What's The Best Soap To Use For....?

What's the best soap for ~fill in the blank~?

I'm often asked this question and I love it! I love it because it's an opportunity to talk about my soaps and explain why I choose the ingredients I do. Being able to pick and choose which ingredients I put in my soaps and therefore on my body is one of the main reasons I became a soap maker.

For almost all my body and face bars I start with olive oil, coconut oil, rice bran oil, castor oil, cocoa butter, goats milk and tussah silk fibers. These luscious ingredients form the base of most my soaps and on their own create a very moisturizing bar. I then get creative and depending on the soap I want to make, I'll add special ingredients that are known to benefit skin in one way or the other. These special ingredients determine what's the best soap for a particular skin type or problem.

Before I go any further, I would like to say that for most skin just changing to a good handmade bar of soap will bring noticeable benefits. Many store bought soaps and body washes contain petroleum products and other harsh chemicals and discontinuing use of them clears up many skin problems. However, if you're still having skin issues, perhaps the special ingredients I've added to some bars will help.

Dry Skin

I'll start with the most common skin problem, dry skin. I have a number of bars that work great for this ailment. 

• 
  Honey Beeswax Honey will deep moisturize your skin and beeswax will hydrate and lock the moisture in.
  
• Oatmeal Calendula For dry itchy skin, it's hard to beat colloidal oatmeal.
• Calamine, Oatmeal, & Honey For very dry skin added calamine is another defense.
• Eucalyptus Peppermint Studies suggestion the eucalyptus essential oil may strengthen the skin's natural moisture barrier.
• Indigo Peppermint Basil Indigo is great at relieving redness and irritation and soothing dry skin.
• Coconut Oil Free Lavender Eucalyptus This bar has no coconut oil in it so extra olive oil is used making for a very moisturizing bar.

Oily Skin/Acne

The following bars work great for acne and oily skin.

• Cinnamon The antiseptic effects of cinnamon fight bacteria that cause acne.
• 
  Activated Charcoal Removes impurities and deep cleans.
  
• Tree Love with Activated Charcoal
• Safflower Anise Both safflower and anise help fight acne.
• Indigo Peppermint Basil Antiseptic and antibacterial properties of indigo powder make it great for healing acne scars.

Eczema/Rashes/Insect Bites

• Himalayan Salt Has anti-inflammatory properties that heal and soothe skin.
• Orange Poppyseed Oh the power of those little poppyseeds! They are full of antioxidants that reduce skin inflammation making them a good choice for eczema and rashes.
• 
  Calamine, Oatmeal & Honey Reduces redness and swelling of infected skin from bug bites, rashes, or eczema.
  
• Oatmeal Calendula Colloidal oatmeal binds to your skin and locks in moisture and relieves itchy skin.
• Lavender Lavender essential oil reduces redness, soothes and calms skin irritations and can help heal rashes. 
• Patchouli Cedar Sage Patchouli and cedarwood essential oil have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal properties while sage relieves annoying skin coditions.
• Pine Tar Pine tar is great at relieving itchiness. It's also has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal properties.

Sunburn

• 
  Rosemary Mint Menthol The cooling properties of menthol are great at soothing and relieving the pain associated with sunburn.
  

Skin Allergy?

• 
  Coconut Oil Free Lavender Anise If you've ever had redness or itchiness after using a bar of good handmade soap, you could be having a reaction to  coconut oil. Coconut oil allergies are not common but not entirely uncommon either and most handmade soaps are made with coconut oil. Likewise, if you have a known tree nut allergy it's best to avoid coconut oil. These bars are a great alternative being made with no coconut oil.

Baby's Skin?

• 
  Unscented Beeswax and Shea Butter I purposely designed these bars to be gentle and soothing for the most delicate skin. No added colors or scents and only the best most natural ingredients.
  

I hope this list is helpful and can serve as a reference whenever a particular skin issue arises. Check out this post where I tackle the question "what's the best shampoo for....?"

