Bar or Liquid?

Recently, over at our friend Beth Terry's blog "Fake Plastic Fish" we've been involved in her most recent discussion- bar versus liquid. Similar to us over here at ROLLING RIVER SOAP COMPANY, Beth is also VERY interested in eliminating plastic out of her life (hence the title of her blog); the question she posed to her readers recently was "Why are body washes in plastic bottles more popular than bar soap?" We wanted to know the same thing, because we couldn't imagine using anything BUT bar soap. Then again, we also have the best bar soap on the planet, so we are slightly biased.

Beth used the Old Spice commercial that my hot and funny boyfriend Isaiah Mustafa’s stared in, as her example; of course, we know, that you know, who we are talking about. *wink smile* My boyfriend is known aaaaallllll over this country for his mad funny commercial acting.


The body wash in question is Old Spice's Classic Scented body wash. It's ingredient line up is less then safe and really, really scary. The Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database scale lists it as 5, moderatly harmful. (We personally would have listed it as highly harmful).

And for your information pleasure (because we are ALL about information at ROLLING RIVER SOAP COMPANY) we have deciphered Old Spices ingredients for you. Because we only want you to have the truth.

OLD SPICE BODY WASH ingredient listing:

WATER: this is self explanatory

SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE: Is an inexpensive (understand cheap) foaming agent, highly irritating and is known to cause hair follicle damage, skin damage, permanent eye damage in children and because it does not metabolize AT ALL, even liver toxicity. This is one of things that bad dreams are made of.
 
SODIUM SULFATE: is the sodium salt of sulfuric acid and is used to as a filler and because it dissolves in water (this is part that makes the shampoo feel like it is being rinsed out of your hair). Causes dryness in hair (yuck tangles), skin irritation and so on. It's basically an acid salt bi-product. Think drying yucky burning- that about sums it up.
 
COCAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE: A synthetic spreader. Simply put, this is used to make the gel wash feel like it is being spread around on you body, give it that fake feeling of silky smooth. Are you asking yourself yet WHY they would need to add something to make it feel like it's spreading across your body? It is also an allergen, this is what makes some people break out in hives, itch and sneeze while you spread it around your body.
 
FRAGRANCE: Synthetic and allergen, with that said, they don't even mention what kind of fragrance they use, for all we know it could have parabens in it. Those are the plastics that give you cancer.
 

SODIUM LAUROAMPHOACETATE: Also known as Genagen LDA, it is a foam booster (it super charges the other foaming agent, is this even necessary?) and cleaning-spreading agent, known by many names, loved by companies because it makes everything SUPER FOAMING like your enjoying yourself at a spa!! (it’s Pretty Woman in the giant bath tub all over again) Designed (which is why it has 2 names) by 5 guys who thought that making a bigger better foaming-spreading agent would improve everyone’s cleaning experience. Again, it gives that fake feeling of silky smooth. And what we should remember is that just because it is foaming like a son of a bitch DOESN’T mean it is cleaning, now days foaming does NOT equate clean. And with that said we only have one thing to say about this chemical "We at ROLLING RIVER SOAP COMPANY are not tricked by your SODIUM LAUROAMPHOACETATE cloud bubble!"
 
CITRIC ACID: preservative and weak acid, people put this stuff in cabbage rolls.
 
SODIUM BENZOATE: preservative, used in fireworks, lets just say that AGAIN, USED IN FIREWORKS and causes hyperactivity.
 
POLYQUATERNIUM-10: Reduces static in hair, makes you believe that it is enhancing the look and feel of hair. This is the stuff that commercials boast will make your hair shiny and soft but is really making your hair flat, weird, unmanageable and makes you have to use more product with more chemicals in it because this stuff made your hair weird.
 
DISODIUM EDTA: This makes all of the above stuff mix together and gives it 
that gel constancy. This is also the stuff that goes into the water and earth after you’re done washing with it and pollutes everything. Making other animals sick because once it's adsorbed into the body via skin and the food chain it stops the absorption of Vitamin C along with aiding in the accumulation of heavy metals. YOU CAN NOT GET RID OF THIS STUFF once it is in the ecosystem. Imagine pouring cartoon toxic green slimy yuck on yourself, except there is no cartoon, it's not green or slimy but it is CLEARLY toxic.
 
METHYLCHLOROISOTHIAZOLINONE: preservative, anitfungal agent, causes tissue damage, burns and is dangerous for long term use. Ever use a body wash and afterwards feel like your skin is burning, dry or have red skin irritation? This is the nasty stuff that causes that.
 
