Carley's Shaving Butter

• Fantastic for close shaves

• No Razor Burn, not even your neck!

• You can even shave against the grain.

• Silicone free. (This might be the only shave product that is silicone free)

• Won’t clog your razor

• Softens the skin for that after shave feel.

• Naturally lubricates then absorbs (for an even softer shave the next time)

• Unscented

• Great for Men and Women too!

For quite some time I have been searching for the ‘right’ combination of ingredients to make a superior shaving product. Little did I know the missing ingredient was sitting in one of our refrigerators where we store delicate ingredients.

A lot of people know that shaving creams just don’t work that well. Especially if they are like me and very easy to get a burn after a shave. Recently several companies have come out with Shaving Butters. Most of the time it is difficult to even find out what the ingredients are. They brag about all the good extracts. Extracts typically amount to only 1% or less of a product. I wanted to know what the other 99% of the ingredients were. What we found, was these Shaving Butters are all pretty much the same silicone based products that are in regular shave creams, except a bit thicker. Silicones make things slick by leaving a film. Unfortunately this film stays on the skin. In case you are just discovering us, we don’t like silicones. (also known as dimethicone and dozens of other names, silicones are in practically everything) We think Silicones are ruining our skin and hair.

So how do we make a product that gives a super gliding action without using silicones? And that helps the skin to be healthy? And not clog the razor blade? Easier said than done.

When making our very popular hair conditioner, I noticed due to it’s unique properties, it made a serviceable shaving lotion. Although it tended to clog the blade. I decided what we learned from the hair conditioner would help us develop a superior shaving butter.

I knew we couldn’t use Argan Oil because it absorbed too fast. We needed a butter or oil that would lubricate the skin while shaving but absorbed after the shave was done. So there was no greasy film. A high hurdle, we didn’t think we could find. Most butters tend to be a bit gritty when they are in their solid form.

Looking for the missing ingredient. Many years ago, we had bought a pound of a butter that comes from a tree in India called Mowrah. Its nicknamed the Butter Tree in India. I just never got around to testing it. So when I was working on the shaving butter I went through several of our ingredients refrigerators to see if there was anything I had missed. I decided to break out this Mowrah Butter to see how it might work. Mowrah Butter is solid at room temperature. I noticed even though it was cold, it immediately melted on my skin. And it had a silky feeling unlike any other butter I had tried. I just knew immediately this would be the missing ingredient. And I was right.

Oil and water don’t mix. Our bodies are over 65% water. Our skin is even higher in water composition. Oils and water don’t mix naturally. So when you apply an oil to the skin it just sits there. It feels like it is absorbing into the skin, but it is just sealing the skin. Holding water in. That’s why your skin will feel moist. You might as well use Crisco shortening.

How do we benefit from oils and butters rich properties? In order to get the benefits of an oil or butter, it must absorb into the skin. For that to happen the oil has to be part of a true moisturizer. That’s what we do, make true moisturizers, unlike anyone else. It’s truly a lost art. An artisan process that involves specific vegetable ingredients and timed mixing at specific temperatures. Most moisturizers out there are just oils and thickeners. Not what you want.

I have a terrible beard to shave. It seems to go all directions. And I have tender skin that burns and cuts easily. And I like a close shave. The only way to get a close shave is to shave against the grain. And that usually causes me to have a razor burn, especially on my neck. I have to keep shaving at so many directions in order to get all the stubble. I have tried so many different moisturizers and creams and soaps. By the time I get all the beard I usually have a burn. This was the first product that didn’t.

So why don’t I get a burn? Not sure exactly, except the superior lubrication properties of this butter. I just kept trying different formulations until I got it just right.

And after several weeks of daily close shaves I still am burn free. And here’s also what I noticed. My beard shaves easier (no razor drag) and the skin where I used to burn (my neck) seems healthier.

What about our testing? Everyone we’ve tested it with loves it. It comes in a jar and is so incredibly thick. A thin layer seems to be all that is needed.

Should I wash it off after shaving? You may if you like. I just leave it on. It eventually absorbs and the skin feels super moisturized.

For women too? Why not? My wife loves it.

What about ingrown hairs? First it is important to exfoliate. Our anti-aging exfoliant is very good, or one of our acne treatments also is very good. This opens up those pores and pulls out the curly hairs from the skin. Follow directions, then rinse and apply a thin layer of this butter (enough to lubricate) and enjoy your shave…finally.