So Many New Things To Talk About

It's been about 1 1/2 years since I retired from my job as a software developer. I kept telling myself once I retired I'd have more time to deep dive into my sales data from Etsy and my website. I had illusions of downloading the data and loading it into a database and writing all kinds of queries against it to determine my best sellers, what people ordered most, ordered least, etc. Basically, do what I had done for the past 20 years at my job.

Well, I'm happy to report I haven't done that. I haven't written one single query against any data anywhere in the past year and a half! Amazingly, I didn't need to. I know what sells and what doesn't because I make the soap, package it up, and mail it every day. And you know what? I make a lot of dish soap and shampoo bars and conditioner bars. Those items really sell on my Etsy shop.

I also know from practical experience that my body soaps sell more on my website and in person bazaars and markets. So armed with that knowledge I'm happy to offer more dish soaps in new scents and shapes, more shampoo and conditioner bars in new scents, and new body bars as I prep for the upcoming holiday markets.

Let's start with the new dish soaps that have hit my Etsy shop and website this month. I'll now offer a GIANT sized rectangular bar! This bar will be 3.5" X 3" X 1.5" and 8 oz, twice the weight of my round soaps and will come in several scents including the new Basil Orange. 

Speaking of new scents, I've added a new scent in my popular round dish soap, lemon basil. 

Another new dish soap shape I've added is a smaller round bar. This bar is approximately 2.25 inches in diameter and has been created, per a request from a customer, to work as a replacement for the dish that comes with the popular Full Circle dish soap set. Naturally, it will work in any soap dish, but if you purchased the Full Circle set, think of this bar the next time you need dish soap.

For a limited time, I have a cube sized dish bar. This is limited because I discovered it was painfully hard to remove these bars from the mold.

Two new shampoo bar scents are coming to my Etsy shop and website this month. 

There is a lavender tea tree bar

and an activated charcoal bar scented with patchouli spearmint. 

Both these bars are vegan and made with aloe vera water, avocado butter, and the other same great ingredients as my current shampoo bars. 

For more variety, I've also added a lavender conditioner bar to my Etsy shop.

Three new body soaps will be available this holiday season. Two of those will make it to my Etsy shop and website, the other one will be sold only at the holiday markets. 

I've been wanting to make a Honey & Beeswax body bar for sometime and am happy to offer this one made with goats milk, tussah silk, and all the nourishing oils and butters found in my other body soaps. This bar can be found in my Etsy shop and website.

Also debuting online later this month is my Indigo Peppermint Basil bar. So much more than just a dye, indigo has been used for centuries as a medicinal herb and contains many skincare benefits.

Stay tuned as the holiday season progresses I'll have new gift sets and discount codes for subscribers of my blog! 

If you're local to the Portland Oregon area, my first holiday market will be November 4 & 5 at Hinson Memorial Baptist Church, 1137 SE 20th Ave. Add a reminder to your online calendar! this is a nice, laid back market that also serves coffee, pastries and lunch.

The One Moisturizer For All Your Rough Skin Needs Plus A Little Insight On Moisturizers

After receiving several inquiries into whether I sold a moisturizer, I've added another new item to the Lora's Beauty Store! 

But first, did you know there are three types of moisturizers? I'm not talking creams vs lotions vs serums, no, the three types are characterized by the way they work.

Those moisturizers that fill in crevices so the skin appears smoother are typically made with oils and lipids (fatty acids). These are known as emollients and usually include ingredients found in those expensive anti aging creams.

Moisturizers that hydrate the skin by binding moisture from the air to the skin are known as humectants. Humectants are usually water based. Glycerine is an example of a humectant.

Finally, those moisturizers that provide a protective barrier on the skin to lock in moisture are know as occlusives. Ingredients that are occlusives are beeswax, silicones, and petroleum jelly.

Depending on many factors like age, weather and even genetics, you may need one type of moisturizer more than the other, however, most products contain ingredients from multiple categories. Such is true for my new lotion bar.

