FAQ Friday: Soap for Sensitive Skin

March 3, 2017 Leave a Comment

Sensitive Skin Needs Love Too!

Greetings and salutations, Sudsers! Mrs. Soap & Clay here with this week’s edition of FAQ Friday. First up, a few updates. I am still sans printer which makes labeling my products tough. SO…I am having a naked bar sale – all soaps are $5 each! Coupon code is GONAKED and is extended through the weekend, so stock up!

Also, the giveaway for three months of soapy love packages is still underway. I’m super anxious to pick a winner and thank everyone who has entered! We are still short of our contest goal, though, so if you could pretty please send everyone you’ve tagged a message and ask them to like our Facebook page, I would appreciate it!

Sensitive Sally Skin

As some of you may know, I have a shop in Tacoma, WA smack dab in the middle of the historic Freighthouse Station. I get lots of questions from travelers and building wanderers in search of an adventure when they walk into my shop. I’m often asked to recommend a soap best suited for sensitive skin. Short answer: all of them! Because that seems like a bit of a non-answer, let’s explore why I can recommend every bar of Soap & Clay soap for even the most Sensitive Sallies among us.

The thing is, I am a Sensitive Sally. I have an olive complexion that is easily damaged and when it is (acne, cuts, sunburn, etc.), it loves to pigment and scar. I’ve spent boatloads of dollars and more time than I care to add up on lightening products and treatments. The Soap & Clay kidlets also have sensitive skin; growing up in the cloudy PNW means they don’t get enough sunlight to fight mild eczema and the occasional kerotosis, so when I started formulating products, I knew that I needed to make them super effective but also gentle enough for all of our skin ailments. I know what you’re thinking right now: cool story bro. But what does this have to do with MY sensitive skin? Glad you asked!

I’ve been frustrated with the “sensitive skin” product world because, while they don’t make my skin freak out, they also don’t do much else. And they usually smell boring. And thus my mission was clear: create effective products that work for the most sensitive skinned among us while still inserting a bit of fun into our daily cleansing routines.

Handmade = Less Skin Irritation

In reality, moving to a carefully designed handmade soap from commercial cleansing products will alleviate most sensitive skin concerns. There are a number of reasons as to why this is. Commercial bars are formulated in a specific way to achieve big batch production, long shelf life, and a super low price point. One of the additions in commercial bars and body washes is water, which means the benefits of the oils are heavily diluted, so it’s less effective while it’s pulling needed moisture from your skin during use. They then add synthetic bubbling agents (because water doesn’t lather up very well), and these synthetic bubblers dry out the skin and cause irritation. They also add preservatives to ensure a long shelf life, which can irritate all skin types.

Glycerin

Synthetic additives aside, the biggest difference between commercial bars and handmade soap is the glycerin. In commercial production, companies remove the glycerin (a naturally occurring, skin loving humectant that is a result of the saponification process) and either sell it individually or use it in high-end skincare products. Handcrafted soapers don’t do this; the process to remove glycerin is long and yields an inferior product. We haven’t talked about glycerin in a while, but it is perhaps the most important difference between commercial soaps/body washes and handmade soap. See, glycerin is a humectant, which basically means that it binds to moisture in the air and uses it to moisturize the skin. For most sensitive skin ailments, the added moisture is a welcome relief. For more information on the benefits of glycerin for sensitive skin, check out this blog post.

Clay

I touched on the benefits of clay in last week’s FAQ Friday, but for a quick recap: clay is awesome for sensitive skin. The negative charges in clay bind to the positive charges in toxins and free radicals, gently pulling from the skin while leaving skin nourishing minerals behind. Clay is also super soothing; not for nothing are mud baths an extremely popular spa treatment. And as I add clay into each and every batch of soap I make, each Soap & Clay bar is loaded with mud. But you still get clean. I know, it’s weird to me too.

Now you see why I can confidently recommend every bar of soap in my line, but if you’re looking for soap super-specifically designed for super-specific Sensitive Sallies among us, check out C’mon Get Happy, The Lavender Bar, Black & Tan, and Raspberry Stout. These four bars are made with very gentle oils and are infused with skin loving colloidal oatmeal. Also, be on the lookout for the new beer soaps line in the next few weeks, as beer is a great addition for sensitive skin applications.

