What makes Dolce Mia soaps unique?
Local vs. global: Most of our competitor’s soaps are made overseas, sometimes in several different countries. In contrast, our soap is made and packaged right here in Northern California. Yes, it is made in the USA. The benefits of local production include a reduced carbon footprint, procuring local ingredients when possible, hiring local people – enhancing the local economy, employing family businesses like ourselves, whenever possible.
Pure, Natural, Soap: Our ingredient list is about one-third as long as those of our competitors. We just don’t need that much stuff in our soap! In fact, our bar soap is so pure that the FDA doesn’t require us to list any ingredients at all. It is just soap, and fragrance.
Many of liquid soaps containg additives that assist in foaming and thickening the soap. For example, a major and much talked about additive called sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) – often added as a foaming and dispersing agent – is present in many liquid hand soaps. Most often used in shampoos, SLS is known to remove oils from the skin, and can cause skin and eye irritation. We do not use sodium lauryl sulfate. Not only does our soap lather up beautifully on its own, we would never want to add an ingredient that literally strips away the benefits of our soap. Our intention is to make our soap both hard working and mild, sticking to the purest soap “recipe” possible.
Our concerns are not limited to the effects these additives have on our skin and bodies, they extend to what happens when these chemicals go down the drain and enter our waterways. Our feeling is that additives such as sodium lauryl sulfate and cocamide DEA are not only not necessary but potentially harmful to the environment.
Our liquid soap: Castile soap is a natural, vegetable oil soap that has been around for hundreds of years. Castile soap isn’t a brand but a type of soap made exclusively from vegetable oil (often olive oil) rather than animal fat or synthetic substances. The simple nature of the soap means a lesser environmental impact due to reduced waste stream during manufacture and also faster biodegradability.
In our castile soap, we use a combination of extra virgin olive and coconut oils to create a soap that cleans effectively without being aggressive – a soap that leaves the skin silky-smooth and refreshed. Our natural liquid soap has a high level of glycerine with no sulfates, surfactants or detergents. It is mild to the skin while offering great natural cleaning power.
Olive oil is a fantastic emollient, which means that it softens and smooths your skin. Products with Olive Oil are especially good for prematurely aged, dry or irritated skin.
Our soap is: Hypo-Allergenic + Safe for Sensitive Skin + Biodegradable
Style with Substance: We have always had a thing for vintage, particularly retro-modern – a contemporary take on classic aesthetic. It turns out this is extremely popular these days. More than ever, people are gravitating towards the comfort zone of nostalgia – a simpler life, a return to “home” and the familiar.
Our “look” is not sterile or omni-present. Nor is it passé. Our soap packaging conveys imagery and style that speak to everyone – we zero in on personality and help consumers to express their individualism. Paired with a luxurious, effective soap product, we have created something special and have set ourselves apart from the rest of the soap market. Why not have it all? Great soap AND gorgeous design!
The power of smell: Even our scents have a nostalgic quality about them. We worked hard to develop scents that were both refreshing and familiar. Whether it is fruit or floral, our blends are sophisticated and attractive. Our scents are light, natural and not over-perfumed. We use consumer-safe fragrance oils that include natural ingredients. We tint our soaps using food grade tint (the same thing we use to tint our cupcake frosting).
Going Green: For us, going green means simply using recipes and ingredients that were developed before the industrial and chemical revolutions – using ingredients that are pure and locally procured, when possible, and keeping production within our local economy. Green is not a marketing tool for us, we just happened to have embraced a lifestyle and business philosophy that falls within the definition of “being green.”
Beyond the trend, we are green in our lifestyle – we strive to keep business and our business relationships personal and manageable. We live in a small community that is much like a village, we enjoy sending our kids to the local school, which happens to be an environmental magnet school that embraces place-based education. A campus on 50 acres with a nature trail and salmon filled creek…how green is that?!
Our campus has just finished construction on the first gold Leed certified green building on a California public school campus. Learn more at: http://ftp.harmony.k12.ca.us/greenschool/index.shtml
As a family, we spend a lot of time and energy fundraising in support of our school and to the development of its progress, helping to assure that our school can continue to make a difference and be an environmental role model for other schools and the broader community.
Community Service and Volunteering: Here again, our focus is local – on our immediate community. A background in education (MA, Stanford ’92) has help shape Jenny’s belief that we can make a difference in our future by educating and inspiring the next generation. Creating awareness of our needs as a community living on this planet is a priority. We are involved in projects that inspire schools and the community to become responsible, educated, compassionate stewards of the environment.
People Love Our Soaps
I have to thank you so much for your wonderful Mango Tangerine Surfer Soap that is in our restroom here at O’Reilly! I’ve been watching the soap levels disappear… I think everyone, even strangers, enjoys it. It fills the whole bathroom with a wonderful fragrance and the soap’s scent lingers on the skin waaaaay afterward. Sometimes, I feel I can even taste it… gingery-spicy notes! When we first put it in the bathroom last week, it was the first distraction and thing to look forward to at work! It even feels different. It is so wonderful… I wasn’t expecting any soap to do that.