my soapy story
Meet susie
In the early 80’s, I began to take an interest in what kind of ingredients were going into the products I used daily. I noticed that the “soap” I was using seemed to leave my skin “bone dry”. I heard stories about how “back in the day” people made their own soap “cakes” and being the curious do-it-yourselfer that I am, I set out to find out how. I found a recipe, gathered my equipment and ingredients and made few batches of soap for myself and my family. After the cure time, I started using it in the bath and shower and found that this “handmade soap” was absolutely wonderful. This soap – that I made in my own kitchen - was so moisturizing that my skin was actually staying hydrated! I was on to something here --but since my children were very young, I decided to file-away my soaping desires for a bit and stocked up on handmade soaps by the few other amazing soap artisans that I could find around my area.
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Fast forward a few decades and my youngest is now grown and has a son of his own. In February of 2014, I started “playing” again! Yay! When I started doing more research, I found that there are so many carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, petroleum additives and synthetic ingredients in what is offered out there in the market that I just wanted to get back to the basics. I wanted to use ingredient names that I could pronounce!
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I met and took classes from the most amazing Soap Teacher in my area. During my time in class, I learned that most of what we can find on store shelves are “detergents” - not real soap - and they can strip the natural moisturizers from your skin. No wonder my skin was always dry! Then I learned that big manufacturers even strip the glycerin out of the “soap” they make and use that to make their lotions (that we buy to put moisture back into our skin that their “detergent” stripped out.) Ouch, how’s that for a catch 22? Handmade soap makers don’t do this. The natural byproduct of combining lye and oils (glycerin) stays in handmade soap and hydrates your skin. The more I learned, the more interested in trying to create “junk free” products I became!
I have spent hours-upon hours having lots of fun playing, experimenting and testing to find just the right combination of yummy, skin loving oils and ingredients that I would love to use on my own skin. I must admit - this whole excursion was all about me (at first) and now I hope you will give them a try and even love these goodies for your own skin, too!