Our Hydrating Hand Wash with Kalahari Oil is different from most hand washes in one basic way: it is real soap. It is a castile-style liquid soap made from organic coconut, olive and jojoba oils, saponified the traditional way, rather than a detergent thickened into a gel. It lathers softly, rinses clean and leaves hands feeling comfortable instead of tight, which matters for something you reach for many times a day.
Everything else in the bottle has a job. Organic aloe vera adds a fresh, comfortable feel, rosemary extract helps keep the oils fresh, a touch of Kalahari melon seed oil finishes the formula, and the scent comes from essential oil blends. Here is what each part does, and why the whole thing behaves the way it does at the sink.
Real soap, not a thickened detergent
Many liquid hand washes are built on synthetic cleansers, with thickeners added so the product sits in the palm like a gel. Ours starts the way a bar of soap does: plant oils are saponified, the old process that turns oil into soap. The cleaning comes from the soap itself.
You can see the difference as soon as you pump it. Because it is real soap, it pours more fluidly than a gel, and some people take that for a watered-down formula. It is the opposite. One pump lathers further than you expect, and the lather is soft and creamy rather than thin and squeaky. A thicker liquid is not a richer one; it usually just has more thickener in it.
The practical result is a wash that cleans properly and still leaves hands feeling like hands. That is the whole point of a hydrating hand wash: the cleansing step should not be the reason you need a rescue cream ten minutes later.
What each ingredient does
Organic coconut oil
Coconut oil gives the lather its lift. Its fatty acids, largely lauric acid, are what make a soap foam well, so this is the oil responsible for the bubbles you see when you rub your palms together. On its own, coconut soap can feel a little brisk, which is why it is balanced by the next two oils.
Organic olive oil
Olive oil keeps the soap gentle and creamy. It is rich in oleic acid, and it is the reason castile soap has been a byword for mildness for so long. In the lather it adds weight and slip, and hands feel noticeably softer straight after rinsing.
Jojoba
Jojoba is a light liquid wax from the Sonoran Desert, rather than a true oil, and its makeup is close to the oils skin produces on its own surface. In a wash it adds a silky after-feel and leaves hands soft without a greasy trace.
Organic aloe vera
Aloe brings a fresh, comfortable feel to a formula you will use over and over through the day. It holds water well, so it helps skin keep a little moisture on its surface after rinsing, which you notice most in the colder months when knuckles start to feel tight.
Rosemary extract
Rosemary extract is there to help keep the oils fresh in the bottle. Plant oils change over time once they meet air and light, and rosemary helps slow that down so the last pump feels like the first.
Kalahari melon seed oil
A touch of Kalahari melon seed oil finishes the formula. It is the oil our brand is built on: cold-pressed from the seeds of a wild melon in southern Africa, clear and golden, light and dry to the touch, and rich in linoleic acid. In a product that rinses off, it is a finishing note rather than the main event. We use it because it is light enough not to leave the slick film that heavier oils can leave in a wash, and because it helps skin hold moisture.
How it smells
The hand wash is scented with natural essential oil blends in four of our signature scents. Moroccan Fig and Bergamot is crisp, with apple, grapefruit, plum and rosewood. Hawaiian Black Lava is deep and musky. Violet and Bergamot is a fresh floral. Rosewood and Litsea Cubeba is bright and citrusy. The scent is light enough for a kitchen and stays as a soft trace on your hands rather than a cloud.
Each scent matches our Hydrating Hand Cream with Kalahari Oil and our body wash, so a sink with the wash and cream side by side smells composed rather than mixed.
Who it suits
It suits anyone, but it makes the most difference to people who wash their hands constantly: cooks, parents, gardeners, people who work in a studio or a shop, and anyone whose hands feel dry or sensitive by the end of the day. The oils are balanced so the wash does not feel heavy on normal hands and still feels kind to dry ones.
The 16 fl oz bottle is sized for daily use at a working sink, not for a shelf. Like almost everything we make, it is poured by hand in our Williamsburg workshop, in batches of 50 to 100.
Questions about what is in the Hydrating Hand Wash
Is this real soap or a detergent?
It is real soap. Organic coconut, olive and jojoba oils are saponified the traditional way, which makes it a castile-style liquid soap rather than a thickened detergent.
Why is it thinner than other hand washes?
Real liquid soap pours more fluidly than a gel. It is not diluted: one pump lathers further than you expect.
Does the Kalahari melon seed oil do anything in a wash that rinses off?
It is a finishing touch rather than the main conditioning step. It is light and dry to the touch, so it adds softness without leaving a film, and it helps skin hold moisture.
Which scents does it come in?
Moroccan Fig and Bergamot, Hawaiian Black Lava, Violet and Bergamot, and Rosewood and Litsea Cubeba. Each one matches our hand cream and body wash.
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