Unscented? Why? Mainly because we could. Many butters and some oils have a very earthy strong scent. Not something you want to smell like. We typically use essential oils to cover those scents. This Mowrah Butter is totally without a scent. Rather than adding in another scent, we decided this was going to be easy. Besides, whenever you choose a scent there is always someone who doesn’t like it. No one won’t like this. In fact, I’m betting unscented will be a pretty strong selling point for some people.

Why not make oil free products? Oils and butters are mother nature’s little miracle gift to our bodies and our skin. Many plants produce seeds to pass along their genes to the next generation. The mother plant creates food for the baby plant to live on until it can put down roots and make its own food. This food is in the form of oils and butters and is very nutritious. Luckily these mother plants produce many more seeds than is needed to maintain their species. We can take these seeds and crush them and make oils and butters . Each plant produces it’s own special formula of oil. If you did a chemical analysis of these oils you would find that they have hundreds of ingredients. They are a bounty of nutrients. We use them because they can solve skin issues that chemicals cannot even come close to solving.

But what about oil free products? Oil free are basically chemical stews. Nothing much there the body can use. And maybe some stuff that the body doesn’t need. Oh I know oil free has been sold hard by the big companies as good for the skin. I’d like someone to prove that to me. Anyone?

Don’t oils block pores? Another lie we have told over and over until we think it is the truth. The molecules of oils are much much smaller than the size of the pores. I don’t know how they could ever block pores. What does block pores are the bacteria responsible for acne causes an infection which makes the body produce materials to fight this infections and that’s what blocks pores. Acne and blackheads are caused by bacteria.

What’s the difference between oils and butters? Butters are oils that are solid at room temperature.

What do you mean by Precious Oils and Butters? The prices of a vegetable oils are determined by how much is available and where it must come from. and the old supply and demand. People are rapidly discovering this oil free fad is ending. And how valuable oils are to the skin. For some reason many of the best highest valued most nutritious oils are the most expensive and rare. We use a lot of precious oils and we use them as primary ingredients. Almost no one is doing this. Most skin care companies would rather use less pricey oils and spend the big money on marketing. We do the opposite. Our advertising budget is almost zero. We depend on making products people will order and reorder.

Why are our products so special? Heat is the enemy of high end oils. Excess heat destroys their delicate properties. We are able to use these kind of precious ingredients because of our methods treat our ingredients so delicately. Almost all moisturizers are made by a few big manufacturers. Big manufacturers make their products in huge batches (100’s of thousands of jars at a time) and use high heat to speed and simplify production. We are completely different. Our products are anything but simple. All products are made in small batches of a few hundred jars at a time. We carefully control temperatures so precisely, that the oils never go above damaging temperatures of 140 degrees F. And the mixing takes place at exactly 126 degrees F. We use precise scales and spreadsheets to insure batches are made exactly as planned. This is an artisan process. Almost no one is doing this. Plus everything is made and shipped fresh.

We first started offering skin care products in 1999. At first an acne product. Then came our natural soap. At first we were asked to look at moisturizers to see which ones we could recommend. We were horrified when we saw practically all had awful animal ingredients, a myriad of chemicals and were very acidic. Even the high end moisturizers were pretty bad too. And everything carried incredibly long shelf lives. Nothing you buy today was made recently. Usually years ago. I just knew we could do better. Now we have ten’s of thousands of customers who I believe would agree.

We’ve continued adding to our line because people are different and they also need moisturizers for different situations, skin conditions and skin types. Unless you have an identical twin, your skin has it’s own unique skin chemistry.

Every oil and butter we work with has different properties. And combining them will also change how they perform. The possibilities are endless. Our goal is mainly just to solve skin issues and in so doing earn your continued business.

Why pH neutral (balanced)? This is another reason our products are so different. Just about everything out there for the skin is acidic. In the beginning we wondered why? It used to not be so. Before this crop of preservatives came on the market it was believed that most skin products were pH neutral. These paraben preservatives worked remarkably well. Long long shelf lives meant manufacturers could make huge batches and just store them until sold. Of course they had to set their marketing machine loose to tell us how good acids were for the skin. Because these preservatives required an acid formulation. Since adult acne is a rather new phenomenon, ask those adults with acne how all these acids are working out for them.

Our bodies crave balance. Our blood is pH neutral, to slightly alkaline. This fantasy about the ‘acid mantle’ was made up out of whole cloth to sell these acid products. Think about it: if acids were so good for the skin why does it feel so good to take a swim in the ocean? Which is the opposite. Alkaline. Fact is, if pollution ever turned our precious oceans acidic, most sea life would be dead. So why are we polluting our skin with acids?

