Artistry vs. Functionality: Why We Make It The Way We Do

If you are looking for a bar of soap that is pleasing to the eye in an artistic way or a soap that acts like aroma therapy in the shower…don’t shop in my store.  Haha!

The fact that our skin is the largest organ of the body makes you really have to stop and consider what we’re putting on it.  I mean, come on, how many of us won’t eat or drink certain things because we know the damage it will do to our hearts, gut, etc.? If we are so conscious about what we take in to protect our bodies, why wouldn’t we do everything in our power to protect the organ on the outside?  This is the thought process that lead me to the decision that I wanted only the BEST to be on my skin without any additional additives including fragrances.

I LOVE making soap especially when I get to create something totally from scratch starting from the ground up that I have 100% confidence is going to be safe and healthy for my skin.

For my family’s own personal use as well as our shop, I’ve been working on formulating each soap recipe to meet an exact need without all the fancy bells and whistles.

Please don’t get me wrong, I think artisan soaps are AMAZING!  The skill used to create all those designs is truly praise worthy.   I mean, they are GORGEOUS – so intricate and creative – beautiful! However, I personally don’t buy soaps to hang on my wall.  They need to serve a purpose other than fancy artwork. If I wanted all the pretty colors, I would have to add mica powders, and there’s still a lot of debate on the safety of those minerals…so I don’t even want to take a chance on it.   I just stay clear.

Of course, there are ways to use colors that come directly from plants and foods to mix into soap batter to give subtle color changes, but I typically stay away from those too because I don’t want to increase allergy chances with customers or have to increase the cost of a soap for an unnecessary ingredient.

Look at it this way, if you’re out working in a field, would you rather have a “work horse” or a “prancing princess” to help you do the job?  I’d personally want the work horse because it needs to help do the job.

In order to get the soap fragrance to hold up over time, I’d have to add chemical “fragrance/perfumes” which, already, not going to do it.  I’m staying completely away from anything chemical.  The other would be to add a boat load of expensive essential oils.  Two things I want to avoid with the essential oils, one would be the exorbitant amount of money to pay for the good oils which would then increase the cost to our customers.  The second thing is that a lot of the oils are not safe for skin usage in high doses.  This means in order to get the stronger scent… you know you pick up the bar and smell it…you walk a really thin line of it becoming harmful.

Like the old adage goes, “Too much of a good thing is bad.”  These essential oils that are normally very beneficial to use on your skin and help with all different manner of issues that you could be having, when you have too much of it, it goes from being good to being bad.

So that’s all the stuff I don’t want to add to my soaps. But the things that I do want to add are hand-picked.  The ingredients are all customized to do a specific job.

And a good example of that would be the shampoo bars we sell in our store right now.

There are 3 different bars – Thinning Hair Shampoo, Coconut Milk Shampoo, and Goat Milk & Honey Shampoo.  Each shampoo variety is tailored for the different hair types with no additional colorants or fragrances.  Every ingredient is in there for a purpose whether it be the dried nettle to help control oil production in the scalp or the goat milk, honey and beeswax which adds luxurious hydration.

I may not offer all the pretty soaps to tickle your senses, but I can offer soaps that make your skin/hair feel and look amazing with total confidence in the quality and effectiveness of every single ingredient.