FAQs

Why is my butter grainy?

It’s natural and normal for body butters to become grainy, and they don’t lose their natural qualities if they are grainy. When butters melt and harden up again, the fats in the butters can solidify at different temperatures and thus produce small granules. You can “fix” your butter by gently melting it, mixing it until no solid pieces remain, and then popping it in the freezer so that it hardens up quickly. Your butter is still good to use!

Why is my butter so hard?

Butters are fats in the same way that oils are - but they are solid at room temperature and are thus called butters. You can scoop or scrape your butter, and place it between the palms to gently melt it. You can also try rubbing it into the skin when solid - it will gently melt with your body heat. If you don’t like the consistency of a hard butter (which is normal) try placing it in the sun, or gently warming it on a heater vent, in a double boiler, or in the microwave. If using the microwave, melt gently 15-30 seconds at a time without the metal lid.

What's a super fat?

A super fat in soap-making accounts for the remaining percentage of oils and butters in a completed bar of soap. These free oils and butters remain in your soap and add more moisturizing qualities to the bar, and ultimately, your skin.

What is sodium hydroxide?

Sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are commonly known as "lye", and only "soap" that contains lye is a true soap. That's because sodium hydroxide is the necessary ingredient that combines water and fat molecules until they form soap molecules. You'll find sodium hydroxide listed as an ingredient in all of our soaps, even though no lye remains once the soap-making process is complete.

Are you adding glycerin to these bars?

Simply put, no. The glycerin listed in our soap packaging ingredients is naturally occurring glycerin in your bar soap that is created during the soap-making process. Larger soap companies remove this glycerin from the soap that they make, and only leave a minimal percent of it in their bars, resulting in a less moisturizing soap. We don't remove or add anything that is created in the soap making process, so our bars always keep 100% of their glycerin.

Where is By Bhumika located?

We are a Indo-Canadian owned company, located in the area currently known as Toronto, ON; traditionally Tkaronto. By Bhumika acknowledges that in Tkaronto, we are on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Toronto is and has always been home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.