In the moisturizer business there is a rule called the ‘One Drop Rule’. What is it? As long as a product has one drop of the ingredient it can be named after that ingredient. So we could legally call our moisturizer Mowrah and only have a drop in it. It would be legal, but in our mind it would be wrong.

So why do companies do this? Mainly to save money.

So why are we so different? We decided a long time ago, not to go big. Not to sell out. Our business model was the very best ingredients, fresh made and shipped direct to our customers. No retail stores to get in the way and tell us what to do. We are not perfect. We make mistakes. We are working with highly precious ingredients that make producing products with them difficult. If our products aren’t good enough, then we keep improving them until they are the best. We listen to our customers and respond to their requests and suggestions. Our only boss is our customers. Our guarantee comes with no time limit.

What’s in it? (in order of prominence)

Reverse Osmosis Purified Water virtually all skin care products ‘say’ they use purified water. But the real deal is reverse osmosis purified water. This mean ZERO contaminants which means the starting point is pure. It’s expensive to do (goes through 5 filters, which have to be changed often), but it is the only water we use. We use the waste water from this purifying process to water our flowers and landscaping. So there is no waste. Don’t some products use distilled water? Yes but distilled water is environmentally expensive to make (heat is used to boil the dirty water and steam is collected). The problem we have with distilled water is it has a lower pH due to the extra ions added during the process. it’s very harsh. We prefer to work with pH neutral water. To me there is no more perfect water than R-O water. I remember the 1st time we made soap with it. As we poured the soap it was so creamy! It looked like home made ice cream right before it gets solid. It’s one of our special secrets to how good our products are. Again, no one does this.

Mowrah Butter: (Bassia latifolia seed butter) Also known as Mahua butter, it is derived from the fruit kernels of the Madhuca (butter) tree, which is native of India. In India this butter has both cosmetics and edible uses. It is known to reduce the degeneration of skin cells, prevent wrinkles, and restore skin flexibility. Although a solid at room temperature, Morah butter melts when it comes into contact with skin. Mowrah butter is high in oleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid and linoleic acid. Mowrah butter is regenerative and emollient.

BTMS (Behentrimonium Methosulfate Cetearyl Alcohol) This is a vegetable wax. Sulfate and sulfur free.

Glycerin (Vegetable) Unless a skin care product specifically says vegetable glycerin on the label, the glycerin they almost always use contains animal derived glycerin. I won’t even get into describing what part of the animal they use. Think of everything in a cow and pig they cannot sell as food. Yes everything. EVERYTHING! Put it this way it is a big joke in the cosmetic community how many vegetarians are using animal based products and don’t know it. We don’t use animal derived ingredients because we just don’t know what is in them. To increase their weight, they pump a lot of stuff into animals right before slaughter.

Panthenol (2%) Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5) is present in all living cells in the form of Pantothenic acid which is a constituent of Co-enzyme A. A deficiency in Pantothenic acid results in dermatological and many physiological disorders. It is used in many hair care products but also is easily absorbed by the skin. Well known for it’s anti-inflammatory properties for professional skin care formulations where it also acts as a powerful redness reducer even when used at only 1.0%. Hmmmmm, redness reducer? Anti-inflammatory? No good shaving product should be without it. Problem is… it is expensive. At $15 a pound, manufacturers either don’t use it, or use just barely enough to put it on the label. We use 2%. That’s a lot.

Cetyl Stearyl Alcohol (vegetable wax) this is a waxy vegetable ingredient used to give the moisturizers a bit of heft and contact feel. It also is a lubricant.

Germall Plus (4/10’s of 1%) (diazolidinyl Urea, 3-Iodo-2-propylbutylcarbarmate) (a vegetable derived preservative to keep our product fresh) only needs 4/10’s of one percent to keep our product safe. Look before you ask, no totally natural preservative really protects products from bacteria. We don’t like using Parabens. and since we pH balance our moisturizers we are limited in our choice of preservatives. What’s great about this one is so little is needed to afford protection.

Best if used within one year of receipt. I’ll bet no skin care product you have bought from a store was made within the last year. Most of the products were made years ago. We find we can better control our quality if we make products as they are used. Fresh just makes for better skin care products. Our families all use our products. We only sell what we would use.

No animal ingredients or testing EVER! We also get assurances from our suppliers that all of our raw ingredients are not animal derived or any animal testing done there either.

Most skin care products you buy to use today, were made in large factories years ago and have been in storage. Everything we ship was made in small batches within a few weeks of shipping. Fresh matters! Quality ingredients matter!

Most of our ingredients are as close to natural as possible. We avoid overly processed ingredients. Processing means heat and that destroys the goodness in these precious ingredients we use.