The Story of Maxwell's Soaps

                Our Commitment

For every bar of soap we sell, Maxwell's Soaps will donate a bar of soap to the homeless or folks in need!

 video credit: Chet Hay

Maxwell’s Soaps believes that having access to soap and water is a basic human right and we want to begin by bringing hygiene to the homeless people here in California and then beyond.

Call this common-sense public health.  

If you want to stay healthy, you must prevent the spread of disease and sickness... To do this, you must make sure your poorest people at least have access to soap and water!

So we decided to start a company pushing for the America we want to live in...where nobody is so poor they can't get clean.

We are committed to honorable, common-sense practices.  

Thank you for choosing us !

DON'T BE NASTY!

For us, "Don't Be Nasty" means not only to get clean but also to honor and respect your fellow human beings.

"Don't Be Nasty" at Maxwell’s Soaps represents the idea that we all have a shared responsibility to try to make things better.

"Who is Maxwell?"

Maxwell was raised in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee and was  first exposed to old-time DIY crafts like and soap-making and blacksmithing as a child. He has called California home for the last 25 years.

Maxwell is a Navy Corpsman and combat veteran with multiple deployments around the world. A Navy Corpsman (AKA combat medic) is tasked to take care of the sick and injured while conducting combat operations in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Personal hygiene and public health for their fellow Sailors and Marines are some of the less glamorous yet vital duties every Navy Corpsman is responsible for.

Spending the majority of 16 years living on ships or out of a rucksack and constantly moving on combat patrols, Maxwell learned a universal human love of keeping clean.  Having even just a brief shower improves morale quickly, both for the individual and for the group. 

After coming home from Afghanistan to Los Angeles, artisanal soap-making became a peaceful and calming, meditative hobby of Maxwell's that quickly formed into a business. 

  While working in a high-rise loft in Downtown L.A. near Skid Row, we became alarmed at the lack of public health and hygiene among the city's homeless, especially those forgotten, PTSD-affected veterans living on the streets.

Military folks don't leave their brothers behind, and doing nothing for these people living on the streets seemed like a betrayal of the values and principles learned in combat.

And so, Maxwell's Soaps was born.