A few of my favorite things!

Skin. Our body's largest organ. And although remarkably thin, it has a mighty big job to do.  Our skin helps us regulate our body heat, protects us from the environment, keeps water and other good stuff in, and allows us to feel (hot, cold, pleasure, pain, pressure, vibration). With all the responsibilities we heap upon our skin, do you really think we should be putting things on it with names like sodium lauroyl isethionate, tetrasodium etidronate, and ammonium lauryl sulfate? I think not!

With all of the wonderful, skin loving, and easy to pronounce ingredients available to me, there are a few that I just can't live without using in my products. I present to you, dear readers, my top 10 11.

1.  Olive Oil: An excellent moisturizer and a good choice for use on babies and people with sensitive skin.

2.  Avocado Oil: In addition to being moisturizing, this oil is thought to be healing as well. High in proteins, amino acids, and vitamins A, D and E, avocado oil is a good choice for those with dry skin, sun damaged skin and eczema.

3.  Shea Butter: Highly valued for its protective and emollient properties, shea butter has been shown to be effective in helping with stretch marks, eczema, extremely dry skin and wrinkles.

4.  Lavender Essential Oil: This is one of the few essential oils that can be used directly on the skin without dilution and is one of the most popular essential oils. Everyone should keep a bottle of lavender essential oil on hand! This oil is amazing on burns, insect bites and other skin irritations.

5.  Jojoba Oil: This oil is actually a liquid wax and is easily absorbed by the skin, leaving no oily residue. Jojoba oil is another ingredient that is thought to reduce and prevent wrinkles and stretch marks.

6.  Goat Milk: Goat milk has a pH similar to our own skin, as well as vitamins and alpha hydroxy acids to nourish and smooth the skin. Additionally, goat milk soap has the most wonderful, creamy lather.


7.  Honey: As we age, our skin begins to lose its ability to retain moisture. Honey is a humectant which will draw moisture to itself and then help retain the moisture. The result is naturally soft, supple and beautiful skin.


8.  Coffee: Yes, coffee! Caffeine is know to have anti-inflammatory properties, which can help to reduce redness, puffiness and under-eye circles. Coffee seed oil is rich in phytosterols which promote excellent moisture retention, quick penetration and has that wonderful coffee aroma.


9.  Oatmeal: Oatmeal is great for soothing dry, itchy skin.


10. Sugar: The glycolic acid combined with its scrubby texture will exfoliate the skin, leaving a healthy glow.


Edited to add:


11. Aloe Vera: Anyone who has ever had a sunburn knows why I just had to come back and add this to the list. It is lauded for its ability to heal and soothe dry, inflamed, and otherwise irritated skin.

There you have it, my top 10 11 list of essential skin loving ingredients for the products I make. Oh, and I just noticed something else. Each and every one of these ingredients can be found at a grocery or health food store! Try finding ammonium lauryl sulfate on the shelf at your local Safeway. Well, I haven't actually looked, but I am pretty sure you won't find it!

Try it...I dare you!

"You can't look at a cupcake without smiling."

Cupcake Cold Process Soap

Where Are My Party People?

June is a huge month for celebrations.  Of course there is the obvious: Father's Day, graduations and weddings. But there is also: my son passed 4th grade, my divorce is final, my shorts from last summer still fit, or that kid in my class is finally moving on to 5th grade. Recently, we have had cause to celebrate the end of "Sprinter", that dreadful season between winter and spring that we seem to be languishing in this year. My point is, just like there is always room for J.E.L.L.O, there is always a reason to party! And what party would be complete without a party favor? Okay, so technically you can have a party without a party favor, but go with me on this, I am getting to the good part.

Over the last few months, I have had the opportunity to design party favors for several events.  I enjoy the creativity that comes with offering you a unique product that will make your celebration even more memorable. If you follow Soapendipity on Facebook, you know that I recently posted about an upcoming contest. I said that it is going to be HUGE and I am not going to disappoint. The winner of this contest is going to win a custom set of party favors (up to 20)!! The favor will be designed around your party theme and I will even let you choose lip balm, lotion, or soap.

Custom Wedding Favors

Here is what I ask of you:

1. Be having a party in June (or early early July).
2. Be at least 18 years of age.
3. Live in U.S.
4. Let me blog about the design process for your favors.
5. Be willing to take pictures and make comments of the event for an upcoming blog post.

