About Us
It all comes
down to Basics.
It started with one bar of olive-oil soap and a question — why can't everyday skincare be this honest?
Fifteen years on, that question still shapes everything we make: body soaps, perfumes, deodorants, hair and face care, built from a short list of ingredients you can read and recognise.
Everything is scented with essential oils rather than fragrance compounds, and made a few dozen at a time in Hong Kong — to feel good on skin, and to smell the way a garden smells, not the way a perfume counter does.
From an allergic reaction to a Hong Kong brand.
In 2010, our co-founder Gia learned to make natural soap from scratch. Both of us had been reacting badly to commercial body products, and most "handmade" soap on the market was really craft: pretty shapes, bright colours, heavy fragrance.
One day Gia made a bar with nothing but olive oil. No additives, no decoration. We tried it, and it was the gentlest thing either of us had used. That bar was the whole idea — simple, pure, kind to skin and to the environment.
Gia has since returned home to the United States. Edmund now leads the brand, its formulations and the small team that makes everything by hand — and the olive-oil bar is still in the range.
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2010
Gia makes the first olive-oil bar. The idea for a simpler kind of skincare takes shape.
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2011
Bathe to Basics is founded in Hong Kong with handmade cold-process soap.
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2014
Our flagship shop opens at PMQ in Central — smell every product before you buy.
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Today
Soaps, perfumes, deodorants, hair and face care, a refill station, and a brand that shows its work.
A natural brand that shows its work.
Meet Edmund
Bathe to Basics is formulated by its founder. Edmund is a trained cosmetic formulator, and every formula in the range is his — the choice of each ingredient, the dose it's used at, and the reason it's there.
We don't use fear to sell. You won't find "toxin" or "chemical-free" on our labels, because everything is a chemical — including water and olive oil. What you'll find is a plain explanation of what each ingredient does, and why we chose it.
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Every formula is his
No white-label, no borrowed recipes. Each product is developed in-house, from the first trial to the final batch.
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Scented only with essential oils
A perfume built from essential oils behaves differently — the top notes lift faster, the base settles closer to the skin.
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A note on every product
Each product carries a Formulator's Note in plain language, so you know how it works — not just what it promises.
Made a few dozen at a time, by the people who use it.
Small batches, fresh from a Hong Kong workshop.
"Made in Hong Kong" on our label is a promise, not a slogan. Every product is made locally in small quantities, so what you take home was made recently, by people who use it themselves.
Our flagship shop sits inside PMQ, the former Police Married Quarters in Central. Come and smell every scent, refill your Basic Body Soap, Hand Soap or Shampoo at our Refill Station, or find us at our partner stockists across Hong Kong.
Where are Bathe to Basics products made?
Are your products vegan and cruelty-free?
What does "natural" mean at Bathe to Basics?
What ingredients do you never use?
Who formulates Bathe to Basics products?
Is Bathe to Basics certified organic or natural?
Visit us at PMQ.
Bathe to BasicsS404, 4/F, Block A, PMQ
35 Aberdeen Street, Central, Hong Kong
Tel / WhatsApp: +852 9355 1397
info@bathetobasics.com