Activated Charcoal is charcoal that becomes activated once it is heated in the presence of a gas. The charcoal can be made from wood, peat, coal or coconut shells. Think about a kernel of corn when it is heated to become pop corn - the surface area becomes much larger. That is what makes the the charcoal 'activated' when heated, therefore far more able to adsorb toxins and oils. Why adsorb and not absorb? The difference is that activated charcoal grips toxins etc onto it's surface, it doesn't absorb (there's the science bit!).
Activated Charcoal grips onto dirt and toxins from the skin. It grabs excess oils too which helps balance skin, preventing the skin from becoming too oily and creating blemishes and spots. If you already have blemished skin then using a soap containing activated charcoal can help improve the condition of the skin. Washing the face, shoulders, back etc with soap containing activated charcoal can be particularly beneficial for teenage skin when production of oil is at a high point due to hormonal changes.
Why use Activated Charcoal in a shampoo bar?
When used in a shampoo bar the activated charcoal can improve the condition of the scalp, by drawing excess oils away from the scalp. This prevents the build up of dandruff and in turn keeps the hair from getting greasy promoting sleek glossy hair, naturally. You can find our beautiful Soap / Shampoo Bar here.
]]>
When creating skincare, and I'll include soap in that catagory, legally there is no definition of what constitutes 'Natural' ingredients, there are no regulations on using this term as far as cosmetics, or ingredients contained within. In certain circumstances the term 'Natural' is used quite loosely. Legally of course, all ingredients in a product must be listed on the label, but often these lists are confusing for the customer. The term Chemical Free is also used frequently, and we all know that everything is 'chemical', we prefer to use the term Artificial Chemical Free when it comes to describing our products - again there are no legal definitions of this in cosmetics.
When creating products to sell, by law each product needs to hold a Cosmetic Product Safety Report, a CPSR certificate. These certificates show that the product is safe for use, that the ingredients are used in safe quantities for skin and that the packaging is suitable for that product. The purpose of this certificate is safety, and not to define what is natural or not.
At The Good Soap we are clear and consistent about every ingredient included in our products - you'll find the ingredients listed underneath each product on our website both in INCI, International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient, internationally recognised names to identify cosmetic ingredients, and also in English. We only ever use ingredients produced in nature such as plant oils, nuts, seeds, milk, beeswax, salt etc. We use lye in our soap bars, we can't produce soap without it, and this is also a natural ingredient, this disappears during the process of saponification, it's quite magic! We have a blog post about soapmaking if you are interested in reading it.
Firstly it is a myth to say that all natural skincare products are safe and suitable for everyone, even natural ingredients can cause a reaction in some people. There are 26 recognised 'natural allegens' which are commonly defined as 'any substance, often a protien, that induces and allergy'. Once again for transparency and safety we list any of the naturally occuring allergens under the products on our website where included in the ingredients. Reactions to natural products are extremely rare and during our almost 6 years making our products we have not had one report of an allergic reaction, only the occasional sensitivity in a few people to bicarbonate of soda in our deodorant bars (we make a bicarb free version for this purpose). We have a collection on our website of products that don't contain essential oils for any customers who may be scent sensitive or for anyone who does not like essential oils in their products.
The natural ingredients that we use in our products have not been tested on animals and this is extremely important for us as a company, no animal testing ever, either of our products, or of ingredients used to make our products.
Our skin is our largest organ and absorbs 60-70% of anything we put on it, taking anything absorbed directly into our bloodstream and therefore through our organs too. A great example of the effectiveness of skin absorbtion would be skin applied HRT treatments or other topical medications, which are taken directly into the bloodstream after being applied to the skin.
So we have a choice to make, we can control what we put onto our skin, therefore what is absorbed into our system. Of course, all skincare treatments that include 'artificial chemicals' are certified as safe, so this post is not to say that they are not, but it is a choice we make as to how much of these chemicals we want in or system. Just like processed foods, whole foods are much better for our system, anything natural that is absorbed by our skin puts less stress on our organs when it comes to excretion and extra work that our organs must do.
So in summary we can choose what we put on our skin, natural products are less likely to cause an allergic reaction, and natural products over time are probably better for our system as a whole over time. Dawn x
email: dawn@the-good-soap.co.uk
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>Soap making is a great fun and creative hobby, not everyone wants to turn it into a business, you may just fancy having a go of making a batch. In this article I will explain what cold process soap is and how to go about making some for your home. Obviously there are endless oil combinations you can use, with added colours, powders, scents, scrub ingredients and so on. Here we are just going to focus on a good basic recipe, to which you can add any of your own addtions. And for information this is not a recipe we use for our Good Soap soap bars, they are top secret. This is a little recipe I have come up with especially for this article ;)
Cold process soap making is the original, traditional method of making soap by combining fat or oil (animal or plant based) with sodium hydroxide (lye). This treatment causes a chemical reaction called
Curing is the process of allowing
Before you start you will need:
The ingredients you will need are:
* Safety notes - caution this is an alkili powder that when combined with water becomes extremely caustic, do not get any on your skin, wear gloves and goggles at all time when handling. If any is splashed accidentally on your skin do not rinse with water, apply vinegar first to neutralise and then wash thoroughly off your skin * When added to water Lye gives off fumes so work in a room with appropriate ventilation, window wide open or back door open if possible, take care not to inhale the fumes as you mix the lye into water.
Basic Recipe:
This recipe will make roughly 42 ounces of soap before it's cured (it will get a bit lighter in weight during the curing process) If you want less or more soap adjust by doubling or halving each ingredient exactly.
Adding essential oils:
If you are adding any essential oils then put them in at step 7. If adding essential oils to your recipe be aware that the total measurement of essential oils should not exceed 3% of the recipe total, so in this recipe 1.25 oz would be the correct amount.
We hope you have enjoyed learning a little more about how to make cold process soaps, it's a fun thing to do! If you still don't fancy having a go you can find a variety of soaps that we've made below!
Article written by Dawn Rhodes, owner of The Good Soap - Let's Go Back To The Bar
]]>
Many consumers are turning away from traditional ways of using a deodorant, such as an aerosol or role on, and are looking for more natural ways of keeping fresh and dry and for products with less packaging. We've been making our solid deodorant bars here at The Good Soap now for about 4 years and they are as popular as ever, and growing in popularity.
]]>Many consumers are turning away from traditional ways of using a deodorant, such as an aerosol or roll on, and are looking for more natural ways of keeping fresh and dry, and for products with less packaging. We've been making our cruelty free and vegan friendly solid deodorant bars here at The Good Soap now for about 4 years and they are as popular as ever, and growing in popularity.
You may wonder how a natural product can work to keep you fresh and dry, what are the active ingredients? First of all it's worth explaining that the block is made of Cocoa Butter, Soy Wax and Shea Butter to keep it firm but make it soft enough to melt into your armpit. We add a little Vitamin E oil to help care for the skin too. So now you know how it holds up, but how does it work?
