Awash in bubbles

Popular handmade soap products started as sideline

ONE THING about living in the 'burbs, there are very few secrets you can keep from your neighbors, and certainly not if odors are emanating from your garage most nights and weekends. That could be anything from the smell of cooking fish, tripe or adobo, to the illicit backyard trash fire.

Luckily for Ashley and Holly Harding's neighbors it's the fresh and clean fragrance of orange blossoms, chocolate, macadamia nut oil, peppermint and the like, that waft gently from their garage, a reason for the neighbors to walk up and ask, "What's cooking?," hoping for an invitation to taste.

It's not dinner or dessert that lines the Hardings' large work table, but row after row of colorful soaps produced under the name Bubble Shack Hawaiian Soap Co.

After making a living as musicians in Boston, they started the company in January as a way to avoid the cliché of being starving artists in Hawaii, even though they already had two jobs each -- Ashley at a radio station and as a saxophone player, and Holly at an insurance company and as a clarinetist for the Honolulu Symphony.

The tenuous opportunities for musicians is what sparked the couple's entrepreneurial spirit. Holly said that as early as high school, her mother had advised, "Make sure you get your education degree, too, so you can teach.' "

She took part of mom's advice, getting that second degree, but in business and marketing. And already, it seems to have paid off in the strategy of creating handmade bar soaps that reflect Hawaii's culture and natural beauty.

All Bubble Shack soaps come in a trapezoid shape unique to the company, out of handmade wooden molds. The soaps are made with oils of olive, soy, coconut, palm and castor, many including such skin-softening ingredients as mango butter, shea butter, cocoa butter, and oils of sweet almond, avocado, kukui nut, jojoba and macadamia nut. Various bars may also include food-grade oatmeal, poppy seeds, coffee beans and herbs such as peppermint and rosemary, for their exfoliating and aromatic properties.

Hibiscus and orchid flowers, coconut, seaweed, guava leaves, azuki beans and clove stems are infused to provide extra exfoliating and skin-nourishing benefits as well.

The soaps are all vegan, containing no animal fats, whereas commercial soaps often contain paraffin, derived from petroleum, or tallow, beef fat that has been rendered. Both "leave a funky film on skin," said Holly. "It's kind of gross if you think about it, because who wants to wash with cow fat?

"We did a lot of research and talked to chemist friends to come up with our own recipe," she added. "Once we started, it was really quick because both of us are really, really into it."

THE FIRST bar they came up with was a basic oatmeal bar that's fragrance- and colorant-free, for people with sensitive skin. Their second creation added to the first, with lavender scent poured into the mix for its relaxation-inducing properties.

"After that, we kind of dove right in," said Holly, a self-described color fiend whose creations now tend to look like a Grateful Dead convention, full of psychedelia. "I think it makes them more exciting," she said.

Blending various oils, colors and ingredients, it didn't take long for the two to come up with 100 different soaps with such evocative names as "Lilikoi Shave Ice," "The Green Flash," "Waimea Bayberry," "Lava Canyon," "Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nut" and "Grass Skirt Holiday." Five- and six-ounce bars are $5 to $6.50.

One of their best-sellers is the "Bubble Shack Special," a kaleidoscope-colored bar in alternating layers of poppy seeds and oatmeal in striations of forest green, fuchsia and vanilla, with a crown of hibiscus flowers and scents of sweet pea, ivy and honeysuckle.

The Hardings' favorite to wash up with is "Holy Peppermint!" with a tingling sensation derived from its namesake herb, and Holly also enjoys relaxing with the scent of "Hot Chocolate with Marshamallows."

Because of the Hardings' love of music, other soaps reflect songs and musicians, such as "Makin' Whoopee" and soon to arrive "JJ's Banana Pancakes," based on a Jack Johnson song, and "Sublime Summer," reflecting Sublime's laidback surf-and-stoner vibe. All-American Rejects, Hoobastank and local band Go Jimmy Go provide inspiration for future creations.

And because every being has different needs, Bubble Shack also features shampoo bars, loofah bars, ono man lathers and Bubble dog soaps, and that just seems to be the start.

"We have all kinds of other ideas swirling around," Holly said.