Sustainable Maximum Organic Content.  Our certified organic soaps are vegan, sustainable, and always made with the maximum organic content possible.

Our artisanal soaps are handmade in Portland, Oregon, where Maximum Organic LLC, owner of S.M.O.C. Skincare, is based.

It varies by person, of course, but most people report that our soaps last 3 to 5 weeks, which is longer than regular soaps. Our soaps contain premium solid butters like shea butter and are cured (air dried) for several weeks before packaging, which results in a harder, longer-lasting bar.  A Starbucks latte is $5 and lasts about 5 minutes.  After a shower with our soap, your skin will feel clean, luxurious and moisturized, and you'll still have about a month's worth of showers left!

Yes. All of our soaps are certified organic by Oregon Tilth.  Formed in 1974, Oregon Tilth is a non-profit Accredited Certifying Agent (ACA) for the USDA's National Organic Program.  Not all organic certifiers are the same. Many are for-profit mega corporations who care more about profits that organic agriculture. Oregon Tilth is a non-profit with nearly 50 years experience and they're one of the strictest and most trusted organic certifiers in the world. https://tilth.org/about/

1. First, most regular mass market soap brands are not actually soap. They're detergents with some added soap. Mass market 'soap' brands are made from detergents because it's much cheaper to manufacture detergent than it is to make real soap.  What's the difference between soap and detergent? Soap is a natural product made from plant oils or animal oils. Detergents are synthetic cleansers contaning numerous chemicals linked to health concerns. Detergents are great for cleaning your floors, but not your body.

2. Second, it comes down to ingredients. Palm oil is the cheapest oil that can be used to make soap and is found in about 95% of soap.  We don't use any palm oil because of its harmful effect on the environment.  We use premium, food-grade, organic ingredients like organic extra virgin olive oil, the highest possible grade of olive oil.  Most other soap makers don't use any olive oil because of the cost, and if they use olive oil they use pomace olive oil, the lowest and cheapest grade of olive oil.  We are making soap completely differently from nearly all other soap makers. Virtually no other soapmaker makes soap with organic shea butter or organic cocoa butter because those are ultra-premium, high-priced ingredients that significantly increase the cost per bar. We scent our soaps with essential oils, never fragrances.  Essential oils come from pressed plants. Fragrances are cheap, lab-made chemical compounds. They contain endocrine-disrupting phthalates linked to cancer but they are widely used in soaps. Why? Because fragrances are cheap!  For example, a 16 oz bottle of grapefruit fragrance is about $20. A 16 oz bottle of organic grapefruit essential oil is over $200.  We are one of the only companies on earth making soap with premium organic essential oils.

Lastly, regarding cost, keep in mind that a Starbucks latte costs $5 and lasts five minutes but one bar of S.M.O.C. soap will provide you with a luxurious shower experience every day for 3 to 5 weeks.

• For delivery to the continental USA, FREE shipping on orders of $40 or more. For orders under $40, there are several shipping options, one of which is a flat rate of $5.90.

• For delivery to Alaska, Hawaii, US territories (VI, PR, etc.), and international destinations, shipping is calculated at checkout.

Yes, all soap kills coronavirus, including our soap. In fact, soap is more effective at killing coronavirus than hand sanitizer because viruses including coronavirus have a membrane made of fat, and soap molecules dissolve the virus’ fatty membrane, tearing the virus apart and killing it. The soap and water then wash the dead virus particles physically of your hands/body. According to Dr. Daniel Pastula, a UC Health neuro-infectious disease expert, “It doesn’t need to be antibacterial soap. All soaps work the same.” And compared to hand sanitizer, “[Soap] is just better,” Dr. Pastula said. “If I have the option, I use soap and water. I use hand sanitizer as a backup.”Also keep in mind that soaps labeled as"antibacterial" may contain harmful chemicals linked to cancer and reproductive problems. For example, triclosan was the active ingredient in best-selling antibacterial soaps (like Dial) for decades until it was banned by the FDA in 2016.  Plain ordinary soap is all you need to safely and effectively kill all germs, viruses, and bacteria.