To use your bar all you need to do it rub the top edge into each armpit, in time it will 'round' to fit better. There is no need to wet the bar or your armpit but of course the product is best used on clean washed pits!
Once unwrapped we recommend you keep your bar on a dish or in a storage tin. Don't keep it anywhere too hot (such as right by a radiator or in direct sun) as it will melt but any normal temperature room is fine. It's an oil based product so don't store on wood or it will mark the surface over time.
by Dawn Rhodes
]]>
The Good Soap shampoo bars are a 'soap based' shampoo, with a slight alkalinity. They do not contain sulphates or silicones. If you are looking for a natural and additive free, environmentally friendly option to wash your hair then these are a great option.
]]>The Good Soap shampoo bars are a 'soap based' shampoo, with a slight alkalinity. They do not contain sulphates or silicones. If you are looking for a natural and additive free, environmentally friendly option to wash your hair then these are a great option.
It can take a little getting used to using a bar on your hair, after all, we are so used to squeezing that blob of liquid into our hands.
Wet your hair, wet the bar and rub the bar onto your hair starting with the length if you have long hair. Don't be afraid to give it all a good scrub. Do this twice and rinse well both times. No need for conditioner, the bars contain a conditioning oil that does the job. Comb through gently with a wide tooth comb and style as normal :)
The majority of people can switch to a chemical free shampoo smoothly, but what can you do if you are one that experiences the transition period? After all, no one wants waxy or greasy hair! As detergent shampoos strip away the natural protective oils, your scalp produces more oil to compensate. Your scalp becomes conditioned to this vicious cycle of excess oil production. As you transition to a natural shampoo bar, your scalp needs time to rebalance scalp oil production. During this transition period, hair may feel and look extra greasy or heavy. Commercial liquid shampoos and conditioners contain synthetic silicones and silica that coat your hair, to make it feel nice, but leave a residue in your hair. We want to rid our hair of those. You are basically teaching your hair to stand on it's own two feet.......
If you are someone who experiences a transition period during transition replace your conditioner step with an apple cider vinegar rinse. This helps balance the pH level of the scalp and aids transition. Even when your hair is used to the bar we recommend an occasional rinse with diluted apple cider vinegar to balance the pH level of your scalp. 1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar in half pint of warm water is sufficient.
If you live in a hard water area, or if apple cider vinegar is not working for you you may want to wet your hair FIRST with a spoonful of bicarb in warm water - why? It can help your bar foam better. And then after washing twice with the shampoo bar use more bicarb in your final rinse. And rinse, rinse, rinse. This can help the transition phase where apple cider vinegar is not quite doing the trick.
Since starting selling The Good Soap shampoo bars we have done lots and lots of research on transitioning, and talked many customers through the process. A small handful have given up of course, but for those who have stuck it out there are no regrets, finding the benefits of less chemicals on the scalp, and of course no more plastic bottles.
Our advice is just keep at it - it's a little bit like teaching a toddler to walk......it takes time but it will just get better and better. Dawn xx
by Dawn Rhodes
When you recieve your Good Soap Moisturiser Bar it will be contained in a compostable bag. We are so used to squirting out liquid lotion into our hands or scooping body butter that it may feel a bit unusual to receive moisturiser in a bag. Once you unwrap your bar it is 'naked' and the bag is suitable for composting, your bar is now packaging free. Simply store it in a storage tin or on a soap dish or saucer. Please don't keep it anywhere too warm (such as next to a radiator) or it will melt and due to it's oil based ingredients don't store on wood or it may mark the surface. During hot weather it's lovely to keep the bars in the fridge and then they are cooling when applied to the skin.
It couldn't be simpler to use the bar, all you need to do is place it on the area you would like to moisturise and it will melt to the warmth of your skin. You won't get a thick layer, you don't need it. Just smooth the bar over the area and it will leave the perfect amount on your skin to keep you soft, or to treat any very dry patches, and will leave it's gorgeous scent behind too. Because of their natural ingredients these bars are all suitable for use on face and body, and are also perfect for children. We make a Foot Balm Bar, with specially selected ingredients for the skin on your feet, especially good for dry heels, and we also make a Hand Moisturiser Bar, with ingredients designed to soak into your hands quickly.
As with all Good Soap products your moisturiser bar is chemical free and artificial fragrance free the only scent you will get will be of the yummy combination of carefully chosen ingredients. When we develop a recipe we work to make sure the product works and smells just as we hope it will. As with all of our products the recipe is then submitted to be tested in order to receive it's safety report, a CPSR, a Cosmetic Product Saftey Report.
Once all steps have been completed we can make your moisturiser bar. Ingredients are weighed, melted, magic happens, they are set in moulds and then once set are wrapped in their little bags and labelled, ready for their new home, with you :)
by Dawn Rhodes
]]>
Shea Butter is fat that is extracted from the oil rich 'nuts' produced by the Vitellaria Paradoxa, otherwise known as the Shea Tree, which is indigenous to Africa. It's important to note that Shea Butter is technically a tree nut product but unlike most tree nut products it’s very low in the proteins that can trigger allergies so is safe for sufferers of nut allergies for this reason.
Shea Butter is extracted by pounding the kernels and grinding them to an oily smooth paste. It is boiled and the oil is skimmed off after removing the scum containing the impurities. Some countries use Shea Butter in food preparation but we don't tend to in the UK, we use it in skin and haircare preparations. We here at The Good Soap use Shea Butter as an ingredient in our skin balms, moisturiser bars, deodorant bars, lip balms and in our shea and jojoba soap / shampoo bar and baby soap.
Firstly it is safe for all skin types, it doesn't clog pores and it generally smoothes skin out. It melts on skin easily so doesn't drag. It is super moisturising due to it's fatty acid content, containing linoleic, oleic, stearic, and palmitic acids. Due to the balance of these fatty acids it makes it a non greasy moisturiser. If it sounds amazing that's because it is!
Shea Butter is anti inflammatory too, when applied to skin it triggers anti inflammatory cells which means it can help soothe certain skin conditions such as eczema, dermititis and psoriasis. Shea Butter is also anti fungal and can help treat certain fungal conditions including athlete's foot, now that's suprising! This super ingredient is healing too and when applied to new scarring can help healing and minimise the end result of the scars.
Thank you for reading our article What Is Shea Butter Good For? Visit our website to find plenty of products packed with this magical ingredient.
by Dawn Rhodes
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>We use sunflower in all of our soap / shampoo bar recipes, it is a great oil in soap bars, chosen especially for it's conditioning properties, for making small bubbles, a creamy lather and a silky feel to soap.
All of our soap bars are cold process soaps, this means that they are made by mixing heated oils + with a liquid such as water or milk + sodium hydroxide. The cold process part is the 'after part' where the bars are left to sit with air allowed to circulate around them.
