We have carefully curated the ingredients that go into our products, utilizing primarily those that are low on the comedogenic scale.
Acne lesions begin with clogged pores, and those pesky things are called comedones. The scientific term, Comedogenicity describes the potential of a substance to cause comedones, thus when a substance is comedogenic, it is likely to clog pores and lead to acne. Scientists utilize a couple of methods to determine a substance's ability to clog pores:, and assign each ingredient a comedogenic rating. 0- Does not clog pores 1- Low 2- Moderately Low 3- Moderate 4- Fairly High 5- High There are a several ingredients that can clog pores- yes, even natural ingredients! A couple of well loved ingredients in the natural skincare world- Cocoa Butter and Coconut Oil- are high on the comedogenic scale, and we kept this in mind when formulating our products. Leave On Products It was necessary that we didn't include any pore clogging ingredients in our leave on products, so in our body butters, we replaced Cocoa Butter with the fruity, chocolatey Cupuacu butter from Brazil; and Coconut Oil with Amazonian Babassu Oil. Wash Off Products Our wash off product on the other hand are formulated with Cocoa butter and Coconut oil as they play a huge role in the effectiveness and quality of soaps, and honestly, there is really no substitute for them. in soap making. Cocoa contributes to the hardness of soap, while Coconut imparts beautiful bubbles that we all have come to expect in a good bar of soap. So why leave these pore clogging oils in? Our reason is yet another big word- SAPONIFICATION! Saponification is the process in which triglycerides are combined with a strong base (Sodium Hydroxide) to form fatty acid metal salts. The distribution of unsaturated and saturated fatty acid determines the hardness, aroma, cleansing, lather, and moisturizing abilities of soaps. In addition to Saponification's awesome ability to create SOAP, it also changes the properties of the oils, practically rendering their comedogenicity null! (Disclaimer: always perform a patch test on ALL skin products to ensure you have no reaction, and discontinue use if one occurs) We vow to do our part to ensure that the products we provide you have as little negative effects as possible and will continue to research and conduct tests to ensure that they meet our very high standards.