Welcome! This is yet another NEW ADDITION to my blogging repertoire… REVIEWS. And to kick things off the right way… my first review is of SoapBox Soaps.

Who created SoapBox Soaps?

SoapBox Soaps began as a vision, imagined by group of college students, wanting to change the world through everyday purchases. Less than 5 years later, and they are well on their way to proving successful at just that. Meet this young and innovative team here.

What makes SoapBox Special?

Buying all-natural has become quite the fad recently. Put the words, “All-Natural” in big letters across a product and it seems to attract more buyers despite the raised price tag. Add a picture of a tree and it’s a sealed deal. People are overall more conscious about what they are putting in their bodies… the next step is being just as conscious about what they are putting on their bodies.

Most commonly purchased brands of soap contain synthetic lathering agents, color dyes, and a long list of unpronounceable chemicals– all to substitute for the much healthier, but more expensive, natural options. SoapBox Soaps opted out of these money and quality shortcuts and returned soap to it’s roots. Let’s take a look at the ingredients of  my favorite Bar Soap:

Lavender Bar Soap Ingredients–

Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Soybean Oil, Corn Oil, Organic Shea Butter, Sea Salt, and an All-Natural blend of Lavender and other Essential Oils

An all natural soap like this allows me to feel comfortable using it wherever. Washing your hands in the middle of a glacier in Norway? No problem. Bathing in a 15° fjord? No problem… well– no need to worry about harsh chemicals getting into the fjord– MUCH need to worry about your dropping body temperature.

What else makes SoapBox special?

SoapBox Soaps has a Buy One Give One program. This means for every soap product you buy, they give something away. SoapBox has partnered up with three different primary charities to ensure their Buy One Give One system is truly beneficial to it’s recipients. Let me spell this out for you…

For every bottle of hand soap you purchase, SoapBox donates a month’s supply of clean water through the organization .

For every bar of soap you purchase, donates a bar to someone in need.

And lastly,  donates a year’s supply of vitamins for every bottle of body wash you purchase.

But why should I care?

When it comes down to it… yes, it’s just soap. We go through our days using soap without much thought as to what it’s made of, how it’s made, and how it affects our world. That is what makes SoapBox Soaps so ingenious. They have taken an incredibly common and overlooked product and created a purpose, (I mean a purpose besides getting rid of that gnarly post-workout smell.) SoapBox’s mission statement reads as this:

Unlike other soap companies, whose mission statements highlight beauty and appearance, SoapBox aims to bring the focus outside of your mirror, and onto the world we live in.

Where does SoapBox fall short?

• Like all products, there are some negatives worth mentioning in a review. SoapBox Soaps is new, therefore, information on the product, (and ultimately the product itself,) is hard to find.
• SoapBox recently made it into Target! (You can find those specific Targets here.) I love this, because who doesn’t find themselves at Tar-jay? The downside of this great accomplishment is that the only product that is available in the Target stores is a modified version of their hand soap. The Target hand soap is not all-natural, which gives me less of an incentive to purchase the product in-store over online. It is targeted towards people who still want to make a difference through the Buy One Give One program, but don’t necessarily care about the all-natural component. The differences in the all-natural vs. SLS additive soaps are not advertised too well, and their packaging is nearly the same with the exception of the shape of the bottle.
• $$$. Like I mentioned earlier, all-natural labels come with a price for both the consumer and the producer. There’s not much more to it: buying SoapBox Soaps (or any other natural soap) is more expensive. You just have to ask yourself… is it worth it?

The Bottom Line:

To buy, or not to buy… that’s not the question. Buy it. It’s healthy for your skin and feels good while using it. It has a both a soothing lather and scent, all while being all natural. Not to mention, the company behind the product has a mission worth believing in. I’d say– yes, it is worth it.

Now time for the real question… which fresh scent are you going to choose? I’d recommend the aromatic lavender, or zesty orange bar soaps. And don’t worry, SoapBox isn’t backing off, you can expect to see it in even more Whole Foods soon.

And lastly, a huge thank you to SoapBox for sharing their products with me!