Why face soap?

Months ago I went on rampage to reduce my personal exposure to chemicals. I made a huge shift in my personal care products which meant ousting the skin care and cosmetics I had been using for over 25 years. Having been taught the importance of cleansing my face to prevent clogged pores and such I wondered what to use. I started using my soap and had favorable results. The Lemongrass Poppy Seed was surprisingly good on my face, as was Mint Chocolate Chip. They left my skin squeaky clean without feeling really dry. But soon I started researching facial cleansing soaps to find out what was out there and what people were using. I was surprised to discover that there were few natural handmade soaps formulated specifically for delicate facial skin. I started researching ingredients and off I was on a journey to create my own face soap. I shared early versions of the recipe with family and they were begging for more. After about a year of thought and experimentation I bring to you my new face soaps: Pomegranate and Rain.

The only claim I really intend to make about my face soap is that it cleans your face. When I started making soap I was surprised to discover that soap has chemistry, there's actually a chemical process taking place when you use soap and water. Water alone has surface tension but when you add soap to the mix it pulls dirt and germs away from your skin and they wash away. My all natural facial cleansing soaps being that they are true soaps are guaranteed to wash your face. Since I'm not a billion dollar company backed by a slew of researchers that's the only thing I plan to claim about my new face soap. But what has been surprising to me as I've continued to experiment with a variety of ingredients in my soap making adventures is that each ingredient, even small ingredient changes, change the properties of the soap making each soap recipe unique and different. So it's worth mentioning why I've incorporated the ingredients I have in the face soaps.

All my soaps seem to start with a high percentage of Olive oil because it produces gentle bars of soap. To that I typically add Coconut oil and Palm oil to enhance lathering and produce harder bars of soap, thereby extending the life of the soap. And there's always a smidge of Castor oil added to increase lather.

To the face soaps I've added several "secret" agents, here's why:

Jojoba Oil - most closely resembles the natural sebum in our skin making jojoba a wonderful additive for cosmetics. It also is high in antioxidant properties and is know to penetrate the skin without clogging pores.

Rice Bran Oil - the Japanese have long understood the importance of Rice Bran in their beauty regimens. Rice Bran Oil is high in natural antioxidants that play an important role in fighting free radicals.

Evening Primrose Oil -the GLA in Evening Primrose Oil is thought to control inflammation, it is also thought to be effective against acne and eczema

Secret agents in the Pomegranate all natural facial cleansing soap:

Pomengranate Seed Oil - I can't say enough cool things about this oil! It's my new favorite. I like to massage this oil on my face instead of a moisturizer. It just feels out of this world. And I love what it did to the soap formulation, I just had to name the soap after it! Research is finding great benefit in using Pomegranate Seed Oil to restore moisture and promote cell regeneration.

Shea Butter - also added to increase moisturizing properties, but I find it boosts the lather a tad bit too.

Grapefruit essential oil - added for its skin toning benefits, in aromatherapy grapefruit essential oil is thought to increase concentration. I just love the way it smells!

Secret agents in the Rain all natural facial cleansing soap:

Rose Hip Seed Oil - high in Vitamins A and E as well as omega-3 and omega-6, Rose Hip Seed Oil has been added for its ability to nourish and repair skin.

Lavender and other essential oils - the rain essential oil blend is extraordinary, I think it really smells like rain. I incorporated lavender in this blend first of all for what it contributes to the aroma, but it is also thought to be beneficial for fighting acne. I've also read that lavender is beneficial for dry skin. So I guess it's a universal good for you essential oil. But the long and short of it is, if you struggle with blemish prone skin, the Rain all natural facial cleansing soap might be the one to try.

Please come back and tell me what you think once you've had a chance to try the new face soaps. Ready to make a purchase? Here's some links:

Rain Facial Cleansing Soap

Pomegranate Facial Cleansing Soap

Face Soap Sampler Pack

Chemical free paint?

