Kumbha Moon Soap Company
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It's All in the Name: Kumbha Moon Soap Company 

11/16/2014

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One of the most frequently asked questions that we receive is this: “So what does Kumbha Moon mean?” or “What is a Kumbha Moon?” or “Is that the same as the Kumbaya song?” First, no…the word Kumbha isn't taken from the Kumbaya song (though we’ve been known to sit around one of our backyard fires and sing the Kumbaya song after we’ve had a few sips of some fine brew). Second, Kumbha is actually pronounced “koom-bah.” And third, as with almost everything that we do, there is a story, so here it is……..
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We are Kimberly and Kellie, the creative team behind Kumbha Moon Soap Company, and we are also a duo of Aquarians who are more oldish, than youngish, outdoorsy as well as indoorsy, impulsive as well as compulsive, scattered as well as collected, and friends and caretakers to many (too many!) furry friends. We met at a yoga class at Yoga Betsy’s studio nearly 20 years ago and since then, we’ve been trying to stay rooted and upright in tree pose ever since. When we fall down, we just get right back up, take a deep breath, and try it again.  Yoga and the yogic-life philosophy have profoundly impacted many aspects of each of our lives and we just try to live simply and goodly (is goodly a word?) We are both initiates of the Himalayan tradition of yoga and ironically both of us were given the same mantra and charged with the same life work and purpose during each of our initiation rites: balance. 

Say what? Balance? That’s what we two whacky, impulsive, moody, predictably unpredictable Aquarians are each supposed to work on for the rest of our lives, or until we attain enlightenment? Balance? Well, when each of us stops to think about what our guru charged us with during each of our initiations, it makes perfect sense. In many ways, each of us has struggled to find balance in almost every aspect of everything that we do because we both love to dive right in, head and feet first (when you are really flexible from yoga you can dive head and feet first!), and then often we end up feeling like we are in over our head, submerged, and can’t breathe. It’s pretty obvious why practicing yoga and trying to walk through life on the yogic path is a great strategy to help us achieve some sense of balance. 
When we dove right in and decided to turn our soapmaking craft into a real grown up girl business, we knew that we'd have to find balance with our careers, our personal lives, and our new business without everything toppling over. We also found ourselves totally stumped in deciding on a name for our new company. We ran the gamut of names, some silly, one naughty, a few strong contenders, but none felt like it was “the name.” Our business is the extension of us, our values, our philosophies and it was challenging to find the balance between our personal sides and our business sides. So we turned to our yogic roots and there it was…..Kumbha Moon Soap Company.
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The Hindu zodiac is known as the Rashichakra and each month has a zodiac name, known as a rashi, and a symbol – all very similar to the Western version of zodiac. The first rashi of the Hindu Rashichakra is Kumbha Rashi, which is the equivalent for Aquarius. The Sanskrit word Kumbha also means “pot” or “vessel” or “womb,” all of which correlate to the description of the water bearer for Aquarius. Kumbha. Kumbha. Kumbha. With both of us being Aquarians, Kumbha surely sounded like a good seed word to build our business name on. We doodled and scribbled the word Kumbha on everything and tried matching other words to it, but the one word that just felt right was “Moon.” We are both lovers of moon shadows and moonscapes and moonbeams and moonshine, and Moon just sounded like a good fit with Kumbha. So there it is - Kumbha Moon Soap Company - a name that blends both our personal attributes and values with the business side of starting a new company. 


Our logo is also a personal reflection of us which Kellie (the artistic of the K2 duo) designed. The outline is the front of our house with 2 of our 3 gables showing and there is a content moon watching over us and a mischievous crow to symbolize life's magic and mystery as well as our personal transformation. 


So that's the story behind the name! 

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Take the "No 'Poo Challenge"

11/9/2014

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Introducing our Conditioning Shampoo Bar 

Picture"Ditching Shampoo a Dirty Little Beauty Secret - NBCNews.com
Okay, so before you think that the Kumbha Moon girlz have totally lost it and are asking you to do something that absolutely defies your body's natural functions (we did say poo after all), what we are really talking about is shampoo, or the lack of it. So now that we are all on the same page (even if you are still giggling thinking that we really meant the other kind of poo), let's explain it.

