Handcrafted natural soaps vs. mass-produced commercial products

What is "soap"? In its most basic form, soap is the result of a chemical reaction between fats / oils and either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. This chemical reaction is referred to as saponification. The fats and oils used to make soaps can be derived from animals, vegetables or both.

Garden Spirit natural skin-care products are the highest quality, herbal-based products that use only pure and natural ingredients. We prefer to call our product skin-care bars instead of "soap", and here's why: Soap is used to describe a whole variety of product formulations. Most commercial soaps are extremely chemical-laden and actually dry and damage the skin while cleaning it. In addition to being relatively harsh, commercial soap also tends to be heavily and artificially perfumed, often to the point of being offensive.

We use only pure vegetable oils, 100% pure essential oils and natural colorants in our skin-care bars. The basic oils are olive, coconut and palm. We also use oils such as almond, apricot kernel, castor, jojoba, kukui nut, and shea butter to provide additional skin moisturizers and conditioners. For scent we use pure essential oils and we use amounts that provide a pleasant but not an overwhelming scent. We color our bars with natural colorants that are typically made from roots, such as madder root and alkanet root.

We make our skin-care bars using the cold-process. The cold-process method releases the glycerol that is contained in the various oils and this remains in the soap in the form of glycerin-a marvelous skin moisturizer. Commercial manufacturers typically either remove this glycerin and sell it as a higher profit by-product, or make soap with ingredients that do not contain glycerol and therefore do not impart this wonderful moisturizer into their products. A more detailed comparison between commercial "soap" and Garden Spirit natural skin-care bars can be found in the chart below.

The body's skin is considered an organ; actually the body's largest organ and definitely the most visible. It also often tends to be the most neglected. Many of our customers, prior to using our skin-care bars have had problems with dry or itching skin-particularly in winter months and/or dry climates. Regular use of our skin-care bars with natural ingredients and skin moisturizers typically eliminates irritating and sometimes painful skin problems.

In addition to looking good, smelling good, feeling good and being good for you, there is one other significant benefit to using our natural skin-care bars. These natural bars, with only vegetable oils and no animal fats or harsh chemicals, leave virtually no soap "scum" in the shower and tub and virtually no build-up of "gunk" in the drains. Occasionally you might still want to clean the tub / shower but you will be able use a cloth and gentle wiping instead of sandpaper and a chisel.