Wow I just totally have to share that I am so impressed with this paint called The Fresh Aire Choice I picked up at Home Depot. For the past two holiday seasons I've set up my front room as a showroom for my soaps and body essentials. This year I decided to keep the showroom instead of returning it to it's past use as a parlor. Who needs a parlor anyway? So now I'm knee deep in a redecorating project for that room. I dropped by the Home Depot to decide on paint colors and got into a conversation with a knowledgeable salesperson. The conversation started out with me complaining about the Behr paint billed as an all-in-one primer and paint. I informed him that first of all it stunk real bad and I could hardly paint with the toxic smell and second of all it took three coats. So the primer aspect wasn't really working at all. He took the opportunity to point out that the all-in-one paint had a lot less chemicals than the regular Behr paint. So I was in this quandry about whether to buy a paint that stunk real bad in the name of fewer chemicals when he showed me The Fresh Aire Choice. If you're in the market for chemical free paint you should check it out because it really is chemical free. And we were so impressed with how well it went on and the fact that it virtually had no odor. The only downside is there are only 66 color choices. So for those of us match frieks it's a little bit limiting. But I made up my mind that I wanted to try it so I chose a color and off I went. You can see the results. The blue is kind of bright but I think it's growing on me.

The benefits of handmade soap

For several months I've been the featured artist at The Wild Ivy Gift Shop. It's a wonderful shop nestled in Kuna. Owner, Kim Barton, does an incredible job of offering truly unique gifts and accessories. I highly recommend a trip out there if you haven't been. She will be featuring a new artist soon so I'm posting the original article here:

Susanne Schlador, Soap Artist, weighs in on the benefits of handmade soap

Lavande de Bois grew out of my personal obsession with lavender. Ever since I discovered my love of gardening I’ve grown lavender. I love the relaxing herbaceous aroma! After getting my kids off to school full time, I started researching product options for creating a business that revolved around my passion for lavender.

Soap making just kind of found me. I was signed up to go to a four day “boot camp” on making all natural body care products and the night before I was to leave I came down with a severe flu and was unable to travel. The instructor offered to allow me to attend the next “boot camp” which happened to be a soap class. I sat in the class thinking, “Why am I here I don’t even use soap?” I had been an avid shower gel user for years. But the soaps I brought home from the class were far superior to anything I had ever used. And they smelled great too! Soon I was experimenting with my own recipes. I haven’t used anything else since.

How are handcrafted soaps different than the commercially available alternatives? A big factor is ingredients. Large scale soap manufacturers have turned toward the most economical ingredients which often are synthetic. Also, commercial manufacturers tend to remove the glycerin, a natural by-product of the soapmaking process, to add to other products or sell. Glycerin is a humectant which means that it attracts and retains moisture on the skin. Another factor is method. Commercial producers typically heat the ingredients to high temperatures to force the chemical reaction of saponification to occur. I use the cold process method which allows me to combine the lye mixture with the oil mixture at around 110 degrees. At which point I’m able to add essential oils and additives that add skin softening properties to the soap. The saponification occurs over a longer period of time while the soap is laying in the mold for several days. I believe this process yields a gentler, richer soap with assorted benefits for your skin depending upon the additives of each unique recipe.

One thing I love about making soap is being able to blend the goodness of nature with bathing ritual to revitalize mind and body. I consider bathing the singular moment of my day that is for me. Having survived the early years of parenting when no moment is your own, I’ve come to appreciate the ritual of bathing. My soaps are replete with aroma that is uplifting and inspiring, ingredients that soothe and moisturize, and I love to make soap that is artistic. I call it the multisensory approach to bathing even if I don’t have a lot of time for it. I have a firm commitment to using only the finest natural raw ingredients. I use organically grown ingredients whenever feasible. I don’t ever use synthetic fragrances for one very good reason: I’m allergic to the synthetic component of fragrance. In fact, I have quite a few allergies, and I make only what smells good, feels good, and looks good.

Technique and artistry combine to create one-of-a-kind works of handcraftsmanship and quality. Each step in the soap making process involves the soapmaker. Each bar of soap is handmade, hand cut, hand trimmed, hand beveled, and packaged. No two soaps will ever be exact replicas, yet the goodness in the quality and aroma of the soap will be the same bar after bar. The inherent variations in this process enhance the individual beauty of my exclusive soaps.

I personally invite you to experience the all natural goodness of Lavande de Bois handcrafted soaps. Stop by the Wild Ivy to discover the naturally good soap that will nurture a unique you.

Please utilize my website as a resource for product information and as always I invite you to contact me with questions.

Click here for an Independent review of my Mint Chocolate Chip Handcrafted Soap

Happy New Day!

