The Did You Know Series
We believe that knowledge is power and desire to help empower our customers giving the knowledge to make informed decisions about their personal care purchases.
This series will give an inside look into Oahu Organics products.
Also giving you insight into the industry so that you can be a more informed and empowered customer.
Now more than ever transparency is a must as well as keeping in mind our healthy & local economy.
Did you know?...
Each & every Oahu Organics product is made in HAWAII!! 🌺 And not just made in Hawaii but the majority of our ingredients are also grown in Hawaii.
🏝 The most isolated landmass in the world, Hawaii boasts the cleanest water, freshest air & the richest soil on the planet. This results in the most nutrient-rich & best quality ingredients & why we source our ingredients from local farmers.
👩🏽🌾🧑🏽🌾👨🏻🌾 These farmers are in touch with maintaining healthy soil, managing water wisely, promote biodiversity, and all things that entail the minimization of pollution.
We work closely with our local farmers and some of our ingredients are even planted from seed by not only our founder/CEO Melanie but our volunteer customers also get to join in on the growing and harvesting fun 🌱
You can check out some of our farmers/ suppliers here...
Sustainable Boost 👉🏽 @sustainable_boost
Ma Farms 👉🏽 @ma.farms
Bear Claw Farm 👉🏽 @bearclawfarm
Did You Know? ...
that Oahu Organics uses only glass bottles so we can be sustAINAble for the environment and our health!
The ways you can Aloha Aina with us!
(Aloha Aina means Love of the Land in Hawaiian)
1. Return your bottles to Oahu Organics locally and receive a $1 discount on your next purchase. We sterilize the bottles you give back and they go back into the production process
2. Reuse your bottles by filling them up at @proteazerowaste in Kailua!
Currently they have the following - Unscented Cleanser, Brighten Serum, Purify Serum, Purify Mask, & Brighten Polish.
3. ♻️ Recycle your bottles!
Get creative and UPCYCLE
ex. Use as a flower holder, use empties for travel (could fill up with some toothpaste tabs or beach sunscreen from @proteazerowaste ), jewelry container, and so much more!
➡️ Swipe to see some before & after upcycling ideas
💡 If you have any UPCYCLING ideas with our bottles we'd love to share it with the Oahu Organics community! 🤩 Post your picture and tag us by Feb 20th. Our favorite will receive a $20 Oahu Organics gift certificate 💵 to use either online or at one of our weekend market locations!!!
Another way Oahu Organics recycles 💚🌎💚 is reusing boxes and packaging materials. If we have boxes that are from our orders we recycle the boxes and use them to ship out your orders. We also do not buy bubble wrap but when it has been used to ship us our glass bottles then we reuse them in our shipping.
Did you know...
that at Oahu Organics not only are our products not tested on animals but each and every ingredient we use has never been tested on animals. We make sure ALL our suppliers are 100% cruelty-free!❤️🐶🐱🐭🐵🐰🐹❤️
Here are a few reasons why Cruelty-Free is here to stay:
✅ Mice aren't the only animals tested on -
If you eat meat or not, cruelty to animals is just not right. Other animals used in testing are cats, rabbits, and dogs. They are kept in small cages & tortured
✅ Healthier for your body -
Toxins are absorbed through your skin right into your bloodstream, especially on the thinner skinned areas like your face and underarms.
The majority of mainstream body care products contain a cocktail of carcinogenic chemicals, allergens, parabens, sulfates, synthetic dyes, and other irritants which you use daily! This also means more likelihood of breakouts, allergies, and inflammation as it collects on & in your body. Companies that don't want to harm animals, want to avoid hurting people too. Save the animals, and save your skin.
✅ Vote with your Money -
You send a message every time you buy a product. Put your money where your heart is and support those who make Cruelty Free products
✅ Testing On Animals is not needed -
There are so many ways that companies can test their new products out without hurting an animal in the process.
Some countries, such as China, require that if your product is sold in their country you must test on animals. While others have banned animal testing for good - South Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, India, Israel, and the European Union.
Make the pledge today at http://action.hsi.org/page/25047/petition/1
Did you know that not only does Oahu Organics make all our skin care products in small batches, but each ingredient (where possible) is from a small batch production.
🤔 But what is small batch? And why should we care about it?
A good way to put small batch into perspective is to think of a grocery store with rows and rows of shelves filled with canned vegetables. Now visualize a farmers market with fresh, local veggies, recently harvested crops, bright, fresh & healthy. That’s small batch ❣️
⭐️ Local ⭐️
The large batch can take weeks, months or even years to get to the consumer, with multiple people, machines and processing being involved. Having negative effects not only on the product but also our environment. The produce at the farmers market is generally harvested locally by the same hands that planted the seeds and in your hands within hours or just days.
⭐️ Quality ⭐️
At Oahu Organics we make small batches and we make them often. Our goal is to get our product into your hands within 7 days of making it. (Fun fact - 8 days prior to you receiving your Oahu Organics product some of the ingredients were still in the rich soil soaking up the Hawaiian sun 🌞).
⭐️ Fresh ⭐️
Oahu Organics priority is quality for our customers. Careful timing and control is used to infuse our products with hawaii grown plants and flowers. Natural, freshness, and quality control are the benefits of our handcrafted small batch skin care products.
