What's Inside

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At Lumen & Lather Co., every formula begins with a simple question:
How do we want this to feel on the skin?

From there, we choose a small, considered palette of oils, butters, milks, clays, and aromatics to create the lather, slip, and finish we’re after—whether that’s a silky spa bar, a slow-lathering heritage soap, or a soft, conditioning beard balm.

This page is a quiet look behind the curtain at some of the ingredients we reach for most often and why we love working with them.

Shea Butter (Butyrospermum Parkii)
A rich, velvety butter that cushions the skin and helps it feel soft and comfortably moisturized. We rely on shea in many of our bars and balms for its creamy texture and indulgent finish.

Mango Butter (Mangifera Indica)
Lighter than shea but still beautifully buttery, mango butter lends a smooth, silky glide and a soft, conditioned feel—especially in leave-on products like beard balm.

Coconut Oil (Cocos Nucifera)
A classic soapmaking oil that creates a lush, bubbly lather and helps lift away daily impurities. We balance coconut with other oils so the cleanse feels fresh but not drying.

Olive Oil (Olea Europaea)
A slow-beauty staple that supports a creamier, lower-foam lather. Olive oil helps our bars feel gentle and nurturing on the skin, especially in goat milk and heritage formulas.

Castor Oil (Ricinus Communis)
Used in small amounts to give lather a more velvety, stable texture. It helps support that “silky slip” you notice as the bar glides over the skin.

Sunflower Oil (Helianthus Annuus)
A smooth, light-feel oil that pairs well with richer butters, contributing to a balanced, conditioning cleanse without heaviness.

Jojoba Oil (Simmondsia Chinensis)
Technically a liquid wax, prized for being structurally similar to the skin’s own natural oils. Jojoba absorbs beautifully, helping formulas feel light, silky, and non-greasy, which is why it’s a favorite in our beard care and leave-on treatments.

Sweet Almond Oil (Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis)
A silky, medium-weight oil that glides easily over the skin and helps support a soft, conditioned feel in both soaps and balms.

Argan Oil (Argania Spinosa)
Used sparingly for a touch of extra nourishment and sheen. We love argan for the way it helps hair and skin look softly luminous, not shiny.

Goat Milk
A hallmark of many Lumen & Lather bars. Goat milk lends a gentle, milky richness to the lather and contributes to that plush, “creamy” feeling on the skin that our spa and heritage bars are known for.

Activated Charcoal
Selected for its modern, ink-dark character and more clarifying cleanse. Charcoal bars create a distinctive, velvety lather and are often featured in our Heritage Collection and more atmospheric scents.

Kaolin Clay
A soft, white clay used in select formulas to add slip and a more refined, spa-like texture to the lather. It can help soaps feel smoother and more “polished” on the skin.

We work with both essential oils and high-quality fragrance oils, depending on the mood, story, and complexity a product calls for.

Essential Oils
In many of our core bars, we use essential oils for a more natural, understated aromatic profile—lavenders that feel soft and familiar, citruses that feel bright but not sharp, herbs that lift without overwhelming. Essential oils are chosen for their mood and atmosphere rather than sheer intensity.

Fragrance Oils
In certain collections—such as our Lu(e)men boxes, collaborative pieces, and some Heritage scents—we use carefully selected fragrance oils. These allow us to build more complex, layered scent stories (think barbershop rituals, shadowed evenings, coastal air) that aren’t always possible using essential oils alone. Whenever a product is made with fragrance oil rather than essential oil, it’s clearly labeled on the ingredient list.

Some of our formulas, especially our clear and honeyed glycerin bars, include a few extra ingredients to keep the bars smooth, stable, and beautiful in the real world. These are used thoughtfully and at low levels, always with purpose.

Glycerin
A humectant that attracts water and helps skin feel comfortably hydrated. It’s also what gives our clear and honey bars their luminous, glassy look and cushiony lather.

Propylene Glycol & Sorbitol
Found in some of our glycerin-based soaps, these ingredients help maintain clarity, smoothness, and consistency over time, while contributing to a soft, gentle lather.

Cocamidopropyl Betaine
A mild surfactant derived from coconut, used in a few formulations to support a gentle, creamy foam and a pleasant skin feel.

Tetrasodium EDTA (and similar chelating agents)
Used in very small amounts in some formulas to help soaps perform more consistently in hard water—keeping bars smoother and helping lather rinse away cleanly.

Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891)
A mineral pigment used to create creamy white or softly opaque bars, and to support certain designs and visual contrasts.

Vitamin E (Tocopherol)
Included to help support the integrity of the oils in our balms and some soaps, and as a small nod to skin-loving care.

Every bar and balm is made in small batches in our studio. That means:

• Slight differences in color, swirl, or botanical placement
   
• Small variations in exact weight or cut
   

We see these as part of each piece’s character.

Please note: Each bar is handcrafted and hand-cut; slight variations in color, design, and weight are part of its nature.