Being Bark Soap

Quirky. Bohemian. Unconventional. Unique.

Hi there! We are Tracy and Chris, and we are sheep shearers, gaming geeks, parents, nature-lovers, homeschoolers and homesteaders. We also run Bark Soap Co., makers of sustainable, palm-free self-care products.

Truth be told, we never expected to run a bath and body product company.

Initially, Bark Soap Co. started after Tracy took a part-time job at a feed store. One day at work, while stacking a shelf of pet products, she realized that many of the jars and bottles she saw included the same ingredients - usually a bunch of unintelligible chemicals with varying scents. Nothing that remotely resembled any of the ingredients she knew were good for a dog's skin. Don't our dogs deserve better? 

Her curiosity got the best of her and she checked the ingredients on the soaps, shampoos and lotions at home. She found even more unfamiliar ingredients in them!  No coconut oils, olive oils, creamy butters. Instead, she found parabens, harsh surfactants, and (what we both felt were) unnecessary ingredients. Don't we deserve better? 

Since we were already making our own laundry soaps and other items around the homestead, we vowed that night to learn how to make cold-processed soap. And so the journey began to find ingredients that were better for:

• hands that were hauling hay
• backs that ache from weeding the garden
• skin that smells ripe from working on an engine block
• families that work hard and play harder

At Bark Soap Co. we have nothing against ALL chemical ingredients. Sometimes chemicals, like certain naturally-derived preservatives, keep us safe from other, more harmful things. But other chemicals are unnecessary, expensive and even potentially harmful. 

Bark Soap Co. makes our products as naturally as possible, with the simplest, safest ingredients we can use.

We are very concerned about consumerism and its effects not only on our planet, but communities throughout the globe. The over-reliance on palm oil has led to deforestation and destruction in incredibly diverse biomes, not to mention palm oil's connections to child labor and exploitation of workers. We have severely limited the use of palm oil and continue to strive to be 100% palm-free.

We feel that the beauty and personal care industry has left us behind. Some of us don't wear makeup every day, usually wear muck boots to work, and don't care to smell like a flower garden, but still want products specifically designed for our lifestyles.

Bark Soap is for you. Unconventional, Quirky, Unique, Fabulous YOU.