We take great pride in providing the highest quality ingredients to all our makers. We know the quality of your source greatly affects the quality of your finished goods, so we take our job seriously.
The soap, skincare and candle industry had grown exponentially over the last few years, and we feel proud to be on this ride with you. We want you to know that our commitment to quality and transparency is always with our customers in mind. Our commitment to full transparency in ingredients and the integrity of ingredients that we carry sometimes is a bummer, to be honest. For example, the new trend in “apricot” waxes. When we were first contacted by the manufacturers of these amazing sounding waxes, we got very excited. Then, after some due diligence, we discovered they were all made with paraffin wax. A “small” amount, per the manufacturer, but paraffin none the less. This made apricot wax blends a non-viable product for us. We carry this throughout all our ingredients.
We also disclose the full information for every ingredient we carry, including full INCI listings, how the product was made, the plant parts used, country of origin and more. We want to feel good about what we are selling, and we want you to have full trust in us as your supplier.
We have relationships with all our vendors, and we purchase the same material from the same vendor every time. It is critical to have consistent quality in our raw ingredients and changing vendors each time just to get a “cheaper” price puts the quality in jeopardy. Once we have sourced an excellent ingredient, you will continue to receive the same quality, batch to batch.
When we source co-packers we do request documentation acknowledging their relationships with the farmers/sources, and their own quality in manufacturing. We include as much of that information as possible to you through our product listings and documentation. Not all co-packers provide the same level of documentation, so if some detail is missing, is it because we are not able to obtain it.
Vegan- with the exception of beeswax and lanolin, all our products are vegan.
Animal testing- Shay and Company does not test any of our products on animals nor do we work with suppliers that test their products on animals. Customers looking to get certified by Leaping Bunny, can have the certification emailed to us at orders@shayandcompany.com and we will fill it out and send it back for you.
Product Documentation- We have SDS and C of A’s uploaded regularly to the website. Each product page should have the current versions. If there is something you’re looking for and cannot find it on the website, please email us at orders@shayandcompany.com. Please include product details including the lot numbers.
Essential Oil Documentation- we do not distill our own essential oils, we work with two distillers that have been in the industry for over 50 years each. That being said, not every EO has all the documentation you want it to have. We will provide what we can, but anything outside of the documentation we have, you will need to obtain from your own outside testing labs.
Label and Lot Coding-All our products have the same lot code combination on the label and are as follows:
Item Code: This is a 5-digit internal item code, all staring with 9
Lot Number: The lot number from the original manufacturer follows our item code
PO: Following the lot number is our internal 5-digit purchase order number
Bottom line down is the 6-digit julian date. This is the date the item was packed.
Packaging Materials- We are fully committed to doing the best for our customers and our planet as possible. We don’t offer printed invoices, unless requested in order to help reduce the amount of paper used. We use boxes that are made of at least 55% post-consumer recycled material. We use biodegradable peanuts and waffle packaging made of recycled paper. If you ever receive a box from us with plastic packaging materials, those are re-used by us, not originally purchased from us.
Our jugs and buckets are all made of BPA-free 100% recyclable plastic, no metal handles, specifically so you can place the whole unit in your recycling can.
Our smaller sized bagged products are packed into bio-degradable bags. We currently have not found a source that is bio-degradable for the 5-pound sizes, but we are working with vendors to see what new options are coming out.
Environmental impact is important to monitor. We recycle all materials that are applicable. We have a zero waste process with our raw materials. Our electricity is through wind power.