Soap - Olive Oil

YoggieBear creates each of our products in Te Aro (Wellington), New Zealand. We are therefore, able to create a product or crafted work of art just for you! Whatever that may mean!

Whether it's a different sized handle, an adjustment in fragrance, or something totally unexpected, we are here to empower you. We work with you to deliver to your exact requirements, giving you full control over your choices.
You may be concerned about the cost for a custom item, there is no need to be. Many of our stock items can be altered to suit you at minimal cost.

YoggieBear was the nickname of one of our founders and when we were looking for something that would differentiate YoggieBear, we combined our love of Bears, especially those that have endangered populations and worked with ingredients common to that bears native habitat. Each Polar, Tibetan, Sumatran or Spirit product sold contributes to the welfare of these awesome creatures.

You can also visit our store and peruse a collection of Teddy, Scare and bears of other persuasions we have collected.

Sumatran Black Bears

Also known as Sun Bears, are the worlds smallest bear and the most arboreal. found in tropical forest habitats of Southeast Asia ranging from northeastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam to southern Yunnan Province in China, and on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia. YoggieBears fragrance is based upon Frankincense, Cedarwood and Fir Needle of the southeast asian highlands.

Tibetan Blue Bears

The Tibetan Blue Bear is a sub-species of the Tibetan Brown Bear and is one of the rarest sub-species on the planet and is rarely sighted in the wild. Historically found mainly on the alpine eastern Tibetan plateau (4,500 to 5,000 metres) in eastern Tibet, western China, Nepal, and Bhutan. The remaining bears in the wild seem to be confined to eastern Tibet and Bhutan. Yoggiebears fragrance includes Orange, Clove, Juniper and Sandalwood, reminiscent of the Tibetan Highlands.

Polar Ice Bears

Polar Ice bears are the planet’s biggest land-based carnivores – although they actually spend most of their lives around water and ice (their Latin name means ‘sea bear’). So they’re at particular risk from global warming, which is melting the Arctic sea ice they depend on. Hence Yoggiebears fragrance is of Eucalyptus and Sage, a bracing cool combination.

Spirit Bears (fragrance under development)

Spirit bears aka Kermode bears are a subspecies of the North American black bear with a rare recessive gene that makes their fur white or cream. Spirit bears are not albino. They have pigment in their skin and eyes, which wouldn't be the case with albinos. Spirit bears have a single mutant gene that causes their unusual colouration.

Genuine New Zealand Sea Glass

Sally handmakes everything using sea glass collected locally from the beaches here in Wellington. The glass has been rumbled by the ocean for years giving it the beautiful smooth edges and frosty appearance.

Sally has always collected seaglass and during lockdown, turned her passion for collecting sea glass into creating beautiful jewellery and gifts.

Sally hails from England and moved to Wellington with her Wellington-born husband and daughters in 2015.

Sallys' happy place is the beach, and in any season, you'll find her there at least once a week, come Wellington rain or shine!

Hi, I’m Petra and I am Old School Soap.

I plan, thoroughly research, and make all the soap and other skincare products offered by Old School Soap. I have been making skincare for myself, family and friends for over 25 years and started my soap making journey in 2013. In 2015 I launched Old School Soap. I am pictured here with my daughter, who can be found helping me out at some of the bigger markets.

Old School Soap is an Eco-Friendly brand with a strong reduce, reuse, recycle ethos. Our labels and packaging are plastic-free, some packaging is home compostable and via YoggieBear, we also offer a store credit for bottles and tins returned in good clean condition for us to refill.

A bit more about me

I have always been interested in natural medicine and healing and have been researching, learning and enriching my knowledge of Herbalism, Essential Oils and Natural Heathcare throughout my adult life, and have been making skincare preparations for personal use for well over two decades.

As someone who suffers from chronic psoriasis and having extremely sensitive skin myself, I am familiar with the struggles that others have in finding body products that don’t irritate any issues that they may have.

Several years ago I attended a workshop on soap making run by a trained chemist with an interest in self sufficiency. My objective at the time was to make enough natural soap for my household and possibly for gifts for extended family and friends.

Soaping however had other ideas. Our household quickly became overrun with soap and I took a short break from making to establish whether there would be a market for my surpluses.

I attended a business course, completed a business plan, cemented my ideas, ethos and ethics and developed a brand. Phew! Throughout this time I was also continuing to research and learn about soap, ingredients, and methods. I tested and tweaked recipes, getting better results each time until I was fully satisfied with the soaps that I was making.

I also attended a course on natural skincare run by a well regarded Herbalist, this formalised my knowledge. This has given me the confidence to add some of the skincare preparations that I have been making for years to the Old School Soap range and some of these are available at Yoggiebear.