Our Story
Hello! Welcome to our humble abode - my little haven to do a little part for our beautiful planet
A
Better Planet for our Children,
and theirs
Yep, contrary to majority of soap makers, I didn't start off this journey to make a better soap for our skin.
I began this journey instead, with the hope of lending a voice to our planet.
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When I first stumbled onto the less waste journey few years back, I was alarmed at how severe human's impact on our planet already are. As I got more invested in the issue, I felt a tinge of climate anxiety as I saw the hashtags transition from #globalwarming, #climatechange to #climatecrisis and #climateemergency, largely driven by the short (and closing) window for every country to abide by their Paris Agreement emissions reduction commitment before 2030 to keep global increase in temperatures below 1.5 degrees celsius.
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Day in day out, I was reading about coral bleaching, microplastics in the ocean and even our rain, garbage trucks of trash getting dumped into the ocean every minute, deforestation of the Amazon forests, the horrific repercussions of permafrost thawing, the 6th Extinction crisis of our wildlife and habitat....the list is endless. Yet, I realise I am the minority who cares to know more. Cos understandably, nobody likes depressing news, or has the time for it. And most would say "What can I do? Nothing I do will ever matter."
While I myself am nothing close to zero waste - in fact, I don't believe that's possible, (my family sometimes get stressed up by my insistence at certain things, so I do close one eye just to make peace), I don't believe that is an excuse to hold me back from doing what I can.
I believe even as individuals, we have a role to play.
Just as my fav quote from @zerowastechef says,
"We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly.
We need millions of people doing it imperfectly."
So the rebellious bone in me got me up on my feet, to see how the #climateemergency message (perhaps less all its gory details)​, can reach the greater mass with more practical outcomes. I dabbled with many ideas, including a reusable grocery bag made out of rPET with LOUD and BOLD messages, but I simply couldn't continue beyond it. Cos I wanted to be very sure, that in my endeavour I create more value than waste for our planet.
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By chance, I picked up Cold Process soap making, initially with the intention to hand make low-waste gifts for my kids' teachers. But I soon got addicted to the whole crafting process, testing out fresh ingredients and natural additives to make the soaps even better for our skin. As I shared my soaps with families and friends, many came back with stories of how the soaps had relieved them of long-time troubling skin issues, reduced the unbearable itch in some cases, and gave some almost "baby soft and smooth skin" again.
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To be honest, I expected none of those.
But the encouraging feedback that kept coming told me perhaps, I had found my "calling".
And the rest is history.
I named my soaps @mynakedbar to stay true to why I'm starting this in the first place. I wanted my soaps to not just be naked of synthetic ingredients, but naked of unnecessary packaging.
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Beyond taking away the need for single-use plastic shower gel bottles, @mynakedbar soaps are by default, packaged in clean milk cartons contributed by the community and upcycled by the brand. Minimal new resources are used...just enough materials to
bring the soaps safely into the hands of our buyers.
And every bar can be used until nothing is left
We also take pride in using fresh, instead of prepackaged ingredients in many of our recipes.
Cucumber, aloe vera, rice and oat milk for example are all hand prepared in advance
before the bars are crafted.
We believe in abiding by the principle to be fully transparent with our ingredients,
and only use what we know, in the soaps.
You will not find pretty flowers on top of our soaps.
You will not see neon colours in our soaps.
You will not get long lasting scents from our soaps.
"Sorry, but not sorry"
Cos we believe less is more. And can be quite stubborn about it.
We believe there is no zero waste, yet there is no action too small.
Even though the number of shower gel bottles we divert,
or the milk cartons we give a second life to,
cannot stop Semakau from filling up,
We believe it's the message that ripples out that is more important.
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To stay rooted to our original intentions,
here are our values we remind ourselves of.
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Even though the number of shower gel bottles we divert or the milk cartons we give a second life to cannot stop Semakau from filling up, we believe it's the message that ripples out that is more important.