METHYLISOTHIAZOLINONE: Is used as a preservative (so products can stay on the shelf longer and longer and longer and longer longer and longer and longer and longer longer and longer and longer and longer) and is a chemical that is used to kill organisms (it doesn't care which ones, good or bad, it kills them ALL). It causes brain damage and is TOXIC to human cells.
 
As owners of ROLLING RIVER SOAP COMPANY, a Canadian natural bath and beauty company; we believe you don't need to put chemicals into soap and we  also have oodles to say about soap that does. 

There’s a growing trend among the main stream beauty industry to bring customers products that are HIGHLY saturated in smell, taste, and sight. Because you are lead to believe that if it doesn’t taste like a bucket of pure concentrated strawberries then it really isn’t real strawberries. And if it doesn’t look like the brightest most concentrated version of yellow, then it must not be good for you. And if you’re not smelling like you just walked out of a vat of perfume/cologne then the product clearly isn’t doing a proper job. You’re not “clean.” 

And we think this is where the misunderstanding comes in; men (and women, who are we kidding) are being conditioned to think body wash works better because it makes them smell like the most INTENSE SMELLING version of a concentrated-bottle-of-rich-and-luxurious OMG I SMELL LIKE CARRIE BRADSHAW!! and not “just washed.” Because just washed is boring and not anywhere close to celebrity. Just washed is too pedestrian. Just washed isn’t what the ladies/men want. Maybe if you’re not smelling like a designer smell then you’re not good looking enough. You’re not hip enough. You’re not rich enough. What you definitely are, is pouring toxic chemicals directly onto the largest organ on your body, your skin. 

Smelling like the real version of “clean” or “just washed” is a subdued smell that doesn’t brand a company’s products well enough (and doesn’t buy into the media conditioning of the definition of clean), because you don’t have enough people asking “What are you wearing?” Ask yourself when the last time you asked someone (who was only washing with regular non-smelling fragrance free soap) what they were wearing? No one, now a days cares about the fresh, clean smell of real clean.Oh no, now a days people want to know how hip you are, how rich you are and apparently that is told by what smell you are wearing. *cough* WRONG! *cough*

It still amazes us what people are okay with washing with. Bathing is the only activity where your body is primed, pores open to receive whatever you want your body to have. It’s the equivalent of opening your mouth and pouring food in. Why wouldn’t you want safe, non-toxic, healthy bath products?

To expand this smell indoctrination even more we don’t don’t need to look any further than air fresheners. We were watching a commercial the other day for Febreze® wherein it stated that to get the things you can’t wash that clean smell, just use Febreze® and then it listed those “things-you-can’t-wash.” We were surprised to hear the commercial say curtains, pillows and furniture. Funny, just the other day we washed the living room curtains, bedroom curtains and office curtains (We also hung them outside to dry. gasp! in the fresh air) along with a bunch of pillows. We feel like a broken record- it AMAZES us what people will spray in the air and put on their bodies. And we wonder why we have become a society of scent sensitive, asthma diagnosis, topically allergic people.

Yet users of these products don’t or won’t take the time to actually look into the ingredients listed on these products, or maybe we don't understand what the chemicals mean because they have been positioned to the public as being safe. Most of them are harmful chemicals and PLASTIC. Yes, our arch nemesis, plastic in a liquid form. Plastic that these companies use as fillers to make more money; it’s kind of like adding bread crumbs to your meat loaf to make it go farther, except in the case of bath products it’s harmful. 

So, why are people using these products? 

We want to hear from you.

OUR "TELL ALL" (Also known as the FAQ)

SOME QUESTIONS WE'VE BEEN ASKED & ALL THE ANSWERS YOU'VE EVER WANTED

1. How did you come up with the name Rolling River Soap Company?

Being surrounded by a city rich in history and a spectacular geographical location we wanted to give homage to the area that raised us. Positioned on the edge of the Canadian Shield surrounded by deciduous and boreal forests, Sault Ste. Marie is at the heart of the Great Lakes. Bordering the twin Sault's (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario & Sault Saint Marie, Michigan) divided by the St. Mary's river we are at the waterway passage that was originally called Baawitigong (place of the rapids).

2. I love the names! How do you come up with ALL of the fun names?!

We can thank Jessie for that, she is a machine when it come to naming things. We'd like to think that she has some sort of super power (maybe she does but she's not telling us-just like a superhero to be secretive that way) but she just naturally wakes up every morning with fun product names.

