The Brooklyn Soap Company
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Last summer I spotted a table of soap at a one-day flea market in Greenwood Playground. Tara Kelley and Clinton Boisvert, a husband-and-wife soap making team who live in our area, were debuting bk soaps, their locally made, castile soap. I bought unscented body wash and laundry detergent, laundered our clothes, showered, and felt clean…yet not stripped. I recently interviewed Tara and Clinton and came home with more soap, raving to my husband how this soap will solve all our eczema issues.
“I thought you were an unbiased journalist,” he said.
Let me make this disclaimer upfront: I’m a fan of The Brooklyn Soap Company.
Why they started
Tara, fed up with her husband’s chronic eczema and her psoriasis, looked for relief in her great-grandmother’s soap recipe. Tara grew up watching her grandmother make soap, so the process felt familiar, natural. She mixed ingredients, tweaked and adjusted the family recipes until she found a formula that soothed their ailments. Finally, she found the exact balance that cleared their skin.
Once the soap worked for them, they decided to sell it to Brooklyn. Even people not suffering from skin ailments could use clean, natural soap. The recipe Tara developed is now the backbone for bk soap’s castile body wash and laundry detergent. Customers regularly give her feedback about the benefits they have–literally–felt on their skin.
Why castile soap?
Tara opted for castile soap partially because of the family recipe’s 2-step process. Space limitations also contributed to the decision. Hard soaps need space—a pricey commodity in Brooklyn—whereas the castile soap can be contained in a vat. Tara makes bk soap in Clinton’s Sunset Park studio.
Fun fact: Tara can produce three 12-gallon batches of castile soap at a time.
Castile soap, traditionally an olive oil-based soap, retains naturally occurring glycerin. (Many commercial soap companies separate the glycerin from the soap to sell two products.) The glycerin moisturizes while it cleans the skin.
Why choose bk soap?
Billions of gallons of soap are made each year, most with non-biodegradable chemicals that, after they are shipped across the country, get rinsed off our bodies and flushed into our ground water. We don’t think of liquid soap as non-biodegradable, but those chemicals and perfumes don’t break down.
Their soap uses natural ingredients bought and sold as locally as possible. While Tara and Clinton have customers throughout the United States, they prefer to keep their business in Brooklyn. “Especially in this economy,” Tara said, “our personal philosophy is to support local businesses and have our local economy support us.”
What products are available?
bk soap currently sells two products: laundry detergent and castile body wash. The body wash is versatile and is often used head to toe as shampoo, shaving cream, and hand soap. I even used the castile soap to wash my floors.
The soaps come in a variety of scents–essential oils emulsified into the soap. Wearing clothes washed in the cedarwood scented laundry detergent is reported to keep mosquitoes at bay. My favorite soap is unscented and smells like, literally, nothing. (If you twist my arm, I’d say it hints of olive oil and water.)
Fun fact: Tara is developing a line of household cleaning products.
Where to buy bk soap
Because of their local philosophy, they want to keep their product local, and still be successful. Tara and Clinton are currently negotiating with the Brooklyn Flea, the Flatbush Co-op, and the Natural Frontier Market.
For now, Tara and Clinton have been selling their soap word-of-mouth and via their website, bksoaps.com. They offer monthly subscriptions, including free delivery in Ditmas Park, Kensington, Windsor Terrace, Park Slope, and Sunset Park.
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Frank Lee Madir
