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Palm oil is a vegetable oil extracted from the fruit of the African oil palm tree Elaeis oleifera.  This species of palm tree is farmed mainly in southeast asia and used in everyday foods, cosmetics, soaps and candles as a cheap bulk oil. Cookies, ice cream,  toothpaste, soap; it’s so pervasive in the products we use that it’s almost impossible to avoid using it.  The negative environmental impacts of this crop include carbon emissions, rainforest destruction and destabilization of rural communities. Palm oil is commonly used as a substitute for trans fats and many food manufacturers and fast-food chains have already made the switch.  Is palm oil going to be...

Solid Bars are HOT right now.  With everyone getting onboard the conservation bandwagon, solid bars are offered in every shape, size and color with incredibly innovative ingredients.  I love when customers tell me they are using their natural solid soaps and lotions as artistic home statement pieces,  deodorizers, travel companions and even as aromatherapy perk-ups in the office.  We're not talking the soaps and lotions of yesteryear. There is now a bar product for every skin type on the planet. • Solid Bars are healthier. The first and most abundant ingredient you are paying for in liquid products is of course water (the stuff that is free from the tap). The second ingredient is sulfate. Sulfates dry...

Splendor Santa Barbara LOVES the coconut and we use coconut oil as the main base oil for many of our products.  Why coconut?  Coconut oil is healthy, sustainable and provides luxurious moisture and a great natural lather without the chemicals.  We are delighted to hear the stories people tell us about how coconut oil has changed their lives; treating acne, pigmentation problems, oral bacteria, eczema and psoriasis.     FACT: a coconut (Cocos nucifera) is: a fruit, a nut, and a seed.     FICTION: Coconut oil and palm oil are the same. African Palm oil (Elaeis spp.)= unsustainable   Coconut oil IS sustainable    FACT: Coconut Water is one of the biggest sources of...

SOAP-We use it every day, but what's it really made out of? Soap by definition is made from a mixture of the sodium salts of various fatty acids of natural oils and fats.  Commercial "soaps" are actually a detergent made from a cleansing substance that acts similarly to soap but is made from chemical compounds rather than fats and lye.   But isn't lye a chemical as well?  Yes, but only until it is saponified (to convert (a fat or oil) into soap).  There is no lye left in the final product....No Lie! Today  we deconstruct and demystify the most well-known soaps in America,...