8-3-20 by Carol Baxter
“I can see you’re soap and water gal,” the esthetician told my 75-years-young mother before she had her first facial. A Depression-Era child and homemaker with a blue-collar husband, lipstick and mascara were the products Mom reached for on her vanity. The only time I saw her put any kind of foundation on it was olive green—the Halloween nobody recognized her at Organ Stop Pizza because she dressed as a witch.
Grandma had soft peachy skin. Sure, it was wrinkled, but it was bright and healthy. Her routine was to wash it in the morning, at night, and anytime she felt like it.
It is probably why I rarely wear make-up and am drawn makers of handmade soap at craft fairs and farmer’s markets. My twenty-something daughter, who often wears make-up with gorgeous savoir-faire, thinks my soap buying is an obsession but if it was an obsession I would have more than six bars stashed in the medicine cabinets, I’d have at least a baker’s dozen.
Reasons to purchase handmade soap:
You can choose ingredients that will make your skin glow with happiness. Goat’s milk is my fave. Quality essential oils are a must.
It smells divine. I am drawn to the scent of bergamot but I managed to come home with “blackberry magnolia” and a bar called “butt naked” this past weekend. The latter smells like bananas.
You can get a great deal when you buy more than one bar.
You are supporting someone’s passion. Soapmaking is time-intensive. I own a DIY book; recipes read but never followed.
Bonus! You are likely buying local.
Harmonize your cells. You can be transported by scents you like.
Trust me, your discerning nose is going to find more than one essential oil scent that diverts your limbic system in a new direction. And if you don’t believe there’s any science to the benefits of essential oils at least you’ll smell terrific.
Please don’t tell on me! The secret to not having a baker’s dozen handmade bars of soap is to give the extras to seven friends.
Photo credit: Wild bergamot by Karl-Heinz Miller
