitivities to the harsh things they put in those products.

Many, many people tell us they have allergies to perfumes, body, skin and hair care products.  Amazingly, often when they use our products, these allergies vanish! They say they haven’t used bar soap, or bath bubbles for ten, 20, or thiry years…but, that they can use ours!  One friend even insists that her dog eats soap, but he will only eat our soap……I take this as a great compliment.

Allergies aren’t funny, though.  But I usually urge anyone with ‘allergies’ to first of all, maybe get tested and see what they are actually reacting to.  One lady insisted she was allergic to aloe vera,,,but it turned out to be the strong fragrance in most commercial products, which she actually liked!

I didn’t get tested, but just found that when I used natural products, my so-called allergies vanished!

So, for all those concerned with allergies and sensitivities, firstly, try a process of elimination.  Try natural products.  Try lightly scented, or unscented products, or those with only pure essential oils and no synthetic fragrance or perfumes.  Often, people think a body product has given them a rash and find out it is their new cold-water ‘green’ laundry detergent.

Most of all, I urge people to use the method that worked for me:  KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Good luck,

Linda Quiring

Founder, Saltspring Soapworks

Are We TOO Natural??

Down in SoCal in January..I visited my very favorite soap shop, next to ours.  They have the nicest, most natural products in the world, I think.  Next to ours!  I like to try different things, though….and last year they had a new toner I loved.  So, after I got home last year, I ordered another one.  But, it was a different color.  The spray atomizer was gone, and the product was thicker.

So, I let them know and they said, basically, “Hey, these are natural products!  They are handmade, in small batches, from natural ingredients!”  Several things I’ve bought there over the years have changed slightly or drastically as time goes on…..but they don’t apologize…they stress how natural the ingredients are, that each batch is handmade, not commercially made!

We sometimes have the same problem.  Recently, we added a lot of shea butter to our lotions.  I’m convinced it is the best emollient I’ve ever used on my skin.  It feels wonderful going on, and even better, hours later I can still feel it’s softening and moisturizing effect on my skin.  The downside: it has a very distinct fragrance.  It’s kind of like Tea Tree Oil…wonderful, but…who loves the fragrance???

So, after having added a lot of really expensive pure shea butter, and kept the lotions at a reasonable price…..we just had to drop it! Yes, no more shea butter.  We received so much feedback, we changed the formula.

People called and said, “The lotion I bought was OFF!”  They said, “My lotion is rancid.”  They said, “It’s my favorite lotion, and the last bottle is different!”  They said all kinds of things, some just didn’t like that it had changed.  But, basically, they could smell a little of the shea butter, and didn’t like it. Most companies use deodorized shea butter which removes many of the benefits. We tried to explain they were getting a LOT of a very beneficial, expensive, and natural ingredient.  We added more fragrance.

We tried to explain that a batch is maybe 100 bottles….vs maybe 10,000 or 50,000 for a mass market brand that might be preserved for 2 years!  That the silicone products in most lotions is completely synthetic, but has NO smell and feels wonderful.  Problem is, those ingredients are very drying and definitely not anything like ‘natural.’

Didn’t matter.  We finally changed the formula and are using a really nice Mango Butter.  Doesn’t have a strong odor, and it also is lovely on the skin.  But I really believed in the Shea Butter.  Personally, I found the scent interesting, but I knew it was natural Shea Butter and that the product was really fresh.  Are We TOO Natural???

Let me know,

Linda Quiring

Founder Saltspring Soapworks.

News of the Weird!

Recently, while down in the desert on our winter vacation, I read a short item in the local paper under  “News of the Weird.”  It seems somewhere down in the States a man walked into a Bath and Body Works and left with 65 bottles of lotion.  Problem is, he didn’t pay for them.  As he left, the clerk noticed SOMETHING UNUSUAL!!  Like his pants were really lumpy and bumpy. No wonder!  They were big 8 oz bottles!

Two thoughts raced through my mind: firstly, what fragrance were they?  Lavender?? Vanilla?? A combination of things?  I wanted to immediately feature this fragrance that drives men mad in our shops.

Secondly, I wondered if there were people out there so obsessed with our products they would go to any lengths to obtain them??

Actually, three thoughts ran through   my mind:  third….could this ever happen in Canada!  We are SOOOOO unWeird!

Bye for now,

Linda