Western Pennsylvania Company is Making "Going Green" as Easy as Taking a Bath!

Sept. 7, 2009 - PRLog -- Your skin is your body’s largest organ, and just like the ingredients in the foods you eat, shouldn’t you be concerned with what you are rubbing into your skin? Store shelves are starting to fill up with products all claiming to be “natural.” But unless we, as consumers, actually pick up each item and read the label, are we actually getting what we think we are getting?

Did you know that in the United States, the term “natural” can be used on skin care products that contain little or no actual “natural” ingredients? "At Soap Alchemy, when we say 'natural' we mean 'natural,' plain and simple," says Soap Alchemy owner and president, Jordan Henderson. "We only use food grade oils in all of our soaps. They are not bleached, deodorized or refined, just natural, food grade vegetable oils."

They don't use any colorants, either, natural or otherwise, so what you see is the color that occurs naturally when the soap is made. Different oils have different colors and when combined will create the color of the bar. "We also only use natural, essential oils in our soap varieties containing a fragrance, not synthetic fragrance oils," Henderson continues.

Why is that important? There are many “natural” skin care products on the market with scents such as strawberry, kiwi, coconut and more and if you look on the label, it simply states “fragrance.” Many fruity scents cannot survive in the soap making process so if it smells like that and the actual oils used to create that scent are not listed, you could be getting a harsh chemical fragrance which may not be so good for your skin. Of course, if you are sensitive to a particular plant, you should stay away from that essential oil as well.

"Since every body is different, at any given time, you will find between 30 and 40 different varieties of soap on our website," says Soap Alchemy Marketing Director, Tim Hering. "For those who prefer no scent, we make about 10 different soaps that contain no essential oils or scent masking chemicals, so you can choose what soaps work best for your type of skin."

Soap Alchemy's Pure Castile line of soap uses only 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil as the base oil for the soap while their Basic Castile line of soap, which includes five varieties of Oatmeal Soaps containing Certified Gluten Free Oatmeal, uses a blend of Soybean, Extra Virgin Olive and Palm Kernel Oils as well as Babassu Oil, Cocoa Seed Butter and Jojoba Oil. Henderson says, "While the gluten molecule is not small enough to be absorbed through the skin, it can be absorbed if there is a cut or abrasion on it so it was important to us to make sure we were using a certified gluten free oatmeal for our soaps."

Soap Alchemy's Goat Milk Soaps contain Soybean, Coconut, Babassu and Jojoba Oils, Cocoa Seed Butter and Goat Milk and their Specialty Soaps offer completely different blends of food grade, natural vegetable oils in each different bar to allow more choice in the oils which go on your body. Their Shea Butter Specialty Soap contains 32% unrefined Shea Butter and they also offer Neem and Tea Tree, Hempseed with Rosemary, Baby Almond, Avocado with Spearmint and Sunflower Oil Soap in this line.

What’s more, with the exception of their Goat Milk line of soap, Soap Alchemy Soaps are Certified Vegan! What you get is a pure soap that rinses clean away and is good to use on your hands, face and entire body! "We even have customers who use it on their hair!" says Henderson.

Be Good to Your Body, Be Good to the Earth.
"When we were in the process of launching the line, we spent many hours searching for just the right packaging materials. You would not believe how difficult is still is to find a sustainable package for a bar of soap!" says Hering.

"Our bars of soap not only claim to be natural, they are and they are safe for the environment. From the paper we use to package it, to our display boxes, our marketing materials and the inks used in our printed materials, you can bury it in the ground and it will break down naturally leaving nothing behind to harm the environment," he says. "Our brown wrappers and our marketing materials are printed with soy inks on 100% recycled paper, our boxes are made with FSC Certified paperboard and printed with linseed oil inks. Our red wrapper also printed with soy inks and is Green Seal Certified and contains 30% recycled post consumer fiber."

Be Informed! Read the Labels.
Henderson says, "We don’t claim our soap is a cure all for every problem out there, nor do we think that ours is the only product out there. We do encourage you to try our soaps, but most of all, we encourage you to take a look at what you are currently using on your skin."

Hering adds, "Read the labels! If it works for you or you find another product that works for you, then great! If it doesn’t, we would like to try to help you find something that does!"

Soap Alchemy has been marketing their products online at their website at http://www.soapalchemy.com and have also been stocking the shelves of about 150 retail locations, mainly up and down the eastern portion of the United States. Interested retailers can find out more about adding Soap Alchemy's lines of Handcrafted, Natural Soaps by contacting Tim Hering or Jordan Henderson at 724-765-0720.

Henderson and Hering are both members of and Certified Cold Process Soapmakers through the Handcrafted Soapmaker’s Guild. For more information on the Handcrafted Soapmaker’s Guild, please visit http://www.soapguild.org.

Press Contact:
Tim Hering - Marketing Director
Soap Alchemy LLC
PO Box 468
New Galilee, PA 16141
http://www.soapalchemy.com

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Our Hand Crafted Soaps are made from only the finest Natural Ingredients in small batches in our soap kitchen on our farm just north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Each batch is carefully hand made, cut and packaged before leaving our facility.