Why use soap?

When people tell us that they never use bar soap.

While we have our loyal fans, who never use any cleansing products on their bodies except for our soaps, we do occasionally get told by new customers or visitors that they never use bar soap. 

We always ask the question - why?

Generally, people will respond with “I don’t like how it feels on my skin, it leaves my skin dry & shiny.”

This can be true of cheap, commercially produced soaps where the main motive for the product is profit. Many commercial soap bars are based on cheap soap “noodles” which are mass produced and based on a palm oil formulation, heat processed with the glycerin removed to allow for a very long and stable shelf life. Artificial scents and other ingredients are usually added.

We don’t use palm oil in any of our products, we cold process our soaps to keep the natural oils & keep your skin moisturised. We only use essential oils, and even then only the ones that are safe to use on skin. 

We make our products for people who care about what they put on their skin.

Your skin is the largest organ in your body, and what you put on it is important. Your skin is permeable, and does absorb what you put on it. If you are careful about what food and other items you ingest with your diet, you should also consider how important your skin care products are to your health.

We make it easy for you to identify every ingredient in our products, and all our ingredients are natural, and most of our ingredients are edible. For example, we use coconut oil, olive oil, cacao butter - mostly food grade products. If you look at commercial cleansers and liquid soaps - can you tell exactly what the ingredients are?

We like to give the analogy of white mass produced bread vs a biodynamic, wholegrain sprouted sourdough loaf of bread. Commercial soaps are most often like that white loaf of bread, refined, manufactured, with very little health values left. Handmade soaps like ours are full of healthy ingredients, no preservatives and no unfamiliar inclusions. Using the word “soap” to name two such different products can lead to many cases of mistaken identity.

Washpool soaps are full of nutrient-rich ingredients, similar to a sprouted whole grain, bio-dynamic loaf (right). The ingredient profile of most commercially available soaps is similar to white bread (left) - refined, shelf stable, but not that many healthy properties left.​

Our products are biodegradable and good for the environment

Living in a rural community in country Queensland we rely on rainwater as our water source and septic systems as our waste processing. Our soaps are safe for septic systems and greywater systems. Many septic systems struggle with the increasing use of antibacterial products and bleaches, which kill off the necessary bacteria that break down waste, but our products are helpful in maintaining the balance of the ecosystems in a septic tank.

We carefully source our ingredients to ensure they are ethically and sustainably produced, which is why we don’t use palm oil in any of our products.

We also carefully research our packaging, using recycled and recyclable packaging wherever possible.

Our products support people in our rural community

We employ people from our local community and provide meaningful employment in a nurturing environment. At the end of the day we go home feeling good about creating a useful and ethical product.