]]>The curing process is vital for improving the quality of your cold process soaps, it's why we won't sell soaps unless they have a very minimum cure time of 4 weeks, and even longer for our baby soaps, double that cure time to over 8 weeks. Here at The Good Soap all of our soap bars are made in our workshop in the garden of our premises. We currently make Salt Soaps, Shave Soaps, Baby Soaps, Dog Soap, Kids Soaps, Soap / Shampoo Bars and Pumice Soaps. Once they have been in their moulds for roughly 24 hours they are unmoulded and then taken on trays up to our curing room, which I'm happy to announce is next door to my bedroom, oh the beautiful scent in my house!
All of our soap bars are cold process soaps, this means that they are made by mixing heated oils + with a liquid such as water or milk + sodium hydroxide. The cold process part is the 'after part' where the bars are left to sit with air allowed to circulate around them. This allows the bars to saponify, the sodium hydroxide does it's work to turn the oil and liquid mixture into soap, basically, turn into soap rather than just a block of oils. The liquid evaporates during this time and over the weeks the bars becomes milder, the bars become harder and the bars become better quality and longer lasting.
We think of a soap as being solid, but really it is a mix of crystals surrounded by a film of liquid that is made up of water, glycerin, soluable chemicals and soap molecules. A fresh bar of soap is a jumbled mix of fatty acids with a very large liquid phase, larger crystals and soap molecules. The stearic and palmitic fatty acids found in soap is what creates the bubbly lather and in the beginning these are a lot larger in comparison to the other fatty acid componants. Over the curing time there becomes less water, more soap molecules and more tightly packed crystaline structure leading to a better lather and a high quality longer lasting natural soap bar.
The professional name for a soap maker is a Soaper. That's not very exciting is it although we are very proud to be Soapers here!
by Dawn Rhodes
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>We all love a bit of chocolate, and cocoa butter is not only delicious in your chocolate bar or cake it's also a real treat in your skincare products. Where does cocoa butter come from and how is it made?
]]>We all love a bit of chocolate, and cocoa butter is not only delicious in your chocolate bar or cake it's also a real treat in your skincare products.
Most Thebroma Cacao trees are grown in Ghana. Cocoa butter is also known as theobroma oil. Cocoa butter is made by separating the fat from other parts of the bean, fermented cacao beans are separated from the husks and ground down. This process liquifies the beans and the product is then pressed to remove the fat, which is leaves the cocoa butter.
Cocoa butter is high in fatty acids and hydrates the skin deeply, making it a wonderful addition to skincare products, soaps and shampoos. It contains oliec, stearic and palmitic acids all of which are beneficial for nourishing the skin. Cocoa butter replenishes skin's moisture and creates a barrier to protect your skin from moisture loss. Cocoa butter is absorbed well without leaving skin greasy helping skin maintain its elasticity and tone - whilst smelling delicious of course!
Cocoa butter can help strengthen hair, it's filled with hydrating fatty acids that absorb easily into the hair shaft and create a coating over it to prevent future damage. Strengthening hair can help stop breakage. It keeps the scalp healthy therefore assisting in healthy hair growth.
Find it in our products combined with other natural ingredients, in soaps and shampoo bars to keep you clean gently, and in our amazing skin balms and moisturiser bars and in 2 of our lip balms. Extra fact - cocoa butter is also a natural deodoriser and so that is why we use it in our deodorant bars. The cocoa butter not only helps our bars glide onto the skin smoothly but also helps deodoriser the smell that can come from the bacteria in sweat. What a wonderful ingredient!
by Dawn Rhodes
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>We often get asked if we make sample sizes and so I thought I would write a post about this. There are a few reasons why we don't do sample sizes and often customers don't realise with handmade items that it is not as simple as it seems.
]]>Very often I get customers messaging me or emailing me to ask if we can make a new scent of soap or a new scent in our other products so I thought I'd write a blog post to explain why this isn't as simple as it seems and to explain the process behind bringing a product to market.
]]>Very often I get customers messaging me or emailing me to ask if we can make a new scent of soap or a new scent in our other products so I thought I'd write a blog post to explain why this isn't as simple as it seems and to explain the process behind bringing a product to market.
Currently we have on sale (this is a lot of stock for our small workshop!):
Every single one of our products are designed and handmade by us here on site. Ingredients that we use in products are not only chosen for their scent but are also chosen for their effect on skin or hair, and so everything is carefully thought through during the development process. We are trying to offer products to a huge range of customers, we want scents that will be popular as well as effective so that as many customers as possible can benefit from the properties and enjoy them.
When we develop a new product range and settle on a recipe we have to submit the recipes to obtain a safefty certificate. This is an expensive and lengthy process and we are legally required to have these certificates in place before we sell. This process of getting the 'legals' done from start to finish can take up to 3 months, sometimes more. Once recipes are safety approved we have to stick to the exact measurements that we submitted and cannot deviate.
We work with our designer to produce packaging and labels and this can be a time consuming process and deviation to this would involve a redesign and reprint of labels.
We are very very busy and getting busier all of the time, this is something we are grateful for during what has been a very difficult time for many many business's. As our business expands rapidly, covid restrictions on the way we work has left us with a smallish workshop in which products need to be made, stored and packaged for customers. Our space is small Michelle who makes our products, and Gemma who wraps our parcels, have to work opposite shifts. Our space and time is currently full to the brim!
And so when customers ask us if we can change the scent of a certain product, or if we can add a new scent or product type to the range there is a reason that we cannot simply do that and I hope this post explains the reasons why - thank you for reading, Dawn and team
by Dawn Rhodes
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>
After the amazing year we'd had in 2019 at The Good Soap we began 2020 full of beans, and with plans.......we were working indoors using my kitchen to make products and working from a room that we'd set up as a self contained workroom indoors, in which we'd had huge soap curing shelves built, we had shelves for 'ready to go' products and a section of the room for packaging parcels, it all worked perfectly.
January went off without a hitch. I began working on a range of cleansers, I worked on the recipe, submitted it for saftey testing and worked on the specialist packaging with our designer Rachel.
February 14th saw us launch our specially certified baby soap The Good Baby, which I'd been working on behind the scenes for the last few months. I was excited to launch the baby soap and was so happy to see it finally on sale as part of our range.
March began with rumblings of Covid 19 and on my birthday, 23rd March, the country went into national lockdown. For us this meant that as the business was run from inside my home I was unable to have Michelle and Gemma in to work for me and I was left alone to work. At this point our already busy business went into the stratosphere as the country NEEDED soap! I was determined to see this through, I felt a huge responsibility to my furloughed staff that they both had jobs to come back to. And so I set to work pretty much every waking minute, making soap and all of our other products, wrapping parcels and doing all other jobs involved with running the business, 7 days a week to steer our ship through. For more about my lockdown time there is a blog post here.
