Here in BC, we have been enjoying a heat wave. Most people are not having any fun, but us? We love it!! My soaping room is nice and cool, because it is in the basement. The house cools down nicely because we are 100 steps from the sea and we have 4 magnificent trees in the front yard. They keeps us cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
My friends and customers, (same persons), have been asking me questions over time. Since it is interesting to them, I will answer some of them here.
How do I decide the ingredients of my soaps?
That is an easy one.
My sisters once told me: We like Lemongrass and hemp seed oil in our soaps. Thus was born the Four Sisters soap. I have 4 sisters. I taught one to make soap and together, we developed the recipe. It has been a best seller ever since.
My husband helps me a lot to keep up with whole sale orders and one time, he made a mistake and was feeling so bad!! I told him just make a new label, it is a good soap!! And now we have Peppermint/Rosemary soap.
When Aleppo was bombed to rubbles, I was so sad! Five thousand years of soap making history gone!!! I searched high and low for Laurel Bay oil and made an Aleppo soap. I was going to call it “Mourning for Aleppo” then changed my mind. It is called Aleppo’s Triumph because where ever there is soapers, Aleppo lives.
See how it works? People give me ideas. They tell me what they like. Sometimes, I make a soap specially as a gift for one person and because the gift gets shared, I am asked to keep making it, like the Poppy Seed Scrub. And last year, I made a special soap to honor a dream. It was to be gifted, not sold. And we did. But now, people that were gifted it want to buy it so we now have the Spirit Bear soap in the production line.
I make Lotions and Balms too. Every summer, I have people wanting me to make Insect Repellent and Sunscreen. I do not make these. I know how to, but I won’t ever make these until I can afford to get the product tested by Health Canada. With Lime disease, Malaria, Zika virus to name a few, you really want to use a product tested and guarantied to work. I have two friends dealing with melanoma and you don’t want to go there. Use products to protect you FOR SURE. My products would not be tested and might not work. There is more to formulation than just mixing ingredients that will repel insect or make a barrier for UV. Please be safe.
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