I've talked to quite a few people lately who are looking forward to having 2009 behind them. Whether they've meandered through health crisis or financial trials, relational difficulties or whatever, it's nice to think "it's over" and hope for a different sort of year in 2010. Truth is, I had a particularly difficult year as well. It started with mono and spending weeks on end in bed, not getting out of bed but to go to the bathroom. I didn't even really eat. A multitude of cascading health problems continued to emerge which no local doctors were able to help me with. I made the bold move of seeking medical attention outside the state. The cost has been enormous, but I'm on my way to better health, albeit the path still seems uncertain, and many questions remain for the future.

But it would be tragic neglect for me to not pause and reflect on the incredible gifts that those difficulties have born in my life. If there were one word to describe the gifts I've received it's "adventure". In many ways 2009 has been the culmination of twenty plus years of chronic pain and mysterious health maladies. When several months ago I became allergic to zippers and jewelry I pronounced to my husband "I draw the line at zipper allergies!". He wisely quipped, "What are you going to do about it? Start a line of zipperless clothing? Or maybe you should just go with 24K gold zippers?" As funny as it sounds, there's profound truth in this statement. Out of the total frustration of impaired health new discoveries have abounded.

The wanderings and discoveries of the past year have led me to an organic lifestyle that involves not only purchasing organic foods whenever possible, but growing and canning it as well.

I've also gone chemical free with my personal care regime. After 30 years of mask wearing, I unveiled the real authentic me. I wear some eye make up several days of the week, but typically my face is authentic and naked! Wow this is huge. The other day a friend told me she could never do that because her skin isn't as beautiful as mine. I had to tell her, my skin didn't look like this until I made the bold move to stop wearing the mask. The quest for chemical free skin care led me to create my own face soap, yes it really will be out for sale this year, but for now I'm loving being able to use my own soap with NO chemicals.

And this essay on gifts born out of difficulty would be far from complete without recognizing the people I have met along this journey. Wonderful people who struggle that I might have not had the priviledge of knowing without my own wanderings through difficulty. I must tell this story because it is just a picture of the irony of the struggle. Earlier this month I met the "coffee moms" at our local hot spot for excellent coffee and atmosphere. They are a group of moms from my son's school who meet weekly for coffee. I show up sporadically and they are nice enough to include me. Anyway, on this day, three moms were already seated, and I started to sit down next to one of the moms, I hadn't even landed on my bottom when I found myself subconsciously abruptly changing directions to a standing position and emphatically stating that I could not sit there. The moms looked at me bewilderingly as I tried to explain. Which of course I had to quickly scan my brain for my own understanding. Turns out, as I inched closer to the sitting position, there was a fake Christmas tree behind the couch the gals were seated on and someone must have sprayed Christmas tree fragrance on it. The fake phony synthetic chemicals wafted over to me and I instinctively jerked away. I chose a spot farther away from the tree. Soon another mom showed up who in the past had expressed to me the fact that she was chemically sensitive and the spot near the tree was the only one left. So I casually mentioned to her that I decided not to sit there because of the fragrance and she immediately started backing away. Turns out she's allergic to artificial trees. She discovered the hard way, that artificial trees have latex in them. She has a latex allergy. Anyway the common enemy created an instant bond between us. When a nearby customer left we quickly inhabited his table farther away from the tree and delved into a conversation about how we feel like social outcasts because of our plight and were soon swapping discoveries, successes, failures, and survival techniques for chemically sensitive individuals living in a world that is oversubscribed with chemicals. All this to say, I had an unexpected new friend who understood my plight without me explaining it.

So yeah, while life is incredibly complicated dodging food allergens and chemicals that creep into my life in one form or another and searching for practitioners who are armed with the right information and arsenal of tools to help my unique situation, I am on the adventure of a life time. I am discovering new foods to fuel my body, foods that taste good that I never would have considered eating a year ago. I am finding out that unveiling the authentic face that I was born with actually feels like freedom from the burden to artistically remake it everyday. And I'm discovering people who struggle too that I understand without a word because I've been there too. It's not easy and I never would have chosen this journey. But it's the journey I'm on and I'm learning, growing, and discovering new things because of it. So it's the journey of discovery that I am truly grateful for. I stopped making new year's resolutions many years ago, because plans get redirected, and that always felt like failure. So now, I just take it one day at a time, and for the start of this year I look forward to spending a lazy day with my family!