April, May, June I worked alone as orders flooded in. I was fortunate that my son Danny, who normally resided and worked in Liverpool, had chosen to lockdown with me here in Wales and he assisted in some of the wrapping of parcels, but as he had his own full time job with the civil service his time was limited - I have happy memories of Sundays that we spent wrapping together, music on loud having parcel wrapping sessions <3
During June my dad converted our outdoor workshop, which was used mostly for storage of oils and ingredients, into a workable space in the garden and this allowed for Michelle and Gemma to return to work at the beginning of July. The workshop was insulated to make it temperature steady, we had electricity put in and we set up a cooker, more shelving etc and moved all stock from the house into the workshop to create a stand alone workspace.
In July once the girls were back working with me, and once the printing company who were making the specialist labels were reopen we were able to launch our Facial Cleanser range. This was an exciting moment as it had been a long time coming! It was so amazing to be a team again and we soon adapted to a new way of working.
You may have thought at this point that I may have been able to take a break but no, there was still much to do and during July I started working on new recipes for our autumn and Christmas range. I got these recipes submitted for saftey certificates and worked on new labelling with Rachel, and we also redesigned some of our exisiting packaging.
In Autumn we had a mini launch of a few new soaps and moisturiser bars as a little run up to our Christmas product launch. Michelle was beavering away making all of the Christmas stock ready to go on launch date and the house, garden and workshop started to smell like Christmas!
One October morning I received a message off one of our customers to say they had just seen our Moisturiser Bars and Deodorants featured on the Lorraine Show on ITV. I was in the postal depot dropping off parcels when I received the message and so rushed home to catch it on ITV plus 1 with Michelle and Danny. It was very exciting to see our products on TV!
October also saw the launch of our suspended soap scheme where customers can donate an extra soap with their order, to be taken to the food bank. Times are harder than ever for a lot of people and we wanted to do our little part. We deliver a box of our soaps each week to Ty Hapus Community Food bank in Llandudno donated by The Good Soap and our customers.
November and December have gone by in a bit of a blur, our Christmas products have flown off the shelves. Michelle has beavered away in our little workshop making the products, Gemma has wrapped piles and piles of orders.
Everyone has a different experience of 2020 and I feel I have been fortunate to be able to work safely from home. It's not always been easy on a personal level, sometimes it's been tough going, but I'm happy that we got through with our jobs intact and with a thriving business ready to take into 2021.
As ever I couldn't do what we do without my wonderful Michelle and Gemma, who are as much part of the fabric of The Good Soap as I am, and Danny who was a huge help during lockdown. And to my mum and dad who are a constant support and help - and my faithful furry companion Ruby who is always by my side. We really are a team xx
So after negotiating lockdown, after having 4 separate product launches, drinking 100's of cups of tea, and sending out 1000's and 1000's of parcels it's time for us all to take a little break. Our website will be closed from Midnight 22nd December until 2nd January 2021 whilst myself and the girls take a well deserved break. We would like to wish everyone a peaceful and safe Christmas and New Year, and thank you all for your support during this last year. Lots of love, Dawn
]]>See bottom of article for demo video.
Here at The Good Soap we started out by making soap and shampoo bars to replace plastic bottles of shampoos, conditioners, liquid soaps, shower gels . As a little time went along we decided to see what other products we could make solid and from natural ingredients, and so we began by developing our deodorant bars. These were an instant success and so it led us on to developing the recipes for our moisturiser bars. Since starting to sell our moisturiser bars we have sold 1000's of them, and customers keep coming back to reorder time and time again, either reordering their favourite or working their way through the whole range!
The Good Soap Moisturiser Bars are a solid block of moisturiser made from a combination of wax, butters and oils. They contain no artificial ingredients and are held together in solid form by the hardness of beeswax. Finding environmentally friendly, plastic free packaging for these unique products was quite tricky, with it being an oil based product any paper or cardboard packaging will absorb the oils and makes a thorough mess! After lots of trial and error we settled on compostable bags which are not only oil proof but are 100% compostable, leaving no trace.
Our Moisturiser Bars are quite different to how most people are used to buying and applying moisturiser, and customers can sometimes be a little unsure of how to use them and store them. Once unwrapped they can simply be left on a little dish or plate, or in a tin, it's as simple as that. Because they are oil based they shouldn't be left directly on a surface as they can leave a mark, like any moisturiser would. The moisturiser bar can be used on hands, face and body - all over as you choose. To use simply rub the bar on the skin gently. We have added lots of scents to our range, and use oils and butters that greatly benefit the condition of the skin. Ingredients of individual bars are underneath each product on our website.
The frequent amazing feedback that we get about these bars delights us and are always happy to hear when they have helped customers with eczema, psoriasis and other skin conditions. We make no specific claims about our products only to say that they are natural and plastic free, all information we have about benefits to skin come directly from our customers through 100s of messages received, and you can see individual product reviews left by customers on The Good Soap website. You can see our range of moisturiser bars here.
]]>
We have just launched our new Facial Cleanser range. Since introducing new skin care products to The Good Soap I think cleansers are the product that I have been asked for by customers the most often. And so they are now available but it's been a long process bringing them to market with 4 months of development inactivity in the middle due to national lockdown. The printing company supplying our specialist labels closed down completely for the lockdown and so I had to wait.
At the beginning of January this year I started to play with my recipe for a range of cleansers because the first thing I do when I start to develop is play!
After playing around with a few oil blends and testing them on myself and close friends to remove make up, and to see how skin felt afterwards, I settled on a recipe that I was happy with. The next stage then was to submit recipes for safety testing - each individual recipe / flavour needs to hold it's own individual CPSR - a cosmetic product safety report. This process in itself can take a few weeks to come back from the company who are doing the assessments. Once recipes were approved and certificates were received I could then start working on packaging and get on with designing the labels with our designer.
I am lucky enough to work with an amazing graphic designer, Rachel from Starfish Design in Llandudno (link to her FB page below) who understands my needs and who has produced all of our packaging designs, and she set to work on designing the look of the cleanser labels. This time she had an extra task - to find the right label whilst making sure it was recyclable and / or biodegradable, but that would stand up to oil spills and getting wet. Our usual local printing company who do all of our other packaging didn't have any suitable material to use for this unique label and so Rachel went through a process of research for me, ordering samples to inspect quality and dunking them in water and oil to make sure they were up to the job as well as being also eco friendly. All good, she found the right company - and then boom lockdown happened!! The specialist printers closed down which halted the launch in it's tracks for 3 months.
Once restrictions were lifted slightly we were able to get our labels printed and delivered and our aluminium bottles delivered, and then Gemma and I set to work hand labeling the aluminium bottles ready for filling. I then made up a few of each batch to get in the swing of things and then trained Michelle in the method and she has made further batches for the shelves. Products are batched as they are made and logged in our PIF book our product information file, where we keep batch numbers, product ingredients, legals etc.
In the meantime I wrote the website pages for the products and took photographs for the website and for promotion. Then comes the launch day which is always quite exciting - but then I have a nerve wracking period of time waiting to find out if customers have loved the product and if it works as they had hoped!!
