Our Story
After years of watching our recycling bin fill at a faster rate than our trash can, we decided to implement some big changes in our household. The challenge to eliminate plastic from one’s life can be daunting and we are fortunate enough to have the time and resources to attempt such a challenge. At first, it was easy to find zero waste options for items sold in bulk (nuts, rice, seeds, pasta, grains, limited snack items, etc). I’d just load my trunk with empty mason jars and head to one of our local co-ops. What we could never find, however, were household and personal hygiene products.
Our first aim was to make a liquid hand soap (for reasons mysterious to us, our children dislike bar soap) from a castile base. The process looked complicated at first, in that it involves chemicals like potassium hydroxide (KOH), but after we got the hang of it, we found joy in the process. And to our great surprise, the hand soap was much gentler and more moisturizing than the store bought brands we’d been using. I’ve always suffered from dry hands in the winter, but with this soap, my hands are finally free of painful cuts and dry patches. We felt encouraged and began exploring other products we could make with castiles. At present, we make three varieties. The first is our super fat version (used for body, hand soap and dog shampoo). It’s a luxurious combination of coconut, olive, jojoba and hemp oils. Super-fatting is a process which blends various oils to allow their unique characteristics to emerge. The second is olive oil based (for face soap). Olive oil is incredibly gentle and original castiles were derived from it, making it an obvious choice for our most delicate areas. Our final is dervied from coconut oil (for everyday household cleaners and liquid dishwasher soap). Coconuts have tremendous cleaning power, thus why we prioritize their use in cleaning products. We plan to work on a fourth, hemp oil castile. This will be a great option for people with sensitivities or allergies to coconuts or olives.
After we felt like we had a grip on oil-based soaps, we decided to explore the mysterious world of surfactants. First, let’s address the following— what is a surfactant? According to Enclycopedia Britannica, “(a surfactant) also called a surface-active agent (is a) substance such as a detergent that, when added to a liquid, reduces its surface tension, thereby increasing its spreading and wetting properties.” Surfactants are classified based on their polar head. They can be negative, positive or both/neither. Their charge determines how they behave in your finished product. Some increase viscosity, others foam. Some act as detergents and others increase wetting. For our purposes, we have limited our use to biodegradable surfactants which are ECOCERT approved (ECOCERT is an almost 30 year old organic certification organization which conducts inspections in over 80 countries). In our recipes, you will repeatedly see ingredients like Cocomidopropyl Betaine, Coco Glucoside, Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Disodium Lauryl Sulfate. Those are most certainly unfamiliar, not so natural words. Let’s break them down one at a time.
Cocomidopropyl Betaine is a coconut based amphoteric (can be positive or negative, depending on the PH of your product) surfactant. It is a very mild cleanser which increases foam and viscosity. It pairs well with other surfactants, is considered natural and is completely biodegradable.
Coco Glucoside is a non-ionic (neutral) surfactant which can be derived from coconut, potato, corn or fruit sugars. It is a gentle cleanser which boosts foam, pairs easily with other surfactants, is considered natural and is completely biodegradable.
Decyl Glucoside is a non-ionic (neutral) biodegradable surfactant which is derived from coconuts and glucose. It increases foam (though not as much as coco glucoside), pairs well with other surfactants and adds viscosity to the end product. It is very gentle and versatile.
Disodium Lauryl Sulfate is a very gentle anionic (negatively charged) biodegradable surfactant. It is a great substitute for SLS (see below) in products like shampoos and body washes. It has great cleaning and foaming capabilities and is great for people with highly sensitive skin. We have worked on a formula for a hand soap made from it and are working to develop laundry soap and shampoo recipes. It is more expensive than the other surfactants and because we want to keep our prices in the affordable range, we have formulated our initial round of recipes without it. We look forward to playing with its capabilities in the near future.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) is a very common anionic (negatively charged) biodegradable surfactant. It is derived from coconuts (sometimes palm, depending on your provider). Because it has been altered so much from its original state, it is the only surfactant we use which cannot be considered natural. Ok, ok…we know all of the hype surrounding SLS and in some ways, we agree— I don’t want it in my toothpaste (have you checked the ingredients in your toothpaste lately), or even in my shampoo, but for things like laundry detergent (as long as you don’t have really sensitive skin or an allergy to coconuts), it really is the best bio-degradable option out there. It’s awesome at cutting grease, creates a lot of suds and is much more affordable than other surfactants. It also works well in HE washers and on cold wash cycles, which is an energy/environment saver in and of itself.
Now that we’ve given you some information on the surfactants we use, let’s break down why we use them at all. Why can’t we just formulate castile recipes for every product? In all honesty, I wish we could, but soap isn’t great in all instances and the term soap scum came to life for a reason. For items like hand-wash dish detergent, laundry detergent, shampoos, conditioners and toilet bowl cleaners, surfactants out perform soap.
Finally, we landed in the forbidden world of preservatives. In some consumer circles, preservatives have earned a bad reputation and in ways, we get it; not everything needs to be made to last forever and some preservatives are plain awful. That said, it is important for our products to be safe and as soon as you mix anything with water, its shelf life quickly diminishes. This is why preservatives are essential in hydrous products. We have labored over our preservative choices; the ones we have chosen are all biodegradable and ECOCERT approved. They extend the life of your product, but not indefinitely. Our products have a shelf life of 2-3 months from the purchase date.
Once we felt comfortable using these recipes with our family and closest friends, we began to consider ways to make them available to others. Delivery always felt like an option, but a brick and mortar re-fill store was our initial concept. Given the collective circumstances we’ve found ourselves in, delivery is now the only logical choice and we appreciate that it affords consumers safety in uncertain times. Also, it is more environmentally friendly for one car to travel in a well crafted loop, than for ten cars to travel from point A to point B.
We like to think of Just as a collective endeavor— a community effort to reduce waste and limit our impact on Earth. We believe the “milk-man” concept helps us to accomplish that goal. When choosing the name Just, we did so for two very important reasons. First, ‘just’ means simple and our products are carefully crafted in small batches, with as few, natural ingredients as possible. Our recipes are bio-degradable and our re-usable container system is structured to eliminate waste. Second, ‘just’ means equitable and our aim is to make our products accessible to everyone. We know that compared with standard brand prices, our prices are high. Because we are crafting small batches from high quality ingredients, they have to be. That said, if you want to participate in our community, but cannot afford our prices, we understand and want to help. Please contact us (at the bottom of our home page) and we will find a way to work together. We are excited to begin this adventure with you.