Bambu Earth is a line of natural, sustainable, and ethical products. It's pretty much tailor-made for this gal! I tried all of the items in the picture below: Tea Tree & Lemongrass Soap, Cleanser, Toner, Sugar Glow Facial Polish, and Petitgrain Facial Cream. Wow, I really felt like I was being pampered in a spa! Best of all, I love how amazing the scents are without any harsh chemicals.
Lastly, Bambu Earth has its own Kickstarter campaign to bring all of its amazing products to you... in person! Believe me when I say that the Rewards are pretty, pretty amazing. In fact, if you end up getting the In-home Spa Event, I think I deserve an invite, right? ;)
Now, let's get to the interview!
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Tell me a little bit about yourself!
My name is Amber and I'm the founder and CEO of Bambu Earth. I've been making soap for over 12 years now. Almost 3 years ago I took the leap and quit my day job to pursue my passion for making all-natural soap and skin care. I love Jesus and have a huge heart for orphans. I love traveling, cooking from scratch and raising my daughter, Bailey.
FUN FACT : I protested the circus when I was 18 and almost got arrested. You could say I'm passionate about ethics.. which is basically why I created Bambu Earth.
SOMEDAY : I want 8 kids and a farm. I'd love to adopt and teach children how to grow their own food and make things with their hands. I think those are important things that are undervalued in our culture today.
Where did the name of your store come from?
Our signature ingredient is bamboo activated charcoal. It's an amazing ingredient that draws out impurities from your skin. Bamboo is sustainable, grown without pesticides, and replenishes itself quickly. Actually, bamboo takes about 5 years of nurturing before you even see one sprout. After that, it grows about an inch per day. It grows so rapidly, you can actually hear it growing! We are hoping the work we've put into Bambu Earth over the last 5 years has similar results!
Why did you start making goods for Bambu Earth?
Bambu Earth was born in Spring of 2009 from a desire to live a simpler, more sustainable life. Our soap and skincare is created in small batches by hand in an effort to better our community and world. We believe that nature, created by God, provides us with all of the tools we need to live a healthy life. For this reason, we use simple, all-natural ingredients, in their rawest form in our products to provide living nutrients to your skin. Our products are made with sustainable, ethical and local ingredients.
What is your favorite item?
Choosing between products is a little like choosing between children. I've personally formulated each one with a specific purpose. If I had to choose, I would say our Petitgrain Facial Cream. It smells fantastic and my skin has never felt better.
What is your most popular item?
Our Tea Tree Facial Bar by far. It is packed with bamboo activated charcoal, kaolin clay and tea tree essential oil so it's perfect for problematic skin. I get emails all of the time from people who wonder how they ever got along without it.
Where do you get the inspiration for your work?
Nature. Inspiration is everywhere. Plus, nature holds the very best ingredients to nourish the skin.
What makes your store unique?
Our products are actually "worry free" That means you don't have to worry about what's on the ingredient label or how your purchase will negatively impact people or the environment. We source our ingredients from providers that are fair-trade, sustainable, organic and eco-friendly.
Our soap and skincare is made in small batches. The natural byproduct of soap is a substance called glycerine. Glycerine is a powerful humectant, which draws moisture to your skin. It might surprise you to know that most commercial soaps are actually not soap at all. They are called "beauty bars". Beauty bars cannot be called soap because the glycerine has been removed to be used in more expensive beauty products. What you are left with is basically a compressed detergent, or "beauty bar" that ends up stripping the moisture from your skin. We think that stinks. Soap shouldn't leave you feeling dry and itchy so that you immediately have to slather on tons of chemically-laden lotion. Soap should cleanse and still leave you feeling soft and moisturized. Our soap aims to do just that. We don't remove the glycerine from our soap and we give it a nice, hefty super-fat. Super-fatting means that we add just enough extra moisturizing oils like unrefined shea butter and organic cocoa butter to leave your skin super conditioned.
What is the toughest part about making your goods/your artistic process?
Not using them all up!
And the fact that I'm basically a chemist. In school I always thought science was a pointless class. I was sure I'd never have to use anything I was learning. But, as life would have it, here I am combining a base (sodium hydroxide) and tryglycerides (vegetable oils/fats) to create a salt compound (soap). Who knew.
Do you take custom orders?
Yes. We actually do a lot of wedding and special occasion favors. We customize the graphic to match invitations or personal style along with the date/colors. We offer all of our soap formulations in favor sizes or we can also customize the soap scent combination.
Where can I see more of your work and buy a gift?
Website: www.bambuearth.com
Etsy: www.bambuearth.etsy.com
Blog: www.bambuearth.com/blogs/news
Facebook: www.facebook.com/bambuearth
Twitter: @bambuearth
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/bambuearth
Instagram: @bambuearth
Where can I see your work in person and say hello?
We've just launched our Kickstarter campaign to open a retail store! It has been a dream of ours since the beginning. There's something special about personally engaging with our customers that is unparalleled. When people can touch, smell and see how pure our products are, they become a customer for life.
We want to change how people purchase body care products, so we'd like to bring our responsible soap and skin care to the city of Mission Viejo for people to purchase locally. We will also be able to offer workshops to show people how we make soap and educate on the importance of good, all-natural ingredients.
We are hoping our store looks a little something like this:
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So yes, I love this line and I am so happy to bring it to you guys and gals! Definitely perfect as gifts too, and I can't wait to add a few more products to my basket next time, including some awesome dry shampoo. (It'll be our little secret if I'm running late, right?)
Also, remember to stop by the Kickstarter page to show some love and grab some goodies while you're there. I can't wait to stop by their storefront in the future and check out a soap-making workshop. In the meantime...
Happy shopping!
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