One Week Till  Christmas! We hope this season is treating you as well as it is us :D

Soap Making & History Inographic

The Art of Soap Making

Here is a short summery taken from our promotional hand-outs. We just updated some of the information, and thought it would be a good idea to share it with you all!

Well, soap making wasn’t always an art. In fact, for most of history it was a household chore. One that took all day. Typically our ancestors used olive oil, but where there were no olives, such as in colonial America, animal fats sufficed. In the Philippines and Caribbean Islands they used mostly coconut oil. For early soap making, there were no recipes or measurements to follow, they just kind of guessed. Early soaps were also not quite solid, not quite liquid– but had properties of both. It had a consistency similar to a slush that you scooped with your hands or a ladle. It was greasy, unpleasant, and people preferred to wash without it. Early soaps also had no fragrances or colors. That didn’t come till the 19th century, the Victorian era.

During this time woman wore less make up, and put a strong emphasis on scented oils and natural beauty. The industrial revolution brought new technologies: assembly lines and steam power. This streamlined the manufacturing of goods, including bars of soap. They were scented with herbs like lavender and rose, and used “new” ingredients such as palm and coconut oils, and glycerin. For the first time, recipes were constructed, documented, and are now available for people like us. These soaps were considered a luxury item– affordable to only the wealthy. One company still known today, Unilever, had their start during that time.

But as the need for good hygiene increased, so did the availability of specialty soap. It was realized by Dr. Lister (Listerine anyone?) that washing your hands with running water decreased the instances of disease, a revolutionary discovery that changed the medical universe forever. Previously– they believed the exact opposite, that washing your body exposed you to harmful diseases. While soap is not antibacterial, it does do a great job at washing away excess oils containing harmful bacteria– while simultaneously leaving good bacteria behind.  It is no wonder why soap has become a staple to nearly every home around the world.

Lavender

I am going to have to admit, I always hated lavender. I made products with it because my customers love it, and it consistently sells throughout the year. But I couldn't stand it until recently.
As you may know, I have been taking a lot of time lately to clean up my line of products. One of the first things that needed to be done was selecting which scents I was going to keep. With the help of my customers, friends, family, and coworkers, we narrowed it down to 5 scents. One of those scents, which was ranked highly by most, was of course lavender. I had no intentions of including lavender in the beginning, but in the end I am in the business if making people happy.
At the same time, we were formulating a new soap recipe that we were excited to try. We included two new ingredients one that has not traditionally (or ever) been used in soap before. So I decided to test the soap in a scent I know I could sell or at least give away, if it worked. I used lavender.
That night, I was so excited to use the new soap that I didn't even wait for it to cure. And, it was spectacular! I loved the pure, raw smell of lavender in the shower, and the new formula couldn't have been more perfect. It was almost an 'ah-ha!' Moment- this is why people love it!
This was about a week ago, and I now have this lavender soap in both of my showers, and at every sink.

New soap sizes

Good morning! This is much earlier on a Saturday than I planned to be awake, but being the morning person that I am, here I sit smiling with my cup of coffee (Thank you HSCG for the mug!).

Now on to business... While I know people loved the idea of our smaller soaps for gifts, bathroom displays and for personal use- we are going to be abandoning that idea for now.
We are switching to newer, more efficient soap molds, which requires us to change the size of our soaps. The new soaps are easier to hold, and are larger than our previous 'large' bars.
We would like to include the guest size again in the future, but right now we're taking this one step at a time. Being a full time graduate student, mother of two puppies, and a wife has left me less time than I would like to play around with my products, so I do what I can!