Summer Shipping
WARM WEATHER SHIPPING
We do not use synthetic stabilizers or waxes. We do not formulate our light and fluffy body butters with any beeswax.
As a result, our delicate natural products packaged in glass jars and metal tins are sensitive to temperature changes.
During very warm weather, products may soften or even melt in transit as they sit in warm mail trucks, mailboxes or on front porches.
We use more protective packaging in the heat of summer, so most products do make their journey safely.
Since melting is a natural reaction to heat and we have no control over the conditions during transit or delivery, please understand that we cannot be responsible for melted products.
We have the same problem as companies who make and ship fine chocolates during summer months!
WHAT TO DO ABOUT MELTING
On sunny or warm days it is best to refrigerate BEFORE opening the jars or tins. If you open items, especially those in tins, to check if melting has occurred, they may spill out and make a mess!
The quality and healing properties of our products are not affected by melting.
Whipped Butters: Place it in the refrigerator. The melting will not affect the quality of the whipped butter as a great moisturizer, but the whipped consistency will change. It will become more like a body balm.
Whipping adds tiny air bubbles (just like whipping cream) that increase the size, lighten the density and change the texture, making the butter light and fluffy. If a whipped product melts, the air bubbles are collapsed, so the volume is decreased. So although the jar was filled to the top, if the butter melts, there will be less volume in the container. The container may actually look half full.
We have had customers scoop out the butter and whip it back up with an electric whisk beater. The butter has to be very cold for this to work.
Sugar Scrubs: Place in the refrigerator. As it begins to harden up--give it a stir and place it back in the refrigerator until firm. Again because it is a whipped product, the container will have less volume as the whipped butters melt.
WHAT WE ARE DOING TO HELP THE PROBLEM
During hot weather we do our best to protect our products from melting in transit.
- We check every product before it is packed for shipping
- We have switched from shipping in envelopes to using boxes that allow more padding for insulation
- We have switched many of our products to glass jars with aluminum twist lids to help prevent leakage
- We wrap our delicate products in bubble wrap or other padding to add another layer of insulation
As a result, most products shipped in warm weather arrive without melting. But please understand, there is no way that we can ship products to completely control for the high heat temperatures of summer, trucks and mailboxes.
WHY DOES THE MELTING PROBLEM EXIST?
One of my biggest challenges as a formulator of natural skin care products is controlling the effect of outside temperature. There are times I create an excellent product during the cold winter only to discover the product is too soft in the summer.
Many commercial products contain phthalates to stabilize and maintain viscosity (thickness), cocamide DEA, MEA to thicken, stabilize and emulsify, petroleum based oils and waxes to thicken and stabilize and other additives to insure that their products maintain the same consistency through all temperature variations. Our natural organic products do not contain these or any other synthetic additives.
Our balms, whipped butters, deodorants, salves and lip balms, high in natural oils and butters, are formulated to be a semi-soft solid at room temperature. When applied to our warm skin, they instantly melt, providing an emollient, nourishing and penetrating product.