We've seen all sorts of No 'Poo Challenges swarming around on social media and email chains and we've been curious about how not using commercial liquid shampoo could actually improve the health of our hair. People report amazing changes to their hair and scalp condition and swear they will never go back to using commercial liquid shampoo. There are many different shampoo alternatives, most of them relying on kitchen cupboard ingredients such as baking soda and vinegar. That approach sounded pretty good to us especially since we make our soap from food-grade ingredients and a lot of times from our own kitchen pantry. But it seems that while we are pretty picky about what we eat and put on our bodies, our values must have stopped at our heads since our shower is filled with name-brand shampoos, conditioners, and hair beautifiers. On top of that we would then liberally use hair spray, spikey stuff, tamer, curler, hot iron, hot dryer, pomade, oil therapy and more to either fight, tame, or change the way we wanted our hair to look and behave ( but we gave up highlighting and coloring over a year ago). Yikes! For two girls who strive to live simply, we have recently realized that the chemicals we have been adding to our hair and scalp probably could be eliminated and swapped out for more natural products and the No 'Poo Challenge was a great place to start. 

Around this same time our hairstylist mentioned that she had been using our Citrus Castile soap bar instead of liquid commercial shampoo and had seen some really nice changes to her hair. We gave it a try and loved the results that we saw in our hair in just a few days and then decided that we wanted to make a shampoo soap bar recipe that would contain oils that would give hair extra special treatment and condition. As we do, we delved into loads of research and chatted with old-tyme soapmakers on the listservs and performed lots of recipe experimentation until we created a soap bar base with 6 oils that will gently cleanse and condition hair. We made an experimental batch, let it cure for a few months, and then took the shampoo bar for a test run. We tossed all remaining commercial shampoo and conditioner products out the door (but put the bottles in the curbside recycling bin of course) and only used the shampoo bar to wash our hair. 


Conditioning Shampoo Bar
The results? After about one week, each of us noticed that our hair felt different....different in a way that is hard to describe but that is good, really good! Our hair became more like the hair that each of us had when we were younger. We noticed more flexibility, shine, less frizz, and natural movement. Seriously, it was like the hair we remember having when we were kids. It felt like we were reclaiming our natural hair. Our shampoo bar testers also reported seeing positive changes in their hair condition so we decided that it was time to put a label on it and add it to our product line.

Kumbha Moon's Conditioning Shampoo Bar is made from our custom recipe using six different oils that are known to be gentle and conditioning for hair: coconut (cleansing), pure imported Italian olive oil, castor oil (condition and natural lather), canola oil, avocado oil (rich in vitamin E for elasticity), vegetable oil, and jojoba oil (for hydration and volume), Country Honey (for natural lather), and essential oils of rosemary and organic peppermint for a nice scalp tingle. The higher percentage of coconut oil means that hair will be gently cleansed without stripping away the natural nutrients and the conditioning oils will never leave your hair feeling greasy or limp. The Conditioning Shampoo Bar delivers loads of natural lather without the chemicals such as sodium lauryl sulfate that the commercial companies use to artificially create lather. Even though lather isn't necessary for cleansing or conditioning, we've been wired to think that something with lather works better.  
Conditioning Shampoo Bar
Lots of natural lather thanks to castor oil and Bob Brachmann's Country Honey
Conditioning Shampoo Bar
The Conditioning Shampoo Bar provides lasting lather




How to Use Your Kumbha Moon Conditioning Shampoo Bar 


We recommend that you first thoroughly wet your hair. Then grab your Kumbha Moon Conditioning Shampoo Bar and work up a nice amount of lather in your hands. Put the bar down and start to massage the lather through your hair. If your hair contains residue from products such as hair spray or styling gels, the natural lather might not develop fully so we recommend that you rinse the lather from your hair and repeat the process. Once the hair spray and styling gel resident are rinsed away, the natural lather should fully develop and you can massage it through your hair to cleanse and condition. If you really want a head full of lather, you can also rub the Conditioning Shampoo Bar directly onto your fully wet hair and massage to develop additional lather. Rinse fully under warm water and you will notice that your hair will be squeaky clean. Very gently pat dry with a towel. Try to challenge yourself to reduce the amount of styling product and hair spray to fully experience the benefit of using a botanical soap bar instead of commercial shampoo to see how your hair will respond. The Conditioning Shampoo Bar also makes a super rich body soap too so feel free to use it liberally on all your parts!  Good luck! 
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    {b}lather 

    blath-er \ˈbla-thər\
    
    verb to talk foolishly at length 
    noun voluble nonsensical or inconsequential talk or writing

    The Kumbha Moon girls write about soap, simple living,  creative impulses, and life's lather.  


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