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All Natural Old Fashioned Handmade Artisan Soap
All Natural Small Batch Production Handmade Soap
All of my handmade soaps are natural and made from scratch, by me, using old fashioned techniques and ingredients. The care that was put into soap making generations ago, combined with my own customized recipes, blend the old fashioned goodness, purity, and natural ingredients of old with my own most current research into, and application of, exactly what makes these soaps creamy, powerful, mild, sudsy, and a powerhouse in your skincare regimen!
The beautifully thick lather from these soaps is not produced by any synthetic ingredients or chemical boosters--absolutely no parabens or sulfates!! Each bar of soap is made in small batch production in my own home, with high quality, all natural ingredients to achieve mild, but powerfully cleansing, deeply rich soap. These beautiful homemade bars can be used safely and with fabulous results to cleanse face and body or as a thick-lathered shave soap.
The absence of chemicals make each bar safe and effective for even the most sensitive skin. There are no shortcuts when it comes to making these artisan soaps. They take weeks to cure, but are well worth the wait! The chemical-free skincare power of natural clays and vegetable powders make this lovely bar a powerful multi-tasker in your skincare regimen.
Homemade Soap Made with Organic Herbs
In my quest to make a beautiful bar of soap that is all natural, effective, powerful, mild, safe, and aesthetically pleasing, i have experimented with many many scratch recipes and several processes. I love using organic herbs, flowers, fruit peels, etc. as botanical additions to these recipe.
Some of these botanicals include cornflowers, calendula petals, rose petals, eucalyptus leaves, spearmint leaves, lavender flowers, white jasmine buds, orange peel, green tea leaves, and even coffee grounds. These dried organic botanicals provide exfoliant powers along with the beautiful artisanal look of each handmade bar.
Each bar is also handcut to add to the artisan look, making it not only a useful tool in your skincare regimen, but also a beautiful artisanal handmade gift for absolutely anyone on your gift-giving list! Each bar weighs approximately 5 oz. and is hard enough to last for weeks in your shower or bath, lending beauty and effectiveness to your daily routine.
Sensitive or problematic skin can both tolerate and benefit from the use of these natural oils, organic herbs, and old fashioned processes. I use a superfatting percentage in the soapmaking process that makes each small batch loaded with moisturizing power as well as a chemical free, natural, luxurious, pure cleansing.
All natural Artisan soap made with coconut oil for natural skincare and lather
I am often asked if I use lye to make my soaps. The short answer is, “yes.” The longer answer is that you can’t have soap without lye. You can make detergent without lye, but, not soap. However, once the soap has gone through saponification, which is a chemical change, there is no longer any lye left in the soap.
All that’s left is a beautiful bar of natural soap! I don’t use any harsh sulfates or parabens to create the properties I want. All the powerful cleansing properties come from different oils. One of my favorite oils to use is coconut oil. Coconut oil gives my handmade soap a rich, white, sudsy lather, and helps the bar to harden so that it lasts longer in your shower. I use several different oils to make my soaps turn out exactly like I would want them. After all, I originally made all this just for me. Then, I started sharing!
Many folks ask if I make “old fashioned lye soap.” The answer is….sort of. I do use old fashioned techniques and old fashioned base recipes. The twist is that I then incorporate my newest research by adding some powerful ingredients and some fresh techniques to create my own version of that old fashioned soap! Coconut oil is one of THE most versatile, powerful tools in the skincare arsenal, so all my soaps utilize that powerful tool so that you can too!
Artisan Soaps Made with No Parabens or Sulfates
In the vast world of commercial soaps, you will almost always find sodium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate, or something similar. Our culture has somehow decided that, in order to clean, we have to have suds. While that is not necessarily true, it does feel better to have them there. The sulfates serve to create that bubbly sudsy action.
However, they also strip natural oils and leave your skin very dry. There is much evidence that sulfates and parabens also interfere with your body’s natural hormones, potentially creating many other problems and/or issues. I have a client who says that when she cut parabens out of her life, she quit having headaches.