Sources: Triclosan, found in antibacterial soap and other products, causes cancer in mice, Washington Post, Nov 24, 2014. 

Antibacterial Soaps Have Phased Out Controversial Ingredients, But Concerns Remain About New Ones, Forbes, Sept 4, 2016, 

The Chemicals to Avoid in Your Shampoo and Body Wash, Healthline website, October 7, 2020. 

Antibacterial Soap? You can skip it, use plain soap and water, FDA website

The coronavirus is no match for plain, old soap — here’s the science behind it, MarketWatch, April 8, 2020.

UC Health Today website, Why soap and water work better than hand sanitizer to remove the coronavirus, UC Health, March 30, 2020. 

You can email us at contact@maximumorganic.com

Or call us at: 503-395-0027 (M to F, 9 AM to 5 PM)

1. National Geographic, https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/whopping-91-percent-plastic-isnt-recycled/

2. Monga Bay News, ‘Meaningless Certification’: Study makes the case against ‘sustainable’ palm oil, by Hans Nicholas Jong. August 5, 2020.

3. Journal of Science of the Total Environment, Vol 742, Nov 10, 2020, Certified “sustainable” palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years,  Roberto Cazzolla Gattia, Alena Velichevskaya.

4. Oil Palm and Biodiversity: A Situation Analysis by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Oil Palm Task Force, 2018, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. Meijaard, E., Garcia-Ulloa, J.,Sheil, D., Wich, S.A., Carlson, K.M., Juffe-Bignoli, D., and Brooks, T.M.

5. Greenpeace, 5 Problems with ‘Sustainable’ Palm Oil. https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/news/5-problems-with-sustainable-palm-oil/

6. Harvard School of Public Health - Phthalates should be resticted or banned. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/the-big-3-why-phthalates-should-be-restricted-or-banned-from-consumer-products/

7. Common weed killer glyphosate increases cancer risk by 41%, study says. https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/14/health/us-glyphosate-cancer-study-scli-intl8. ‘Disturbing’: weedkiller ingredient tied to cancer found in 80% of US urine samples https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/09/weedkiller-glyphosate-cdc-study-urine-samples

8. Study Finds Exposure to Phthalates May Increase Children's Cancer Risk https://www.med.uvm.edu/uvmcancercenter/news/2022/03/16/uvm_cancer_center_research_phthalates

9. Final report on the safety assessment of EDTA,...https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12396676/ "Oral exposures to EDTA produced adverse reproductive and developmental effects in animals."

10. One Casualty of the Palm Oil Industry: An Orangutan Mother, Shot 74 Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/29/world/asia/orangutan-indonesia-palm-oil.html

11. These people are helping save orangutans in Sumatra, Indonesia, Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2020/02/17/these-people-are-helping-save-orangutans-sumatra-indonesia/

12. Phthalates, found in hundreds of household products, may disrupt sex development of male fetus. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/03/06/phthalates-found-in-hundreds-of-household-products-may-disrupt-sex-development-of-male-fetus/

13. 3,163 ingredients hide behind the word "fragrance". https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/3163-ingredients-hide-behind-word-fragrance

14. Why have sperm counts more than halved in the past 40 years? https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2021/may/03/why-have-sperm-counts-more-than-halved-in-the-past-40-years-podcast

15. This Chemical Can Impair Fertility, but It’s Hard to Avoid. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/parenting/fertility-pregnancy-phthalates-toxic-chemicals.html

16. Why You Should Say No to Fragrance, https://www.treehugger.com/why-you-should-say-no-fragrance-4857860

17. NPR: Big Oil Lied About Plastic Recycling. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled

18. Phthalates Linked to Early Death, CNN: https://us.cnn.com/2021/10/12/health/plastic-chemical-early-death-wellness/index.html