This bar contains only three ingredients; rice bran oil and cocoa butter, which are both emollients, and beeswax an occlusive. The end result is a lotion bar that forms a protective barrier on the skin to lock in moisture as it fills in those dry, rough patches on your skin.

Perfect uses for this bar are to smooth rough elbows, heels, knees, and hands and to heal chapped lips. It also will work to tame fly away hair by applying to fingers then smoothing fingers over hair.

These lotion bars are unscented aside from the natural scent of cocoa butter. They come in a 2 oz tin with screw on lid so they'll fit nicely into a purse, gym bag, pocket, or carry on without fears of spilling.

You can find these bars on my website and etsy shop.

Does Soap Go Bad and Three Other Things You Need To Know

Just like food, soap has a shelf life. 

The shelf life of handmade soap can be determined by looking at every ingredient that goes into the soap. The shelf life of the soap corresponds to the ingredient with the shortest shelf life. For most natural soaps, the ingredients with the shortest shelf life are essential oils, which are usually a year. 

Here's where it gets tricky though. After a year, your handmade soap can still be used and it will work just fine, it may however, not smell quite as strong as it used to and in some cases it may smell not as good. However that doesn't mean the soap has expired or turned rancid, it's still soap and will continue to  clean and fight germs. For the oils in the soap to go rancid, if properly made and stored, could take several years.

Being a soap maker, I use all my older bars. I am currently using a bar of soap in my spare bathroom that is close to 3 years old. It works fine and smells good. I've kept it stored in a cool, dry environment until using it to extend the shelf life.

So, how can you tell if that bar of handmade soap you found in the drawer in your bathroom is still good? Let your nose guide you! Does it smell good? Does it have no smell? Then put it in your shower and use it. If it smells rancid then toss it.

Recently I became aware of a new use for my dish soap and would like to share it with you; it makes a wonderful spot remover for clothing! Get the dish brush wet and rub it over the dish soap. Then gently rub it over the spot on your clothing and toss it in the laundry (with my new laundry soap of course)! Give it a try and perhaps you'll find that spot remover will be one less plastic bottle to buy!

I've received a number of inquiries on if I have an unscented variety of my conditioner bar.  As of this year I can now answer that question with a yes! The bar is rich in cocoa butter so there is still a faint scent, however, no essential oils are added to the unscented variety.

Finally, I want to mention a new color finish to my shave scuttles. Desert Rabbit ceramics is supplying me with a beautiful matte finish dish! Right now I only have it in black but I've been told I'll soon be able to stock matte finishes in other colors and in the popular soap dish! Look for this addition this spring!

Two New Products Coming In 2022 For Allergy Free and Eco Friendly Living

I so enjoyed participating in four holiday markets in 2021. After a disappointing market season in 2020 where all the events were cancelled, I had almost forgotten how enjoyable and enlightening it is to meet face to face with my customers. You guys have so many great ideas!

More than once a customer has asked for certain varieties of soap or changes in packaging which I've implemented. I love hearing other people's perspective especially when they say or ask for something I've never thought of before. I developed my conditioner bar after a customer asked for one. I also created an unscented dish bar after someone requested it. 

Lavender Eucalyptus Coconut Oil Free

A new request I had recently was a coconut oil free soap. I love this suggestion however the main reason people want a soap without coconut oil is due to allergies, therefore, I knew that if I were to make such a bar, just creating the recipe wasn't enough. I needed to also create a work environment where cross contamination would be minimal. After some thought, I decided I would give it a try and I purchased new liners for my molds, a new mixing bowl, and new utensils that will be dedicated strictly to my new coconut oil free bar. 

Lavender Eucalyptus Coconut Oil Free

This bar will be primarily made with olive oil but will include cocoa butter, castor oil, rice bran oil, goats milk, silk, and sugar. Coconut oil is so widely used in soaps because it adds lather capabilities, adding sugar should also do this. My first coconut oil free bar will be color free and contain the skin friendly essential oils of lavender and eucalyptus. If this proves to be something people really like I will expand the line. With all that olive oil and cocoa butter, this bar is really luxuriant! It's curing now so look for it in my etsy shop and website in a few weeks.

