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Glynne's Soaps

You haven't heard a lot from us these past few weeks, but that doesn't mean we've been sitting around eating cheesecake from Chris' Cosmic Kitchen. (Although that is a fun thing to do.) We are now deep in our fall festival schedule, and that is keeping us incredibly busy.

It all started on September 26th with Aunt Kerry's Pet Stop's 3 year anniversary party. The day started out with some light rain, but that didn’t deter many of the vendors or guests from showing up to the parking lot at Aunt Kerry’s. There were various vendors there, including Monty’s Home, Port City Candles, Cape Fear Golden Retriever Rescue,
Carolina Boxer Rescue, NC Rottweiler Rescue, CAT, DogWatch, and Saving Animals During Disasters.

In the early afternoon, the rains came. We moved deep under the tents and had a great time chatting with others who braved the storm. All in all it was a great time, even with the less than perfect weather. Thanks Aunt Kerry for having us and for providing a wonderful place to buy pet supplies and be treated like family! If you haven’t stopped in at Aunt Kerry’s Pet Stop yet, you really should. It’s on the corner of 17th extension and College Rd in Wilmington.

The next weekend (Oct 2nd-3rd) was Riverfest. This is a huge fall festival in downtown Wilmington. They estimate that there were over 100,000 people who walked down Water St. checking out all the vendors. We had a prime location, right on the corner and we set up along with Jackie from Port City Candles. After a few revisions to our booth set up, we just enjoyed the GREAT weather and spoke with a lot of wonderful people.

People we knew stopped by, people we didn’t know stopped by, and we just had fun chatting with everyone (and selling soap). We were able to educate people on the need to stop using chemical flea treatments on their dogs (and cats), and on the importance of using soap for themselves that was free from all the nasty chemicals and preservatives.

On Saturday, Gayle was interviewed for an article in the Wilmington Star News. On Sunday a lady stopped by with her son because they wanted to meet us. Turns out, her son had to do a current event for school and he chose our article as the basis for his current event. It was great fun to meet them and good to see education in action.

We had a wonderful time at both events and are looking forward to 3 more festivals in the coming weeks. Come out and see us:

Hanover Kennel Club Dog Show, Legion Stadium in Wilmington – October 10th-11th
Salty Paws, Carolina Beach Lake Park – October 17th
Dog Fest, Empie Park, Wilmington – October 24th (This festival marks our one year anniversary! Come share the fun with us.)

Palm oil is widely used as a base oil in soapmaking. It creates a hard bar of soap with a creamy stable lather, and is often used as the vegetarian equivalent to tallow because it imparts the same characteristics to the bar of soap. Because of this it is a very popular ingredient in handmade soap.
You might notice that in the list of ingredients on a bar of Glynne’s Soap, palm oil is not there. We have made a conscious choice not to use palm oil because of environmental concerns.
If you keep up with our blog, or know us at all, you know that we are committed to being as green as possible. We recycle, reduce and reuse. We also try to only purchase materials that are also considered environmentally friendly. Palm oil is not one of these materials.
Palm oil is a basic source of income for many of the world's rural poor in South East Asia, Central and West Africa, and Central America. Because of its increasing popularity, more and more rainforests are being destroyed to create more room for the palm plantations. The destruction of the rainforests is harmful to the environment for many reasons:

Significant greenhouse gas emission. Deforestation in tropical areas accounts for 1/3 of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions.

Destruction of the habitats of many endangered species including the Sumatran Orangutan, Sumatran Tiger and African Rhinoceros. With their habitat destroyed, these animals will suffer extinction.

Removal of the natural growth leads to loss of homes, farmland, degradation of food and water supplies and untold other environmental effects.

Because of these concerns, we have decided not to make palm oil an ingredient of our soaps. The Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil is beginning to certify certain palm oil producers as sustainable. Because this is a new system, it is not certain which suppliers are truly using sustainable palm oil. Until the certification process is less confusing, we will continue to stay away from palm oil.
What can you do? There are many things that individuals can do to help increase companies use of sustainable palm oil and to help ensure that the sustainable certification is authentic. Palm oil is used in many food products as well as beauty products. Write to the companies that make these products and insist that they use certified sustainable palm oil. Discontinue using any products that contain palm oil. Let all your friends and family know the destruction that is being caused by the increasing demand for palm oil. Every little bit helps.
Watch this short video about an orangutan that befriends a dog. It's very cute, and has a great message!

I'd love to hear your comments about the environmental impact of the increased use of palm oil.
Keep it clean!
Jenn

I hope everyone is having a relaxing three day weekend. Here in Wilmington, it’s raining, so we can’t spend much time outside. I even had to cut my run short this morning.

I always thought it was funny that Labor Day was a vacation day. Seems to me, it should be a day for labor. The Glynne’s Soaps staff has decided to make today a planning day. I’m excited to be brainstorming new ideas for the company. I have some good ones, like more lunches for the Sales Manager, but can’t wait to see what everyone else thinks. Be on the lookout for these new developments.

Tomorrow we will be on the road again, and I’m going to get to ride the ferry. We are delivering Front Street Brewery beer soaps to Lantana’s Gallery and Fine Gifts in Southport, NC. The next time you are in Southport, you need to check them out. Aside for being a terrific gift shop, they highlight the arts and crafts of many local artists.

While in Southport, we will also check in at Cool Dogs and Crazy Cats. They carry our dog soaps and are very nice people. We love to stop and chat and I love the stores that I can go in and browse.

I picked up a copy of Dog Living Magazine a few days ago, and was thrilled to see the article about regional pet businesses. Of course, Glynne’s Soaps was a part, but there were many other businesses that were in the article as well. I think it’s important to support local businesses as much as possible. Grab your own copy of Dog Living Magazine and check it out!

Until next time, keep it clean!

Wrigley
Sales Manager

PS you can tweet me or just follow my adventures on twitter @wrigleysoapguru

I am sure, if you are regular reader, that you know we got tickets to see the Panthers v Steelers game on Thursday night. You probably also know Jenn is a die-hard Steelers fan and I am a die-hard Panthers fan. We had a great time at the game! Although the final score was not all that much fun for me. On our trip to Charlotte, we took the time to stop by RJ Rockers in Spartanburg, SC and deliver the new Son of a Peach Beer Soaps. They have just moved into their new facility in Downtown Spartanburg. It is a very nice location. While there, we learned that RJ Rockers Son of a Peach beer would be available in the Wilmington area by the end of the year (stay tuned for locations).

During our long drive to Charlotte via Spartanburg, Jenn and I took the time to discuss what soaps we would like to make for the fall. As is popular with game shows these days, we decided to poll the audience. We sent out a twitter message asking for fall scent suggestions. We received many responses, Thanks twitterverse! We will definitely be making a pumpkin soap (maybe pumpkin spice or punkin pie) and a gingerbread scent for fall. We got several suggestions for an apple or apple cider scent, and we will be researching & working to try to accommodate that scent. One thing I have learned since we have been making soaps is that it is not always easy to create a scent you want and keep the product all-natural. And here at Glynne’s Soaps we are committed to All Natural Soaps.

We hope everyone has a peaceful and relaxing Labor Day Weekend! Be safe.

Want to be a part of our studio audience? Follow us on twitter (www.twitter.com/glynnesoaps)

Gayle