You can find our Facial Cleansers here
You can find our amazing designer here https://www.facebook.com/starfishdesignllandudno/
]]>
Here at The Good Soap we don't use anything artificial in our products we only use natural oils, butters and waxes and clays. We don't use preservatives, hardeners, silicones, sulphates, artificial fragrance or anything that can dry out skin or react with skin conditions. None of our products or raw ingredients are tested on animals.
When it comes to fragrancing products we always use essential oils which are concentrated plant extracts that retain the natural smell and essence of their source. Essential oils come from the secretory system of plants - either the bark, seeds, leaves, petals, stems or roots. On average these are 80 times more potent than the dried form of the plant. I am qualified as an aromatherapist, which gives me knowledge on how to safely use these oils. Essential oils contain naturally occuring allergens which some people can react to on an extremely rare occasion. By law these are listed on the website and ingredient label, at the end of the ingredient list.
All essential oils vary in the strength of their fragrance - especially in the finished product. When used in soap, once they have been through the soaping process some of the scent can diminish, however the properties still remain and these in turn will help care for your skin and your hair. Certain oils can complete the soaping process and still smell quite strong in the final product, for example Peppermint Oil, other oils diminish in scent, for example the Citrus Oils. The fragrances are not diminished when used in our moisturisers and deodorants and other none soap products.
Other products that we use for ingredients have their own natural smell - cocoa butter, pictured above, is the best example of this smelling strongly of chocolate, and shea butter has a distinct sweet smell. We use coffee liquid for scent in our coffee soap. These again vary the scent of the final product, and even different batches of ingredients that we purchase for our products can vary in scent - this can sometimes cause a slight difference in the smell of the final product, so you may notice the same item that you buy twice can have a slightly different scent. Again, using all natural ingredients leaves us open to slight variations even though our recipes remain exact. Sometimes we need to get creative and combine oils to replicate scents. Our Gingerbread Soap is a combination of Ginger Oil and Cinnamon Oil to replicate the smell of gingerbread, our Mulled Wine Soap is a combination of Clove Oil, Cinnamon Oil and Orange Oil.
Our products are great for all members of the family, from start to finish you can be assured that everthing we put in our products is artificial chemical free, which is good for you and good for the planet xx
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>Lockdown has had a massive effect on millions of businesses right across the world and all along I've been fortunate to be able to work safely from my home and for this I am truly grateful - to have a business that has not only survived the lockdown but thrived during the time period has been a challenge, but one I was fully committed to facing head on.
After having to furlough my wonderful girls Michelle and Gemma I have worked alone since. I can't pretend this has always been easy as the work load has been tremendous. It is a very physical business with lots of lifting, standing, moving around and generally being on your feet for long periods of time. Of course, many jobs are just that, however, 4 years ago I had spinal surgery and those activities are not always easy for me. In all of these activities Michelle and Gemma generally assist me and literally 'take the weight off' allowing me the time to run the business, be the face of The Good Soap and be creative. My son Dan, who normally resides in Liverpool, has been locked down with me, and has helped me where he could, but he has also been working full time for the civil service and so his time has been taken up by that of course. On my own I have been making hundreds of products and wrapped and sent out hundreds of parcels to customers.
The girls first and foremost are my pals - many of you may know that Gemma is my sister and Michelle has been my best friend for most of my life. Not to forget Jan, my mum, who is our super crocheter! And so not only have I missed them for the work aspect I miss their company and the laughter and chatting that we do. So - how can I get them back?
Last Feb I had a large shed built in the garden and we worked from in there through to the end of summer. Although this worked well enough it was not ideal - if the weather got damp the soaps and the salt soaps hated it and would 'weep', if the weather was too warm the deodorants and moisturiser bars would melt! Working in there for me and the girls was often way too hot or too cold. So there was no balance. Last autumn we decided to move operations into the house for the winter and my builder dad made the spare room into an office and curing room for us and this has worked perfectly since. No melting products, no weeping products and an office next door to my bedroom - perfection!
But this will not be ideal for getting the girls back to work with me. We are not allowed members of other households inside the house and with it being my homespace cannot really be set up like some other workspaces. And so we are going to be moving back into the workshop........
To make this happen firstly the workshop needs to be made temperature friendly and so my wonderful dad, builder by trade, is going to insulate the whole shed for us in order to keep the temperature more steady, for the products as well as for the girls. I have a side gate and so he is able to come into my back garden without going in my house and he can work alone to get the job done. Normally I would supply him with endless cups of tea but he'll have to bring his own flask!
I can then move all wrapping paraphernalia and products back down to the workshop so the girls can come back to wrap parcels and do lots of the other jobs they do for me like bagging and labelling the products. There are A LOT of things to move and rearrange and so this process will take time and I'll have to close the website for a few days so I don't have orders coming through needing my time to wrap. Normally we would do this as a team but I can't have their help to do this. Dan will help me as much as he can of course. The workshop stores all of our ingredients - base oils, powders, butters, essential oils, pans, equipment, tins, soap dishes and other stock and so most of this will all need to be moved elsewhere - another logistical conundrum. Michelle and Gemma work opposite times to each other and there is never any need for them to work together in the workshop so that makes things a little easier.
In normal times Michelle makes a huge amount of the soap and products that we sell and I am still working out how will be best to do this, as the kitchen is inside my house of course. At the moment my brain is working on plans and adaptations - one of my mottos is that there is a solution to all problems, and we will work this out somehow. So I think making The Good Soap safe and practical for the team to come back will be another few weeks, my dad has ordered all materials for adapting the workshop but the builders merchants can't deliver for another 2 weeks and then the job will need to be done - but it's all in hand and I cannot wait.......
]]>Get up at 7.30am hopefully after having a good sleep although that is patchy right now, like for many of us. Put kettle on - very important! Feed chickens, feed Ruby the dog, feed my goldfish Luna. Make a cup of tea.
Check Facebook messages and comments from The Good Soap page - I often receive questions and queries all the way through the night to my inbox so I deal with those as soon as I can. Check my emails - reply to any that require a reply. Check my web app to see what orders have come in since I went to bed - it amazes me that I get orders through the night, people on night shifts I think!
Unmould and place on trays any soaps or moisturiser bars that have been made the day before, this is a time consuming job. The silicone moulds then go through the washing machine on a hot wash so I take those out to be washed. This all happens whilst I am still in my pyjamas, so glamerous!
Try to have a little sit down to look at the news before getting dressed about 8.30am. As soon as I touch my clothes Ruby knows it's her walk time and I take her out for a 30 minute walk.
Get home, quickly eat breakfast, make more tea. Post on social media, and then I'm off out to the workshop to weigh out my pans for the day, between 4 and 6 pans depending on what is on the menu that day. Get moulds / tins ready for the products I am making. Carry the pans into my kitchen where I make the products. Most mornings I spend about 4 hours making products, inbetween answering customer messages where possible. I don't answer messages or posts when I'm making soap as I like to concentrate fully.
Once all products are made and in their moulds or tins I then spend time loading up the dishwasher which I have in a brick outhouse with the washing machine. Switch dishwasher on and peg out the soap moulds which have washed in the machine. Clean the kitchen and oven top before leaving the kitchen to continue other jobs.
