We have something again that absolutely belongs in the green indulgence and gift list: Nature Bar. These are handmade soaps from a boutique soap-making company in Amsterdam. All soaps and skin products are handmade and founder and soapmaker Marlies van Heusden has put a lot of thought into every ingredient. Old pine needles from Amsterdam Christmas trees, orange peels from a local juice bar or coffee grounds from local coffee roasters: you'll spot at least one circular ingredient in a soap from Nature Bar. And that's why we at thegreenlist.nl this is a good and, above all, original gift for any gift list!
With Nature Bar, you can turn up at any party
In collaboration with Nature Bar
We can set the clock to it: having a birthday, an anniversary or the holidays that are just around the corner are for many followers and readers of thegreenlist.nl gift-giving little moments of crisis. Help, what to give or ask for? Not yet another pointless gift. The global waste mountain is already big enough! But arriving completely empty-handed is also so unsociable... The tip we always give: choose (or ask for) a second-hand gift or something special that really benefits someone. And we all have to wash and take care of ourselves, so how nice is it to surprise yourself or someone else with soaps and personal care products with another, much better story.
Natural(er) soap!
Founder Marlies was travelling in South America in 2019 where she was confronted with her own ‘Western’ consumption habits. I was travelling in northern Peru and had to drive through a rubbish dump before reaching a coastal village. Horrible! You know the mega-high mountains of metal waste deep in Amsterdam's western port area? These mountains were nothing like that. It made a big impression on me. Here in the Netherlands, it is so intangible how much waste we produce, you are forced to face the facts there.’ On the other hand, during that trip she was inspired by the local people who still lived completely connected to nature. There, deep in the Amazon rainforest, there was no waste at all: from leaves to roots, everything was used. And that inspired her to develop Nature Bar. Marlies: ‘I wanted to do something back home in the Netherlands and decided to take the lifestyle I had seen in South America home and apply it so that I can inspire more people with it.’
Bingo! Local, handmade from natural ingredients and plastic-free
We fast-forward to 2023. Nature Bar has grown into an amazing sustainable beauty brand with a full range of body soaps, shampoo bars and even a facial soap. Everything is still handmade and sold from a beautiful boutique soap shop in the heart of Amsterdam. So every piece of soap is unique! And that makes this brand extra cool! The soap-making shop is romantic place that is also absolutely worth a visit by the way. Not in the neighbourhood? No Sweat, there is also a webshop!
Marlies in front of her soap making and soap shop in Amsterdam.
A gift with a good story
This is a great, sustainable gift idea as far as we are concerned. Firstly, because these beauty products are great to get and use (I can speak from personal experience), but you can also plant a seed in someone else with this gift. ‘Because do you know what's in all those personal care products you use every day?’ Especially in the beauty industry greenwashing persistent. Products are labelled as green and sustainable, while there is little to like about them. And microplastics are also deliberately added to products, ‘because it makes it nice and spreadable’. And if anything is bad for the environment (and most probably for our health), it is those minuscule plastics that flow hoppa through the shower drain into nature.
Through a nice soap (or how about this personal favourite: the soap discovery set) from Nature Bar as a gift, you can show that things can be different. And if you can convince someone that this is true for soap, but also for many other things we use every day, then you have taken a huge step forward! And so a Nature Bar soap is a very good gift!
The soap-making process at Nature Bar in Amsterdam.
Soap made from pine needles from Amsterdam Christmas trees and body butter made from apricots: can you eat it too?
The first Nature Bar soap I ever tried was made from pine needles from Amsterdam Christmas trees set by the street. That was a lovely soap by the way. This time I am spoiled with a tin of creamy whipped body butter of, among other things, oil from rescued apricot kernels (€11.90). You would almost want to eat this butter. Furthermore, my pampering package thus includes the soap discovery set that allows me to get to know all the bestselling soap bars at once: grapefruit & rosemary ((circular ingredient: grapefruit peels), orange & calendula (Circular ingredient: orange peels), charcoal & aloe vera (Circular ingredient: roadside grass from South Holland), coffee & cinnamon (circular ingredient: coffee grounds) and pine needles & cedar (Circular ingredient: Christmas trees) (€19.90).
Nature Bar ticks all sustainable boxes
- 100% natural soap with at least one circular ingredient.
- Crafted in a soap factory in Amsterdam, each soap is unique.
- No mess, no microplastics and free of synthetic ingredients such as silicones and parabens.
- Everything is packaged beautifully and plastic-free.
- All products are vegan and cruelty-free.
- Smells great, lathers fantastically and is gentle on the skin. In short, pampering!
- With your purchase, you support a local entrepreneur with a green heart!
Left: body butter, right the discovery set.
Find out more about Nature Bar
Nature Bar's soapshop and shop is open Tuesday to Friday from 12:00 to 18:00 and Saturday and Sunday until 17:00. Address: Hannie Dankbaarpassage 45, Amsterdam. Website: naturebar.co / Instagram: @naturebarsoap.
More sustainable beauty tips from thegreenlist.nl
- Also see: the best storage tips for beauty products!
- Also see: Sustainable care: why the claim ‘natural’ does not always mean something
- Also see: Why vegan lipstick is not always the most sustainable choice.
Photo credits: Nature Bar.
