Sustainable Soaps founder Staci Marquez-Nichols on her "tree hugger mobile!"

My name is Staci Marquez-Nichols. I have always been highly concerned about the products I consume being natural. (I have been a strict vegetarian for 15 years.) Unlike most handmade soapmakers, my goal is not to design the ultimate "gourmet" soap. Instead, I started making my own soap because I was aware of the dangers of using commercially-made soaps:

• Harmful FD&C dyes. Known side effects include cancer, chromosome damage, etc.
• Harsh perfumes
• More money is spent on the packaging than the soap (not to mention advertising)
• The naturally-occurring glycerin, a moisturizer, is removed from commercial soaps (so the bars are harder and longer-lasting). This is why we can't wash our faces with commercial soap, and instead need to now buy an additional product (presumably offered by the same company) to wash our faces.
• Animal testing. Commercial soaps that test on animals: Camay, Ivory, Oil of Olay, and Zest. ¹
• Use of hormone-ridden, pore-clogging animal by-products (lard, tallow). "Most inexpensive soaps are by-products of the meat packing industry." ² Commercial soaps made with animal by-products: Irish Spring, Dove, Camay, Dial, and Lever 2000. ³
  
• Factory pollution and corporate waste. Commercial soaps are "laced with antibiotics and derivatives of the petrochemical industry that eventually end up in our sewage and septic systems." ⁴ 
• Globalization, corporate control, and multi-national conglomerates
• Many personal, commercial "cleansing" bars can't even be labeled soap because they are so chemically-mutated that they no longer meet the legal definition of "soap." Instead they are labeled "beauty bars," "deoderant bars," "antibacterial bars," etc. "Today, there are very few true soaps in the traditional sense on the market...Most body cleansers on the market today are actually synthetic detergent products..." ⁵
• The Food & Drug Administration does not require the ingredients of soap to be disclosed. To this day nobody knows what's in Ivory or Jergen's soap. ⁶

If you want to learn more, buy this 15-page mini-ebook for $4.99. It references over 30 sources and explores all of these issues and more in greater detail.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE



How is Sustainable Soaps Different?
Think all handmade soaps are natural? The answer is definitely NO! Many crafters of handmade soap use "soap colorants," "soap paints," and food coloring, which all contain the same harmful chemicals in commercial soaps--namely FD&C colors.

Our philosophy is based not just on creating soap that is free from all the health hazards listed above, but soap that truly embraces a "green" approach. This means:

• Our soaps are always packaged with junk mail, waste paper, and dried grass. Don't be surprised if you order soap from us, and it arrives in an old cereal box!
• Our retail display baskets are always second-hand--usually from a thrift store or swap meet.
• We use organic and/or locally-grown ingredients whenever possible. For example, when purchasing the lye needed to make soap, we buy it from other small businesses, not from a mega-chain hardware store.
• We buy supplies in bulk whenever possible to help reduce packaging and our carbon footprint.
• We re-use many of the supplies in the soapmaking process. For example, it is customary to place a sheet of plastic wrap on the surface of a freshly-made batch of soap as it cures to help prevent soap ash. We re-use those sheets of plastic wrap, among other things.
• We do not rely solely on essential oils to create delicious-smelling soaps. Why? Essential oils can be hard on the environment because they need huge volumes of the plant or flower to create a tiny amount of oil. You'll find many of our soaps are "naturally" scented with things like herbs, fruit juice, spices, honey, etc. What you won't find in our soaps are fragrance oils, which 90% of the time are petroleum-derivatives and contain harsh chemicals.
• We have our own juicer, therefore, we frequently use freshly-juiced fruits and vegetables in our soaps. For example, carrot juice and cucumber juice make great natural soap dyes.
• We grow some of our own herbs like lavender and rosemary.

Our Suppliers and Ingredients

At Sustainable Soaps, we use bulk organic oils from J. Edwards International. We also use organic essential oils and butters (shea, cocoa) from Mountain Rose Herbs. Mountain Rose Herbs is a "Zero Waste Company" that was voted "Green Business of the Year." Additionally, Mountain Rose Herbs gives charitably each year, uses recycled and non-toxic materials, and runs a chemical-free facility. Also, the lye we use in our soap is purchased in bulk from a "home-made" US source, the Lye Guy (Jim Sweeting). On his website, he describes himself: "I'm a husband, a stay-at-home Dad, and an avid biodieseler." As far as the fruit and vegetable juices used in our soaps, we juice them ourselves from fruits and vegetables purchased at the local Beaumont Swap Meet and the Dowling Orchard fruit stand (also located in Beaumont). Other ingredients (beeswax, honey, coffee, red wine, aloe vera, etc) are purchased from a variety of local sources whenever possible. These sources include local growers at the Redlands Farmer's Market (AKA "Market Night") and our local health food store.