Selling Points for Wholesale Soap Customers

Our soap company was founded with one main goal – and that was to create truly artisanal, healing & nourishing soap using only natural ingredients.  Along side our high quality base oils, our bars contain pure essential oils, natural and organic dried herbs, flowers, clays, sea salts, and more. These ingredients not only scent our bars, but provide other naturally nourishing qualities to the bars. These ingredients also provide us with beautiful colors, exfoliants, lather enhancers – all from nature. If you read our ingredient panel – you will see that there are no extra preservatives, lather enhancers etc. It is not legally required for soap companies to list their ingredients on their “true soap” packaging – however we list all of our ingredients because we want to show the purity of our product.

We have developed all of our soap base recipes in house – and all of them use 100% certified organic oils.  All of our bases currently start with four organic oils – olive oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, and shea butter. Its important to us from a health standpoint, as well as a sustainability standpoint that our product contains the cleanest ingredients, which is why we choose to purchase certified organic.  Not only does the skin easily absorb whatever its exposed to and effect our own health BUT also the health of our planet. Once our suds go down the drain and rejoins the earths natural water cycle, we want to make sure that we are not adding any pesticides or other pollutants to the environment. We do NOT use palm oil, or other low cost oils.

Another thing that sets our company apart is that all of our base recipes were developed in-house with a focus on high quality, nourishing ingredients that would create soothing soap for all skin types – in particular those with sensitive skin. We make traditional cold process soap – we do not buy premixed soap bases, melt and pour, or glycerine soap which can be called the “fast food” of soap. We also do not use recipes taken from books, or online.

Madeline, co-founder of Old Factory had highly sensitive skin, and could not use any soap on the market at the time of our founding.  So Jonathan, our other co-founder and soapmaker developed our first recipes for her (in particular, the lavender benzoin bergamot bar did WONDERS for her skin).  As time went on, our other base recipes were also developed on the premise of high quality nourishing recipes – no matter the ingredient cost.  Over the years, we find that our clients and customers come to us because of our ingredients, even though we are often a little more expensive than our competitors.

Are you wondering, “what is a base recipe?” A base recipe is our basic oil blend soap recipe that makes up the essence of the soap – before adding essential oils, herbs etc to achieve different textures/scents/colors. For example – in our Herb & Soil bar which contains our goats milk soap base, essential oils of patchouli, juniper, and oakmoss, and dried peppermint – the “goats milk base” of that soap would be: organic olive oil, organic flaxseed oil, organic coconut oil, organic shea butter and goats milk).

Here at Old Factory Soap – we use pure essential oils, absolutes and extracts to scent our soap.  These are pure plant extractions, not synthetic fragrances made in labs. In our opinion and observation, synthetic fragrance, which can be found in anything from your typical soap bar, to your laundry detergent, to even your toilet paper and trash bags is highly dangerous. 

According to the National Institute of Health, “Artificial fragrances are considered harmful because they often contain undisclosed, toxic chemical mixtures—including phthalates, parabens, and synthetic musks—that act as respiratory irritants, allergens, and potential endocrine disruptors. These volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are linked to headaches, asthma, reproductive issues, and long-term health risks like cancer.”  Of course like anything – there are different types and manufacturing practices of synthetic fragrance – some better than others…. just like there are dangerous natural ingredients as well (god forbid we see a soap made with poison ivy extract!).  Thats why we stress the importance of reading ingredient labels, and deciding what is best for you and your family.  Its also why we create products using ingredients that we believe to be the most nourishing and healthy for your skin.

Did you know that all of our soap sampler boxes, and soap wrap packaging are handmade right here in the shop? They’ve always been. In fact most of our packaging is designed, printed, and constructed right here in-house. Beginning with a pencil and paper, our designs come from our heart, and our quest for truth & beauty. Look closely. Our packaging can also be recycled or reused.  Besides reducing waste and allowing us to be more creative, we feel that it brings us closer to everything we send out into the world. 

Our base recipes do not contain any palm oil – a low cost, low quality oil that is frequently used to bring down the price of soap.  We also make sure none of our ingredients have parabens, SLS, or other synthetic ingredients used as preservatives, lather enhancers etc.  You will find that our soap has quite a luxurious lather without any extra help!

Our fresh goats milk is another thing that really sets our soap apart from the rest.  While most companies making goats milk soap use powdered goats milk from unknown origin – all of our milk comes fresh from our own farm!  We have a herd of Nigerian dwarf goats that we milk daily. We know they are happy, healthy goats – and we know what they eat (and that translates into us knowing what goes into the milk we use in our soap). We freeze fresh milk during the spring and summer months so that we will have fresh milk to use throughout the winter.  Nigerian Dwarf Goats have the highest butterfat content of any goat breed – which we feel adds a little something extra to our goats milk soap. 

Fun fact: we are not goat farmers that got into soap making, we are actually the reverse…soap makers who, in their quest for the most nutrient rich soap, got into goat farming.

While this is a little more subjective – we believe that one of the most exciting thing that sets our brand apart is our unique scents.  We use many different essential oils to blend unique scents that set us apart, some scented extracts are even created in-house. On occasion, we will even pull out our still and distill our own oils for limited editions. We like to get creative, and combine scents so they create an entirely new natural perfume profile vs smelling the individual components.  Particularly in our Storyline Collection – we weave together essential oil blends to create unique complex natural perfumes.

We do offer simpler scent blends as well, such as in our goats milk soap collection. These are more “farm to table” offerings which focus on simple, natural blends for soothing soap.