Featured image for Bathing Culture Elevates The Daily Ritual Of Getting Clean

Bathing Culture Elevates The Daily Ritual Of Getting Clean

by Rudy Sanchez on 06/15/2020 | 3 Minute Read

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.

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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.

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Editorial photograph

The brand’s founders Spencer Arnold and Tim Hollinger have grown Bathing Culture beyond soap, expanding the range of products to body washes, hand sanitizer, mineral bath, as well as bathing accouterments such as scrubbers, brushes, and towels, all made from natural ingredients, featuring bottles that are either refillable or made from recycled plastic collected from the California coastline. The refillable glass dispensers can get topped off from either the available gallons you can purchase directly from Bathing Culture or partner retailers across the continental US.

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Keeping true to the NorCal, Marin county vibe, colorful, meandering rainbows, and striking typography dominate the brand’s visual identity. It’s hella chill and contemporary, and the bottles and packaging look just as good in a shower caddy at home or Burning Man. Arnold and Hollinger cite American artist and writer Leonard Koren as an inspiration for the branding, and they enlisted the talents of Greg Burkett, Evie Alexander, Kirk Johnson, Ty Williams, and Ayni Ramondi.

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Editorial photograph
Editorial photograph

Creating all-natural and sustainably-sourced bath products delivered in eco-friendly packaging might be enough for most brands, but Bathing Culture also wants to celebrate the ritual of bathing, its ability to bring joy, its transformative nature, and the art and traditions surrounding such a modest necessity.

And let’s face it, any soap maker earnest enough to have a manifesto is probably making some good stuff.

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