Our Soaps

All of our soaps are handcrafted from the highest quality ingredients we can get our hands on, and while we've tried lots of other handmade soaps, we still love ours the best. Does that mean you will too? We think so, but there's definitely different strokes for different folks.

We like soaps with creamy, gently bubbling lather that are highly conditioning. We also like soaps with bright fun colors and interesting, unique ingredients that are good for you. We aren't really interested in being super crunchy or organic, and while we do offer one vegan-friendly soap, that isn't really a cause near and dear to our hearts. On the other hand, we love that our soaps are 100% palm free, and they all (except for our Vegan-friendly bar) contain Tussah silk. We also think it's important to choose fragrances that are paraben-free, and we use micas or natural colorants (like activated charcoal or clays) to color our soaps. 

And here's a shocker--all of our soaps are made with lye! Yes. It's true. In fact... ALL soap, everywhere in the world, is made with lye! Even the melty soap you find at craft stores or the soap you buy from your health food store that doesn't SAY it has lye in it. It does. Unless the product you're using is actually a synthetic detergent, then your soap was made with lye. 

Does this scare you? It shouldn't. Rather, we hope that this knowledge empowers you! All fats, butters and oils have something called a saponification value, which is the amount of lye needed to saponify, or chemically change, that fat/butter/oil into soap molecules. Note that this is a chemical change. You take two things and put them together to get an entirely new third thing. In a correctly crafted soap, there is no lye left after saponification is complete. However, most soapers today use extra oil/fats/butters to ensure that there is no extra lye, and to create bars of soap that not only clean, but also moisturize and condition skin!

When you think of the soap made by great grandma Hazel, you probably think of soap that stung your skin, and left you as dry as cracked leather. That's because the identification of saponification values (or sap values) is a relatively new concept. Instead of just pouring some soda ash (aka rainwater from our ash pit) over our collection of bacon grease drippings (I literally found an antique soap recipe that said to do this) and hoping everything worked out well, soaping is now a very scientific occupation where everything is measured with precision to the gram. So don't worry, our soaps won't sting or burn you. They have been crafted by a certified soaper with years of practice, research, and a passion for beautiful creations!