Adagio Road Soap Company was founded to make great natural bath and body products to help you slow the tempo of your life...to help you unwind, relax..even if it's only for a brief moment in the day.
Adagio is a direction in music, meaning "at a slow tempo". The weird little symbol above the "i" in our name is called a fermata. The fermata is also a musical notation to signify a hold, pause or grand pause, the duration of which is up to the conductor (or performer).
YOU are the conductor of your own life, you are the one who can hold the pause for as long as necessary.
We started manufacturing soaps many moons ago, under another soap company name. The catalyst to this journey was a little girl, a boo boo and a rash. My daughter had (still has) very sensitive skin, and many of the products on the market (even baby products) gave her rashes.
I decided to make my own.
Since skin is the largest organ in the human body, and absorbs 70-80% of what sits on it, I started by manufacturing the soaps with food grade oils. Since my daughter was so allergic to colorants and fragrances, I eliminated them entirely and scented the soaps mildly with pure essential oils. The result is soap that is clean rinsing, pure and refreshing!
Many people today are de-sensitized to scents. Many products have such strong scents in them that the body adjusts, thus, requiring stronger and stronger scents to be effective. It's always interesting to me how 1 person can smell a fragrance and think it's very strong and another person can come along and smell the exact same fragrance 2 seconds later and say he/she can barely smell it.
Along the way in my manufacturing, I had many requests to make stronger scented soaps and/or scents that are not cost effective to produce with essential oils. (I once manufactured a beautifully pure vanilla soap that retailed for $20, since vanilla essential oil is very expensive. Needless to say, it was not a best seller. We no longer carry that soap)
After some soul searching, I decided to add a fragrance oil line to satisfy the customers who wanted a more natural soap, but were still overly sensitized to commercial fragrances. I've taken some heat on this decision from the "purists" who don't think I should "pollute" a natural soap with a fragrance; however, I have always been of the mindset that people tend to make changes in baby steps. My goal has always been to educate people on the choices they make, then allow them to make choices of their own accord, armed with knowledge. The biggest difference between our fragrance line and other manufacturers, is that we only use phthalates free fragrance oils. Phthalates are ubiquitous in fragrances and have been linked to several health concerns.
We manufacture clean rinsing, high quality soaps, from food grade oils. Most of our oils are purchased from restaurant suppliers. Any palm oil used is RSPO sustainably sourced. Our lotions are scented with pure, 100% high quality essential oils and aren't overly greasy. Any fragrances used are phthalates free, a safer alternative to many fragrances on the market.
We handcraft our products in small, artisan batches from beautiful Skaneateles NY, located in the Finger Lakes region.
One thing is for certain, the world isn't going to get any less crazy, but you can choose to slow the tempo of your life...if even for a moment.
Take the slow road...and see what you find along the way.
Warmest wishes in health,
M Anne Len