Lora's Beauty Website


For handcrafted soap visit the online store or the Etsy Store!

Lora's artisan soaps, an affordable luxury.

Showing posts with label beauty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beauty. Show all posts

Thursday, November 10, 2022

What's The Best Shampoo Bar For....?

Do you have hair issues? Dandruff, frizzy hair, dry scalp, oily hair, oily scalp, limp hair? Then read on as I may have a shampoo bar to help!

Lora's Beauty carries many types of shampoo bars specially formulated to be more ph balanced than the typical shampoo bar. For more information regarding ph and my shampoo bars, take a look at this blog post. If you're interested in what the best body soap is for a particular skin issue, this blog post may help. Now, if you're interested in what's the best shampoo bar I carry for a particular hair issue, then read on!

Most of my shampoo bars are made with aloe vera juice and avocado butter which are both hair loving. Aloe vera juice will help strengthen hair, calm itchy scalp, and control oily hair. Avocado butter is high in vitamin E making it great at stopping hair loss and breakage, adding hydration and shine, and thickening thinning hair. 

Just like with my body soaps, I start with a base set of ingredients when making my shampoo bars. These include olive, rice bran, castor, and coconut oils (coconut oil is omitted in my Coconut Oil Free bar). I then add special extras to address particular hair issues. In addition, to all my shampoo bars, I add a pinch of tussah silk fibers which help to repair damaged hair and softens and smooths hair.


I also offer a Pine Tar Shampoo Bar and a Beer Bar. These have the same base set of ingredients but do not have aloe vera juice or avocado butter. Instead the pine tar bar includes goats milk and cocoa butter. Goats milk is rich in vitamin B which is an essential vitamin for healthy hair growth and cocoa butter moisturizes hair making it softer and more manageable.


My Beer Shampoo Bar is made with, of course beer, and cocoa butter. Beer is a wonderful ingredient for hair! It provides body, bounce and shine to hair and being rich in protein and vitamins it helps manage both scalp and hair oil production.

So, what's your specific hair issue and which shampoo bar would help?


Dry Frizzy Hair

  • Pine Tar - the nutrient rich liquid of pine tar is a natural moisturizer for dry hair.
  • Spearmint Tea Tree - tea tree essential oil is such a beneficial oil for hair. It helps prevent the build up of chemicals and dead skin allowing your hair to be more healthy and moisturized.
  • Lavender Tea Tree
  • Beer Bar - Being rich in vitamin B, beer is a great deterrent against frizzy hair.
  • Papaya Orange - papaya seeds contain vitamin A which helps against dry and frizzy hair.

Oily Hair/Scalp

  • Lemon Eucalyptus - lemongrass essential oil reduces production of excess oil on the hair and scalp.
  • Spearmint Tea Tree - spearmint and tea tree essential oils help control oily scalp and hair.
  • Rosemary Mint - rosemary essential oil has antifungal, astringent and decongesting qualities which can reduce oily build up on hair and scalp.
  • Lavender Ginger Sea Salt - Sea salt is great at absorbing excess oil on the scalp.

Lifeless Limp Hair

  • Beer Bar - the proteins in beer bind to hair that's become dehydrated from blow drying and other styling products leaving the hair restored and with more body.
  • Activated Charcoal Patchouli Spearmint - the spearmint essential oil combined with activated charcoal will add luster to dry, lifeless hair.
  • Lavender Ginger Sea Salt - Sea salt adds volume to hair and provides a boost to hair roots.

Dry Scalp & Dandruff

  • Lavender Tea Tree - lavender essential oil has antimicrobial properties preventing bacteria and fungi from growing, soothing dry scalp, and reducing dandruff.
  • Pine Tar - pine tar gives fast relief to itchy scalp and removes loose dandruff.
  • Activated Charcoal Patchouli Spearmint - activated charcoal will soothe itchy and irritated scalps and moisturize them to prevent dandruff. It's also makes for a great deep cleaning shampoo ingredient.
  • Lavender Ginger Sea Salt - Added sea salt is an excellent exfoliate, cleaning the scalp of dead skin cells.

Seborrheic Dermatitis 

All the shampoo bars listed below contain ingredients known to help seborrheic dermatitis in adults. Activated charcoal, pine tar, and tea tree oil are proven to help as does washing hair more frequently.

  • Activated Charcoal Patchouli Spearmint
  • Pine Tar Shampoo
  • Lavender Tea Tree
  • Papaya Orange

Thinning Hair and Hair Growth

All the shampoo bars below contain vitamins and proteins that encourage healthy hair growth as well as limiting hair loss.

  • Beer Bar - beer can give extra life to naturally curly hair as well!
  • Papaya Orange
  • Lemon Eucalyptus
  • Lavender Tea Tree
  • Spearmint Tea Tree
Color Treated Hair
  • Activated Charcoal Patchouli Spearmint is a great cleanser for color treated hair as it deep cleans the hair without stripping away the color.
Gray Hair
The following bars have color additives that are the opposite of yellow on the color wheel and therefore help to neutralize the orange and brassy tones in grey and light colored hair.
  • Indigo Fir Orange - contains added indigo powder.
  • Lavender Tea Tree - contains purple mica.
  • Activated Charcoal Patchouli Spearmint - has added activated charcoal.
Scent Sensitive/Essential Oil Allergies
My No Added Scent is a shampoo bar with no added essential oil or colors. Just all natural, hair loving ingredients.
Coconut Oil Allergies
Now available is a coconut oil free shampoo bar. This contains all the same ingredients as my Aloe Vera Avocado Butter bars minus the coconut oil. A little bit of sugar is added to enhance lathering.

I hope this information was helpful and the next time you're wondering what's the best shampoo for your particular hair need, this can serve as a reference.

Monday, October 10, 2022

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....?"

Thursday, February 18, 2021

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.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

A Casual Summer Shower

A Casual Summer Shower


Lora's Beauty Pepperwood Goat's Milk soap blends hot peppers and hibiscus flowers together to make a very saucy summer soap!  Try some today!  Free shipping on orders $20 and over!


Hair clip accessory
hairflowers.net


Grey hat
emp-online.com


Rag Bone short sleeve t shirt
shoplesnouvelles.com


Rolled jeans
djpremium.com


Juice bottle
surlatable.com


Friday, August 1, 2014

Cinnamon Soap Escape


Time for a cinnamon escape?  Lora's Beauty Cinnamon & Honey Goat Milk Soap is a great way to stimulate your senses and soothe your skin.  Pick up a few bars today at Lora's Beauty!

Free Shipping on orders $20 and above!


Cinnamon Soap Escape