8 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY April 25-May 1, 2024 www.montereycountyweekly.com 831 Alma Del Mar is part refillery store, where people can buy their everyday home products in bulk, filling reusable containers with laundry detergent or shampoo. There is also a line of handcrafted soap, made on the premises, called Wild. This line has been around for 20 years, longer than the store itself, which opened two years ago. The brand was created by Wild Thyme Botanicals, a small woman-owned business. Dionne Ybarra, owner of Alma Del Mar, says Andrea Smith, the previous owner, was retiring and looking for someone to take over her business. Soon after, Alma Del Mar bought the brand. “She wanted to pass it to another woman soap-maker,” Ybarra says. For Ybarra, it was important to keep the soap-making business alive. “The idea of making a product that was better for us by not using a lot of chemicals was important to me,” Ybarra shares. She notes minorities are not at the forefront in the beauty product industry: “We’re not represented in that field very often.” That aligns with Ybarra’s other passion—teaching young people to surf in the nonprofit The Wahine Project, which seeks to make everyone feel comfortable in the water, whoever they are. Ybarra didn’t have any soap-making experience, but Smith taught her every step of the way. Another change, besides shortening the line’s name, was moving away from palm oil. “We wanted a more sustainable oil,” Ybarra says. Most soaps are made with coconut oil; other base oils they use are olive and sunflower oil. “We’re going to spend more money, but it’s way better for us and better for the planet,” Ybarra says. Alma Del Mar is envisioned as an environmentally friendly store, which is how it aligns with The Wahine Project mission. The nonprofit’s headquarters are there, and it serves as a place for Wahine program participants to gather, buy surf gear and refillable or locally made soap. That mix-and-match approach applies to soapmaking itself. “The fun thing about making soap and bath bombs is that it’s a lot like cooking,” Ybarra says. Tools include blenders, thermometers, molds and spatulas. “It’s basically learning recipes and understanding how to make batches,” she notes. Wild uses charts as guides while making new soaps, to dial in scent and essential oils. Each season the staff explores new recipes, thinking about freshness and floral smells in spring, or woodsy and spicy in winter. Popular scents for men are Chai citrus clove, oatmeal spice and cypress pine, while women gravitate to flowery fragrances including tuberose or jasmine. It’s then mixed with sodium hydroxide lye—a chemical made from salt. Once mixed, the magic happens and the liquid hardens and turns it into soap. This method of making cold process soap is good for preserving oils and produces stronger fragrances. Just as with the fragrances, there is also a variety of colors from white to light brown, or featuring a sprinkle of flowers to multicolor and marbled. Once a new batch is completed, it sits for a couple of days to harden before it is cut into soap bars. It is then cured for about a month inside a room with a humidity regulator before hitting the stands or shipped to a customer. Besides soaps, Wild also makes bath bombs, room sprays and body sprays. The store features a soap of the month to motivate customers to try new options and get out of their comfort zone. One of Ybarra’s favorites is pikake, a flowery soap that smells like jasmine. She also never thought she would like cypress or pine, but surprised herself: “I loved it.” Soap-makers at Alma Del Mar’s Wild are different ages and come from different backgrounds, in keeping with the theme of the nonprofit and the store. “We all have a different idea of what to bring to the table,” Ybarra says. Wild soap is available at Alma Del Mar, 269 Bonifacio Place, Monterey. Open 11am-4pm Wed-Sun, 4-7pm Tues. 917-4099, instagram.com/_alma.del.mar_. Feeling Fresh A Monterey business continues a tradition of making environmentally friendly soap onsite. By Celia Jiménez Alma Del Mar owner Dionne Ybarra says soap-maker Andrea Smith shared all she knows about the process. “She had to learn the trial and error,” Ybarra says. “We didn’t have to go through as many mistakes.” Soap-maker Kaeli Bush is shown above. “Making soap and bath bombs is a lot like cooking.” TAlES FrOM THE ArEA CODE CELIA JIMÉNEZ
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