⭐️ Aloha ⭐️
Most importantly, small batches makes us more in touch with our products. From the first seeds planted to the last bottles labeled - there’s Aloha in every batch ❣️
Check out some of our small batch suppliers
@ma.farms
@sustainable_boost
@bearclawfarm
Did you know that not only does Oahu Organics make all our skin care products in small batches, but each ingredient (where possible) is from a small batch production.
🤔 But what is small batch? And why should we care about it?
A good way to put small batch into perspective is to think of a grocery store with rows and rows of shelves filled with canned vegetables. Now visualize a farmers market with fresh, local veggies, recently harvested crops, bright, fresh & healthy. That’s small batch ❣️
⭐️ Local ⭐️
The large batch can take weeks, months or even years to get to the consumer, with multiple people, machines and processing being involved. Having negative effects not only on the product but also our environment. The produce at the farmers market is generally harvested locally by the same hands that planted the seeds and in your hands within hours or just days.
⭐️ Quality ⭐️
At Oahu Organics we make small batches and we make them often. Our goal is to get our product into your hands within 7 days of making it. (Fun fact - 8 days prior to you receiving your Oahu Organics product some of the ingredients were still in the rich soil soaking up the Hawaiian sun 🌞).
⭐️ Fresh ⭐️
Oahu Organics priority is quality for our customers. Careful timing and control is used to infuse our products with hawaii grown plants and flowers. Natural, freshness, and quality control are the benefits of our handcrafted small batch skin care products.
⭐️ Aloha ⭐️
Most importantly, small batches makes us more in touch with our products. From the first seeds planted to the last bottles labeled - there’s Aloha in every batch ❣️
Check out some of our small batch suppliers & head over to the website to view more from our Did you know series.
@ma.farms
@sustainable_boost
@bearclawfarm
Did you know?... that Oahu Organics does not use any water in our products?
🤔 But why is that important?
There are two different types of skincare - aqueous (containing water) & non aqueous or
anhydrous (without water).
Aqua (water) is added to skincare products for a variety of reasons. The two main reasons are:
💧 To blend oils and butters to make a cream / lotion.
💧 To make the active ingredients go further. Diluting or Watering down. Liquid shampoo for example can be up to 97% water.
By diluting active ingredients the result is an increase in package size (usually plastic) and weight. Increasing carbon footprint. Using water as a filler comes at a low cost for corporations but a high cost for our planet 🌎
Another downside of using this endangered & vital natural resource in skincare formulation is the need to preserve it. Water is the source of life and enables microorganisms to grow such as mold, yeast & bacteria. Just as with food items containing water, they spoil in a short period of time. But foods such as flour, rice & olive oil have a much longer shelf life because they contain no water. The same applies to skincare. Its simple, if you add water you must add a preservative, no water, no preservative needed and because of this the FDA requires all skincare comprising of water to contain a preservative.
As consumers are becoming increasingly more aware of the effects of ingredients in their products (good job out there guys ;-) many companies are moving away from the harsh & harmful chemical preservatives but some, unfortunately are hiding them in natural ingredients.
If you see water (aqua) in a product with no obvious preservative it’s been hidden. Usually in something like aloe (a water based plant). Unless aloe has been dehydrated & all moisture removed it MUST contain a preservative! Aloe is NOT a preservative.. Its the formaldehyde added to the aloe that’s doing the preserving. (A process called incidental ingredients - another post on this coming soon).
Any product that is designed to kill mold, yeast & bacteria (even if originally derived from nature), carries a risk of sensitizing the skin & having a negative impact on skin health.
We choose to only include ingredients with beneficial properties to the skin into our products. We dehydrate ALL our plant based ingredients removing the moisture, this naturally preserves the nutrients. We use local beeswax to blend our oils & butters to make our moisturizers. Not one drop of water is ever added to any of our products, ensuring we bring you the most concentrated, safe, nutrient rich, preservative free, truly natural products.
If you’re looking at making the move to preservative free at first it feels like a complicated process, trying to read the back of bottles with unpronounceable names. But all you need to do is take a look at the first ingredient. If it says aqua, there’s water and therefore a preservative.
Drink water💧 lots of it💦 you just don’t need to pay for it in your skincare.
Did you know?.. That Oahu Organics does not use any incidental ingredients ❣️
But what are incidental ingredients?.. and why is it important to know about them?
Incidental ingredients are chemicals such as preservatives, used to preserve an individual ingredient that will then be incorporated into a final product.
For example - if a company makes an aloe gel and incorporates a paraben preservative in their product they must declare the preservative. But, if another company purchases this aloe gel and incorporates it into their final product the chemical does not have to be declared on the label.
Companies are only required to list the preservatives that they added to preserve their final product.
Any previously added preservatives are deemed by the FDA as incidental ingredients.
We already knew that undesirable ingredients could be hidden under the term fragrance and know to avoid them. But how do we avoid this one?
If there’s no preservative listed and you recognize any ingredient as aquas (containing water) there’s a good chance of an incidental ingredient being incorporated at some point.
You can read more on the relevance of water in products over on the Did you know series blog on our website.
We love aloe and incorporate it into many of our products. But, we dehydrate it, as we do for all our aquas ingredients, to remove all water & use zero incidental ingredients in any of our products. ❣️