Baby Shower Favors

What? You say you don't have a party planned in June? I am sure you can put on your thinking cap and come up with a reason you need 20 little celebration gifts. But in case you are still stuck, here are a few:

• End of the year teacher and school support staff 
• Girl's night out (you know you want one!)
• Family reunion
• I'm moving, here is my new address
• Neighborhood barbecue
• It's not Monday
• I'm out on parole
• The world did not end on May 21
• The test came back negative (or positive)
• Got that promotion at work (or its cousin, I survived the latest round of layoffs)

You can enter this contest by writing a comment to this post telling me about your celebration, the party theme, and what you would choose (lip balm, lotion, soap) if you win. And to sweeten the deal, here is how you can get extra entries:

1. "Like" Soapendipity on Facebook with your personal profile.
2. Follow Soapendipity on Twitter.
3. Post a link to this blog contest on your personal Facebook page. (Make sure you tag @Soapendipity in the post, so that I can see it.) Only once a day, please.
4. Tweet about this blog contest with a link on Twitter. Again, only once a day and tagging Soapendipity.
5. Follow this blog via email.

Be sure to post an extra comment for each entry. I will be randomly drawing a winner next Friday, June 3rd. 

Giving Soap: A Tutorial

My friend Amy gave me some cute washcloths and asked if I would put each of them together with a bar of soap. I tried a few different ways of assembling them, and finally settled on this "swaddling" technique.

They turned out so cute and they were super easy to do, so I thought I would share it with you how I did it.

Start with some new washcloths.

Lay one out flat (tag facing up).

Begin folding each corner toward the middle.

Now you see that all four corners have been folded in, and your square should be on-point.

Fold the top point down to the middle.

Place the bar of soap onto the towel, aligned with the top fold.

Fold the bottom point up, as you did with the top.

Then, fold the bottom up over the bar of soap.

Continue swaddling the soap by folding in the sides.  You should make it pretty snug, you don't want the baby...err...bar of soap to fall out.

Tie with a ribbon.  In this case, I re-used the ribbon had been bundling the new washcloths. Don't you just love that?!

Did you notice my switcharoo from blue to pink?  I didn't have anymore ribbon from the bundles left to tie the blue one, but I think I was able to get six tied with the two lengths of ribbon I had.

So cute!

And oh, so easy!

Consider trying this the next time you buy a bar of my soap to give to that special someone.  It's a gift that is sure to be adored and appreciated! Pretty AND practical, how can you go wrong with that?!

Is That Glycerin Soap?

That is a question I get asked all the time and usually it ends with a much longer explanation from me than the yes or no the customer was expecting. Maybe the explanation is appreciated and maybe it is just TMI, but nonetheless, it is something I LOVE to talk about.  So.....

Is that glycerin soap?

Short answer, yes.  But the teacher in me wants to pass on to you what I know, so if you ask, I must insist you sit through my little science lesson. And this lesson begins with some high school chemistry. And since I am an English teacher and not a science teacher - I promise to keep it simple!

acid + base = some by-product of the chemical reaction

What happens when you add baking soda (base) to vinegar (acid)? You get the ubiquitous science fair project bubbly volcano.  Well, what happens when you mix lye (base) with oils (acid)? You actually get two by-products, soap and glycerin! Glycerin is a colorless, sweet-tasting liquid, which acts as a humectant.  This means it will draw moisture to your skin and is wonderfully emollient and gentle.

Wait a sec, back up...did I say LYE?  As in that stuff that is used to clear clogged drains?  Yep!  Does that mean there is lye in my soap?  Nope!  My soap recipes have been carefully calculated so that every bit of lye that I have put in, gets used up in the chemical reaction process (also called "saponification").  In fact, if anything, there ends up being a little bit of the oils left over, which makes my soap even more skin loving!

But I digress - we are supposed to be talking about glycerin soap here.  Because the natural by-product of the soap making process is glycerin, technically all soap is glycerin soap - even though I haven't actually added any glycerin to my recipe. However, when people think of glycerin soap, they are usually thinking about soap of the "melt and pour" variety.

Melt and pour soap is the soap I use at the make-it-yourself soap bar.  It is made by the same process that I make my soaps from scratch, but it is specially formulated to be able to melt down smooth and stay transparent.  It does this, in part, with the addition of EXTRA glycerin - hence the "glycerin soap" moniker.

Did I tell you there would be a quiz at the end? No? Lucky for you, this quiz only has one question:

Is that glycerin soap?

Correct answer:
Yes it is!

So ends my science lesson for the day.  I hope that my explanation has been as clear as, well...glycerin!