Tassajara Soaps are handmade in Pleasanton, California, using the Cold Process method. We make luxurious bars of soaps from our own specially formulated recipes using only the finest vegetable oils. Our recipes include Olive Oil for its humectant properties, Coconut Oil for its sudsing properties and Palm Oil to add hardness to our bars. And we enrich each bar with extra emollients. These emollients can include Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Mango Butter, Johoba Oil and Castor Oil. Color is obtained by using cosmetic grade pigments, micas and, or botanicals.

We use a variety of soapmaking ingredients, and the names and characteristics of these are listed to let you know just what goes into your soap. (Not every ingredient is in each bar of soap)

Our Soapmaking Ingredients:

Cocoa butter: a wonderfully soothing solid oil that smells like white chocolate and results in a hard bar of soap. Widely used as a base in cosmetics for its great qualities.

Coconut oil: one of the main soapmaking oils. This is solid at room temperature and is moisturizing, but best used in conjunction with other oils. Makes a creamy lather, and soap made from coconut oil will lather even in salt water.

Olive oil: probably the best oil you can make soap with. This oil varies in color depending on the olive crop and can be golden to dark green. Packed with vitamins, minerals, and protein. The soaps made from olive oil have small bubbles but are mild and creamy. Soaps made entirely from olive oil are called Castile soaps.

Mango Butter: An emollient said to be protective against the sun. It is also said to prevent wrinkles and dry skin by regenerating cells and improving elasticity.

Shea Butter: provides stable lather, conditioning and moisturizing

Palm oil: a pale yellow semi-solid oil that is a great base for soapmaking. Adds firmness to soap and creates a bar that is creamy and produces small bubbles that clean well.

Essential oils: scents that are distilled directly from botanicals (flowers, leaves, petals, berries, etc).

Fragrance oils: Man-made fragrances that are used when the scent you are looking for is not available in an essential oil. We only use fragrance oils that are made for soapmaking.

Pigments: Brown Oxide, Black Oxide, Red Oxide, Green Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Ultramarine Viole and Ultramarine Pink are used as colorants in some of our soaps. These are natural dyes that are made from ground rock and are cosmetic-grade.