If it is a Post Office day Dan will come with me to help me carry all of the parcels to the car and into the Post Office, on his lunchbreak as he is working full time at his own civil service job from here. This trip takes us about 1/2 hour in all. Home, where I try to have some lunch, check messages, emails and social media again.
All this time orders have been coming in through the website and they need to be wrapped and packaged so off I go to the office to print off my pile of orders and package them, usually about 2pm. This job takes up to 3 hours on a typical day, often longer. As I am wrapping, more orders and messages are coming through and so I complete those too.
After a wrapping session I will then put the soaps I unmoulded that morning onto my shelves in rows, after logging them into my Product Information File and assigning them a batch number. Placing these onto the shelves in rows takes time. Then there are batches of moisturiser bars or deodorants, or both, to place in their little bags, to be sealed and labelled, this can take over an hour. Again they get logged into the file, assigned a batch number and placed on shelves.
Any batches of soaps that have been curing that are now ready can move onto the 'ready to go' shelves. By this time it is usually well after 6pm.
At this point I need to log new stock onto my website daily and make sure numbers are correct, if anything has sold out I make sure is shows as sold out and if I won't be able to bring it back until my staff are back I remove it from the website. Soap sleeves need labelling so they are ready for the next batches, the office needs tidying ready for the next day. Any recycling is sorted and put in the correct tubs. Bins emptied.
At some point during the day I am often ordering stock - either ingredients, or tins, or soap dishes etc Some deliveries are taking longer at the moment so I try to factor that in. I also receive daily deliveries, which need to be unpacked and put away in their correct place.
Throughout the weekend orders are generally even busier and so I wrap these as they are coming in so I don't have a back log to deal with, if I leave them till Monday to wrap I will have a huge mountain to wrap in one go and there won't be any time to make products. Even though I still wrap orders I never make products on a Sunday, I usually try to make something for my home like a cake or bread which helps to relax me.
And so this is currently my daily routine - 7 days a week! I'm grateful to have my business still thriving, it's important for me to keep it going after all of the hard work myself and Michelle and Gemma have put in over the last couple of years. It's also great to be able to work safely from home at a job I love and I get overwhelmed by the support I have off my customers. It goes without saying that I cannot wait to have the girls back here working with me, not only to ease the workload but for the fun and laughter and friendship we all have. I really miss us being a team.
I also just want to end by saying to anyone reading this who has been working on the frontline, either in the NHS, in any kind of care work, in shops, in the police service, in transport, in the postal service, or in any capacity THANK YOU so much, from the bottom of my heart, you are appreciated, you are awesome xxx
]]>The Good Soap is a very busy home based business run by myself Dawn Rhodes and employing 2 staff members, Michelle and Gemma. We produce and then sell a large amount of products locally and across the UK, and abroad by arrangement. Every single product is developed and then made 'inhouse' All products are cured, packaged, labelled, batched and stored in my home property.
During the Covid 19 outbreak, following government instruction I am unable to have my team working with me in my home. I am therefore working alone. This requires me to keep producing the stock and get all parcels out to customers alone, whilst running my website, my very busy social media, and trying to reply to customer emails or messages - this is a challenge that I am fully prepared to face head on. And so my commitment for the next few months is to steer The Good Soap through these unprecedented times, in order to keep my business strong and to welcome my team members back when the time comes that we are allowed to work together once again.
Producing soap and other products, unmoulding soaps, getting equipment washed, drying moulds, stocking shelves, labelling products, ordering stock and all behind the scenes work are all labour intensive activities, all be it very enjoyable. I may therefore over the next couple of months have to cut down on the full range that we offer and keep our best selling items on the shelves. This will happen if I find that I am physically unable to keep up, due to there only being 24 hours in the day. The catch 22 situation is that whilst I am making and selling soap I cannot be wrapping parcels, and whilst I am wrapping parcels I cannot be making soap - if only there were 2 of me!
Some products may be dependent on whether I am still able to procure the ingredients, some have already been affected (Frangipani essential oil prices being just one example) Of course many oils we use are from overseas and this may too be affected.
I will only be doing 2 trips to the Post Office. We prepay for our parcels online so I only have to drop off, although sometimes have to stand in a queue to do this, and in the interests of social distancing and trying to keep as safe as possible I will be dropping off on a Tuesday and on a Friday. ALL parcels will be First Class and so once it goes to the post office it SHOULD be with you the next day although some areas of Royal Mail may be shorter staffed so please be patient. Your postman by now will be used to leaving parcels on your doorstep or in a safe place, so you can keep yourself safe from contact. I will still get tracking information so will still know when your parcel has been delivered. Please read our postal statement before contacting me about your parcel.
During this time please use the website as much as possible for finding information as it's not always possible for me to answer messages, and 90% of questions I get asked are covered on the frequently asked questions page here: https://the-good-soap.co.uk/pages/frequently-asked-questions
I feel very fortunate during these difficult times to still have a business to run, and to be able to do it safely from my home. I am grateful for the support of my customers and followers. I am delighted to be able to offer the service to you whereby you can get great quality products delivered to your doorstep for yourself and your family. I send love to each person who reads this post, I hope you and your family members and friends remain safe.
Thank you - Dawn
31/03/2020
]]>
I often get asked if The Good Soap Shampoo / Soap bars are suitable for hand washing and yes, of course they are.
Good hand hygiene is always important of course but currently with the spread of Coronavirus it is more important than ever to wash our hands thoroughly and effectively to protect ourselves and others. Using a bar soap is easily as effective a liquid detergent soap, and without the additions of chemicals and the plastic container. You can share a bar of soap with your family as the virus cannot live on soap so cannot be passed on in this way.
All houses have more than one sink - bathroom and kitchen and then there can be the addition of second loo, ensuites etc. If you have more than one sink it is possible to easily cut The Good Soap bars in half with a sharp knife. This cuts down on the need for full sized bars at all of your sinks.
The Good Soap bars contain no hardeners or preservatives (the soap naturally preserves itself) and so your skin gets only the effectiveness of the cleansing action of the soap and the nourishment of the base oils and any essential oils. This helps keep your skin in good condition even with extra hand washing.
To make your bars last for longer make sure they are kept as dry as possible in between uses, so on a slatted or grooved dish to let the air flow around them.
Tip - small soap bars are easier for small hands to hold so will be easier for a toddler and kids to use. A bar of soap can be easier for little ones to use too than a pump. And of course, this is a plastic free kind to the planet way of keeping clean!
Simply washing your hands, wrists and between fingers for 20 seconds minimum is an effective way to kill off the virus - if you are looking for a particular Good Soap bar which contains an anti viral oil too then try our Tea Tree and Peppermint Soap bar or Tea Tree and Peppermint Salt Soap as both Tea Tree and Peppermint Essential Oils are antiviral.
.
