Recently, I was sent two products from what turns out to be an almost local company from Cornish New Hampshire that started out making natural bar soap. Actually, the owner, J.R. Liggett and his wife, Diane started making “hair soap” from an old recipe that Jim found in an old cookbook. He had originally learned how to make soap when he was 5 years old with his Aunt Anne in Nebraska, and he thought it would be a good business to get into when he and his wife moved to a farm in New Hampshire.
Actually, I am especially intrigued because I think J.R. Liggett is a guy who I, almost but not quite, crossed paths with at Ogilvy & Mather advertising in New York. I think he had already left the agency where he was an Art Director when I got to O&M in the late 1980s. Small world!
Well, you can’t keep an ad agency man down! J.R. Liggett developed an on trend, healthy business by making healthy, natural products. With 9 employees, the business has grown in that they make products for pets as well as for people who want to steer clear of products made by large corporations with lots of synthetic chemicals.
Instead of me telling the J.R. Liggett story, watch the short video interview below with Jim Liggett!
Jim Liggett definitely knows his marketing because the old-school cardboard packaging was easily recyclable, and the packaging reinforced his origins as a soap maker going back to his childhood. Frankly, without knowing his backstory, I thought J.R. Liggett was a 19th century or at least early 20th century company. I thought it might be related to the Liggett-Rexall drugstores of yesteryear. But I was wrong. It’s a modern-ish company that was started 4 decades ago around the time that consumer interest in “natural” products began.
J.R. Liggett’s Body Oil In A Bar
I’ve been on a body and facial oil jag for a while now, so I was excited to try body oil in a bar form. Unusual and very interesting! So when J.R. Liggett’s new product, Body Oil In A Bar, arrived at my doorstep, I was eager to give it a try.
Body Oil In A Bar is a chunky square of concentrated body oil that comes wrapped to prevent it from being damaged.
The bar also comes with a bamboo square called a “wafer” that sits under the bar to keep the oil-based bar from slipping out of your hand and also from disappearing as it sits in your shower. Unlike me, try to place the wafer under the bar nicely before it “sets” and isn’t moveable!
Importantly, the bamboo wafer is reusable, so when you use up the Body Oil In A Bar, you just buy the bar refill and use the wafer again.
Because Body Oil In A Bar looks like a square of soap, I expected the bar when it hit the water to become foamy or lotiony, but it really doesn’t do either one. I run the bar directly on my skin after I have finished cleansing. I have even tried using it on my face. Body Oil In A Bar isn’t greasy and doesn’t leave oil behind in the shower, which was a relief!
J.R. Liggett’s Body Oil In A Bar is all new, all natural, and all plant-based. Of course, it’s cruelty-free and vegan. Here is the complete Ingredient List:
BTMS, Cytel Alcohol, Cocco Butter, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, D-panthenol, Optiphen, Lavender Oil, Vitamin E, Argan Oil, Marula Oil, Jojoba Oil, Almond Oil
(In case you’re wondering, here’s some info on BTMS from the website “Learn Canyon”: “BTMS is a plant-based substance. It’s an emulsifying wax made from Colza or Rapeseed oil that’s naturally generated. BTMS-25 or BTMS-50 are alternate names for behentrimonium methosulfate.”
Body Oil In A Bar has a light, fresh scent that smells rather herbal, yet I don’t really smell the scent as I’m using it. And it doesn’t leave a fragrance behind on my skin.
I’ve been using Body Oil In A Bar for about a week and a half every time I shower. The product is definitely moisturizing, and my skin feels soft, silky and hydrated when I get out of the shower. This weekend, we didn’t do anything special, and I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I haven’t showered since Friday. Nevertheless, on Sunday night as I write this review, my skin is still hydrated from Body Oil In A Bar. Frankly, I’m surprised, but even the skin on my elbows and knees are still soft! I definitely think that in the summer, Body Oil In A Bar is all I will need.
In addition to using it at home, take along Body Oil In A Bar when you’re traveling. You don’t have to worry about it being a liquid or gel and if it is under 3 fl. oz.
Handmade in the U.S. (in NH), Body Oil In A Bar weighs 2 oz. and is priced at $18.99 for the bar and bamboo wafer. Refills bars alone are $15.99. Body Oil In A Bar is sold on the J.R. Liggett website. If you’re in a natural food store, check to see if it’s sold there as well. Reviewers of their products report buying it in local (probably in NH) stores, but it could be elsewhere too!
J.R. Liggett’s Other Products
Check out J.R. Liggett’s website and take a look at all of the other natural, sustainable, eco-friendly products that they sell! They make Shampoo In A Bar, Conditioner In A Bar, Shaving Foam, mini bars and mini shaving foam for traveling, travel totes, gift products, and shampoos for dogs, cats and horses!
The company also sent me a bar of J.R. Liggett’s Tea Tree & Hemp Oil Formula Shampoo. Here’s how they describe the benefits of this particular variety of their Shampoo In A Bar:
“Tea Tree Oil has powerful antiseptic and anti-bacterial properties that help enhance our shampoo’s abilities to effectively tame dermatitis, itchy-flaky scalp conditions and may also stimulate hair growth!
“Effective against the dandruff, in reducing it between washes, in relieving the itching and in cleaning the hair by about the 85% of consumers.” View the efficacy test results for our Tea Tree & Hemp Oil shampoo bar.
Hemp Oil contains a combination of essential fatty acids that supply your hair’s acute nutritional needs.
Last but not least, Almond Oil is also added to provide the ever important moisturizing healthy hair requires.”
Because my hair is dry and color-treated, I haven’t tried this shampoo bar. Jeff usually uses a dandruff shampoo, so I will ask him to try out this shampoo in a bar. Although Jeff likes to stick to his usual personal care products, perhaps telling him that Tea Tree & Hemp Oil Formula Shampoo may stimulate hair growth as well as prevent dandruff may just do the trick!
Nevertheless, I read the 33 consumer reviews for Tea Tree & Hemp Oil Formula Shampoo on the website, and they are overwhelmingly positive. Those who often felt it suited them very well had itchy scalp, atopic dermatitis, eczema, or dandruff. Importantly, they tended to state that it stopped the itching.
The ingredients are natural oils: olive, coconut, castor, tea tree, hemp, and almond oils. That’s it!
J.R. Liggett’s Tea Tree & Hemp Oil Formula Shampoo in a bar weighs 3.5 oz. and is priced at $7.99.
It’s great they send this wedge at first and then you can buy just the bar. This all sounds so healthy for you and the earth.
I love the idea of a body oil in a bar! So many good ingredients and the packaging is more sustainable than the typical jars and bottles.
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This sounds like a wonderful brand, and their products really appeal to me. Not only is this an environmentally friendly brand, but it;s wonderful that it is a local brand that you can support! I want to try their products after reading your review, Allison! I am intrigued by the Body Oil Bar!
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Thank you! I think especially for people who don’t have overly dry skin, it would be perfect, just enough moisture!
Love the idea of body oil in a bar…sounds like a great brand.
The Body Oil in a Bar is such a cool, convenient and eco-friendly product. I wish it were an international brand!