FAQ

Why buy Green Mama Soaps?

My soap is made by hand, by me, in my kitchen MY NEW STUDIO SPACE (in Mainframe Studios). I personally choose the ingredients and would never put anything in my soap that I wouldn’t use on myself or my children. And yes, I really do make it in my crockpot. (My non-food, soap-only crockpot.)

What about added Glycerin?

Glycerin is a naturally occuring result of the saponification process. As the oils and lye are cooking, you can see little glyercin ploops forming on the surface of the soap. Large corporate soap companies actually extract these little ploops of glycerin so they can add them to other products, like lotions and body butters. I simply stir the naturally occuring glycerin back into the soap. By stirring the glycerin back in, you don't need to buy lotion and body butter!

Why Essential Oils and Not Fragrance Oils?

Essential oils are the true essence of the plant from which they’re derived. A bottle of lavender essential oil is going to be made of lavender (the plant, the buds, the stem, etc.). A bottle of lavender fragrance oil, is going to be made from anything BUT lavender buds. In fact, fragrance oils fall under “legal trade-secret-status”, so there is no way of really knowing what is in them. If it doesn’t occur in nature, you won’t smell it in my soap.

How do I properly care for my home-made bar of soap? I’m not used to this…

When you are done using your soap, give it a rinse and set it on an elevated soap dish to dry between uses. Any of those dishes with ridges will do; you just need to not allow the soap to sit directly on a counter, or you will get a little pile of goop. Don’t worry if you do get a pile of goop, it’s just soap and will easily wash away. It’s because I use all natural, plant-based ingredients and no animal fats or palm oil. Animal fats (lard, tallow, etc.) and palm oil are widely used in soap making to give you a very HARD bar of soap. You’ll find Green Mama’s soap to be softer to the touch and kinder to the environment.

What is the controversy over palm oil?

I have never purchased, nor will I ever purchase palm oil. While "sustainable palm oil" has recently become a thing, it's too hard to guarantee what I'm buying is truly sustainable. So, I don't take that chance.

“Palm oil plantations are concentrated in Malaysia and Indonesia, where deforestation and less environmental regulation has led to indiscriminate forest clearing for monoculture oil palm crops, instances of illegal logging and a dramatic impact on threatened and endangered local species.

The environmental impact of the deforestation is huge. New research suggests it may be a big contributor to climate change, and it is also causing extreme damage to animal populations — including the almost extinct Sumatran orangutans, whose habitat is prime logging area.

WWF Australia estimates around 300 football fields worth of forest are cleared every hour to make way for palm oil production.”

(excerpted from this site, with permission)

How do I use your Bath Bars as shampoo too?

Be prepared, that the adjustment from the store-bought, squirty shampoo to an all natural bar of soap will take about a week. If you’re going to do this, know that, and wait out the adjustment period…it’s SO worth it!! In the shower, as you’re wetting your hair, start rubbing the bar directly on your head. With enough water, you’ll get a great suds going to lather your hair with. Then, just rinse it all out. Some like to do an apple cider vinegar rinse afterwards as their “conditioner”, but I'm in the group who don't need it. My hair is fine and thin. I just towel-dry my hair, comb it out, and go. By the time it has dried, it is full of body, and looks like those healthy and shiny hair commercials. For real. For more thick and luxurious hair, ACV can be extremely useful as a de-tangler before you comb your hair out.

That first week though, there were a lot of ponytails. My hair felt extra oily and sometimes dry and all around, not pleasant. It’s because your hair is literally going through a detox period. It is shedding all the extra oils and chemicals and nasty stuff that gets left behind on your hair from mass-produced hair products. It’s different for everyone though, my girls (age 9 and 11) had no transition period at all.