Don't be afraid.....

When I first started making handmade soap, friends and family were a little cautious in using it. I even had someone ask if it was OK to use on their 'private parts'! I am not sure why fear would be an emotion when using something natural. If you use commercially made soap maybe a little fear should be your reaction.

Naturally handmade soap has nothing in it that anyone should be afraid of. You just need to try it, just once, from a reputable soap maker, and you will understand why people are so passionate about handmade soap.

Remember, you get what you pay for!

Coleen

The Zone!

Soap making is like meditation. Whether I am making soap, or body creme, I get in a zone. Runners get in a zone. Artists get in a zone. Writers get in a zone. It is so peaceful to get in that place. I think that is why I am so passionate about soap making. It gives me peace, and all other thoughts are pushed out of my brain. The zone is something that gives me peace, but the final outcome of my product is so rewarding.

Until I starting reading about soap making, I had no idea what ingredients were in the soap my family used. I read an article about a small soap making business run by two women on the east coast. This peaked my interest in soap making because they talked about the natural ingredients in their soap, and how their children helped them pick the petals off of flowers to include in their soap.

I then purchased some books about soap making, and other books about essential oils and their properties. Essential oils are the essences that are extracted from bark, leaves, petals, resins, rinds, roots, seeds, stalks and stems of aromatic plants through distillation or expression. It was amazing to me to learn about the benefits of essential oils.

For example, Lavender Essential Oil has calming properties. Lavender Essential Oil also has healing and antibacterial properties. Lavender Essential Oil calms and soothes the skin, but it also has emotional benefits. Lavender Essential Oil is said to clear thinking and strengthen the nervous system.

Tea Tree Essential Oil also has healing and antibacterial properties. Tea Tree Essential Oil is effective in the treatment of skin disorders such as acne. It cleanses and disinfects wounds and soothes and heals burns.

Eucalyptus Essential Oil eases nasal congestion and cold symptoms. It also has healing and antibacterial properties to hasten the healing of cold sores. Eucalyptus Essential oil can improve concentration and restore emotional balance.

Besides using these essential oils in soap or bath and body products, they can be used in conjunction with a room diffuser. Adding a few drops of a specific essential oil, or a blend of essential oils, to water in a room diffuser can disperse these properties throughout a room to cleanse the environment.

Those are my thoughts for today!

Coleen

www.sudsations.com

Research raises concerns about antibacterial chemical

By Lyndsey Layton
The Washington Post
Posted: 04/09/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT



The antibacterial chemical triclosan is found in bar and liquid soaps, along with many other consumer products.

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration said recent research raises "valid concerns" about the possible health effects of triclosan, an antibacterial chemical found in liquid and bar soaps, hand sanitizers, dishwashing liquids, shaving gels and even socks, workout clothes and toys.
The FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency say they are taking a fresh look at triclosan, which is so ubiquitous that it is found in the urine of 75 percent of the population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The reassessment is the latest signal that the Obama administration is willing to re-evaluate the health impacts of chemicals that have been in widespread use.
In a letter to Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who has pushed for greater regulation, the FDA said recent scientific studies raise questions about whether triclosan disrupts the body's endocrine system and whether it helps to create bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics.
Triclosan was developed as a surgical scrub for medical professionals. It is also used in pesticides. In recent years, it has been added to consumer products to kill bacteria and fungus and prevent odors. It can be found in everything from kitchen cutting boards to shoes, often packaged with labels that tout "antibacterial" properties.
Most hand sanitizers, such as Purell, use alcohol and do not contain triclosan.

Do you know what ingredients are in your Body Lotion?

Body Lotion or Body Cream (Creme) is applied to the skin and absorbed into the bloodstream. If you read the ingredients on the label of your body lotion do you know what these ingredients are?

Jergens Original Scent Lotion, For Dry Skin:

http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=brands&id=10002004



Sudsations Body Creme:

















Ingredients:

Distilled Water; olive, sweet almond, jojoba, kukui nut, castor oils; shea butter, beeswax, vegetable glycerin, grapefruit seed extract, borax, essential oils.



http://www.sudsations.com/bath_n_body.html

Do you know what ingredients are in your bar soap?

Do you know what you are putting on your skin when you wash with commercially made bar soap? If you don’t know what the ingredients are in the soap you use I suggest you think twice about using it.

Dove Soap Ingredients:

http://www.dove.us/#/Products/BarSoapBodyWash/BB_White.aspx


Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate or Sodium Palmitate, Lauric Acid, Sodium Isethionate, Water, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoate or Sodium Palm Kernelate, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891).


Sudsations:

www.sudsations.com

Baby Soap





A delicate, unscented soap created for delicate skin, incorporating shea and cocoa butters in a base of olive, coconut, and palm oils.

Lotion Bars

4 oz tin, Net Wt 2.5 oz, dimensions 2 3/4" round lotion bar in a 3" round tin.

Rub this lotion bar on problem skin areas to moisturize and replenish dry skin.

Ingredients: Bees wax; jojoba oil; shea and kokum butters. Cocoa butter is used in place of kokum butter in the Cocoa Butter lotion bars. Available in Lavender, Lavender & Vanilla, and Cocoa Butter. These are not on my website yet but send me a message if you are interested. Purchase price is $13.25 each.

sudsations@comcast.net

Sudsations

Very few things in this world are more elegant and luxurious than handmade soap. This is because handmade soap retains all of the natural glycerin produced during the soap making process. Once you have tried soap made deftly by hand, you'll never go back to commercially made soap again! Making soap is my passion! All my soap is composed of 100% natural vegetable oils, essential oils and fragrance oils. It contains no animal byproducts, and has no involvement with animal testing. This process makes for the richest and most indulgent soap you've ever experienced.

Relax. Luxuriate. Enjoy.

Coleen