People often ask why our soaps are made with babassu oil instead of coconut oil. The answer isn't because we believe one ingredient is universally better than another. It's because, after a great deal of testing, babassu oil helped us create the kind of soap we wanted to use in our own home.
One of the questions we hear most often is, "Why don't you use coconut oil?" We understand why people ask because coconut oil has been part of handmade soapmaking for generations. If you've spent any time looking at soap recipes, you've probably noticed it appears again and again. Before we ever made our first successful batch, we assumed it would become part of our recipes too.
The deeper we went into soapmaking, the more we realized that every oil brings its own character to a bar of soap. There isn't one perfect recipe waiting to be discovered. Instead, there are hundreds of thoughtful decisions that eventually become someone's formula. Every soap maker chooses the ingredients that help create the experience they're hoping to offer, and those choices often reflect their philosophy just as much as their technical knowledge.
For us, the goal was never to build a soap around what was most traditional or most popular. We simply wanted to create a bar we'd genuinely enjoy reaching for every morning. That quiet question shaped far more of our recipes than any trend or ingredient list ever could.
Every recipe begins with a decision
One of the things we've come to appreciate about soapmaking is that every ingredient asks you to make a decision. Not because one choice is always right and another is always wrong, but because every recipe is a balance. Adding one oil often means adjusting another. Changing a single ingredient can influence the feel of the lather, the firmness of the bar, or simply the overall experience of using it.
That realization changed the way we approached formulation. Instead of searching for the "best" oil, we began asking which oils worked together to create the kind of soap we wanted Curtis & Kin to become known for. We weren't interested in making the most luxurious bar on paper or filling our labels with impressive ingredients. We wanted recipes that felt thoughtful, dependable, and comfortable to use every day.
As we continued testing, babassu oil quietly kept proving itself. Batch after batch, it helped create the kind of bar we found ourselves reaching for at home. It wasn't a dramatic moment when we suddenly declared we'd found the answer. It was much quieter than that. The recipes simply continued moving in the same direction until one day we realized babassu oil had become one of the foundations of nearly everything we were making.
Respecting the craft
People are sometimes surprised when we speak positively about ingredients we don't use, but we think that's important. Coconut oil has earned its place in soapmaking, and many talented makers create beautiful soaps with it. The same is true of olive oil, cocoa butter, and countless other ingredients. Soapmaking is a craft, not a competition, and one of the things we enjoy most about it is seeing how different makers solve the same problem in different ways.
Our decision wasn't about proving another ingredient wrong. It was about finding the recipe that felt most like Curtis & Kin. We appreciated the way babassu oil fit into the bars we were creating. We liked the balance it brought to our formulas, and over time it became an ingredient we trusted enough to build our collection around.
That philosophy has stayed with us as we've developed every product since. We don't begin with marketing claims or trending ingredients. We begin by asking what kind of product we'd be proud to place beside our own sink, then we keep refining until the recipe reflects that answer.
The ingredient behind the ingredient
It's easy to assume that babassu oil is the reason people return to our soaps, but we don't think that's the whole story. Ingredients matter, of course, but they're only part of what someone experiences when they unwrap a bar. Behind every ingredient is a decision, and behind every decision is a philosophy.
For us, that philosophy has always been simple. Make products thoughtfully. Choose ingredients because they belong there, not because they're fashionable. Take the time to refine a recipe instead of rushing it to market. Those ideas aren't printed on the label, yet we believe they're just as important as anything listed in the ingredients.
Looking back, babassu oil wasn't the destination. It was simply one of the choices that helped us arrive where we wanted to be. It became part of the foundation of Curtis & Kin because it consistently helped us create the kind of soap we wanted for our own family. We trust it because we've worked with it, refined it, and watched it quietly earn its place one batch at a time.
In the end, that's probably true of every ingredient we continue using. They aren't there because someone told us they should be. They're there because they've earned the right to stay.