Our Values:
Sustainable First Small Business
When companies engage in unsustainably sound practices, there's a "silent burden" that society pays. This comes in the form of pollution - from the air we breathe to the water we drink to all of the cost implications that we've relegated to the next generation to pay. We do our best to embed these "silent burden" costs into our business model so that you can shop with a peace of mind.
Sustainability is most often defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. It has 3 main pillars: economic, environmental, & social and they are all deeply intertwined and equally important to us.
Our Soaps:
Our soaps are made of all natural ingredients. Our base blend of plant based oils includes Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, and Sustainable Palm Oil.
We choose to use sustainably sourced palm oil in our soap because of palm's efficiency as an oil. We only use palm oil that is certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which also enables farmers to improve their livelihoods while protecting the ecosystem.
All of our soaps (and products) are cruelty free. When we first started b.a.r.e. soaps, we tested our formulation on ourselves first and then on friends and family. We never test on animals. All of our bars are vegan with the exception of Home Sweet Home (uses honey) and Black Tie Affair / Jubilee Jam (uses goats milk for those with sensitive skin).
Our Candles
🌿 100% American grown soy
🌿 Lead and zinc free cotton wicks coated in a vegetable wax
🌿 Paraben-free and phthalate-free fragrance and essential oils
🌿 No additives, dyes, phthalates, parabens, suflates, or petroleum
Our candles come in recyclable glass containers. At the end of the candle's lifespan, you can easily clean the glass by dipping the jar into boiling water, which will melt the wax. You can wipe the wax away and scrub it clean for re-use.
More About Our Plantable Packaging
Our plantable packaging is sourced from Botanical Paperworks. They are the only seed paper manufacturer approved by the CFIA and USDA for planting in the US, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and other countries world wide.
There are 6 Seeds in Our Plantable Packaging
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Bird's Eye (Gilia tricolor)
This daisy-like annual wildflower is a member of the famous Gilia family. It is a western native but will thrive anywhere with sunny and relatively dry conditions. The dark contrasting central eyes and yellow throats are known to attract hummingbirds and other pollinators. -
Clarkia (Clarkia unguiculata)
These vibrant wildflowers look great in all kinds of gardens and grow easily. They typically bloom at the end of the wildflower season, so they have often been called “Farewell-to-Spring”. Native to western North America, Clarkia is an annual plant that will grow up to 1 meter tall. -
Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
This cheerful blossom is most at home in prairie lands, plains, meadows, and pastures where it will attract birds, bees and butterflies. Members of the beautifully golden sunflower family, these North American blooms are one of the most recognized wildflowers! -
Catchfly (Silene ameria)
This bountiful wildflower produces clusters of large, globe-shaped blooms on long stems and will thrive in full sun or partial shade. It grows great even in poor soil conditions and can withstand high temperatures. -
Snapdragon (Linaria maroccana)
An extremely easy to grow annual, these quick blooming flowers are a favorite for their unique and elegant appearance. With a range of colors from pink, red, yellow and purple, the bi-colored blooms attract hummingbirds and butterflies making them a wonderful addition to any garden. -
Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia martima)
A low-growing annual plant, Sweet Alyssum has a branched stem that has dense clusters of small flowers. The flowers are about 5 mm around and have a sweet smell similar to that of honey. They'll bloom throughout the growing season, or year-round in areas free of frost.
Shipping Packaging
One of our goals is to use as minimal packaging as possible. To do this, we create custom box sizes based on our most popular order combinations. In such cases, the exterior mailing box can fit the soaps so snugly that we don't need any additional packaging like kraft paper!
Where we do need to support the products in the shipping, we use kraft paper to package our shipments. However, in instances where we feel it is necessary to further support items, we do use bubble wrap. The bubblewrap we use are sourced from local small businesses, so they are given a second life when we use them in our shipment. The goal is to reduce, but if necessary to reuse.
Product Packaging
None of our products come in plastic packaging. Our bars are either wrapped in plantable paper or come naked with the option of a reusable cotton bag for a small fee. The plantable packaging is secured tightly with a recyclable label.
Our mudmasks and candles come in paper boxes that are 100% recyclable and are made with a percentage of post-consumer recycled material. They are also printed with vegetable based inks. While our mud mask have a plastic top, the jar itself is made of high quality glass and the entire jar is meant to be easily reused.
Carbon Offsetting / Shipping Footprint:
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1.
Why do we Carbon Offset? We are cognizant that e-commerce businesses contribute to carbon emissions, especially through the shipping of packages. We started carbon offsetting every shipment since 2019. Carbon offsetting is a way for individuals and companies to invest in environmental projects around the world in order to balance out their own carbon footprints. -
2.
How do you calculate carbon offsets? We utilize an 3rd party platform (Vaayu), which is basically a carbon footprint calculator for retailers. The calcuation not only includes the distance the package travels from our fulfillment office to your house, but it also factors in the carbon footprint of our packaging. We calculate the distance each package travels from our office to your house. -
3.
What do your carbon offsets support? After careful consideration of the various projects we could fund to offset our e-commerce shipments + flights to visit our non-profit partners in Uganda & India, we settled on reforestation. In addition to helping sequester CO2, reforestation helps protect and encourage biodiversity. -
4.
Why reforestation? One of the driving forces behind our sustainability mission came from the realization that the demise and/or threat of various civilizations in the past was due to deforestation. Wood continues to be one of the most important resources throughout the world, especially in developing countries where it is still a primary energy source to make charcoal. The loss of forests has a tremendous impact because we depend on forests for our survival. Forests supply the air we breathe, provide the wood we use and watershed protection, prevent soil erosion, and of course help fight against climate change. -
5.
Which reforestation efforts are you supporting? We are support reforestation efforts in various parts around the world.Where possible, we try to choose projects that are domestic to the US or have some tie to our personal experiences.There's alot more about carbon offsets, our view on them, and the specific projects we support. You can read more about that here.
Giving back:
Integrating Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability
Because b.a.r.e. soaps is a part-time initiative, all proceeds are either reinvested into our non-profit initiatives or back into the business. That means none of us at b.a.r.e. soaps need to take a salary.
Currently, the profit from each purchase is invested in our socially conscious vision. "b.a.r.e." stands for bringing antiseptic resources to everyone, and your purchase helps fund:
Employing fair wages for women in India to take used hotel soap and re-purpose it into new soap to be distributed to slum children. These women are paid 3x the local wage and work less hours than the average worker in India, allowing them to take care of their children and household.
In the past, we helped provide funds for Immediate needs such as vitamins, vaccines, and soap for a Carepoint in Kaberamiado, Uganda. We have currently discontinued this as there are significant changes going on with our partners there.
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