Who we are...
We are a small family business. Meet Haluk - he's got the magic hands! He makes all of our products himself and when he's not weighing, mixing, pouring and cutting you'll find him selling his soaps at markets and events. You might also see me - Nicola, the other half of the business - at markets too. I have another job but in my spare time I help out behind the scenes and do most of the social media posts, leaflets, website etc. Our boys help out too, mostly with loading and unloading the car on market days but also helping out on the stall, cutting soap etc. My mum and step-dad are also involved. They used to have a soap business themselves and so we have learnt so much from them. In fact, working for them was where Haluk first developed his soap making skills. Now they act mostly as business consultants and aromatherapy advisors but they also help out with the stalls from time to time and give us lots of support in many ways. The whole family are involved with testing the products ....it's a tough job but someone has to do it!!
As a vegan company, and vegan ourselves, our products and processes have always been 100% vegan and cruelty free.
Our gorgeous Black Cat with the wonky whiskers was drawn by our eldest son, Robin.
Owning a small business helps develop many skills. One of them is photography! All the photos on this website have been taken by us and are the property of The Black Cat Soap House.
As a vegan company, and vegan ourselves, our products and processes have always been 100% vegan and cruelty free.
Our gorgeous Black Cat with the wonky whiskers was drawn by our eldest son, Robin.
Owning a small business helps develop many skills. One of them is photography! All the photos on this website have been taken by us and are the property of The Black Cat Soap House.
Where we are...
The Black Cat Soap House is hidden down a little lane in Kirriemuir, a quirky little town in the heart of the Angus countryside in the East of Scotland. It's situated at the base of the Angus glens and is surrounded by stunning scenery.
What we do...
Inspired by the power of plants, we make high quality soaps, shampoo bars and creams which look, smell and feel beautiful. Fragranced with pure essential oils, made from natural and organic ingredients and containing no chemicals at all, we are proud to offer you eco-friendly skincare products which will leave you feeling gorgeous.
Everything you will find in our products, except for the organic clays and pumice stone in some of our soaps, comes directly from plants and everything we use is there because it is beneficial to you in some way.
Our products are great for sensitive skins. There are only a few exceptions, such as the Gardener's Soap because it contains pumice powder to help get rid of the garden grime! As well as many other powerful ingredients, all our products contain Organic Unrefined Shea Butter because of its amazing skin healing and moisturising properties.
Our products are great for sensitive skins. There are only a few exceptions, such as the Gardener's Soap because it contains pumice powder to help get rid of the garden grime! As well as many other powerful ingredients, all our products contain Organic Unrefined Shea Butter because of its amazing skin healing and moisturising properties.
Why the Black Cat?
We love cats! Our cats weren't black and sadly are no longer with us, but they were a big part of our lives for a long time. We rescued their mother who we had found, terrified and starving, stuck on a rooftop in Izmir when we lived in Turkey. Soon after that she had kittens, 2 of which became our special friends. To us, the black cat - or indeed the black silhouette of any cat - is simply beautiful and very distinctive. We believe it represents our products perfectly!
Reduce... Reuse... Recycle...
At the Black Cat Soap House, we have made a commitment to create as little waste as we can. As a family and as a business we're not totally waste free, unfortunately, but we are taking steps to do what we can. We sell most of our soaps and shampoo bars as “naked” slices at our events and online and we have a lower price for bars which are bought in this way.
However, we understand that you may sometimes want to buy bars which are wrapped, particularly for gifts and so they are also available wrapped by Haluk in beautiful handmade paper with recycled paper label bands and also unwrapped but with recycled Kraft bands.
Our creams are sold in glass jars with aluminium lids, our information leaflets are printed on recycled paper, all the wrapping / packaging can be composted and/or recycled and we switched to an electricity supplier which provides energy from 100% renewable sources.
Some of our gift sets, which have glass beads & ribbons or are made from upcycled boxes can't be recycled but we hope you will use these again and again.
Some of our gift sets, which have glass beads & ribbons or are made from upcycled boxes can't be recycled but we hope you will use these again and again.
Bring Back Your Empties!
In our business re-using and recycling is standard practice. We would love to run a refill scheme, but the nature of our creams and the way we sell means that this isn't possible. Instead we can take back your empty jars & lids which we'll wash, sterilise and reuse. Unfortunately this is currently only available if you are local to us or can get to one of our markets or events or if you can return your jars to one of our participating stockists - show with * in our stockists list.
As a small thank you for helping us on our journey towards being a zero waste business, we'll give you 30p off your next Black Cat Soap House purchase for every jar returned.
As a small thank you for helping us on our journey towards being a zero waste business, we'll give you 30p off your next Black Cat Soap House purchase for every jar returned.
If you are ordering online, your naked soaps will be wrapped in a piece of paper or a paper bag to keep them fresh and your order will probably arrive in a re-used box - we hope you will be pleased about this! most of the packaging in the parcel, such as cardboard, paper for padding, tissue paper etc is pre-loved too. We're pleased to say that the amount of plastic packaging we receive from suppliers is getting less and less and although we still do occasionally get bubble wrap or jiffy bags in our parcels we don't re-use this for our customers. We know how nice it is to receive a parcel which is completely plastic free! We use paper tape to fasten your parcels but there may occasionally be some plastic sticky tape on your box from its previous life. You may have packing "peanuts" in your parcel keeping your goodies safe. These are made from plant starch, are fully biodegradable and can also be dissolved in hot water.
Please reuse everything if you possibly can.
If you are local to us, we will happily take back the packaging to use again.
Please reuse everything if you possibly can.
If you are local to us, we will happily take back the packaging to use again.
Safety and Certifications
All our products adhere to cosmetics products safety legislation set out in EU Regulation 1223/2009 (Cosmetics Regulation). This means they have all been safety assessed by a chartered chemist and that we hold a Cosmetic Product Safety Report for each one. For you, this means peace of mind that everything you buy from us is safe to use.
We are a member of the Guild of Craft Soap and Toiletry Makers. The Guild is a peer support network whose function is to raise awareness of and provide information and guidelines about the legislative standards that are in place.
Our veganism is very important to us and we are proud to be a member of the Vegan Traders Union, which is a directory of vegan owned and run businesses.
