How is soap made, you ask? One word: saponification. Saponification is the term for the chemical reaction that occurs between an acid (fat or oil) and a base (sodium hydroxide, or lye). If the product hasn’t been saponified, it’s not real soap- it’s detergent.
I use 100% natural fats (oils) to produce the purest bar possible. I use coconut oil, palm oil, soybean oil, castor oil, and high oleic sunflower oil.
Soybean oil is naturally rich in both Vitamin E and Vitamin K. Palm oil is also high in Vitamin E and is effective at removing dirt and oil from the hair and skin without stripping all of natural oils. Castor oil is a skin conditioner and helps create a stable and creamy lather in our soap. Finally, high oleic sunflower oil is used for its emollient as well as its moisturizing properties.
When I started making soap, I put a lot of thought into the finished product. The feel of it. The size of it. The shape of it. I wanted it to be a bar that you would not only reach for in the shower or tub, but put next to the sink in the bathroom and in the kitchen. I went through three different size molds until I was finally satisfied with the way the bar of soap felt.
The Live.Simple.Lavender. uses 100% pure lavender oil and has alkanet root powder swirled in which gives it a beautiful deep purple color swirl.
Live.Simple.Latte. is coffee essential oil and vanilla to create a dark brown bar that I top with a creamy white top that creates a look straight from your local coffeehouse.
Live.Simple.Mint. is scented with 100% pure peppermint oil and gets its pale green color from alfalfa powder.
Our Live.Simple.Natural. bar is completely free from scent and color. It's perfect for everyone.
Live.Simple.Outdoors. is a spicy, woodsy, outdoorsy scent I created in answer to a request to offer a masculine scent. I added a touch of bentonite clay for its detoxification and purification properties. It gives it a light gray color.
Live.Simple.Serenity. is luxuriously scented with warm vanilla and calming lavender. It’s a blend of sweetness and with a touch of earthiness.
Live.Simple.Shop. offers the grease-cutting powers of lemongrass essential oil plus the grime and cleansing of natural pumice. This is perfect for that dirty-handed guy in your life and gentle enough for the ‘gardener who doesn’t like to wear gloves’ person (Like yours truly), too.
Our most popular soap, Live.Simple.Sunshine., is robustly scented with 100% pure lemongrass oil for an earthy citrus scent. I use turmeric as the colorant. It creates a beautiful yellow-orange color in the bar that is about as close to the color of the summer sun as I could find.
Live.Simple.Tuxedo. is a masculine scented soap with cypress and fir with swirls of activated charcoal for a dramatic looking purifying bar.
I also make Goat Milk Soap! It took me a little bit of time, but I have finally settled in on a recipe for goat milk soap that is in line with my values and my farm setting.
Goat Milk/Oatmeal/Chamomile is my most popular goat milk soap. There is barely a scent, but the gentle exfoliation from the oatmeal and the soothing properties from both the oatmeal and the chamomile make this a bar that you will not want to be without.
Pure Goat Milk soap is just that: pure goat milk soap. Only goat milk is used to make an unscented, uncolored bar.
Super Minty Goat Milk is made with goat milk, spearmint, and peppermint essential oils and then blended with crushed peppermint leaves from our farm.
Goat Milk with Oats + Honey is a soothing bar made from pure goat milk, a touch of honey, and pulverized oats for a very luxurious soap.
You know what else you won’t find here? A bunch of scents to choose from. I deliberately keep my products simple. I might switch out a couple of scents here and there for different seasons of the year, or have a fun scent for a month or so, but my main line of soaps will stay true. It’s just another way to deliver a good quality product, at a good price, in a consistent and steady way. Living simple means keeping it simple...it's a way of life.
Join the revolution to Live.Simple. with us!
1 comment
Love, love, LOVE the way your soaps lather! The lather foams up beautifully and feels so nice in my hands, hair, everywhere!