Enjoy the rest of your day, Sudsers – the kidlets and I are on our way to the shop to do some more work on the expansion!

Happy Sudsing!

FAQ Friday: The “Clay” in Soap & Clay

February 17, 2017 Leave a Comment

Benefits of Clay Soap

Hey Sudsers! Mrs. Soap & Clay here with a new edition of FAQ Friday! Yes, I know it’s been a while. No, I haven’t run out of frequently asked questions. I have, however, found myself running out of time to sit down and type posts, and when I finally DO have time, I find myself with a broken computer. And then a broken camera. And finally a broken printer. Not that a printer is needed for a blog post, but it’s terribly upsetting all the same.

2017 has been weird. Feel bad for me.

Anyway, the Soap & Clay kidlets are spending the day with grandma and grandpa, I have whittled away at my soap to-do list, and I find myself with just enough time to get a blog post in, so here we go! Today’s post is all about the “clay” in Soap & Clay, and the benefits of clay soap.

So what’s with the “clay” in Soap & Clay?

Great question! It can be a bit confusing; I don’t seem to sell many clay based products, right? WRONG! I have a bit of a love affair with clays – the idea of, essentially, dirt being both beneficial for the skin AND cleansing is fascinating to me and I have spent boatloads of time playing with it.

Slathering it on my skin. Mixing it with water. Testing absorption rates. Drinking it. Letting it sit on a windowsill during the full moon to charge. Clay is cool. We all have hobbies. Shut up.

Anyway, this fascination with clay actually started my entire product line. Once you’ve mastered the basics of soapmaking – which oils yield a hard bar, or a super lather, or a bar best suited for laundry soap, or for shaving – you find yourself experimenting with additives. And I’m not talking about commercial filler additives; that stuff is for chumps who cheapen their products. Handcrafted soap additives are used to yield an even better bar than what you ever thought possible. In theory. And my favorite additive is, you guessed it, clay. Each and every batch of soap I make includes a clay of some sort. My most frequently used clays are Kaolin, Bentonite, Red Clay, French Green, and Activated Charcoal. Which I’m counting as a clay. Because why not.

Cool…but why?

So glad you asked! Clay is super fun and I like talking about it. The benefits of clay are numerous, and it will take many, many more posts to fully explore all of said benefits. So here’s my Top Five, bulleted list of why I use clay in my soaps. High Fidelity style. Because Nick Hornby and John Cusack are life.

Clay detoxifies the skin. This is a well known benefit of clay; it acts like a magnet, pulling toxins, impurities, and chemicals from the skin and whisking them away to toxin-death-land. Which is great, right? Right!
Clay balances the skin’s pH. Various healing clays, such as bentonite, produce electrical charges when mixed with water. These negative charges created bind to the positive bits of toxins, as mentioned above, but through this process releases minerals that the skin needs. This results in a balanced epidermis that yields fewer breakouts (I’m looking at you, acidic skin!) or less eczema flareups (alkaline skin woes), depending on which side of the pH spectrum you fall. For more information on the importance of balanced skin pH, click here.
Clay oxygenates the skin and helps maintain the skin’s natural moisture. This is also part of the negative electrical charges bit. Another benefit of this process is that certain clays help the skin receive more oxygen by binding to excess hydrogen. This results in healthier skin, better blood flow, and more efficient oil production. Science is freaking awesome.
Clay produces an exceptional lather. We’ve all been there. We’ve picked up a bar of artisan soap, took it home, and were dismayed to learn that it took some real work to work up a lather with said bar. The clays in a Soap & Clay bar produce a super bubbly, super cleansing, beautiful lather with ease.
Clay soaps have a longer shelf and shower life. Handmade soaps are great for the skin, but can be murder on the pocketbook. Because artisan soaps do not contain the chemicals, fillers, and preservatives that result in a bar of soap that can last through the apocalypse, they tend to disappear faster than you’d like. With clay soaps, however, you actually get a longer shelf life and an extended life in the shower. So while other artisan soaps will last you a few weeks in the shower, with proper soap care a Soap & Clay bar will get you a month. Economical times two!

