Kauai Nō Ka ʻOi

Which means “Kauai is the Very Best”     See Also : Our Team Members
I was born and raised on the Hawaiian island of Kauai known as the “Garden Isle” so I am an original “Kauai Girl”. My family and friends call me Ms. Chrissie as my Hawaiian name is so very long: Kilikina Keleka Kealaonaona…(plus even more names, Christian, Maiden and Married Last name). Kilikina means Christina or Christine, Keleka means Theresa and Kealaonaona means soft fragrant path. It is so long that my Hawaian/Christian/English maiden married name had to be shortened to an aka of: Christine M to fit on a California U.S. drivers license, but Utah doesn’t shorten names so it takes up 2 lines on my Utah drivers license.

My childhood was, as you might expect growing up in paradise, absolutely WONDERFUL. My “Tutu” (grandma) was a loving Hawaiian woman who taught us all the “True Hawaiian Ways”. We lived just a sticks throw from the ocean and spent a lot of time playing there. The men in my family would come back from fishing and mountain hunting trips and my tutu would teach us girls how to prepare all of the wonderful traditional Hawaiian meals. We learned how to make leis from the local plants and blossoms and we learned how we fit into life as Hawaiians.

In my teenage years, our church formed a Hawaiian dance troop where my sisters, cousins, friends and I danced traditional hulas for the tourists, dignitaries at Luau’s in the two major hotels on Kauai at that time and Elvis was one of our repeat customers.

My favorite things are the smells and beauty of my islands.
I love the Hawaiian traditions, the music and the island life and ways.
After graduating college with a teaching degree, I became a wife, mother and school teacher. We have seven children who are all grown and in their careers from professional mommies to teachers, doctors and everything in between. We have 21 beautiful grandchildren and more coming. All of my blood granddaughters and our kitties have Hawaiian names too.

While we were working on our careers we bought a small ranch in the High Uintah Mountains and named it “Cougar Ridge Ranch” because the big cats roam the ranch throughout the year. It’s high in the Rocky Mountains of eastern Utah with beautiful views and clean air. After retiring we moved there permanently so we could take care of my husbands aging parents. The town of Fruitland has a gas station/deli/convenience store, cemetery and fire station.  The closest bigger town is Duchesne which is a small and friendly town like my hometown growing up and the beauty, peace and serenity of the mountains touches everyone who visits.

We knew that natural handmade soap and personal care products were better for your skin and the environment than commercial soaps and products, so we started making traditional soap in our spare time. This lead to my husband making some wonderful modifications (upgrades if you will) to the recipes by applying his chemistry and creative abilities, and the soaps that we created were so fun to make and so fulfilling to give as gifts and loved and prized by those who received them that we just had to make more.

Friends loved them and we couldn’t make them fast enough so with pressure from friends and family we decided to make a business out of it and Kauai Girl Soap was born.

All of our recipes are based on the traditional soap recipes that we started with but now we add the colors and fragrances of the islands that I loved so much as a child growing up in paradise.

Most of our products contain natural ingredients from the Hawaiian Islands and from our ranch (Cougar Ridge Ranch) located very high in the Uintah Mountains of Eastern Utah. The ranch name reflects that it is on a ridge that the mountain lions frequent. Yes, there are many times of the year when we must be armed and vigilant for self preservation…these cats will kill you if they get the chance.

Some of the products from Hawaii: Sand, Kelp, Salt, Sugar, Coffee, Clay, Red Dirt, flower blossoms, grasses, nuts, some base oils, some carrier oils, some essential oils and some fragrance oils, plus love, honor and traditional ways.

Some of the products that come from our ranch “Cougar Ridge Ranch”: Chamomile, Spearmint, Peppermint, Aloe Vera, Lavender, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Sage, Thyme, Pine Rosin, Pine Nuts, Juniper Tree (Cedar) berries, Bees Wax, Honey, bee pollen, chicken egg shell. We also use goats milk from our neighbors ranch.
We hope you enjoy our products and let them take you away on a mini aromatic vacation to my island of Kauai and beyond.