Coconut oil is the natural fat that occurs in coconuts. It originated in Southeast Asia, and has been used for centuries for food, medicinal purposes, and more. Among other things, it is often used as a moisturizing lotion, and is known for both moisturizing and protecting skin when used in soap.

Native to the Mediterranean region, Olive Oil has been used for millennia, with archeological evidence showing it was being produced as long ago as 6000 BC. It has been used as a fuel, food, medicine, and moisturizer, and is one of the earliest oils to have been used in soap-making. It is particularly known for helping create a harder, and thus longer-lasting, bar of soap.

Avocado Oil can be traced back to ancient civilizations such as Aztecs and other Central and South American civilizations. It has long been renowned for its healing properties, and some say it is one of the most skin-penetrating oils, and thus one of the most moisturizing. Its use in soaps can be dated back to at least the 1600s, and is known to add creaminess to soap’s lather, as well as vitamins A, D, and E.

Used both medicinally and cosmetically since ancient times, Mango Butter is not actually from the fruit’s meat, but from the seed of the mango. It is known to be healing, soothing, and rich in antioxidants. Best of all, it has a very low comedogenic rating—or, in plain English, it’s unlikely to clog pores! It improves a soap bar’s conditioning value as well as its hardness, which means it softens your skin while helping the bar of soap last longer.

First thing you need to know: we only use Palm Oils that are ethically sourced in accordance with the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (https://rspo.org/).

Why is this important? Because many homes and ecologies have been harmed in the mass growing and harvesting required for excessively used palm oils. The Round Table ensures that the oil palms that are grown are done so in a sustainable and effective way to not only reduce negative impacts, but actually create positive results for the local people, flora, and fauna where the oil palms are grown.

Now! With that out of the way, why do we use it at all? Well, palm oil is known to have properties that not only don’t strip away skin’s oils, but actually help restore skin’s natural oils. It’s not just adding moisture, it’s helping your skin renew its own moisture! It’s also another oil that increases the hardness of the bar (thus increasing how long the bar lasts!) without drying out skin.

When cacao beans were being used in Mesoamerica (ie. the ancient cultures of what is now known as Central America) they were seen as sacred, a gift from the gods used for many purposes—and that included extracting the Cocoa Butter to use for medicinal and cosmetological purposes. We now have scientific evidence of what they already knew: that it can be used to improve the appearance of scars and stretch marks, and to even out uneven skin tones. It improves the moisturizing properties of the soap while also making for a solid soap bar with a stable lather.

Shea Butter, a product of the shea tree nut from western Africa, has been extracted and used for thousands of years—long enough that even Cleopatra used it! It is used for both skin and hair. In addition to its moisturizing properties, shea butter makes for a thicker, creamier lather to the soap, giving an extra luxurious feel. Pamper yourself!

Gasp! Why is there lye in my soap?! That’s caustic stuff!

Well, it is, but it’s also an essential part of the soap-making process. Don’t worry! By the time the saponification process is done, the lye and fats have gone through a chemical reaction turning them both from their original form to exactly what you’re looking for: soap!

In other words, though lye is an essential ingredient in making soap, by the time it is soap, there is no lye left.

Um . . . that’s pretty vague, isn’t it? No fancy-schmancy sciencey word or anything?

I know, but in fact, that’s what it’s called. We’re pretty particular about what fragrances we use, though, especially since our CEO (and current primary soap-maker) has a lot of allergies! For one thing, our scents are all sold specifically for use in soap, so they have been tested to verify that they won't be skin irritants in the amount used. We also are selective about scents, avoiding the ones that tend to be more likely allergens for many people.

Most importantly to us, we only ever use scents that are phthalate-free. Why? Phthalates can disrupt the endocrine system, harm reproductive health, and exacerbate respiratory and dermatological issues. Ew, gross, no, and definitely not, thank you very much!

But if having any fragrance at all is still an issue for you, never fear! We make our Natural Clean soap just for that purpose!

Soap is often colored with mica. And yes, there are 3 ingredients listed there, but despite mica being one of the ingredients, they are still collectively just called mica.

Now, unlike most of our ingredients, we are very proud that our mica is not naturally occurring, but is instead lab-created! Why? Because mica, like most minerals, is not a renewable resource, and we believe it is better for the environment that we use lab-created micas than that we deplete the earth of its mica.

Like our fragrances, the micas we use are created for and tested in soaps (and sometimes cosmetics as well) and are safe for the skin. Also like our fragrances, if you prefer soap without added non-natural elements, our Natural Clean soap is both fragrance-free and colorant-free.

Coconut milk is the liquid that comes in the middle of a coconut. It's made up of two parts: coconut water, and the coconut cream. We typically use coconut milk in our milk-based soaps because:
1. it smells good!
2. it's good for the skin!
and 3. it works well for most people, including vegans!

If we ever do a milk-based soap that has a different milk instead of coconut milk, we'll make absolutely sure that it's clearly marked!

Look, if you don't know what coffee is, I don't know how to explain it to you.

BUT, the big question here is, why is it in soap? And the answers are multifold.

For one thing, coffee is a diuretic, which means it can* give your cells anti-aging boosts, it can reduce the appearance of cellulite, and it can even combat cancer!

What's more, in addition to using coffee as the liquid base for our soap, we also add some of the coffee grounds back in after the lye and fats are blended, to give a nice exfoliant as well.

Our coffee soap is also swirled with a coconut milk based soap (see Cocos Nucifera Extract for more information) and the combination leads to exfoliating skin and then nourishing the fresh skin with the benefits of the coconut cream. Pure bliss!

Plus, Pixie Elegance CEO Kay doesn't even like coffee, and she loves the smell of this soap. If even she's on board with coffee, it must be good!

*These statemetns can be found across numerous websites in research about the benefits of coffee in soap and other skin care products, but have not been directly reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration. We make no claims that our coffee soap can do anything more than smell nice, get you clean, and hopefully nourish and exfoliate your skin along the way.

Actually . . . not that much. Despite the moisturizing benefits of many of the oils and butters we use, the saponification process means most of the oils are fundamentally changed in order to become soap.

How? Lye (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide) is a great cleaning agent, but caustic to organic materials. That means it can literally burn through your skin so please do not use lye as soap!

Then how can it go into soap and be fine? Saponification! Yup, that (delightfully or annoyingly, depending on your perspective) big word just means the chemical interaction in which lye and fats change together into something new: soap! Once that change has happened, neither the lye nor the fats still hold the same properties they held before.

Then what’s the point of a soap having all those different oils and butters?

There’s another factor involved: superfatting! Superfatting is when the soap recipe calls for more fats (oils and butters) than the given amount of lye is able to interact with.

Think of it like this:

100% of the lye included + 100% of the fats included = 100% soap

100% of the lye included + 105% of the fats included = 100% soap with the extra 5% of the fats left over

In other words, all the caustic lye becomes soap, but some of the moisturizing fats remain to moisturize too.

Nope!

Or . . . well, yes, but . . . .

Wait . . . first, let’s define “soft” and hard!

I know, I know, that seems pretty straight-forward, right? But it can actually mean two different things! A “soft” or “hard” soap might refer to the moisturizing properties of the soap, in which case, yes, you want a softer soap. But a soft or hard bar of soap refers to the properties of the bar itself! A physically softer bar of soap can seem like it would be more moisturizing, but the physical properties of the bar itself aren’t actually related to that. That goes back to the superfatting we were discussing before.

What does the harder or softer bar mean, then? The harder the bar, the longer it will last! Softer bars wear away faster.