Grated Lora's Beauty Soap

Also new for 2021 will be an eco-friendly goats milk laundry soap! I've been using this laundry soap for years myself because it was an environmentally friendly way to use up the end pieces of my soap loaves that weren't quite big enough for a bar. Lately I'm ending up with a bit more end pieces than I can use, so I thought I'd offer the laundry soap for sale.

The laundry soap will come in a paper zip lock bag and will be filled with 28 ounces of powdered soap made with Lora's Beauty grated goats milk bar soap, sodium carbonate (washing soda), citric acid, and sea salt. A mini wooden scoop is included. There are no added scents because the grated soap is already scented with essential oils.

One bag should provide enough soap for at least 30 loads of laundry. You'll only need a couple scoops (1 tablespoon) per normal sized load in an HE (high efficiency) washer. It's best to store the soap in the zip lock bag to protect it against moisture. I've used the soap in cold water and it dissolves just fine.

Best of all, there are no phosphates so the waste water won't be contaminated downstream. Sodium carbonate disassociates in water, occurs in nature and is therefore consider environmentally friendly. Citric acid breaks down easily in the environment, is biodegradable, and is also considered environmentally friendly. Oh and did I mention your clothes will come out clean and your whites whiter? Yea, that too!

I'm excited for another year at Lora's Beauty and I hope these new eco-friendly additions to my shop are useful and allow people to continue to avoid purchasing items in plastic containers. Keep those suggestions coming! Who knows I may implement one. You can always reach me at lora@lorasbeauty.com. Here's hoping you have a wonderful and healthy 2022.

Let's Talk About Preservatives

***Update March 26, 2021.

I'm pleased to announce that after several weeks of testing, I have found a paraben-free preservative that keeps the Conditioner Bar safe for use. I am now using glycine-benzoic acid. In addition, this full spectrum preservative contains no components considered to be either persistent, bioaccumulative or toxic to the environment. 

***end Update

My first dive into skincare products was over a decade ago, I made lotion for myself following a very simple recipe I found on the internet. This recipe called for vitamin E oil for use as a preservative. After a few days of using the lotion, I noticed it starting to turn black in spots; mold and bacteria were growing in it. I quickly discovered that natural preservatives weren't going to cut it in products containing water.

In my online stores, I sell only one product that contains a preservative, the Moisturizing Cocoa Butter Conditioner Bar. The rest of my product line are cold process soaps which contain a high enough ph to prevent mold and bacteria growth.

The Conditioner Bar I make does not contain water, however since it's used in the shower and will get wet, I add a very small amount of Phenonip preservative (less than 1%.). The full ingredients for Phenonip are Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Butylparaben, Propylparaben. I

There is much debate regarding parabens in skin and hair card products and I encourage you to do your own research, but regardless of where you land on the debate, the quantity at which they are used in my Conditioner Bar is so small that I feel comfortable in using them. What I don't feel comfortable about, and what would be more dangerous, is to sell a product to the public that could grow a microbe in it and possibly harm someone. My own opinion on them is I don't, nor would I encourage anyone to use multiple products that contain them everyday in large quantities. I also question new alternatives to parabens that have been proven to be more dangerous or at best, less well known.

How Can It Get Any BETTER!?

How can Lora's Beauty handmade soap be improved? That was the question I asked myself one day. We already use organically sourced herbs and the finest oils and butters.

Each artisan bar is than scented with pure essential oils, not fragrance oils, and because we love the rain forest, we never use palm oil.

So how can it get any better? The answer came to me one day at my day job when I found one of my co-workers had goats and loads of  goats' milk to share!

After talking to him we worked out some logistics and the next day I found a gallon of goats' milk on my desk. I hauled it home on my bike that evening and the next Saturday I was making a new batch of Honey and Safflower soap made with not just goats' milk but FRESH-FROM-THE-GOAT-GOATS'-MILK!