By Dawn Rhodes
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>Our Good Soap deodorants offer you a chemical and plastic free alternative to roll ons and aerosols - they are kind to the planet and kind to your skin, whilst working effectivly to keep your dry and smelling sweet. We offer our deodorants in 5 different scents.
]]>
Our Good Soap deodorant bars offer you a chemical and plastic free alternative to roll ons and aerosols - they are kind to the planet and kind to your skin, whilst working effectivly to keep your dry and smelling sweet. We offer our deodorants in 5 different scents:
Apply the bar like a roll on buy putting it directly into the arm pit and rubbing it on, it's as simple as that.
The bars are made from a carefully chosen combination of butters and wax, for smoothness during application, for solidity and for deodorising. Added to this are arrowroot powder to deodorise and for dryness, and essential oil combinations for antibacterial properties. (+bicarb in bicarb version). The deodorants have been designed to make sure they don't stain or mark clothing when reacting with sweat.
The Good Soap deodorants come in a version which contains bicarbonate of soda and a version without bicarbonate of soda. This is for anyone who may experience a slight irritation to bicarb, which can occasionally happen. Both bicarb and bicarb free versions seem to be as effective as each other.
Although The Good Soap deodorants are not an antiperspirant, which is made by chemical means to stop sweat, they do absorb sweat - the arrowroot content in the bar does this job very effectively.
Watch our video to see how to apply and store:
You can find The Good Soap range of deodorants here
]]>
Hello!
I just wanted to write a little piece as a review and reflection of The Good Soap through 2019. Myself more than anyone is still amazed and constantly delighted and excited about the success of the business. The more customers fall in love with our products the more products we sell - and each product sold means one less plastic bottle in the system.
Over this last year also, as well as helping to reduce plastic waste it seems that we have helped many many people improve the condition of their skin - we never make fancy claims about our products but it seems using good raw ingredients, with no added chemicals has a mighty benefit on skin health and this has been confirmed to me by literally hundreds of inbox messages I've had along with comments on posts and reviews on our facebook page. This makes me extremely happy.
I started selling The Good Soap products, beginning just with soap / shampoo bars in September 2018, and in January 2019 I launched our deodorant bars, this was quite nerve wracking as up to this point I'd only been making soap and a totally new product was quite a risk but it was very well received and we've not looked back. January also saw the launch of our shaving soaps and salt soaps.
I started 2019 by still wrapping parcels on my dining room table, the business was expanding and taking over the house and so in February I made the decision to have a workshop built in my back garden. I'm lucky enough to have the free space, shared with my 4 chickens and Ruby the dog. In February I launched my website, built by my own fair hands (a woman of many talents!) and sales started increasing due to more visibility. February also saw the launch of our solid moisturisers, again my own recipe and a nerve wracking experience until I knew that customers loved them.
In March my sister Gemma joined me on a regular basis to help wrap my ever expanding orders.
May bought the opening of our local Zero Waste shop, the only one in our local area, and The Good Soap was, and still is, one of the suppliers - we are proud to have pride of place on the shop counter. May also bought the design of our beautiful logo, designed by my very talented graphic designer friend. Also during May my best pal Michelle started helping me wrap parcels as I was getting to a stage where I could barely keep up so really from that point Michelle was on board as a team member, casual to begin with until making things official in the summer. Mum too joined in with the wrapping. The team was growing!
At the beginning of June we launched our new branding and packaging which I designed alongside Rachel, the super talented graphic designer. The new packaging was very well received by the public which pleased me, also it was much quicker to use than the tissue paper we had been using up to that point.
By July I'd taken to drinking gin in the garden, ha only joking.....In July we began posting out in our cardboard boxes, saving us time and allowing us to give up the plastic tape - hence we were now 100% plastic free - Yey! We worked hard through the summer and I began to teach Michelle to make the products, if I'm quite honest I was struggling to keep up with demand being the only person making them. I'd got to a stage where I felt I was a little on a treadmill, I was working 7 days and making hundreds of products alone, waking up in the morning unable to stop until I'd produced enough. Michelle learning to make these took so much work off my shoulders.
Behind the scenes I was making new recipes for items I knew I wanted to launch, so making my recipes, testing my recipes then submitting them for cosmetic safety testing so they were ready for us to start making to launch to the public on the 1st October. This added Moisturising Skin Balms, Lip Balms, Pumice Soaps and 5 new soap flavours to our range. The launch was a huge success even though once again I was nervous of public reaction - again when the feedback started coming in I was very relieved and excited. In October too we had to move indoors to work, to a room in the house, it was getting too cold in the workshop - my dad did an amazing job getting the room ready for us, decorating it and building us custom designed shelving for curing the soaps.
And then the next stage of the year was towards Christmas, with Christmas products galore, Christmas photo sessions with our products, often placed in the Christmas tree or on my green velvet coat! One of my favourite jobs is taking product photos. With Christmas stalls, including one in Debenhams added to our usual work, December has been manic, and fun, and crazy and tiring! And where would I be without Michelle and Gemma, and without mum crocheting away our cotton items behind the scenes? I would not have been able to do all of this without the back up of my amazing team and I'm so grateful to them.
I could write so much more, it really has been a crazy ride - however, I don't want to bore anyone. All that is left to say is thank you to each and every person who has either bought a Good Soap product, or shared our posts, or commented on our page - we appreciate every single interaction. And each and every one of us is playing our part to help our one beautiful world. Here is to 2020 - and more of the same, and new products for you.
Lots of love from Dawn xx
]]>
This article is to explain about the 'base' of the shampoo bars rather than any specific additions such as essential oils, milks, clays etc to the bars, I will write an article about those down the line.
The Good Soap shampoo bars are a 'soap based' shampoo, with a slight alkalinity. They do not contain sulphates or silicones. If you are looking for a natural and additive free, environmentally friendly way to wash your hair then these are a great option. For a few they can take some adjustment, you are basically training your hair to stand on it's own two feet. They suit many people but not all and like any product sometimes it can be a process of trail and error. See here for more details on how to wash your hair with a shampoo bar.
The base oils in The Good Soap shampoo bars have all been chosen and finely balanced for a particular purpose, and have each been chosen specifically to care for hair as well as skin, so they are formulated to be more than just an ordinary off the shelf soap bar. You will notice that they don't leave skin tight or dry, including facial skin, and this is because of the balance of moisturising oils chosen to make it suitable as a shampoo bar too, to take care of hair and scalp as well as skin. The Good Soap bars also have a natural air curing time, and don't contain hardening agents like some soap bars.
Briefly my shampoo bar base oils are chosen for:
So hopefully you can see that The Good Soap bars are more than just a good bar of soap, they are designed for a purpose, to make a shampoo bar with many elements to care for and nourish your hair - without the need for plastic bottles and packages. They are designed to be kind to you and to be kind to our planet <3
Dawn Rhodes
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>
The boss is Ruby - a 6 year old Beagle / Jack Russell. She pretty much runs the show and certainly sets the schedule around her mealtimes and walk times! Ruby is greedy, determined and extremely loving and funny.
