Great Lakes Green Pages

The nest in my selection of eco friendly gifts for the holidays is a company called Sarva Soaps. These soaps are beautiful and smell fantastic! Hand created by Michelle Gilbert, these soaps are all natural and vegetarian. Two scents use honey, and the rest are completely vegan. I have had many discussions over the last couple of years with Michelle about sustainability, and I know that she is serious. She takes the time to make sure that each ingredient is sourced for minimal impact. THese soaps are perfect gifts for anyone on your list. With the party season heading into full gear, these lovely soaps will also make a unique hostess gift that will get you invited back every time! I see her products at many events and shops and retailers tell me her products fly off the shelves. That is why I had to sit down with Michelle to find out more about her company and her products.

What made you decide to start making soaps?
About 12 years ago, I was in a bookstore and found myself drawn to a book on soapmaking. The book itself was beautiful, the soaps were like nothing I’d ever seen, and I thought, “I have to do that!” I’m a painfully pragmatic person with a creative streak, which is a very strange mix! Soapmaking fit perfectly with my personality – soap is a useful object which could be re-imagined as art. I’m fascinated by the impermanence of this art form… the idea of creating a beautiful but utterly necessary object which disappears with use. I am also an aromatherapist in private practice, and the fact that I’m able to create a 100% natural, biodegradable, aromatherapy-based product which is far more beneficial to the skin, the spirit, and the planet than synthetic, non-biodegradable detergent bars is very important to me. Nature nourishes us and gives us what we need, and it is our utmost responsibility to work in harmony with what we are given.

What makes Sarva soaps unique?
I think the level of care and attention to detail in Sarva soaps, from beginning to end, is something you won’t find very often. Sarva is a Sanskrit word meaning “all” or whole”, and we strive to put that wholeness into every bar. We are one of very few soap companies, let alone personal care products companies, in this country who make a truly natural product. While many are 95-97% natural, Sarva’s products are 100% natural. And what goes into that remaining 3-5% can make a real difference! Synthetic fragrances, pigments, and preservatives live in that 3%.

We’ve been led to believe that a class of pigments called mineral oxides is natural. They are present in many cosmetics, including the so-called “mineral makeup” that is so popular these days. I’m sorry to tell your readers that mineral oxide pigments are synthetic; they are created in a laboratory. Sarva does not use oxides, and while there are a few other soap companies who don’t, we are the only soap company I know of who creates such beautifully artistic soaps using only clays, herbal infusions, and other botanicals — and it’s incredibly challenging! Further, we use *strictly* essential oils, and I formulate all of our blends myself. I personally am not aware of any other soap company whose formulations are created by an aromatherapist. I understand what will–and won’t–work in a soap, and why. The FDA will not permit me to call Sarva soaps “aromatherapy soaps”, but they most certainly benefit the spirit in the way any other aromatherapy application would.

Many of my customers tell me that they can finally use and enjoy scented, luxurious products again without skin reactions or even migraines they may have experienced when they used even a 97% natural product. I have a customer who is a cancer survivor who also is concerned about using synthetic fragrance. While I am aware there are phthalate-free fragrances which are said to be non-carcinogenic, I do not use them. I believe a natural product should be natural, and that’s what we create at Sarva.

How green are your products?
All Sarva packaging is 100% postconsumer recycled and recyclable boxes. Clean packing materials are repurposed to ship orders. I follow green office practices and my web site is carbon offset. The soaps themselves are fully biodegradable. I make every effort to use sustainably harvested and ethically procured raw materials which have been minimally processed. We contribute to Orangutan Outreach and have “adopted” an orangutan named Kesi; we pay directly for her rehabilitation because her habitat has been destroyed by palm oil plantations, and we are actively reducing palm oil usage in our products.

Sarva uses no synthetic ingredients whatsoever, which is incredibly rare in this industry. However, I think there are two philosophies here, and whether you view our products as truly green will depend on what side of the fence you sit on. It can be said that using lab-created materials increases the amount of non-biodegradable waste we are pumping into our water, our soil, our air. However, there are also people who believe that it is just as harmful to use our natural resources faster than they can regenerate. I see both sides to this, though I make the choice to avoid synthetics because I believe we won’t have any natural resources left at all if we continue to pollute our planet. I am not aware of any synthetic fragrances or pigments which break down in non-harmful ways, or I might consider using them. I use all-natural materials which are not endangered or nonsustainable, and I keep a close eye on this. A great example is yellow Sandalwood: This is an endangered resource, and I will not use Sandalwood essential oil or powder in my products.

What are some of the challenges you have faced in making this company successful?
Changing perceptions is far and away my biggest challenge, in several ways. First and foremost, the perception of soap as art is very different. We’re not a bath and body company – we are an artisanal company creating “art soaps”… soap is the medium we use to create little impermanent works of art for you to enjoy. We create an upscale artistic product in small quantities, not an inexpensive, mass-market commodity.

Secondly, I have discovered that we aren’t always aware that what we are using is not natural. The government does not place any regulation on that word, and sometimes people have expectations of a 100% natural product that I cannot meet (types of scents primarily).

The price of our products is sometimes questioned, admittedly. However, creating these special soaps with completely natural materials is truly a labor of love and care, and I believe my customers are getting an incredibly superior product when they purchase Sarva soaps.

Lastly, there’s the perception that soaps are curative or healing, and I get many inquiries about soaps for a particular skin condition. While our soap is far more mild and beneficial to the skin than mass market cleansers (more information can be found on the Sarva blog), soap is neither curative nor healing, and I do not make any such promises, which can sometimes disappoint people! Even the FDA will not permit me to make any claims at all – not aromatherapy, not cosmetic – on a bar of soap. Thus, I have learned to embrace the challenge of being an educator as well.

Where do you get your inspiration?
I love to buck trends! I’m very inspired by the idea of creating something completely different than you’ll find in current scent trends (yes, it’s just like fashion). I want to bring you something you’ll find nowhere else. While I’m not a perfumer, I do like to create “scent paintings” — Gratitude soap came from hiking through the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont… nature’s scent palette is astounding, and I love to try to recreate a natural setting in that way. I also formulate some scent blends strictly based on aromatherapy principles. Satori is one such example; basil and peppermint blend together to create a very balanced, focused but calm, mental energy (but the FDA doesn’t want me telling you that!). As for visual design, I may choose a color scheme, but I typically let my raw materials tell me how they are going to come together visually in a soap. Soapmaking is a moody, temperamental process, and I prefer to work with the materials rather than dictate how they will behave. However, I do have some formal training in herbalism, and I’ll often conceptually unite the herbs or botanicals in a soap with any aromatherapy principles present in its formulation.

Where can Sarva soaps be found?
Sarva is primarily a local (Cleveland, Ohio) business. I love the relationships I create this way, and it allows me to focus on quality instead of rapid growth. Therefore, you can find Sarva Soaps at the Cleveland Botanical Garden, Puma Yoga in Lakewood, the Atma Center in Cleveland Heights, Great Lakes Brewing Company (they carry Suds Beer Soap and it’s a great seller there), Room Service in the Gordon Square area, Dermatology Specialists in Beachwood and Willoughby, and we’re developing relationships with a few more retailers this holiday season. We also have a web site at www.sarvasoap.com, which is where you’ll find the most comprehensive selection, and we ship nationwide.