|
|
| Bryn Mawr Soap |
| natural handmade soap |
 |
 |
| Home |
| About Us |
|
Products soaps sample packs dishes gift sets |
| Stores selling our soap |
|
Markets/Events farmers' markets holiday events Living Green Expo |
|
Customer Feedback feedback form read comments join mailing list |
| FAQ |
| Wholesale |
| Links to stuff |
|
Bryn Mawr Soap Company 612-374-3613
toll-free:
286 Washburn Ave N |
|
Site last updated 03/17/08 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Let us know what you want
to know by sending us an
Questions about
soap in general: Questions
about our Bryn Mawr Soap and us:
Q: What if I have
allergies? Q: How does soap work? Q: How do natural soaps differ from
commercially-produced soaps? Q: Do natural soaps have
a definite shelf life? Q: What is in your
soap? Finally, we add the scenting agent (except on the unscented bars). We
use essential oils, except on the cinnamon bars. For these we use ground
cinnamon. We DO NOT use artificial fragrances. Q: Is your soap
biodegradable? Q: What types of molds do you
use? We don't plan to make bars out of molds that have designs. We just
don't like them. That may change someday, but for now we only offer the
hand-cut bars. Q: What color is your
soap? Q: What makes your soap different from other
natural soaps? Q: Why
don't you offer other scents? avoid plants that are in danger of
deforestation or extinction. use only steam distilled or expressed
oils (not chemically extracted). do not use highly expensive essential
and precious oils, such as sandalwood, verbena, frankincense, myrrh.
This allows us to keep our prices reasonable. do not use essential oils that are
known skin irritants. If you have a scent idea, you are welcome
to send us an
Q: Is
Bryn Mawr Soap antibacterial? Q: Why the
name? Q: What is your
logo? Q: What kind
of dog is Otto? Otto most recently weighed in at
96 pounds
and eats about 3-4 cups of food a day. His primary role in the soap
making process is to lick up spilled oils. Q: What kind
of cat is Patsy? Patsy's primary role in the soap making process is to keep the mice from eating the
oatmeal soap. Q: How do
Otto and Patsy get along?
A: Some people have
allergies and/or sensitivities to any of a variety of oils and/or scenting
agents. If you have had problems with other skin care products in the
past, you should be careful of any product you use in the future. Our
soaps are not tested to be hypoallergenic, and any sensitivities would be most
likely to occur with scented soaps, in particular the synthetic fragrance oils
(which we don't use). If you are not sure, we recommend that
you first try our unscented soap on a limited skin area (such as your
arm).
A: The cleansing
effect of soap is a chemical reaction. Soap is a fatty acid. This means that
soap molecules consist of two parts linked together: an
acid and an oily chain (fat). The acid part is charged and dissolves in
water while the oily chain is essentially neutral and binds to oils in
dirt. Effectively, the oil and
water are mixing. When you wash the
water away, the oils (and fatty dirt) go with it.
A: The answer can drag on, depending on what aspect of production or
marketing you want to address. We'll stick to the basics. Many natural soap makers
(including us) "superfat" their soap, meaning
that they reduce the amount of hydroxide salt used in the reaction. This
results in excess oil (fat) that is left unreacted. These oils have
conditioning qualities. Also, commercial producers
extract glycerin, a product of the soap making reaction, leaving the soap without
this conditioning agent (glyceryn can then be resold as a major component of
lotions and "transparent soaps"). Our soaps retain all their natural
glycerin content. Most commercial manufacturers also use chemicals for scenting and
preserving. We only use natural essential oils for scenting.
A: Yes. As
explained above ("How do natural soaps differ from commercially-produced
soaps?") most natural soaps contain unreacted fats. While unreacted
fats add beneficial qualities to the soap, fat can spoil over time.
Commercially-produced soaps typically minimize the extra fat in their soaps and include preservatives.
Many
natural soap makers also include a natural preservative but
ultimately the oils will still go rancid. We don't use any preservative at
Bryn Mawr Soap because the bars hold out well on their own. In fact, our
bars become milder with age. Some shrinkage in the size of the bars should
be expected as they cure, due to continued evaporation of water. We recommend
that you use the bars within a eight to twelve months.
A: Soap is produced by the reaction of fat with hydroxide salt.
Upon reaction, the result is a fatty acid. We use only vegetable oils in our
soaps, and not animal fats. The primary ingredients are palm oil, olive oil and coconut
oil. We also add cocoa butter and castor oil for conditioning qualities.
These oils are mixed together, melted, and combined with sodium hydroxide
solution (lye) to initiate the reaction. The lye is neutralized during the
course of the reaction - long before the
soap is ready for market.
A: Yes!!! However, it is not hypoallergenic. Please review
the ingredients shown on our Products page to
verify that you do not have allergies to these products.
A: We pour each batch into one big "brick" mold. Then
we cut the brick down into the bars (each about 3.25" x 2.5" x
1") using a wire cutter. This accounts for the variation in size on
the bars.
A: All bars except cinnamon are a beige or manilla color. It's
the color of the oils - we don't add any coloration. Cinnamon bars are a
reddish-brown; basically a lighter shade of what wet ground cinnamon would look
like. Peppermint bars have flecks of peppermint leaves.
A: From what we can tell, natural soaps tend to vary by
ingredients. Every soap maker has his/her own recipes, and most use a
combination of oils for their various qualities (lather, hardness, conditioning,
etc.). Some soap makers emphasize their scenting or
packaging, or maybe offer lots of accessories. We don't because we want to
keep the cost down to encourage more people to use natural soap on a regular
basis. See our mission statement
for more on this.
A: We're always open to new scent ideas,
but choose them carefully. We restrict our options to natural essential
oils (NOT artificial fragrance oils, as used by many soap makers), and
furthermore we...
A: No. Handmade soaps in general are not antibacterial.
It's our opinion that antibacterial soaps in general are a marketing
gimmick. The effectiveness of antibacterial soap has been researched and
found to show no difference from non-antibacterial soaps. Read
the full press release.
A: Bryn Mawr (pronounced "brin-mar") is the name of the
neighborhood we live in, on the western edge of Minneapolis. It's a
great neighborhood, so the name is sort of a tribute to our community.
A: It's Karen's crude drawing of a purple coneflower (echinacea).
We don't
use echinacea in the soap - we just like the flower because it is native to this
area (at least some variations are) and it's a pretty plant.
A:
He's an obnoxious dog, but we love him. We rescued him as a pup from
our local humane society. His litter was found in a woodshed somewhere
north of Minneapolis, so there's no known genealogy info. We think he's Greater
Swiss Mountain Dog mixed with lab, which makes him a working dog that can swim and
will chase sticks and squirrels. He's often seen by neighbors pulling
Karen down the sidewalk.
A:
Pesky, but pretty. Steve found Patsy in August, 2001, while on a run. She was
abandoned on a road, very young and dehydrated. When he brought her home
she immediately latched onto Otto as her new momma, a role he accepted as
effectively as a male dog can. After a couple of days and a vet visit she
was healthy, and the two of them were already too close to separate.
A:
They get along great, and are especially cute when they're sleeping
together! Their new favorite game is "Patzilla," whereby Patsy
must defend society from the evil Otto monster. Otto usually lies down to
play this game to keep it fair.
Please them to us.