Soaps, Lotions, Oils & Balms — Handcrafted Naturally
Clean ingredients. Quality craftsmanship. Products that actually do what they claim.
Every SLOB product is formulated from scratch and made by hand in Thunder Bay, Ontario. We use natural, ethically sourced ingredients, including Manitoba hempseed oil, because what goes on your skin matters as much as what goes in your body. No synthetic detergents, no mystery chemicals, no marketing fluff. Honest products built on real formulation science.
Lie one: that $2 bottle next to the sink probably isn't soap. It's synthetic detergent in water.
Lie two: soap's job was never to kill anything. Every soap molecule has a grease-loving end and a water-loving end. Lather lifts dirt, oil, bacteria, and virus particles off your skin. Rinse water carries them away. Whether something was alive or dead when it left your hand is beside the point. It isn't on your hand anymore.
Real soap does this without stripping your skin. The cheap stuff sold as "hand wash" does not.
The FDA banned triclosan, the original antibacterial agent in consumer hand washes, in 2016. It was not more effective than plain soap, and it was raising real concerns about antibiotic resistance. The replacements have the same question hanging over them. If you washed properly, what exactly is the residue for?
Wash your hands the way the CDC recommends. Twenty seconds, fronts, backs, between fingers, under nails. Nothing needs to stay behind trying to kill what is already gone.
Most bottled "hand wash" is not soap. It is synthetic detergent. Same trick, grease-loving end and water-loving end, but so aggressive at the grease-loving part that it strips the protective oils your skin makes on purpose. That is why you wash, feel tight, and reach for lotion. You are putting back what the bottle took off.
The cheap bottle is roughly 85% water with a squirt of petroleum-derived surfactant, a scent, and a preservative. You are paying for packaging and advertising. Real soap is mostly oil, and oil is the expensive part of the ingredient list.
Here is the part nobody tells you. Industrial soap makers do produce real soap. Then they strip out the glycerin, which is a natural byproduct of saponification, and sell it separately at a much higher margin to the lotion industry. You buy the stripped soap cheap. Your skin feels tight afterward. So you buy the glycerin back, in a lotion bottle, for ten times the price. Two sales off the same batch of oil.
We don't strip it. The glycerin stays in our foam, the superfatted hempseed oil stays in our foam, and your skin gets conditioned during the wash instead of after it. One product instead of two. That is most of why our soap costs what it does, and most of why you stop reaching for lotion once you've used it for a week.
Our conditioning foam soap is superfatted, which means some of the Manitoba hempseed oil is never converted to soap. It stays behind on your skin as a conditioning layer. The glycerin stays in the formula. You get the same lift-and-rinse cleaning soap has always done, without the stripping.
Want the full chemistry? Read the deep dive on our About page.
Lips can't make their own oil the way the rest of your skin can. That changes what a balm should do. Most are built to seal: wax and petroleum jelly that coat the surface and hold whatever state your lips were in. Ours is built to absorb. A minimum-wax emollient formula that delivers the lipids your lips can't produce, so they heal instead of stay sealed.
Six ingredients. Six choices. Here's what we picked and why.
Candelilla comes from a desert shrub. It's harder than beeswax, which means we use less of it to hold the stick together. Less wax means less coating and more absorption. Vegan is the consequence of the choice, not the reason for it.
Mango butter melts at body temperature. That's the silky-on-application feeling, and it's not a happy accident. Shea and cocoa sit on lips as a heavier film. Mango delivers slip without weight, then gets out of the way of the oils doing the work.
Hemp seed oil's fatty acid profile (omega-3, omega-6, and gamma-linolenic acid) is closer to human skin lipids than almost any other plant oil. Your lips recognize it and absorb it quickly. It's also the same Manitoba hempseed oil we use in the soap. One sourced ingredient, two flagships.
This is the ingredient people ask about. Tomato seed oil is one of the richest natural sources of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. Your lips get UV exposure all day and have no melanin to protect themselves, which is why they chap and burn faster than the rest of your face. Lycopene is protection exactly where protection matters. It isn't a common lip balm ingredient, and it's in ours on purpose.
Squalane is nearly identical to what your skin produces in sebum. The industry's original squalane came from shark liver. Ours is derived from olives. It performs the same, it's plant-sourced, and it absorbs so completely it leaves no trace behind.
Most balms are twenty percent wax or more by weight. Ours uses just enough candelilla to hold the stick together. Everything else in the tube is there to get absorbed. The whole formula is pointed at that one outcome.
Using SLOB and something surprised you? A mechanic whose hands stopped splitting by Friday. A tattoo artist whose stencil ink rinsed off without solvent. A parent who stopped reaching for the lotion bottle forty times a day. Tell us. We'll share the honest ones, the critical ones too, with your permission.
Every SLOB product is made locally in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Natural, clean, organic ingredients, ethically sourced and from Canadian producers whenever possible. No shortcuts. No mystery chemicals. Honest products that do what they say.
The heart of SLOB. Our conditioning foam soap is formulated with Manitoba hempseed oil through a carefully developed saponification process. Available as hand soap and body wash.
Rich, nourishing lotions formulated with natural moisturizers. When your soap treats your skin right, you need less lotion. When you want it, ours is the good stuff.
Pure botanical oils for skin, hair, and body care. Carefully sourced and blended for maximum benefit. Simple ingredients, no filler.
Concentrated healing balms for targeted care. Dry skin, cracked hands, chapped lips. Whatever needs extra attention, we've got you covered.
We put serious time into formulating our products. The saponification process, the ingredient ratios, the conditioning properties. This isn't a hobby project with a label slapped on it. It's a workshop and a formula we stand behind.
Made in Thunder Bay, Ontario. We source from Canadian producers whenever possible, including Manitoba hempseed oil, a cornerstone of our soap formulation. Your purchase supports local makers and Canadian agriculture.
SLOB exists because people who care about what goes on their skin deserve a locally crafted option that doesn't cost a fortune. Premium quality at a reasonable price, because taking care of your skin shouldn't require a second mortgage.
SLOB products are available at The Strand Hair Salon in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Ask your stylist about our current selection during your next visit.
Want to know more, place an order, or just tell us how much better your hands feel? Get in touch.
