Beneficial and Delightful Soap for Skin, Senses & Spirit

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Spring Flowers

Here in Texas spring has arrived, heralded first by jonquils.

Jonquils
 The breathtaking beauty of Texas Blue Bonnets may well be one of the very best things about this state. The blue flowers spread like carpets along roads and in between highways. They are magical!

Blue Bonnets
I have some floral soaps in the shop, for those who are still experiencing "winter in spring".
Jasmine Garden Shea

Peony-Tuberose White Flowers
Deep South Floral
Cherry Blossom Butter Cream



Monday, March 28, 2011

What Do You Look for in a Soap?

I have a confession.

I cannot use scented soap on my face or body.

I also do not like any 'weird' ingredients in my soap unless I am exfoliating.

I started making my own soap because it seemed that everything was irritating my 'red head' Irish skin.

Now, I am a soap and water girl from way back. I do not use commercial cleansers - ever. And guess what? The same people who preach "no soap" are amazed when they see my skin. :)))

Most women are aware of the soap vs skin cleanser debate. So many people tell you to not use soap on your face. 

Handcrafted soap is different. 

Handcrafted soap retains the natural glycerin which is typically siphoned off by the big commercial brands and sold as a by-product. Big companies then dump chemicals into the soap batter to create lots of bubbles. Then comes the artificial fragrance, colors, preservatives and who knows what else?

It is the lack of glycerin, the combination of drying oils (yes, some oils can be drying if the recipe is not well-proportioned) and the chemicals that make your skin feel like sandpaper. This starts the cycle of wash and then slather moisturizers (which can also have lots of junk that your skin does not like or need).

Skin is the largest organ of your body and will absorb anything you put on it. Be careful.

I realize that I am in the minority, but I do not select a soap based on scent, unless it is for hand-washing. Oddly, my first inclination is to still pick up soap bars and smell them.

I love to appreciate olfactory delights! Also, I am a bit of a fragrance snob (as in commercial toiletries). I despise "badly" scented perfumes, colognes and oils. Ick. I get headaches and nausea from inferior scents.

I am not opposed to good fragrance oils, although my preference is for essential oils. Most of the time, my soap blends both with good results.

So - I get my post-wash fragrance fix in fragrance oils or sprays that I create myself and I leave my personal soap unscented. I also love to mix a current favorite scent with raw coconut oil or raw shea butter and use that as a scented body lotion or cream.

This leads me to ask the question - What Do You Look for in a Soap?

My personal  favorite is an unscented, creamy, high performance soap. High performance for me means that the soap should cleanse, but not irritate my skin. My skin should feel lightly moisturized, never stripped or tight.

I like "Butter Cream" or "Vata" from my own line. "Butter Cream" is a coconut cream and raw, organic cocoa butter base with palm and castor oils. Clients tell me that it will remove eye makeup! "Vata" is stuffed with good-for-you ingredients like jojoba, avocado, almond, apricot kernel oils and raw, organic shea butter. So soothing for skin on the dry side!

There are many soap artisans who make luscious soap that is unscented and coddling. Why don't you try a bar or two?

My favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla. But those indulgent calories had better come in the form of an extremely high quality product - no fake anything - thank you very much.

This mandate goes for my soap too.

In Love, Truth and Beauty.....

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Custom Log of Coconut Butter Cream

I just made a custom log of Coconut Butter Cream for one of my favorite clients. 

The soap is made with my basic Butter Cream recipe - one of my personal 'bests' and a client favorite too. 

The batch I made for Ryan includes raw, organic coconut and a light coconut fragrance oil.

Coconut Butter Cream

This soap has some premium ingredients such as raw, unrefined, organic cocoa butter and organic coconut cream. Castor oil and Fair Trade palm oil round out the formula. 

This is a soap that gets better with age - harder, milder and more bubbly.

Personally, I prefer my Butter Cream with no fragrance or added coconut. 

I guard the recipe, as I believe it is my hands down favorite of all of my soap! It is super conditioning and very high end. The raw butter and the delicious coconut cream make one ultra-luxe, everyday indugence!


