Lip Balm: Coconut Cream

Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve is a USDA Certified Organic Company

The most important consideration in any business is its customers. Today's world of misleading claims, false advertising, and simple deception, often leaves consumers trying to discover the truth about personal products and their ingredients.

• We want our customers to know that we are committed to transparency in everything we do.
• We want our customers to know that when we say "organic," we mean it.
• We believe that in becoming a USDA Certified Organic company, our customers do not have to wonder if we really use certified organic ingredients or if our organic products are truly organic.
• So we choose to be a certified organic company and abide by the strict standards required for organic certification.

Some of my favorite products are made with ingredients that just do not exist as certified organic. Why? At this time there are no standards created for ingredients specifically used in the personal care product industry. Organic certification of personal care products is based on the organic food standards set by the National Organic Program of the USDA.

But since we are a certified organic company, we are required to submit documentation that even our "non-organic ingredients" were produced without the use of toxic pesticides, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), sewage sludge, or irradiation.

Why Did We Become a Certified Organic Company?

What Do All of the Organic Labels Mean?

Organic Soap Labeling

Why Do Some Products Melt in Warm Weather?

We do not use synthetic stabilizers or waxes, so our delicate natural products packaged in glass jars and metal tins are sensitive to temperature changes.

While shipping during warm weather seasons presents a real challenge to our natural skin care company, we accept the challenge in order to maintain our standard of natural and nourishing skin care. We hope you agree.

During warm weather, products may soften or even melt as they sit in warm mail trucks, mailboxes, or on front porches.

The quality and healing properties of our products are not affected by melting.

On very sunny or warm days, BEFORE opening the jars or tins, place the items in your refrigerator for a few hours to allow them to harden, just in case they have melted in transit. If you open items, especially those in tins, to check if melting has occurred, they may spill and make a mess!

What To Do About Melting

Cream Deodorants

If you think that your balm-like deodorant is melted or runny, BEFORE opening the jar, pop it in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes. As it begins to harden give it a stir (so that the solids do not sink to the bottom) and place it back in the freezer until firm!

Sometimes a cream deodorant can melt during warm transit and then slowly re-solidify before you receive it. This melting and slow cooling can result in a grainy feeling. If your deodorant feels grainy, simply melt it, mix thoroughly, and place it in the refrigerator until solid.

Since the stick deodorant are made with more beeswax, they are less sensitive to an increase in outside temperature.

Whipped Body Butters

Place a melted body butter in the refrigerator until firm.

Our hand-whipped process adds tiny air bubbles that increase the volume, just like whipping cream. If a whipped product melts, the air bubbles collapse and the volume is decreased.

So, although the jar was filled to the top initially, there will be less volume in the container (since it has deflated) and the container may actually look half full.

After cooling a melted Whipped Butter will be the consistency of our body balm and is still a great moisturizer.

Sugar Scrubs

If a Sugar Scrub melts, the oil may separate out a bit. Give it a good mix and place it in the refrigerator for about 10 to 15 minutes. As it begins to harden up give it another stir to disperse the sugars and place it back in the refrigerator. Once it's solidified and mixed it will be great to use! Again because it is a whipped product, the container may have less volume when the whipped butters melt.

Read more about melting products and what to do in our blog "Natural Skin Care Products Melt In Hot Weather."

We often receive questions as to whether our soaps, shampoos, and other natural products are safe to use during pregnancy.

We recommend that expectant and nursing mothers check with their midwife or physician before changing a skincare routine with our organic products, or any other line of products.

Read the label on a bar of commercial soap. Read the label on your jar of moisturizer.

Now read the ingredients in a Chagrin Valley product.

We use quality natural and USDA Certified Organic ingredients. No synthetic additives, colorants, fragrances, preservatives, or chemical derivatives are used.

There is nothing in our all-natural basic soap or other products that could cause a problem in pregnancy.

Topically applying the herbs present in many of our soaps is also not a problem. Your skin will absorb much less herb from the soap than if you would sprinkle them on your food.

Essential Oils

The issue that seems to be of most concern is the use of essential oils during pregnancy.

There is a lot of confusing, ambiguous, and inaccurate information concerning the use of essential oils in pregnancy.

The question of safety and safety testing has a lot to do with several factors.

• The type and composition of the specific essential oil. Essential oils differ greatly in strength and composition.
  
  
• The quality of the essential oil. Many "cheap essential oils" are not pure and maybe cut with synthetic chemicals.
  