Previously, I used organic powdered goats' milk I reconstituted. However, as I was mixing this new batch of soap I could tell the difference right away.  It just seemed creamier. Almost like vanilla milkshake creamy. Seriously, it looked decadent! 

For now, Lora's Beauty Shop is stocked with Honey and Safflower FRESH-FROM-THE-GOAT-GOATS'-MILK-SOAP and I'll be transitioning all my goats' milk soap over to FRESH-FROM-THE-GOAT-GOATS'-MILK-SOAP soon!

Oh, by the way, did I mention these were show goats as well? Nothing but the best I tell you!

The Cost of Luxury

I always love it when someone says something that makes you see something completely differently.

 My friend once told me he sometimes associates a cost per hour to judge entertainment value of various options.  For instance, he doesn't like to go to a movie theater for a lot of reasons but one of them is the fact that it cost $12 to see a two hour movie.  That's $6 an hour for entertainment.  Whereas a book that cost $12 may give you 12 hours of entertainment, ending up costing you $1 an hour, a far better deal.

My mom even said something along this line when she was sporting a new, rather expensive jacket.  When I commented on her jacket and said it didn't look like the usual Goodwill find, she said she had started to figure the cost of clothing not by it's initial cost, but by the cost per wearing of it.  If she spends $150 on a new jacket and wears it 150 times, that's $1 per wearing.  If she buys a $20 jacket at Goodwill and wears it 10 times, that's $2 per wearing and ends up being the more expensive choice.

A person could easily apply logic like this to the purchase of any item.  Naturally, I thought of soap.  One of the main reasons I make soap is for the sheer luxury of the end product.  There's something very lavish about bathing with a new bar of handcrafted soap.  It's equivalent to drinking wine from a really nice wine glass or eating a meal off of fine china.  It just feels different, better.  It's a small bit of richness in an ordinary day.

The thing is, I can't think of any other luxury item (although I'm sure there are some) where the cost per hour of the luxury is as good as it is with handcrafted soap.  For $5 you get hours(?) of luxury.  Who wouldn't want this opulence for a product that one has to buy anyway, for mere pennies per hour?

Keeping watch on your UV index

Photo from wikipedia

 

During the dog-days of summer, it's probably worth checking your zipcode's UV index and following the recommendations suggested by the EPA.  

Today, in "cloudy" Portland the UV index is 10, on a scale of 1 to 11 with 11 being the highest!
Even on days where the UV index is 2 and less, it's recommended to wear a 30+ SPF sunscreen!  

Check out Lora's Beauty for an all-natural sunscreen.

Some Great Skincare Links

I've been posting a lot of skincare links on my google+ page lately.  If you're not following me there, please do so to get the most up-to-date Lora's Beauty news!  I'm definitely NOT going to ignore this blog though, so I wanted to share some of the links I've found here.

Are you ready for summer?  How about some homemade bug spray!?  Here's a great link to make your own basil mosquito spray.

Need some flushable, inexpensive baby wipes?  Try this recipe.  Don't think you need flushable baby wipes?  Well, take a look at this article to change your mind.  You might want to look at this with an empty stomach, though.

This smoothie sounds great and is good for your skin!  It's packed with raspberries just like Lora's Beauty Raspberry Aloe soap, also great for your skin!

And in case you need any more reasons to buy natural skincare products, check out this link and this link and this link.

For all you men out there, ever wonder if too many beards can be a bad thing?  Well, I don't think so especially with Lora's Beauty Beard Oil available, but this article has an interesting take on it.  While we're talking men, here's a fun take on how to be a gentleman, hint...get rid of your cats.

That does it for now but you can check out more great links and product information on my google+ page!

Cancer Causing Chemicals in Shampoo

Another article about chemicals found in our personal hygiene products. 
This one helps develop tumors in the body, mainly kidney.

Seriously, if you can't pronounce it, you probably shouldn't put it on your body.

Lora's Beer Bar Shampoo ingredients are: olive oil, coconut oil, soybean oil, beer, cocoa butter, castor oil, essential oils.