We proudly make the highest-quality liquid soap there is using 100% natural ingredients. We do this while respecting animals, the planet, and our customers and partners.

That means:

No greenwashing. Our products are made with just 6 all-natural ingredients anyone can understand: distilled water, vegetable glycerin, coconut oil, potash, castor oil, and lavender essential oil. Lab testing by the University of Georgia confirmed our products are entirely plant-derived. Based on these results, the USDA granted our soaps their 100% Biobased certification. The purity of our ingredients also allowed our products to receive the EWG’s best rating for non-toxicity in the healthy cleaning and the skin products category.

Cruelty-free and vegan. We respect animals as our fellow beings. Our products never contain animal ingredients, and we only work with suppliers who don’t test on animals. Instead our families have tested the products for you! Our products are certified cruelty free with Leaping Bunny and certified vegan by PETA.

Clean energy. Our production site is powered by 100% renewable energy through Consumer Energy’s Green Generation program.

Green shipping. Even though it's impossible for us to guarantee their effectiveness, we work with partners who offset our packages not just through one, but three programs. First, via the Shop Pay function that supports CO2 capture and removal. Second, via our partnership with Pachama that protects part of the rain forest. Third, we plant one mangrove tree for every order. We also use only plastic-free shipping materials: just cardboard, kraft paper, and kraft tape.

Zero-waste packaging. All of our natural soaps are available in zero-waste glass bottles. Yaya Maria's products are available at zero-waste stores throughout the US. We offer a closed-loop program that allows stores to return empty containers for refilling.

Minimal production waste. Our manufacturing site sends almost no waste to the landfill. Most of our waste gets reused, up-cycled, or recycled.

Community banking. We steer clear of big banks, which often invest in the fossil fuel industry and disadvantage communities in poverty. Instead we do business with a local member-owned credit union that invests in our community.

Social justice. Part of our proceeds go to Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Greater Flint, a local non-profit that connects children in Flint facing adversity with mentors to ignite their full potential.

Our values help us remain environmentally responsible, socially equitable, accountable and transparent in every aspect of our business, which is why we received the Green America certification.

Learn more about us here.

A few years ago when our founder, Andy, got cancer, his sweet wife developed formulas for the most natural soap there is. She wanted to keep him away from harsh chemicals after his successful treatment and help him live a long and healthy life.

 

Today, we use those exact formulas for Yaya Maria’s. We proudly make the highest-quality liquid soap on the market using 100% natural ingredients and we recently added the a line of powerful organic anti-aging face serums made with bakuchiol, a natural retinol alternative. We do this while respecting animals, the planet, and the well-being of our customers and partners.

 

And if you’re wondering how we got our name, it began with a little old lady named Maria who lived far away, in Greece.

 

One day Maria received news that her first grandchild was born. (“Yaya” means “grandma” in Greek). She was so overjoyed that she decided secretly to give the baby a gift. She opened a bank account in his name the same day.

 

Maria didn’t have much money, but every month, year after year, she deposited a few dollars from her small pension into the account for her grandson’s future. She kept the secret carefully, telling no one. By the time she died she had forgotten about it.

 

Many years after Yaya Maria passed, her son was sorting through a box of her belongings. To his surprise, a booklet fell out. It was the ledger for the forgotten account that Maria had opened for her grandson. The son couldn’t believe his eyes! Immediately, he called his son – Yaya Maria’s grandson – to tell him about the gift from above, sent by his late grandmother.

 

The young man was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of his grandmother. That grandson is our founder, Andy.

 

Yaya Maria’s gift helped Andy start this business. In gratitude, he named the company after her. And just as Maria put aside money for her young one, we donate parts of our proceeds to a variety of social and environmental causes that help children achieve a better future. Yaya Maria’s legacy thereby continues to help today’s young ones.

 

Yaya Maria’s is certified cruelty-free with Leaping Bunny and certified vegan by PETA. All of our products have received the Environmental Working Group (EWG)’s highest rating for non-toxicity and we are Green America certified for being environmentally responsible, socially equitable, and transparent in every facet of our business. That’s how we operate: by respecting animals and the planet while being kind to people and helping the next generation (learn more about our values).