At Harmony Bath and Body we are commited to providing our customers with products of the highest quality. When we started this company we said that if we couldn't do it right, we weren't going to do it at all. That said, we constantly strive to improve our offerings with the highest quality ingredients and without ever using petroleum products. You will never find mineral oil in our products - this is our guarantee to you. Frequently we are asked about the use of animal fats in our products. Our soaps are vegetable based, but we cannot call them vegan because we use silk in every batch. Some of our soaps also have honey and beeswax in them as well. As far as other animal biproducts, we do use emu oil in some of our products, including some of our specialty soaps, but this is always clearly indicated. Although we do not routinely incorporate animal fats into our products, we decided that the benefits of emu oil are so overwhelming that we would make an exception for this beneficial oil in products that are enhanced by its use. Our bath and body products are made by hand by us from scratch with the exception of our glycerin soaps for which we start with a high quality glycerin soap base. All of our lotions, balms, butters, bath additives and creams are made in small batches from scratch. The ingredients we use in each and every product are deliberate. If you have any questions about any of our products, please ask! When I speak with customers face-to-face, I tell them that one of the wonderful things about our company is that we make the products ourselves, so I can tell you exactly what is in them and why. As I'm sure you have noticed, there has been a trend toward the addition of exceptional ingredients in bath and body care products ranging from hair treatments to skin lotion. It is almost impossible to peruse the shelves of any cosmetic department and not see Shea Butter and Sweet Almond Oil everywhere you look. Given this, many people ask us why we believe our products are better than the commercial products that are less expensive and have prettier packaging. Here is our answer: In order to discuss an ingredient in a product, the product must contain the ingredient. That seems obvious, right? The fine print is this: all the product has to do is contain the ingredient - the amount of ingredient is up to the manufacturer - and that ingredient can be nearly insignificant in its amount. When reading a label on any cosmetic product (including lotions, creams, etc.) the consumer should be aware that ingredients are listed in order of ingredient weight. As a general rule of thumb, fragrance is typically added at approximately 1% of the total product weight and the preservative is generally approximately 0.5-1% of the total product weight. All ingredients at 1% or less can appear in any order. In other words, using this information, if ingredients indicate: X, Y, Z, then Fragrance and THEN Shea Butter, one might question the amount of the precious butter that is actually present in this product. It is worthy of note that some manufacturers do use significantly more than 1% fragrance in their products, therefore, as with anything, there are always unknown variablees that can change the specifics of this pseudo-formula. Our intention in providing you with this information is so that you, as the consumer are better informed and have a better idea of what you are looking at when you read any label, ours or others. What you will find on our labels is that the "good stuff" is pretty darn close to the top of the ingredient list. Just a quick aside, in many of our lotions and creams as well as lotions and creams from most other companies, the first ingredient is frequently water. This is not a bad thing - in creating a lotion or cream, it is necessary to combine oils/butters and liquid. Most frequently the liquid of choice is water. Sometimes the liquid is aloe vera juice or milk, but more often than not, it is water. If water is the first ingredient listed, that does not mean that the product is mostly water, simply that the single ingredient in the highest concentration is water. We have had many customers tell us that they love lotions and creams from certain stores because they feel wonderful and they smell divine, but they feel as though the product has to be reapplied in 10 minutes, whereas with our products, the feel wonderful and smell divine and last for much longer: What is that? The reason is actually pretty simple...there are many ingredients used in the personal care industry that create texture. These ingredients are not bad but they frequently do not have much, if any, benefit to the skin - they just make the product feel good when applied. Unfortunately, because these ingredients often make up a large part of the product, there isn't a lot of room left for ingredients that are beneficial to the skin. When these products are used in moderation, they can make a good product great. When they are over-used, they can make a great feeling cream pretty worthless at adding moisture and beneficial properties. The trick in creating formulas is to find that balance so that the final product gives the consumer the best of all worlds. It is in this balance that Harmony Bath and Body strives to exceed the average expectations in consumers. If an ingredient does not improve the product, it is not added. If it does not have a benefit that is worthwhile, it is not added. If it enhances the product and makes for a better overall creation, we tinker with it until it exceeds even our exacting standards. Finally, there is the preservative question. Yes - at Harmony Bath and Body we use synthetic preservatives in our water-based products. If we did not do this, the shelf-life of our products would be just a few days. If you have ever left a glass of water on the counter for a week, you will see that strange things start to appear. You certainly would not want to drink this, why would you want to put it on your body? The concept is the same - it is necessary for us to use a synthetic preservative to prohibit the growth of mold and other gross stuff in the final product. Despite many claims and attempts, to the best of our knowledge, there is no such thing as an all natural broad-spectrum preservative. There are natural preservatives that might help to extend the shelf-life of the product short-term, but they do not give our products what we feel to be an acceptable shelf-life. As indicated earlier, the amount of preservative in products is normally 0.5-1% of the total weight of the product. In other words, if we make a 100 oz batch of lotion, there is no more than 1 oz of preservative in the entire batch. If you purchase a 4 oz bottle from this batch, you have 1/25 of 1 oz of preservative in your bottle. As with all of our ingredients, if the benefit outweighs everything, the ingredient stays in. As time goes on, this section will be expanded to include additional information on specific ingredients that we use in our products. We believe that it is in the best interest of everyone to have educated consumers and the bottom line is simple: we have nothing to hide! Thank you for your time and we hope that this helps you as you browse through our product choices. Please feel free to e-mail us with any questions you have along the way. ~Heather Welsh, Owner Harmony Bath and Body back up © 2007 Harmony Bath and Body