A little background music, please....

I started creating soap for myself. Period.
I have finicky, delicate skin (I am that red headed stepchild with sensitive skin you hear about). Nothing that I used on my face or body helped - at least for very long. Some products worked for awhile and then stopped 'doing that voodoo'. Other products (no matter the cost) irritated my skin. ick.
I launched my soap line and body exfoliation lines for me.

I am into serious exfoliation! Now, I create scrubs of baking soda (Yes! A teaspoon of baking soda  mixed with my soap lather is my facial favorite); sugar and sea salts blended with the oils and or/carriers that are seasonally appropriate is my choice for body exfoliation.

Other people seemed to like my skin, my soap and my body products too.

It does not hurt that I was blessed with good skin genes either, but I am convinced that my soaps, exfoliation products and intensive attention to moisture are Mother Nature's Helpers....and I am never without a humidifier. A wonder of the world!

Above is one of the best soaps I make and use - it is a super-fatted, ultra-packed bar of fabulous triple shea butter - ever so very delicately scented with Rose Otto essential oil. This soap is superb for face and body - and gorgeous-looking too! The embedded crushed rose petals at the top are so sweet! This was the very first cold process soap that I created - and it remains one of the best.

I also use my Pitta facial soap, alternating with the ultra emollient Mango and Avocado Buttercream soaps. Sometimes I use a very rich oat and honey soap that is lard-based. This last soap is not for vegetarians, but in the winter, this carnivore's skin loves it.
We all tend to take our hot water for granted, but to me, hot water and an excellent soap is true luxury and pampering.

I use the same soap on face and body. Why use different types of cleansers? No need!

A true confession ....

I will let you in on a well-kept secret: my love is.....a luxury bar of cold process soap! The bills can mount up, the house can be falling apart, my mood can swing like a pendulum, but throw me in a tub or a shower with a bar of great soap and I am ready for the revolution!

A little background: cold process soap is Grandma's old fashioned lye soap. Lye + fat = soap. I make my soap from scratch the same way as Grandma did, but in limited, small, artisan batches. After aging for a few months to a few years (yes!), the soap is turned out in rustic slices. The aging gives creamy lather and mildness and assures a long-lasting bar.

My soap has a few contemporary additions that Grandma's did not have - luxury butters (think shea, avocado, mango, almond), organic and food grade vegetable oils like olive oil. sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, almond oil, I like adding ground vanilla beans, dark chocolate, white chocolate, ground almonds, heavy cream, various milks, honey- you get the point. I am also fond of sparkling micas, French clays and exotic essential oils.

This soap looks good enough to take a bite of (like the bar pictured above), but please do not eat the soap!

The soap slice above is a triple lemon soap with poppy seeds and lemon peel. The fragrance is lemon, lemongrass, lemon verbena and some other secret essential oils.
This soap is good, People! And good for you!!

Image above is of a goat milk and almond soap slice. With ground almonds tossed in for gentle exfoliation, this is a mild, creamy bar of goodness. Very lightly fragranced, this soap would be a great complexion soap. Speaking of complexions, I only use my own soap. My skin is highly sensitive (think "redhead"). I started making soap out of sheer desperation (and vanity).
I am passionate about making my soap!
The possibilities and endless combinations are artistic and pleasurable to me. The pricing of these soaps is affordable too. Once you use a good bar of real soap with wholesome ingredients and non-irritating fragrance, you may toss even your chemical-laden body washes!
Now, I control what goes on my face and body (no preservatives or chemicals!!) - and at the risk of tooting my own horn, my skin has never looked nor felt better.

Now - hand me my soap and scrub brush - I am going in!!

Let the revolution begin!!