Boss number two is me, Dawn, who at the age of 46 had a bright idea to teach myself to make my own soap. I, like many people had watched the Blue Planet series, and watched David Attenborough explain the dire situation in our oceans I and felt truly heartbroken to see the impact, so decided to start with myself and my family and replace our bottles in the bathroom with bars of soaps. So I began to teach myself. Now I've always loved making and baking and so it truly was and still is a pleasurable and fun experience to play in my kitchen and experiment.
In my past I had training in skin care, how to safely use essential oils and base oils and what to use them for. Also although I am not a hairdresser I had owned and managed a hair salon where I spent my days absorbing information about hair care. I have also always had a passion for a bit of business, coming from a family of entrepreneurs and self employment. Long story short (I always have to cut my stories short or we'll be here all day!) people wanted to buy my soap and so I started selling it. I then looked at other products where I could eliminate plastic and came up with my own recipes for deodorants, moisturisers, dog soap etc. After 6 months of selling online I had to have a workshop built in my back garden, I'm lucky to have the space in my garden because we literally were getting buried in soap in the house.
After a while I had to have a helper and I recruited my little sister Gemma. Gemma already runs her own busy dog walking business here in North Wales called Waggin' and Walkin' and so in between her doggie clients she started wrapping parcels for me when I was getting swamped! She has had a go of making soap and various products with me and enjoys it. We've always been best pals as well as sisters so we truly love working together. Or at least I think she likes it here.....
Helper number 2 is Michelle, and Michelle and I have been friends since 1st year of primary school. We went through school together, bought our kids up alongside each other and have supported each other through all of the highs and lows of life. Michelle is a hairdresser by trade. We worked together moons ago when I bought my hair salon and she was my chief and very talented hair stylist. In an interesting twist to our story Michelle ended up buying the hair salon from me and running it herself. A few years later she joins my Good Soap story by starting to help me out, as a friend, by wrapping parcels. After a while of her working for free for friendship I offered her a job and she agreed to join me, and train to make the products and so over the last few months I have taught her how to make soap and all of the other items and she assists in most aspects of the business by making, wrapping, labelling, tidying and anything else I need!
Last but not least is Jan, my lovely mum. Mum has always been super talented at making items, and so is in charge of our crochet items and keeping those stocked up - along with doing a parcelling shift once a week and extra when required.
It's wonderful for me to not only work with my sister, my best friend and my mum but to also be able to share my business space, home space and crazy plans with people I trust 110%
]]>I just wanted to write a post to explain a little about the 'birth' of The Good Soap, and how I arrived at this point. Don't worry, it's not an autobiography!!
This piece is written to show anyone who may be having a hard time, physical health issue, mental health or otherwise, that things can change - that you can change your stars, and that you never know where life will lead with a little determination.
After quite a dramatic entrance into the world and requiring life saving open heart surgery as a small baby (I actually have a different heartbeat to everyone else) I guess I started life as a fighter, and a determined character. I was always a very active and outgoing person who lived life to the full, with my fair share of disasters and highs and lows. I'd got to a point in my life by 2013 where I was happier and fitter than I had ever been - lots of friends, great family, fab social life and enjoying Zumba about 3 times a week and going to the gym - life was good.
But then disaster struck, in January of 2013 I developed a problem with my lower back, this problem would not go away, despite the doctors and medical people telling me that 'everyone gets a bad back' and that it would either just go away or that I would have to spend the rest of my days on strong medication. Now bear in mind that by this point I was 41 years old and could not even walk or stand up for more than a couple of minutes at a time. I spent over 2 years before diagnosis pretty much housebound, unable to work, suffering awful financial consequences, and a complete change of mindset, taking strong medication, I could not be my normal happy outgoing self, some days I could not even walk down my stairs and spent days on end in bed - during these dark times my wonderful grown up son, all of my family, my amazing friends and a new partner treated me with a kindness and love I will never forget and they gave me the strength to go on. Now, to cut a very long and boring story short I begged and begged for a full diagnosis - and yes, believe it or not, I had to beg to be scanned. Finally I got a diagnosis and was told I had a bone out of place in my lower spine.
After a long wait, I finally had an operation on my spine, nearly 3 years later, in December of 2015. I had a spinal fusion, a metal rod screwed into my spine, which was more than tough to go through, pain I never knew existed and pain I never wish to experience again - and then came the long long road to recovery and the attempt to learnt to walk normally again. Again, the kindness of my family and friends and the addition of my beloved dog Ruby to our home slowly got me back on my feet to a point where I could be mobile again. And over the months and next couple of years I concentrated on walking longer distances and building up my strength, with the limitations that the fusion will always give me.
And so - the fusion unfortunately has left me with a few little limitations, and I still hate to actually admit this! But strangely it has lead me to this point in my life - because had I been able to work in a 'normal' job I doubt very much I would have had the time to put all of my retrospective qualifications and experience together start to 'play' soap! And I now have my perfect job, and business, and incidentally working with 3 of the beautiful humans who helped me smile through my dark days - my sister, my best friend and my mum.
So, when disaster strikes, try to see it as a gift, it does not seem like it at the time but actually this disaster that you have been given could pretty much be the best thing that has ever happened to you <3
Here is my beautiful metal bionic spine
by Dawn Rhodes
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>
The skin balm that I have made is not your 'normal' texture skin cream or lotion. When you open it you may look at it or touch it and think 'wow, this is hard, I'll never get it out of the tin' But no fear, it is meant to be like that. You just need to warm the surface and it will allow you to apply just what you need, and actually, I think this makes the product more economical.
Our Moisturising Skin Balms come is 6 great scents:
As stated on the product details on the website you can use the balm on your face and body, and a little goes a long way. So take a look at my little demo. Luckily I'm not shy about appearing without make up!
]]>
When designing a new product I decide what I would like to make, I research by experimenting in the kitchen, with small batches, until I settle on something I like. And then the next process is to submit new recipes for safety certification. Once all of the legals are complete then the items are ready to launch.
I have to admit to feeling nervous when sending out new ranges - I was so nervous when I launched our deodorants in January, until the feedback started coming in and then I was so happy to see that you loved them too.
This time I will be nervous waiting for feedback from the new Moisturising Skin Balms. I know that myself and my team who have tested them love them - including our male partners! But it's still nerve wracking waiting to see what customers think. It means a lot to me that customers enjoy the products, that they help a customers skin care - the more the products are enjoyed the more customers will return, therefore cutting down on all of those plastic bottles and pots.
We have also launched a new range of 6 lip balms, 5 of those are vegan friendly so lots of choice for all.
I finally bowed to public pressure and have started to sell mini sample boxes of soap / shampoo bars - I can't tell you how often I have been asked for these.
I think I'll leave this post here for now, coming soon on the blog will be a demonstration video of how to use your skin balm. Thank you for reading :)
www.the-good-soap.co.uk
]]>