Activated Charcoal + Kaolin Clay = a wicked awesome soap.

So there you have it – the clay method to the soapy madness! Have an excellent weekend, Sudsers – go do something fun that gets you dirty. So you can use some soap. My soap, preferably. But soap, for sure.

Happy Sudsing!

FAQ Friday: Activated Charcoal, Bath Bombs, and Holiday Gift Boxes

November 20, 2015 Leave a Comment

Bath Bombs, Activated Charcoal, and Holiday Gift Sets

It’s Friday! Cheers to the freakin’ weekend! We’ve been busy getting ready for holiday booth events this week, which has meant very limited sleep and lots of coffee. Mmmm, coffee. Before getting to this week’s most frequently asked questions, I have a few housekeeping items. After that, we will talk about bath bombs, activated charcoal, and holiday gift sets. Excited? I am!

Whipped Soap Minis are back in stock!
Whipped Soap Minis have been wildly popular lately, and I’ve had a tough time keeping them in stock. They’re back and ready to be shipped. First priority goes to all of the Sudsers that sent me a preorder message (thanks for doing that!), though, so quantities are limited. Head over the the site and claim yours today.
Final Days for Buy 3 Get 1 Free and No Shave November
Our Buy 3 Get 1 Free sale ends on November 30th, as does our Movember Foundation promotional event. Buy 3 Get 1 Free is a stellar deal that you don’t want to miss, and the Movember Foundation event supports a great cause (men’s health research and education). I’m looking forward to writing them a big fat check, so don’t miss out! For more information on the Movember Foundation and what they do, click here.

Now that we’ve handled that, on to the questions!

What are bath bombs?

I’ve seen pictures you’ve been posting on your Instagram and Facebook pages of bath bombs. What are they??
Answer: Bath bombs are amazing. The end.

Simply amazing.

Ok, so maybe a bit more explanation is needed. Bath bombs are tightly packed balls of dry ingredients (mostly baking soda, citric acid, and epsom salts) that do some pretty fun stuff when they come in contact with water. When plopped into bath water, these porous balls (my favorite Sudser description of bath bombs to date) fizz, they float, they zoom and twirl before your very eyes. Amazing! As an added bonus, they also scent, soften and sometimes color the water, resulting in a fun bathtub experience that’s also pretty great for your skin. They basically take tub time to the next level.

What’s the deal with activated charcoal?

I recently received an order. One of the bars of soap had a tag that talked about the activated charcoal in the soap. What does activated charcoal DO?
Answer: Activated charcoal is pretty powerful, and one of my favorite ingredients. It’s long been used as a detox aid, to treat bug bites, as well as to whiten teeth! In soap, it acts as a magnet, pulling toxins, dirt, and contaminated oils from your skin. It’s great for detoxifying the skin and works wonders on acne. Be aware, however, that soaps containing activated charcoal will have grey lather. This is totally normal and the suds will become bubbly and white once the activated charcoal has done its job. Enjoy your newly detoxed skin!

Holiday Gift Sets

Not knowing what’s inside is killing you, isn’t it? I know.

I saw your post about holiday gift boxes! They aren’t online, though. What’s inside and how do I purchase them?
Answer: First off, thanks for following my posts! That makes me smile. Now, our holiday gift boxes are selling like hot cakes at local gift bazaars, so thanks to my local Sudsers! I will have the gift boxes up next week for the online crowd, just in time for Small Business Saturday. More information on the boxes in the days to come, but we do have a Man-scape Box, a Bomb Box, a Spa Box, and a Hello Lovely Box (for the lovely ladies) that will hit the site soon. SPOILER ALERT: They will be on sale AND part of November’s Buy 3 Get 1 Free deal, so it’s an excellent opportunity to get some unique, thoughtful and fun gifts for your nearest and dearest. And also for yourself.