Our Story
Meet the mother-daughter team behind Lola Arnao.
All of our products are hand-crafted by co-founders Angela Gargano and Kathy Griswold at their workshop in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Angela is a former sommelier-turned-clean beauty enthusiast. Kathy is a chef of over 50 years with a passion for natural ingredients who’s found a new calling in the world of sustainability. Our brand is named after our grandmothers — as a way to honor and be inspired by the strong, beautiful women who came before us!
How Lola was born.
“This idea came about organically and really grew out of my desire to make the switch to cleaner, more sustainable products in my personal care routine. It was a struggle to find certain items — in particular, I had a difficult time finding a shaving product that didn't come in plastic and wasn't chock-full of chemicals like butane. I also noticed that there wasn't much innovation in women's shaving products — unlike the men's shaving aisle which seemed to have options galore. After chatting with my mom about this, she decided to go into the kitchen and see if she could whip something up for me to use that was made from natural ingredients and wouldn't irritate my ultra-sensitive skin. After much trial and error and testing, we came up with a new way to shave — a fragrance-free shave bar filled with good-for-you ingredients like oat oil and mango butter to be used with a shaving brush to create lather (instead of drying chemicals). We tested with friends and family and Lola Arnao Beauty was born. Our fragrance-free solid lotion bar followed soon after and we hope to continue to add new sustainable products for sensitive skin soon!”
-Co-founder, Angela
Ingredients matter.
“I bring the same passion that I had for cooking to crafting our shave bar at Lola Arnao. Whether it’s sourcing the best apricot kernel oil from Spain or the best rose clay from France, I care about where our ingredients come from. I believe that what we put on our body matters just as much as what we put in our body!”