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Last updated May 2, 2008 11:08 p.m. PT

Paul Joseph Brown / P-I

Ballard Organics owner Ben Busby-Collins is adamant that all of the products he makes and sells at his University District business are 100 percent organic.

Small Retail: Shop at Ballard Organics with a clean conscience

By DAN RICHMAN
P-I REPORTER

Seattle has a lot of soap makers, acknowledges Ballard Organics owner Ben Busby-Collins. But only his business, actually located in the University District, is certified organic by the state Department of Agriculture.

So what? Well, that means the palm, coconut and olive oils forming the basis of his soaps are squeezed from products grown without pesticides, Busby-Collins said. The absence of pesticides means that nothing toxic touches your skin.

The organic label also means that no hexane is used to chemically extract oil from those sources, he said. Hexane is a petroleum product, the ingestion or sustained inhalation of which has been shown by the Environmental Protection Agency to cause nerve damage.

And those who prefer organic food may find organic products a natural fit, Busby-Collins said.

"A lot of people at first don't understand why you'd use organic oil, but once I explain it, they try the soap and like it," he said. "Organic is definitely growing."

In fact, the term "organic" is acquiring so much consumer appeal that longtime organic soap maker Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps of Escondido, Calif., sued more than a dozen other makers of personal-care products last week for allegedly misusing the word. The defendants, some of whom have filed their own countersuits, include Estée Lauder Inc., Hain Celestial Group Inc. and Kiss My Face Corp.

Busby-Collins estimates that fewer than a dozen soap makers nationwide can accurately claim to be organic.

He's an earnest, fit-looking 33-year-old who'd look as much at home on a commercial fishing boat as behind a 160-gallon, 220-watt double boiler filled with oil and lye. In fact, he worked on such a boat for a while after graduating from Southern Oregon University in 1999.

Always determined to have his own business, he first considered an import store but later became attracted to soap because, he said, "there's a lot of room for creativity." The scents and herbs to be added, ideal mixture of oils, and size and duration of the lather bubbles are all interesting variables to him.

"I'm trying to make the perfect bar -- moisturizing and mild, but long-lasting," he said.

After informally studying soap-making for four years while working at Seattle oil and lotion seller Zenith Supplies, he launched Ballard Soapworks in April 2005, with about $25,000 in startup capital. The name became Ballard Organics within a few months when he determined that organic ingredients were essential to the best possible soap.

For 18 months BusbyCollins worked a separate full-time job while getting his business off the ground. He shortly outgrew his original space in Ballard and moved to his current 800-square-foot retail and factory space in August, where he said he still works seven days a week, assisted by five part-time employees.

There, a dozen scents -- all from organic sources, of course -- mingle in the air, from bestseller lavender to exotics such as cedarwood, vanilla and vetiver.

Bar soaps (3.8 ounces, $3.45 unboxed, $3.95 boxed) come in a dozen fragrances. Liquid soaps ($5.45 for 8 ounces) come in grapefruit, tangerine and lemongrass, among other scents. Foaming soaps ($4.95 for 8 ounces), in five scents, are diluted liquid soap -- refillable and the least expensive option.

Also for sale are soap dishes ($3 to $9), lotions ($12 for 8 ounces) and the store's newest product, a certified organic lip balm ($3) made with Candelilla wax -- not beeswax, which vegans won't use. The store rotates the work of local artists and participates in the art walk held the third Friday of every month from 5 to 9 p.m.

Sales at Ballard Organics grew fivefold last year over the year before, and the store is profitable, Busby-Collins said while declining to provide figures. Still, he said, his employees outearn him by a considerable margin.

The company's goods can be found at its store and at the Ballard Sunday Farmers Market, PCC Natural Markets, Town & Country/Central Markets and several food co-ops.

Business is good enough that Busby-Collins is considering a second location by year-end, probably a workshop to make and age bar soap located somewhere in Ballard. Anticipating higher output, he's working toward having his products distributed by United Natural Foods Inc., a large distributor of organic products that could put him into many new markets.

He said he'd like to incorporate the business and make it employee-owned.

Frequent customer Lauren Graf, who lives nearby, said she's happy to have found a local business that sells a high-quality, useful product.

"I recommend it to everybody," she said. "I feel like a raving fanatic sometimes, but it's a good soap. And it's a business that lets you line up your purchases with what you believe in."