Natural, handmade soap has been around for eons....

"with the earliest tale of Romans discovering soap around 1000 B.C., in an area called Mount Sapo." ~Mary Humphrey, Alyssa Middleton

It wasn't until the 13th century, in France, that soap evolved to be more of how we know it today, including fragrances, perfumes, and herb infused oils.

Having purchased handmade natural soap from others over the years, I decided one day to start making my own. I bought some books, got really excited, bought some tools and ingredients. And started making soap! It's a lot of fun! So many different scents, fragrances, and oils. Then we started using our first couple bars of soap and oh. my. gosh. So soft and nourishing to the skin. My husband had a dry patch on his tummy that literally vanished after two days of using our first batch of lavender rosemary soap in the shower.

Natural soap is made by a chemical reaction between the base oils and sodium hydroxide (lye) called saponification. The combination of the oils and the lye forms a neutral salt, known as soap! Our soaps are made using the cold process method where the oils are heated, then cooled, and mixed with the solution of lye and the chemical reaction of saponification occurs. The then semi-liquid mix is poured into the mold and allowed to sit for 24 - 48 hours while the saponification process completes and the soap become hard enough to cut into bars. Then it takes 4-6 weeks to cure. This is the time when the remaining excess moisture leaves the soap and the bar becomes good and hard.

Chemistry lesson complete.

Then I wanted to learn more about aromatherapy so I got more books. It is really amazing the wonderful world of natural medicinals that plants bring to our world. Many current drugs and pharmaceuticals originated with plants. Essential oils are exactly that - the essential oil, or essence - of the plant.

"Essential oils, also known as volatile or ethereal oils, are oils derived from organic plant matter. They are the concentrated aromatic essense of the plant they've been extracted from. These oils give the plant a distinctive smell. In addition to scent, essential oils contain a number of naturally-occuring compounds that are known to be beneficial to the human body. They're packed with nutrients, vitamins, minerals and all sorts of other helpful chemicals that aid the body in a number of ways." ~Marian Johnson, 2012

And I learned even more about the beneficial qualities of my base ingredients - the large amounts of oils that make up most of a bar of soap, such as palm oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, olive oil, canola oil (an old fashioned hybrid plant oil, not necessarily the genetically engineered plant oil some claim it to be), avocado oil, jojoba oil, etc.

"Handmade soap retains all the natural glycerin in the soap..." ~Dr. Robert and Katherine McDaniel

It continues to be an exploration in learning and experimentation and we are continually improving our own process as we gain more and more knowledge with each new batch as well as from our own theoretical research.

Thank you for your visit, I hope you find something you like!