Where Do I Start?
For the past year, I would get my soap and shampoo bar supply from my little sister, who would make them herself. Since she lives far from me, I couldn’t get my hands on them as often as I wanted to, and I’d sadly settle for whatever was commercially available. Last January, I decided I wanted to learn how to make them myself. After she gave me my first supply of ingredients and started coaching me online, there was no turning back. The seeds for Bare Necessities MNL had been planted.
After my first loaf of melt and pour, I was instantly hooked. But I wanted to really make soap from scratch and not rely on a soap base. My sister suggested that I try making soap using either cold process or hot process method. Every month, I would buy the ingredients and supplies I would need but not really make soap yet. Then, COVID-19 happened. At this point, it was full steam ahead. I would message my sister for tips and turned to YouTube, Instagram, Google, and books to learn. It all looked very complicated to me. From soap calculators to lye handling to the gel phase to curing, it all felt very overwhelming. Mid ECQ, I successfully made my first cold process soap. When I finally cut the soap loaf, IT WAS EXHILARATING! I couldn’t believe I just made my first soap from scratch. Since then I haven’t found any reason to stop.
Why goat’s milk soap?
I follow and look up to several local soap makers in the country (especially my sister!) They’re all amazing and I realized that each maker has something that makes their brand unique and personal to them. For me, I wanted it to be natural, eco-friendly, luxurious, and trustworthy. While there are several commercially-sold goat’s milk bars on the market, I wanted my customers to be assured that I would always use fresh goat’s milk.
Why solid hair care?
I have come to realize that I spend almost PHP500 on a monthly basis for premium health care products. With it comes a lot of plastic bottles that go straight to the garbage and to our oceans. We understand that our hair is our crowning glory so we only use premium natural oils and essential oils to make our shampoo and conditioner bars. These are all pH-tested to ensure you only get the benefits. My sister is my expert shampoo and conditioner bars maker. She's been doing this for some time and creates our bars with so much care and knowledge.
Why Bare Necessities?
By using natural and fresh goat’s milk, my customers can be assured that I’m using only natural, pure and raw ingredients. At Bare Necessities, we give you just that. Our soaps are made from scratch and we make sure our ingredients are of the best quality to give the best benefits to our customers. We use ingredients we are all familiar with. We get our supplies from local businesses. On the label of many commercial soaps, you’ll find several ingredients that you’ve never even heard of. At Bare, we use simple ingredients that you can be found even in the grocery. We remain conscious of how our products impact the environment, so we ensure that everything is eco friendly, from our ingredients to our packaging.
While soap making, as an activity has made me feel good, I love knowing that my products make others feel good too. We, as Filipinos, are known for taking more than one bath every day. Aside from the sweat and pollution build-up, our showers relax us and make us feel good. Taking a bath, taking good care of ourselves physically and mentally, has become a need. Especially now, we constantly washing our hands and taking baths when we get home from the COVID-19 filled outside.
Bare Necessities MNL has come a long way. But our mission to deliver fresh, natural, and eco-friendly products has stood firm. With Bare Necessities MNL products, you take care of yourself and support local businesses while taking care of the environment.