In Love, Truth and Beauty....

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Follow Angelic Soap on Twitter!

Follow Angelic Soap on Twitter!

Tangerine Temple Incense

Toxins in Topical Skin Products

Below is a list of toxic substances found in skin products.
Do you need any more reasons to use handcrafted soap and/or body products?

Why Do So Many Skin Care Products

                 Use These Potentially Hazardous Ingredients?

Simple answer: because they're cheap, readily available, and easy to dilute.
Are they in the products you currently use? It's time to check. Go grab your containers of skin care products and check them against the following …

Ingredient Use Dangers
Parabens Heavily used preservatives in the cosmetic industry; used in an estimated 13,200 cosmetic and skin care products. Studies implicate their connection with cancer because their hormone-disrupting qualities mimic estrogen and could disrupt your body’s endocrine system.
Mineral Oil, Paraffin, and Petrolatum
These petroleum products coat the skin like plastic – clogging pores and creating a build-up of toxins. They can slow cellular development, creating earlier signs of aging. They’re implicated as a suspected cause of cancer. Plus, they can disrupt hormonal activity. When you think about black oil pumped from deep underground, ask yourself why you’d want to put that kind of stuff on your skin…
Sodium laurel or lauryl sulfate (SLS), also known as sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) Found in over 90% of personal care products! They break down your skin’s moisture barrier, potentially leading to dry skin with premature aging. And because they easily penetrate your skin, they can allow other chemicals easy access. SLS combined with other chemicals may become a "nitrosamine" – a potent carcinogen.
Acrylamide Found in many facial creams. Linked to mammary tumors.
Propylene glycol Common cosmetic moisturizer and carrier for fragrance oils. May cause dermatitis and skin irritation. May inhibit skin cell growth. Linked to kidney and liver problems.
Phenol carbolic acid Found in many lotions and skin creams. Can cause circulatory collapse, paralysis, convulsions, coma, and even death from respiratory failure.
Dioxane Hidden in ingredients such as PEG, polysorbates, laureth, ethoxylated alcohols. Very common in personal care products. These chemicals are often contaminated with high concentrations of highly volatile 1,4-dioxane that’s easily absorbed through the skin. Its carcinogenicity was first reported in 1965, and later confirmed in studies including one from the National Cancer Institute in 1978. Nasal passages are considered extremely vulnerable, making it, in my opinion, a really bad idea to use these things on your face.
Toluene May be very poisonous! Made from petroleum and coal tar… found in most synthetic fragrances. Chronic exposure linked to anemia, lowered blood cell count, liver or kidney damage…May affect a developing fetus.

You see, your skin is not only your largest organ – it’s also the thinnest. Only 1/10th of an inch separates you from all sorts of toxins. Your skin is highly permeable, allowing what you apply to your skin access to your bloodstream (and thereby to the rest of your body)…

Which is why I remind you not to put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t be willing to eat.

As you’ve heard before, beauty is more than skin deep. Pampering your skin with ‘beauty’ products laced with toxins is playing Russian roulette with your health. More on that in a minute.

Content Courtesy of Dr. Mercola. 
Find the entire article and video here: http://www.mercolahealthyskin.com/

Friday, March 4, 2011

Tea and Sympathy

Two lovely tea-based soaps...both creamy and luscious!

Cardamom-Masala Chai
Green Tea with Raw Sugar
I grew up in an Irish family where "a cuppa" tea could cure any ailment. I believe it and adhere to the tenet to this very day!

In Love, Truth and Beauty....

Ready for Spring?

YES!
Here are a few floral and citrus soaps for those of us who are impatient! These soaps are made with creamy, moisturizing bases to help winter-weary skin ease into Spring.

Peony-Tuberose
Pink Grapefruit-Apricot
Lemon Sugar
Spicy Lime Ginger
Vata Ayurvedic Cleanser

There is also a gorgeous "Cherry Blossom Butter Cream" soap. Wow! A one of a kind scent blended into a coconut cream and raw, organic cocoa butter recipe. This is a girlie-girl soap! So good for skin and spirits!

In Love and Beauty ...