Sustainability サステナビリティ

Ingredients

Plant oils. Lye. Essential oils. Grain alcohol. Water. Paper. Bamboo. Glass.

Ingredients are chosen by origin and by season. When importing is needed, suppliers with clear origins come first. For products that must stay sterile, Lê Mai still uses plastic, and chooses types that can be recycled.

Methods

Soap

Cold process. Oil meets lye in a wooden mould. No heat. Eight weeks for the bar to complete itself.

Essential oils

The volatile part of the plant is separated. The method depends on the species: steam distillation, cold pressing, or solvent extraction.

Perfume

Essential oils are blended into alcohol, then left to rest in the bottle.

Paper wrapping

Cut and wrapped by hand. Each piece is measured to the product.

Time

Time is part of the object, not a delay.

A soap cured long enough is gentle on skin. A perfume matured long enough lets its top, middle and base notes stand apart. A plant harvested in its season gives an essential oil that keeps its full scent.

What is being done

• Most soap ingredients are sourced within Vietnam.
• The soap has been made without palm oil since 2009.
• Wrapping paper and boxes are made from recycled paper.
• Solar power is used.
• Soap offcuts are reused.
• Water from washing the moulds is filtered and reused.

Returning used packaging

Empty bottles, jars and boxes can be sent back to Lê Mai. Contact first, and Lê Mai will reply with a return address.

Returned packaging is cleaned, sanitised, then reused for charity programmes and reuse projects.