I've always had a soap thing. It may have started because my grandmother would save her best smelling soaps for me when I came to spend the weekend. My bath back then was scented with Estee Lauder from bath oil, soap and powder all to match. One of my fondest memories is standing naked on the bath rug while my Nannie put sweet smelling powder with a puff all over me so that my feet prints were left in the blanket of powder left on the rug, then she would dress me in my nightie and I felt so loved and safe.... I will never ever forget that smell. Whenever I get a whiff of Youth Dew I am transported back in time to that place with her.
She would buy me special soap for my face as I was growing up to help with my teenage skin. Ahhh..those precious memories fill my eyes with sentimental tears. I loved that lady and she loved me and I never had any doubt about it.
Bathing is a ritual. That first bath of a baby, the bath before a special day or occasion. The bath where you are recovering from a troubling experience, that bath after 3 days of camping. That first shower after giving birth is one we never forget...Bathing with a buddy. Bathing outside. Even that morning shower as you prepare
yourself for an ordinary day can be a ritual of renewal and readiness and anticipation.
For a soap freak like me, making my own soap was a natural evolution. I took a class in San Diego at the Soap Making Studio and I was hooked. Since then, my kitchen has become a laboratory for bath and beauty products.
The ingredients I use in my Filthy Pig soap are nourishing olive oil, coconut oil, palm and castor oils along with lard or tallow. Locally sourced honey and goats milk. All famous for nurturing skin. For those that prefer a vegan lifestyle, I use shey and cocobutter vegetable oils, and those ingredients above minus any animal products.
Soap found in the store is very different, in fact, is not even soap, but considered a detergent. In order to mass produce, ingredients and process involves toxic substances that can be downright harmful to your skin- the largest organ you have- and your first line of defense against injury and toxins. Whatever goes on your skin is absorbed into its layers.
(That's why topical medicines work. )
I have spent the last 30 years as a registered nurse and have treated all manner of skin issues. It pays to take care of your skin. Its especially true as we age. It matters what you put on it. It matters what you clean it with and moisturize it with and how much sun it gets. It matters alot.
I encourage you to use handmade soaps. If not Filthy Pig Soap, then buy from your local crafts person. Support that small soap business that is driven by passion and love. Not only will you get the best that money can buy, but you will be lending your energy to that passion.
Much love,
K