Katherine. Utility, Laundry, and Dishwashing Soap

Yes!

When you use a bar of soap (or Tooth Suds) the oil attracting end of the soap molecule picks up the grease and oils on your skin. When you rinse, the water-attracting end of the soap molecule follows the water, rinsing the soap and any impurities down the drain when you wash it off (or spit it out). 

After washing or brushing your teeth, any bacterium that was present on either the soap or your hands/teeth is washed down the drain.

Here’s more information about why soap isn’t dirty and perfectly hygienic and sanitary.

Soap ages, like a fine wine, but we recommend that you use your soap within one year of purchase. When a bar of our soap ages:

• the aroma from essential oils will fade (after about 3-months)
• the plant-based colors may fade (some within 6-months, other after a few years)
• the lather will become creamier and thicker
• the soap will become milder

The scent and color changes on our sample bars will be more noticable and occur sooner than the full sized bars. This is due to an increased percentage of the surface area being exposed to air.

My favorite bar of soap is the first bar I ever made. My daughters and I spent months researching and collecting tools and materials with my husband. Our first soap then took us a full day to mix by hand. I’ll cherish those memories for the rest of my life. I still have a bar from that first batch and I use is once a year on my daughter’s birthday.

Kandra, Owner and Soap Maker, Alō Goods

Short Answer: It depends on how often it’s used, and if it’s kept dry between uses.

When used at the sink for handwashing, a bar of our handmade soap will last 4-6 weeks or more. This assumes that the bar will placed on a soap dish that allows the water to drain away from the soap, giving the soap a chance to dry out between uses. You can read more on extening the life of your soap here.

When used in the shower, a bar of soap will typically last between 3-5 weeks. This assumes that the bar is exposed to water longer than at the sink, and then multiple people are using the same bar to wash head to toe.

• A bar of Tooth Suds typically lasts for 3 months!
• A Shampoo Bar typically lasts 2-6 months (depending on how many times you wash your hair, and how long your hair is).
• Our travel & trial bars are good for about a week’s worth of handwashes or 2-3 showers.

Compared to commercial “soaps”, natural soaps are normally softer as they retain their natural glycerin (commercial soap production removes the glycerine to sell as a separate product). Our soaps are also free from artificial hardening chemicals, synthetic waxes or free alkali.

No, there is no lye in our soap. However, all true soap is made through the saponification of oils with lye—either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Once saponified none of the lye remains, and the oils are turned into soap. You can read more how soap is made, cured, and cared for in these articles:

• Is Handmade Soap Better than Commercial Soap?—Find out the real deal between handmade soap and commercial soap. Here’s a hint… one’s not really soap.
• How do YOU clean YOUR skin?—Exploring soaps, detergents, glycerin, and lye products used for cleaning skin… busting a few myths along the way too!

Alō products are made in a private kitchen, with clean and sterile equipment and quality ingredients. In fact, many of the ingredients are food grade…but please don’t eat your soap or body butter!

Our soaps are packaged in organic cotton bags. You can reuse them as tea bags (please wash them first though!), or soap sacks. To use as a soap sack, place the small ends of soap bars into the sack until you have a small stash. Then, wash with the soap sack as a washcloth. They also make great garden soap sacks (just hang from the spigot).

Our Mouthwash Crystals are packaged in kraft eco pouches, lined with PLA (Polylactic Acid), a bioplastic material made from renewable resources such as corn and sugar with an ALOX (Aluminium Oxide) Coating. ALOX is compostable and helps keep the crystals dry.

Our Tooth Suds and other boxes are made from 100% recycled content, are 100% recyclable and compostable.

Conditioner bars, facial powders, and travel bars are packaged in glassine bags. Glassine is a smooth and glossy paper that’s made air, water, and grease resistant through a process called supercalendering.  They are not waxed or chemically-finished during manufacturing and are fully recyclable, compostable, and biodegradable.

Our hair tea is packaged in biodegradable cello bags made from wood cellulose fibers sourced with sustainable forestry principles, certified biodegradable, compostable, and made carbon zero. Each bag meets ASTM D6400, EN13432 standards for CA and other states.

Our labels are printed on recycled label stock.

Herbal salves are packaged in a reusable and recyclable metal tins.

We ship with sustainable materials too!

• Smaller orders are shipped in sustainable paper padded envelopes and boxes (made from recycled materials, recyclable & naturally biodegradable). If more suitable, your package might arrive in one of our reusable, recycled, and recyclable plastic pouches too.
• Larger orders ship in USPS flat rate packages that meet Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification standards. And, they are fully recyclable (including the padded shipping mailers which are made from #4 recyclable plastic).

Our products are made with all natural ingredients, including organic oils, nut butters, essential oils, and botanicals. Natural does not always mean safe, and we encourage you to educate yourself on the power of natural ingredients. If you are allergic to any ingredient in a product, you should not use that product.

• You can find a complete list of ingredients on the product page of our website for each of our products.
• If you have a Shea Butter allergy, you can shop shea free products here.
• The Pure signature blend line features products crafted for individuals with sensitive skin and for those who seek a natural product free from added fragrances.

Alo Goods is not responsible for any reaction to any ingredient. All ingredients are clearly listed on each product page of our website as well as on the ingredients tag included with each purchase. People with sensitivities to any listed ingredient should not use the product. If you have severe anaphylactic-type reactions to ANY of the ingredients we use, please do not buy any of our products. Our workspace is kept meticulously clean and, while all soaps are cured in separate containers, we cannot guarantee that one soap did not touch another.

We do not offer free samples, but we do offer Travel & Trial Sizes for all of our Signature soaps, Shampoo Bars, Tooth Suds, and Body Butter. Each bar is sized to allow you to sample the soaps and find your favorite before you purchase a full-sized bar.

At this time we do not offer samples of our conditioner bars. Why? Our conditioner bars are very concentrated making a sample size too small to effectively use and test on your locks as a daily conditioner.

Build Your Own Sampler Set – You’ll receive FREE wooden soap dish and a 5% discount!