  
• The actual “dose” of herb/essential oils. Most of the clinical research on essential oil safety is based on information for internal (actually ingesting) large doses of herbs, essential oils, or herbal "medicines." Obviously there have been no tests done on pregnant women.
  
  
• How the essential oil is being used. The concentration of essential oils that are absorbed through inhalation, as in aromatherapy, and massage is much lower than if you were actually ingesting the oil.

But also, aromatherapy and massage therapy use much higher concentrations of essential oils than you find in soap or even in eating the herb. With aromatherapy, you are inhaling the high concentrations which get absorbed via the lungs and in massage therapy, the essential oils remain on your skin and are absorbed.

Our scented soaps are gently scented with essential oils, but the choice is between you and your health care professional. The most critical time is the first trimester.

Just about every one of our products, like lip balms, whipped butters, soaps, shampoos, and deodorants has a "no added scent" version.

When there is a growing baby to consider, if you are at all uncertain as to the safety of an essential-oil containing product, or any ingredient, please consult your doctor, midwife, or health care professional!

When it comes to safety during pregnancy it is understandable that many massage therapists and aromatherapists decide to err on the side of caution in recommending the avoidance of certain essential oils.

Some Herbalists and Aromatherapist believe that essential oils that are normally safe to use, are safe during pregnancy, while others will recommend avoiding all essential oils during pregnancy.

Some essential oils that are normally quite safe have hormone-like effects and some even stimulate uterine muscles, both of which would be contraindicated during pregnancy.

Please do not ask us if one of our products is safe to use during pregnancy--we will simply refer you to this page.

We do not provide a list of essential oils considered safe during pregnancy because the information available is very contradictory. One aromatherapy source will list an essential oil as problematic while another one states it is fine.

The information is also changing constantly. Please do your own research and consult your doctor, midwife, or health care professional for the most up-to-date information.

Sensitive Skin Can Strike During Pregnancy

Even if you have never had sensitive skin in the past, you may notice that a product you have been using for several years now irritates your skin.

The stretching belly is often the most sensitive spot. Other potential problem areas include the hips, thighs, and bottom where the skin may become dry and flaky.

Although the exact cause is not known, raging hormones do make you more sensitive to a wide range of things, and also your skin is thinning and stretching as you, and your baby, grow.

These changes can behave in unpredictable ways. For example, if you have eczema you may suffer from major flare-ups or complete remission during pregnancy.

Keep your body well moisturized and avoid products that contain synthetic additives, colorants, fragrances, or preservatives. Any of these can exacerbate sensitive skin problems.

Before trying a new product, you can always do a patch test to test for sensitivity.

And again, we recommend that expectant and nursing mothers check with their midwife or physician before changing a skincare routine with our products, or any other line of products.

Pregnancy & Children: We do not provide information on the safety of essential oils during Pregnancy or for use in Children because the available information is very ambiguous and often contradictory. If you’re interested in using essential oils during pregnancy or with young children please do your own research and consult your doctor, midwife, or health care professional before use.

Help! I Have Allergies

Trying to choose the right natural soaps or skincare products can be a bit overwhelming especially when you have allergies and/or skin sensitivities.

Since we proudly list every ingredient in all of our products, reading the ingredient list will help to eliminate ingredients that may cause you problems.

We always recommend doing a patch test before using any new products especially if you have sensitive skin or allergies.

We receive so many emails asking for help with allergies, we created categories in our “Help Me Choose” section to provide information for those with allergies or sensitivities to nuts, coconut, shea butter and gluten.

Check out our help me choose pages!!

If you are allergic or sensitive to any of the ingredients in our products, they may cause skin irritation. Even natural ingredients may cause sensitivities.

People with severe allergies--please note: If you have severe anaphylactic-type reactions to ANY of the ingredients in ANY of our products, please do not buy our products. We have dedicated soap rooms and product rooms that are kept meticulously clean, but we cannot guarantee against possible cross-contamination of individual ingredients.

Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve is a USDA Certified Organic company.

We are required to submit documentation that ALL of our ingredients, even our "non-organic ingredients," were produced without the use GMOs.

Since the U.S. National Organics Program forbids the use of genetic modification in products to be certified as organic, purchasing organic is a great way to lower your exposure to GMO’s.

Genetically Modified Organisms refers to any animal, plant or microorganism that has been changed in a lab at the gene level. It is also known as “genetic engineering."

Read more about "Non-GMO Skin Care Ingredients"