We mentioned this on the J&L Blog a few weeks back. It has been our intention to stop using any coloring agents for any of our products. We find that color does not add or take away from the experience and performance of a product. As our soaps and candles are not “artisan” and there is no necessity to appeal to any specific look, then what does color offer for our products?
Internally, color was a means for us to distinguish scents during production. Some items must “cure” before we can package them. If we make multiple scents in one period, without color they will all look alike. With this plan to discontinue tinting our soaps, we devised a better method to label soaps as they are still in the mold, and once they are removed for curing.
Not adding color does not mean these items will be purely white, nor that all bars will be the same exact hue. The scent oils we use may cause the bars to look off-white, beige or even a very pale mauve. This is related to the “vanilla” factor of scent oils. The oils have a color of their own that is derived from their natural ingredients. We find these varying hues quite attractive.
With the Holidays approaching, our production has increased, with many items having been low or out of stock for the past few weeks. All new batches of soaps will be sans coloring. We think that by the end of this year we should be sold through any remaining tinted inventory.
Less ingredients, especially superfluous ones like color, help us make our products more sustainable. Even though we have used natural colorants, there is still a risk of adverse reactions to the colorant – so you can be more assured that you will not have a negative reaction an ingredient.
We will leave color to the package labels, and let all our products shine with their natural ingredients.
Look for are all new natural tone BIGBAR! All-in-One Soaps to roll out next weekend at Apple Fest.