Getting clean isn’t just something pragmatic and healthy—it’s also rejuvenating and therapeutic. People have created rituals around the act of bathing for millennia. Literal and symbolic washing is part of many religious ceremonies, and community baths once served as significant social settings in ancient cities like Rome.

Today, most of us bathe at home thanks to the marvel of indoor plumbing, but that’s not the only difference between bathers of antiquity and us. Most of us today use soaps and cleansers made with chemicals harmful to our skin and as well as the planet. A couple of Northern California guys that liked to get dirty while out riding their bikes found most soaps lacking, so they decided to start making their own by forming personal care company Bathing Culture.