3. Where do you get your stuff from?

All of our products are hand made in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario by Jessie and Zenith. We don't resell from manufacturers, we think it's important that the products are fresh, that all of the ingredients are pure and that we know what exactly has gone into each and every item. We have high standards, if it's not good enough for us then we definitely WON'T put our name on it.

4. I LOOOOOOOVE all the the smells and great products how do you decide what you're going to make?

You've spoken and we've listened. We get our inspiration from you the customer! At Rolling River Soap Company we LOVE what we do and making sure that we bring you quality, family safe products is our first and foremost priority.

5. I bought a bar of your Olive Oil Soap and there was a secret message on the label that I didn't notice until my husband pointed it out, do you do that with all of your products? I loved it!

Oh you caught us. tee hee

6. How do I order more stuff? Do you guys have a web site?

Ordering is SUPER EASY, all you have to do is email us at rollingriversoapcompany@gmail.com with your order. Not sure what you want? Check us out on our Facebook fan page we have oodles of products listed in the "albums." And look for our web site in the new year!

7. Who makes your packaging?

We do. We have mad skills!

8. I'm allergic and ultra sensitive to EVERYTHING, I break out in hives just thinking about the things I am allergic to. Can I use your products?

You sure can! For years the ONLY thing that Zenith could bath in was oatmeal, talk about ultra sensitive and being allergic to things! She suffered the gambit of all over body hives & eczema that were the result of bathing in a product that touted being for sensitive skin. She looked and looked for a product that she could have confidence in. That's why we created the "Naked" product line which has no colourings or smells. It is free of everything except the good stuff! We know that when you are SO SENSITIVE it becomes daunting to find a product that you can rely on.

We also make sure that the rest of our products are user friendly by only using ingredients that are natural; like olive oil, mango butter, shea butter, pigment & micas for colouring (crushed up rock), and essential oils to name a few. We say that you can eat our products but don't we don't recommend it. ha ha

9. I love the product description, it makes reading about it just as fun as using it!!

That's Zenith, the yin to Jessie's yang. We pride ourselves on being creative and truthful. Here's the way it works, Zenith takes her inspiration from the product, name and of course from being a user herself-the experiance. If Jessie laughs REALLY loud when Zenith reads to her, then the description gets published.

10. Why did you start a soap company? Why do you do what you do?

It's fun, plus we wanted to offer people the SAME products that we wanted. We wanted a product that didn't have ANY of the chemical mumbo jumbo, nothing that confused, ingredients that we would feel safe using for our family, products that didn't have negative effects on the environment, we wanted to add and not take anyway from our natural resources.

We wanted a product that stood for something and could back it up with quality, and that's why we love what we do.

**WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU, EMAIL US AT rollingriversoapcompany@gmail.com WITH QUESTIONS OR LOVE LETTERS**

INTRODUCTION

Similar to most Canadian success stories Rolling River Soap Company was started over a Tim Hortons coffee, on the shore of Lake Superior between two good friends. We talked that day about how we were interested in making safe products for our family that didn’t require us to translate the mumbo-jumbo all body products were touting. We wanted to know what we were putting on our bodies and feel good that it was part of a bigger community of people who wanted to add to the environment, rather than take away. We knew that our safe-product-family beliefs didn’t fit into the marketing mogul of pushing a product out without concern just to generate sales; and that we would have to fight to bring awareness but we KNEW it would be worth it. Natural ingredients that worked, were safe, and labels that didn’t confuse, it was a combination that was so simple.

Jessie G. became interested in making natural bath and beauty products when she realized so many products on the market today irritated her already sensitive skin. After some research and trial and error she started creating bath and beauty products for her family and friends for gifts. The quality exceeded main stream standards and people wanted to know where she bought them from so they could buy more (she now tells them www.RollingRiverSoapCompany.com). She loves her dog Cash, has beautiful soft skin because she uses Rolling River Soap Company Coconut Body Butter; she loves reading a good book, and when she can, takes l o n g naps. Because sleeping is GLORIOUS!

Zenith L. had eczema as a child and has gone through the gambit of medically recommended treatments with no avail. She started experimenting with natural bath and beauty products when finding skin sensitive products became almost impossible. She started using Rolling River Soap Company foot butter and hasn’t seen a her eczema in over a bazillion years. She’s not even sure what eczema looks like, her skin is perfect now. She enjoys snuggling with her cats Henry & Francis, cheese, reading, her bike, and has been known to sing really loud. Because she has an awesome voice.

All products are locally made and when possible so are the ingredients we are ALL about reducing our carbon footprint.