How to Shop for Soap

This seems like a weird question but I'm sure we have all bought soap that looked and smelled wonderful, but after we use it our skin is all dried out and we're not so impressed anymore.  This is mainly true of commercial soaps but you may have had this experience with handmade soaps as well.  It is my goal to educate as much as possible with this blog so I want to educate consumers about what to look for when buying handmade.

I recently dropped off some of my soaps at Truly Bluegrass where I have items consigned and one of the owners snagged a bar for herself.  On my next visit, she told me that she had tried all of the natural soaps in their store but mine was the only one that hadn't dried her skin out.  I know why.  There is one basic mistake that soapers and makers of other handmade skin care items make.  Coconut oil is NOT a moisturizing oil.  It is a DRYING oil, especially in soap.  If you want to test this out for yourself, go to your grocery store or health food store and buy a bar of Kirk's Coconut Castille Soap.  It costs about a dollar and change for a bar so it won't be an expensive experiment-go buy a bar and take a shower with it.  It's made with just coconut oil and I GUARANTEE this soap will dry your skin out more than any other soap you have ever used!  The same goes with another popular ingredient in handmade soaps-Palm Kernel Oil.  I can't imagine you can add enough shea butter to make up for the drying effects of coconut oil AND palm kernel oil in any soap recipe.

That said, I do like some coconut oil in my soap because it makes a firm bar with lots of suds.  But my primary ingredient is olive oil.  It's stable and moisturizing but isn't creamy and doesn't make lots of bubbles in soap.  So the key here, like everything else in life is balance.  I use enough coconut oil to make a good lather and make the soap firm, but it isn't my primary ingredient.  This is why my soaps aren't drying like other handmade soaps.

What to look for?  When I list my ingredients I list the items in order of content-that is the first ingredient on the list is what I have the most of -so when I list the ingredients in my soap I list olive oil first because that is the most plentiful ingredient.  This is how you are legally supposed to label items so I always assume that are others are doing the same.  So if I look at a listing for a bar of soap and the first ingredient is coconut or palm kernel oil, I assume that the soap is mostly coconut and/or palm kernel oil.  I can honestly tell you that if I see BOTH as ingredients, especially the top 2 ingredients, I won't buy it-and yes, I do buy soap from other people from time to time.

Now, ironically, I am off to make Monoi lotion bars with coconut oil.  I will be balancing the coconut oil with avocado butter and some light vegetable oils, like almond, grapeseed, sunflower, etc.  I am using the coconut oil because it's a must for Monoi oils and I have a bottle of coconut oil from India that has a heavenly coconut scent that I can't duplicate with essential oils.

Black Friday Specials

I still have soaps and essential oils on sale.  Now through Christmas Eve I am offering free shipping on orders over $20 and orders over $50 will also receive 10% off.  Soaps are 20% off and EO's are 10% off through the rest of 2010.  So if you want to stay in your nice, warm house and shop take a look in my shops!

Hyenacart
Etsy
JASaromatics
Artfire

Veterans Day Special

All orders over $20 will get free shipping!  This applies to all my stores for orders placed on Thursday November 11th.

Holiday Specials

I have special sales going on in all my stores for the Holidays.  All Soaps are 20% off and essential oils are 10% off through December 31st.

Glory Be Herbals Hyena Cart

JASaromatics on Etsy

Glory Be Herbals on Etsy

Glory Be Herbals on Artfire

And the Winner Is........

Crystal from Ohio is the winner of the August/September giveaway. She has chosen Love Spell.......yum. Congratulations and I hope you love your soap!
I will have the October giveaway posted sometime this weekend. Stay Tuned!

Palmarosa Essential Oil

It's time for an educational post again. I have decided to talk about Palmarosa since I have rediscovered it lately. Palmarosa is a tropical grass that is closely related to citronella and lemongrass. The essential oil is very inexpensive, so much so that you may only have the option of buying large quatities from some suppliers (like 2 ounces). This oil can be very useful in any kind of skin care preaparation. It's a skin regenerator, antiseptic, anti-viral and antifungal. The aroma is bright, rosey and powdery. As an anti-fungal, it's a much more pleasant smelling cure than tea tree, plus it can help handmade creams from developing the dreaded mold. It helps to balance sebum production in the skin so it can help people with acne-prone and oily skin, plus it may help clear up some of those old acne scars. It's also used to treat and prevent wrinkles. I like it as an economical alternative for rose or geranium or an eco-friendly alternative to rosewood. And good news for us soap makers-the flashpoint is around 190 degrees so it can easily be incorporated into hot processed soap!

August/September Giveaway

Yesterday I decided to revive my other etsy store so I have an etsy forum for my fragrance oils. This store will have soaps, body butters, room sprays and soy candles. So for my August giveaway I will be giving away one of my handmade soaps scented with one of my favorite fragrance oils.

Just leave a comment to be entered. I will also be giving away additional entries for anyone who makes a purchase from my "new" store. I have a link to the right (JASaromatics) and I am adding new items periodically. So if you make a purchase from my new store leave 3 extra comments telling me what you purchased.

Your choices for the soap will be:
Amber Blush (BBW type)
Cucumber-Melon (BBW type)
Green Irish Tweed (Creed type-for men)
Love Spell (Victoria's Secret type)
Lovely (Sarah Jessica Parker type)
Mediterranean Garden Spa
Yuzu

Audrey's Country Crafts blog will be featuring an etsy-mini of my new store in September so I have decided to run this through the end of September. Here is the link to her blog http://www.audreyscountrycrafts.blogspot.com/. The offer will now end at Midnight on September 30th.

I MADE SOAP!!!!......Again

This time I am celebrating my first batch of hot processed soap. It is in the mold cooling but I scraped some scraps together and made a little "bar" that I have already washed my hands with twice. It is looking great! I made a rosewood exfoliating soap with apricot kernels. I had made the sanme soap from rebatched soap before and loved it so I just had to do it again. I may make some more tomorrow or later this week in lavender with some lavender buds mixed in. Watch for it in my stores!

UPDATE 3/10/10-The soap has been unmolded and cut. I am going to let it harden for a few days but it came so beautiful I'm getting ready to make another batch! This time it will be a lavender/citrus castille soap. This is FUN!