It all started with a sunburn.

On a visit to Hawaii island in early 2002, Greg Colden and his partner, Marty Corrigan, went on a six-hour snorkeling excursion. It was a cloudy day, and, not knowing he would be exposed to ultraviolet rays even though he wasn’t in direct sunlight, Colden didn’t apply sunscreen or wear a rash guard or T-shirt.

"As you can imagine, I got fried and wound up with blisters all over my back and shoulders," Colden recalled. "When we got back to the condo we were staying at, I used the ‘natural’ soap that was in the shower. I later found out that the ingredients of that soap were artificial colors, a chemical fragrance and sodium lauryl sulfate, which is basically a detergent. That was the worst thing I could’ve used on my damaged skin."

Although he applied ice on the blisters and stayed out of the sun for the rest of the 10-day vacation, it took six weeks for Colden to heal. Corrigan was convinced something good could come from that bad experience: They could make soap from organic products that would nourish the skin instead of harming it.

At the time, both men had successful careers in the San Francisco Bay Area: Colden owned an insurance brokerage firm, and Corrigan was an underwriting manager and marketing representative for an insurance company.

"Marty’s idea didn’t make sense since neither of us knew anything about farming, chemistry or soap making," Colden said. "But we both wanted to live in Hawaii and thought it’d be great if all the pieces fit together for us to dive into a new venture here — soap making."

Early in 2003 they bought a parcel 4 miles above Kailua-Kona town that Colden describes as "five very unimproved acres." On them were 200 cacao trees, 20 coffee trees, two old mango trees and weeds standing 6 to 10 feet high.

For nearly two years, Colden and Corrigan flew back and forth between Cali­for­nia and Hawaii island to clear the land, oversee construction of their house and plant orchards. "I’ve always been a backyard gardener, but I quickly realized that didn’t automatically make me a farmer," Colden said. "It was a bit overwhelming at first, but then I started thinking of it as, ‘My backyard just got a whole lot bigger.’"

While researching soap making, they came across Allysyn Kiplinger, owner of Artha Hemp Soaps (www.artha­soaps.com), who taught soap-making classes in the cramped basement of her Oakland, Calif., home. For Colden, making his first batch of soap there was the catalyst for going full speed ahead with a big lifestyle change.

"It was thrilling to see soap being made simply by combining rainwater and sodium hydroxide with Allysyn’s formula of olive and coconut oils," he said. "I had tears in my eyes as I stirred that little kettle of soap."

Establishing Kona Natural Soap Co. became a priority. Colden sold his business, Corrigan quit his job and they made a permanent move to Hawaii island in December 2004. While Corrigan assumed the financial, sales and marketing responsibilities, Colden became the self-proclaimed "mad scientist," experimenting with different base oils, essential oils and botanicals for their soap.

Flourishing today at the pair’s Koko­leka Lani Farms are limes, lemons, oranges, tangerines, star fruit, coffee, papaya, avocado, pineapple, rosemary, heliconias, gingers and cacao, from which chocolate is made (koko­leka lani means "chocolate heaven"). Also on site is Kona Natural Soap Co.’s 1,100-square-foot solar-powered factory, where Colden and a part-time employee handcraft 24 different kinds of soap.

Tours of the farm and factory began seven years ago. During a 90-minute visit, guests learn about the importance of crop diversity to create a resilient and productive agricultural ecosystem; the 100 free-range chickens that keep bugs under control; and the company’s soap-making proc­ess, which blends filtered rainwater, natural exfoliants and essential oil scents, and natural oils such as olive, kukui, coconut and palm kernel.

"We don’t use any artificial ingredients," Colden said. "Our soaps’ subtle aromas come from essential oils distilled from real plants. They’re not synthetic, chemical-based fragrances, which dermatologists, estheticians and other professionals have determined are carcinogenic, disrupt the body’s hormone levels and cause allergies and skin irritations."

Popular sellers include Mau­kele (rain forest), made with ground papaya seeds and fir needle and wintergreen essential oils; Ehu Kai (sea spray), an intriguing mix of powdered nori (seaweed) sheets and lemongrass and palmarosa essential oils; Koni (to flutter, as the heart), featuring anise, clove, tangerine and oatmeal; and Lanui (holiday), combining peppermint, cinnamon, cacao and paprika.

Tourgoers get a close look at the soap-making equipment and usually the unmolding, cutting and boxing steps. They can also see, smell and touch some of the botanicals used in the soaps, including coffee, cacao and rosemary grown at Koko­leka Lani Farms.

Factoring in mixing, curing and "resting" time to ensure pH balance, it takes about three weeks to make Kona Natural Soap. Colden and his helper make four batches twice a week — 24 "logs" per day that are each hand-cut into 19 bars. Do the math and that comes out to about 900 bars per week, excluding "orphans," which are sold at a discount because of their irregular size and shape.

Their business requires patience and precision, to be sure, but there’s nothing else Colden and Corrigan would rather be doing. "We wake up every morning filled with joy and gratitude," Colden said. "We’re living our dream."

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.