Camamu will be closed this Saturday, October 29th and reopen on Sunday, October 30th. We have the most amazing new soaps which will be online November 2nd. Stay tuned... the last two months of 2016 are going to include some spectacular new soaps!
We're going to keep posting little updates on our sale items because some have gone, others are almost gone and a few are still plentiful. Our lovely Argan Gotu Kola Soap is back at regular price. We re-vamped the essential oil blend and have a new batch freshly cured and ready to head out. Orang-U-Glad Soap, palm-oil free and luscious, is still on sale. And the chunks, ah the chunks, they are flying out the door at the studio and so we have ever diminishing quantities of them. We still have Citrus Burst, Double Olive, Fisherman's Anise and Shea & Spice but very few left of the first three. There are still lots of the Shea & Spice left though so get it while you can. It has got SO much shea butter in it.
Coming soon... stay tuned.... four new soaps will be introduced at the beginning of September.
Enjoy these bountiful summer days, the warm bath of the evenings, the sparkle of stars.
Our summer sale sails ever on. Our last few bars of our Cocoa Rose Soap are now only available in the studio but the Argan Oil Gotu Kola and Orang-U-Glad soaps are still marked down here, online. And today we're adding to them by putting four of our chunk soaps on sale too. Under 'Shapes and Sizes' you'll find Chunk Soaps and there you'll find Citrus Burst, Double Olive Castile, Fisherman's Anise and Shea and Spice Soaps all marked down by 50%. They'll be on sale as long as they last. All I can say is that the Double Olive Castile Soap totally rocks my world, rocks my skin, makes me happy.
You too, we hope!
Happy solstice friends!
We hope these long days find you happy, healthy and enjoying the bounty and bliss of summer days. Friends, hammocks, good books, bike rides... perhaps a long cool shower and a scrumptious bar of Camamu soap to round out the picture!
We are putting some of our favorite soaps on sale starting today; Cocoa Rose, Argan Gotu Kola and Orang-U-Glad have all been reduced to $4 per bar.
The Cocoa Rose Soap is wondrously moisturizing with its cocoa butter and sensual essential blend of Brazilian rose, balsam peru, myrrh and amyris sandalwood; deep mysteries abound!
The Argan Gotu Kola Soap is one of my favorites. Gotu kola, Centella asiatica, is a revered, spiritual plant which has been used in India for everything from improving mediation to healing leprosy. In terms of skin care it helps to rebuild and support collagen, prevents infection, reduces scarring and stimulates the circulation. Argan oil also provides profound skin benefits; rich in essential fatty acids and anti-oxidants, it boosts the skin's elasticity, protects against premature aging and regulates the production of sebum. Scented with lavender, balsam peru, myrrh and canaga essential oils, we hope you'll give this rejuvenating soap a try.
Orang-U-Glad is one of our palm oil free soaps. Cocoa butter, hemp seed oil and shea butter replace the palm oil to create a deeply moisturizing, vitamin and essential fatty acid-rich soap. Orang-U-Glad is tangily scented with sweet orange, balsam peru and patchouli essential oils. Well, we're never 100% right but we do think this soap will make you glad!
Take advantage of this sale to try out three of Camamu's favorites. Sale lasts while supplies last.
Happy summer!
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While not wanting to give too much energy to bad news, we couldn't help but notice the headline today about Johnson & Johnson's baby powder being connected with cancer. This really makes us sad for those who have been impacted by bad corporate decisions. What makes us happy though is that here, in our tiny shop where everything is lovingly prepared by hand, we can offer an alternative. Camamu makes a luscious, unscented baby soap loaded with rich oils and infused with calendula along with a baby shampoo bar that's infused with cradle-cap soothing heart's ease and calendula and scented only with lavender essential oil. Through our friends at Wild Carrot Herbals, we can offer you talc-free and gluten-free all-natural baby powder along with shiny glass bottles filled with 100% natural, safe, gentle and just plain wonderful baby creams, balms, salves, lotions and massage oils. The world is out there waiting for the babies. Why not keep them as safe as you can for as long as possible? Take a look. We're on your side.
We get asked occasionally about the use of lye, aka sodium hydroxide, in handmade soap. To clear up any misconceptions and answer potential questions, sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide is used in the making of all handmade and most commercial bar and liquid soap. While lye is used as a driver in saponification, the name for the chemical process that yields soap, it is totally consumed/transformed in the process and does not exist in the final product. This is the alchemical magic of soap making. Disparate and unlikely ingredients are brought together, engage in a chemical process and what results is nothing like what existed at the beginning.
At Camamu we super-fat our soaps and shampoos at between 6 - 10%. What that means is that there is a much higher proportion of plant oils used in relation to the amount of lye. The reason our products are so moisturizing and nourishing is because while the lye is totally consumed, there's a lot of the oils left behind, unbound, in our lovely bars.
If you ever have any questions about the chemistry of soap-making, please email or phone us. It's a fascinating subject and one which we love talking about!
We're having a typical Portland winter again, rainy and grey. Every morning the enormous black walnut tree that covers most of my block is crowded with crows that announce the pink streaked sky and the start of another day. Today is half-way between winter and spring and already the hellebores are pushing up while the glossy camellias burst into rosy bloom.
As ever, this time of year we celebrate the resurfacing, the renewal, the growth that this season teases at. And, as ever, we hope this time of year finds you all in love. With yourself, with your world, with another living creature. If you're looking for a gift to share, a gift that is made with love, a gift that speaks of love, we hope you'll enjoy our heart soaps. Our Molten Love Heart Soap is new this year. Scented with an earthy, spell-binding essential and botanical oil combination of rose, vetiver and jasmine, it is swirled with activated charcoal for removing the old and unwanted, leaving room for the new. Our Unrepentant Rose Heart Soap, sprinkled with red rose petals and scented with rose, geranium and palmarosa essential oils, is beautiful, yearningly beautiful. Both come packaged in kraft boxes that feature original artwork on the front.
Have fun, have love, have patience. Spring is on its way!