Every single body is unique. That’s part of what makes it hard to find things that work for every single person. But, to stop using so many artificial products is a great start! I use absolutely NO parabens and NO sulfates in the creation of my lovely artisan soaps. Nor are there any petroleum products used. Each oil I use in these customized recipes contributes something specific to the finished product, so I am able to get that high lather, terrifically cleansing, rich and creamy, sudsy soap naturally! Completely!
Handcut Homemade Bar Soap Made with Essential Oils
The aesthetic value of all things “household” is almost as important to me as the functionality. Who’s with me?! I make things I love. I handcut each bar I create for a more organic look. I just like it better that way. I also add botanical ingredients you can see for some of the same reasons!
The essential oils I add sometimes make a difference in the color, but, mostly give particular functionality to each batch. Essential oils have come to the foreground in our present culture as valuable tools in many different areas. I handpick my essential oils, buying the highest quality oils I can find from the most reputable companies I can find. I have several recipes that include lavender oil.
Lavender has many advantageous properties, which are all perfect for soap! In a skincare regimen, it inhibits bacteria, making it a powerhouse for treating acne. It can also increase your sleep regularity, help repel bugs, and can treat wrinkles and fine lines, psoriasis, and eczema. That’s just ONE of the essential oils I use! Tea tree oil is an antiseptic, an anti-inflammatory and an antifungal. All these make it a perfect choice for addition into a homemade soap.
It is also antiseptic and fights odors! How much more perfect can you get?! I combine tea tree oil with different essential oils to add to the functionality of each bar. Some other essential oils in my toolbox are rosemary, which is antimicrobial and a disinfectant, spearmint, eucalyptus, lemongrass, peppermint, orange, patchouli, vanilla, and many more.
Bar Soap Made from Scratch for Sensitive Skin Great for Shaving
I grew up having really sensitive skin. We could find only one actual “soap” on the market at the time, so had to buy that for me to use. It had no fragrance, and it was very drying. Now that I am a soapmaker, I understand it was the addition of the sulfates that made it so drying. So, I use all real, natural oils and NONE of the sulfates or added chemicals, making every batch perfect for those of us with sensitive skin!
As with any product, if you are allergic to any of the ingredients, don’t use it! However, the chances of being allergic are greatly reduced when the number of ingredients is reduced and the “fake” stuff is gone! My daughter has really sensitive skin. She has a hard time using commercial shampoos without paying a price in itchy scalp and tiny sores on her head. I make a shampoo bar that is specifically designed for hair and scalp benefits. As long as she uses that (or some really stinky, expensive, petroleum based “medicinal” shampoo), her scalp stays healthy!
All of the soap I make, I make from scratch...no kits, no “starters”, so that I know exactly what is in each and every bar. Any of my soaps can also be used as shaving soaps. However, I make a few bars with shaving specifically in mind, adding natural clays to give a protective slip between the skin and the blade, and a thick foam to make it feel great! So, if you are one of “us,” and have sensitive skin, my bar soap is really the only choice for all your skincare needs!
Chemical-Free Skincare
I really cannot stress how important it is to get as many chemicals off your skin as you possibly can. Your skin is your largest organ. There are many medications that can be delivered to your body through a patch on your skin, which indicates that what you put on your skin MATTERS. It’s absorbed by your body! So, be diligent.
It has taken us years, as a culture, as a society, to gain all the knowledge and advancements we have to take care of ourselves. We keep learning. I, for one, do NOT wish to “go back” to having to grow my own medicine….or treat real illnesses with only what I can learn and obtain on my own. So, I get it. There are many manmade things we NEED.
