Let me tell you about the simplest thing I make.
CLARA is a fragrance-free soap bar made with just two oils: olive oil and coconut oil. No fragrance, no dyes, no preservatives, no long list of words you have to look up on your phone in the middle of the store. If you've been reading labels and wondering about hormone disruptors in soap, this one's for you.
I named her Clara because it means clear in Spanish, and I wanted a bar that was exactly that. Clear about what's in it, and clear about what's not.
What are hormone disruptors, and why are they in soap?
Hormone disruptors (the official name is endocrine disruptors) are chemicals that researchers are studying for the way they may interfere with the body's hormones. In the soap and body wash aisle, the two that come up most are phthalates, which can be part of synthetic fragrance, and parabens, which are used as preservatives.
Here's the part that gets me. In the U.S., a brand can list "fragrance" as a single word on the label without telling you what's inside it. So you can read every ingredient and still not know.
I'm not here to scare anybody. I just think if you're trying to cut those out, your soap is the easiest place to start. You use it every single day, on your whole body.
What's actually in CLARA
- The whole list,start to finish: Olive oil, Coconut oil, Water and lye, which turn those oils into soap. Every real bar of soap is made this way, and no lye is left in the finished bar.
And what's not in it: no synthetic fragrance, no phthalates, no parabens, no dyes, no sulfates. If you want to go deeper on why I pick the oils I do, I wrote about what oils are used in quality handmade soap.
A fragrance-free soap bar that's gentle on sensitive skin
Your skin feels the difference. CLARA is gentle,she rinses clean, and she doesn't leave you tight or itchy after. If your skin reacts to everything, or you're shopping for someone whose skin does, this is the bar I'd hand you first.(And if tight, itchy skin sounds familiar, here's why soap can make your skin dry.)
Simple isn't boring. Simple is the point.
Quick questions about CLARA
Does CLARA have phthalates or parabens?
No. CLARA is made with olive oil, coconut oil, water and lye. Nothing else is added: no fragrance, nopreservatives, no dyes.
Is fragrance-free the same as unscented?
Not always. Some unscented products still use a little fragrance to cover up the smell of other ingredients. Fragrance-free means none was added at all. CLARA is fragrance-free.
Is there lye in the finished bar?
No. Lye is what turns oil into soap, and it gets used up in the process while the bar cures.
Who is CLARA best for?
Anyone with sensitive or easily irritated skin, anyone avoiding fragrance, and anyone who wants a label they can read in five seconds.