Some of you may have specific needs that require treatment of various sorts. That being said, you can benefit from getting rid of even a few chemicals in your life. There is much to be said for chemical-free living, or, at least, chemical-almost-free, or chemical-free-ish living. Your skincare regimen is a great place to start. Maybe you don’t want to give up some part of your particular routine. Start with cleansing! This is an easy place to be chemical-free.
Old-Fashioned Homemade Soaps Made with Aromatherapy Essential Oils
Some of you may be able to remember your grandmother’s “old-fashioned lye soap." It was probably white and smelled kinda funny, but did a great job cleaning and you even used it to treat chigger bites, poison ivy, and other skin problems. That old fashioned soap served as the basis for all my recipes.
We have become a society, however, that is obsessed with smell, and for good reason. Smell is the biggest memory-evoking sense we have. We sometimes call its effect “aromatherapy.” There have been many many scientific studies conducted to learn about how our olfactory system can be used to help achieve particular mental states, including alertness, relaxation, focus, and energy, to name a few. I add essential oils to my soaps to help achieve these kinds of aromatherapy benefits.
Lavender is calming, rosemary is great for focus, orange is energizing, peppermint is mind clearing, etc. etc. Essential oils are valuable for so many purposes in soapmaking. One of the most societally valuable is the aromatherapy quality. The benefits I consider when formulating each recipe include all the aforementioned qualities, as well as memory evoking qualities. Everyone has different memory triggers, and it’s impossible for me to address every possibility, but I do try to use a wide enough variety of essential oils to maybe trigger pleasant memories and pinpoint aromatherapy needs for most of you!
Natural Soaps with Essential Oils, Natural Clays and Vegetable Powders
When I first started making soaps, I was concerned about using lye around my then small children, so, I used a melt and pour soap. This simply means that someone else has taken the oils through the saponification process, which is simply the chemical process that results from lye reacting with the oils. It gave me the opportunity to start experimenting with lots of different aspects of soapmaking, including the addition of colors, fragrances, etc.
It was during this time that I discovered that what I wanted to focus on was the natural aspect. I didn’t want to use artificial colors, artificial fragrances, or artificial boosters of any kind. After a few years of experimenting with the melt and pour soaps, I found that I could control the outcome much more effectively if I started from scratch.
One thing i discovered is that most folks like color, whether it’s vivid or subtle. If I eat a piece of yellow candy I expect it to taste like lemon. We have many similar expectations. So, in order to address these expectations, I do add color to my scratch, old-fashioned soap recipes. However, I still feel it’s important to keep my bars all natural. So I use various vegetable powders and natural clays to achieve the desired colors.
The colors in my bars are subtle and very natural looking, and are achieved with products like spinach powder, alkanet powder, beet powder, wheatgrass powder, etc. An added benefit is that they also add antioxidant powers to the already rich bars of natural goodness!
Homemade Soaps for a Safe Effective Skincare Regimen
I love to cook. I have done lots of it over the years! Now that my house isn’t quite as full as it used to be, the necessity for lots of cooking has decreased some. So, I get my cooking “fix” from experimenting with my soapmaking! I have always cooked from scratch to avoid certain food allergies and to avoid processed foods and additives that may not have been what I felt like was a healthy choice for my family.
I have forever loved “homemade” anything! Don’t you love to go to a potluck dinner? The Dillard women in our church made the very best rolls EVER. And, they always made HUGE pans full! Well, I carry that same love into making homemade soap. Homemade is just better...as long as I can achieve a safe, effective result. I can! And, I do.
The natural, pure, homemade, handcut bar of soap I produce is a safe and effective addition to any skincare regimen. Each recipe is formulated in response to particular needs. Whether I add activated charcoal, lavender, chamomile, dead sea clay, or any other additive, I am addressing particular individual needs, usually of my own family members and/or friends. I then ask several of those folks to try the soap and report back to me how they like it and how well it served the purpose it was designed to serve.
My soaps are ideal for sensitive skin, for eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, too. I want every bar to be safe and effective in your skincare regimen. I have a soap for you! I promise!
