Bought bags...

A friend let us know about these bags to save us work and time. So glad! It is a lot of work to keep up with the sewn bags. We have done it but barely! I will still make them but have these as back up too. I think they are really cute!

Emily

Food Grade Lye...

We are starting to use only Food Grade Lye. Customer questions led us to look harder into our grade of lye. We had no idea there we're differing grades! We were working on placing a bulk supply order. And noticed they also sold Food grade lye. We read as much as we could about it.And have chosen to go to it.

ALWAYS GREATER THAN 99% PURE. It contains less metals than standard Lye. Works good to have consistent batches, formulated with hard-to-saponify oil blends, or employ sensitive essential oils. This grade is also Food Codex / FCC / Kosher certified. Can be used for Pretzels, Olives, Lutefisk, Hominy or any other food use.

    If it is safe for food uses it has to be safer for soaps. It cost over double the standard grade lye but we want the best product out there. We are always wanting to learn. And discovered this when on a mission to learn other things about soap.

Emily

Saponification... and Glycerin

    Saponification is a process (chemical reaction) that produces soap  from fats and lye. Depending on the nature of the alkali base used in their production, soaps have different properties. Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) gives "hard soap", whereas, when Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) is used, a soft soap is formed. In our soaps we use Sodium Hydroxide. The harder bar lasts longer and keeps its shape better.
 
   Basically, saponification is the chemical reaction between an acid and a base to form a salt. Yep, Soap is a salt. ;) When you make soap using a cold process method you mix a  fat (which is your acid) with Lye (which is your base) to form soap.

   As you mix, and stir the carefully measured acid and base together, they start to react.Within the fats are a single glycerol molecule  (which turns into skin nourishing glycerin) allowing the fatty acids to combine with the hydroxide ions within the base, forming soap. Two reactions occur. The first reaction is glycerol turning into beneficial glycerin, and the second reaction is the acid and the base combining to form a salt which is your soap.

  In most 'soaps' you would buy at the store the glycerin has been removed. (And sold separately for more profit) Or they are not even soaps but rather detergent. If your soap is void of its natural glycerin it is not going to be skin softening.  And can even be drying. A homemade natural bar of soap will have it's glycerin still in tact.

   In the Saponification process the glycerin becomes chemically separate from the soap. Yet still part of the soap. Glycerin is a Humectant. Meaning it ATTRACTS moisture to your skin. It is a great thing!  And to think it is a byproduct!

 If you have skin problems from rashes to posion ivy to dry skin in the winter. Natural Homemade soap is a great choice! I welcome you to try ours!  www.simplycleansing.com

Emily

Eczema

We get lots of requests for information on which soaps of ours are best for eczema and other skin rashes.

     Eczema is a skin inflammation which can range from mild burning and itching to a bleeding wound. They are due to an allergic reaction and is hard to treat.

   
     Most commercial soaps contain harsh ingredients.(And are often not even soap but detergents) The harsh content in this soap can lead to rashes, allergic reactions, and to eczema in worse cases.
Chemicals can strip our skin of its natural oils, making it prone to infection and irritation. In fact, medical practitioners highly discourage the use of commercial soaps as they can worsen eczema symptoms.

      Just using a pure homemade soap like ours is a great start. We add Comfrey herb to our Spearmint soap (and soon our peppermint. Which is a great skin herb. It was a great help to our daughter to use the soap often. We really liked the affects when using soap that contained the comfrey.  We also like to use Tea Tree soap. It is antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiseptic. Since her Eczema was pretty bad. (very thick, scaly, itchy and often would bleed) We found Tea Tree soap was a great option in keeping it under control. And infection away. 


  Our soaps contain coconut oil which is really great for skin and its issues. We use the same base ingredients in all our soap. And it helps keep in moisture. Which is really important when dealing with Eczema.
 
 The soap gave her relief and less itching/burning. We did still have to change her diet. We found she was allergic to wheat and a couple other things. Now She has no signs of eczema most of the time. If any spots show up we just give her a couple bathes a day and it leaves again quick.


    Emily
 

Lye,

Lye is a misunderstood item. Lye is caustic. We use less lye than is required in our soap recipe. We do this for a double reason.
1: It insures there is no remaining lye after saponification .
2: it makes a super fatted bar of soap. Which in turn makes it more moisturizing.

Many things are unsafe when concentrated. Lye is one one of them. Traditionally Lye is made by letting water seep through hardwood ashes. The ashes are not unsafe. But the concentration of it is. It can chemically burn. And can cause nerve damage.

When you properly mix the oils and lye you cause a reaction called Saponification. Which is the process of making soap.When the mixture of lye and oils starts to thicken the saponification process has begun. After 3 days it is completed. The soap still needs to sit for a few weeks to get good and dry.  Here is a link with more information.

  http://www.natural-soap-directory.com/soap-terms.html 

Other names for Lye are Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide. 

Emily

A couple days away...

We have continued to be busy. We mailed out our morning mailing today and we are doing another this afternoon. We are ordering bulk oils today.  And have to finish a room in Patrick's shop to store it. We have out grown our local stores ability to get us our supplies.
   We are taking Monday off so any orders made after 2pm today will be shipped Tuesday morning. 
 Emily

Bath Fizzy

     My little sister also has a Daughter that deals with Eczema. She started making these bath fizzies and saw more improvement in the healing of the rash and way less itchiness. She shared the recipe with me and we love the skin softening and fun smell! You can really smell the virgin coconut oil and we put in peppermint and Lavender essential oils. YUM! SO nice for winter months with wood heat! 
   Our girls love them! It is a treat to add them to their bathes! We use 2 per bath. Also great for just a foot soak!

  Bath Fizzy Recipe

2/3 cup oatmeal, ground finely

1/4 cup citric acid

2/3 cup baking soda

3 Tablespoons coconut oil  (we use extra virgin for the healing properties)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3 drops peppermint essential oil

3 drops lavender essential oil

I grind the oats in my blend tec then add in the rest and attempt to blend. ;) I end up dumping it in a bowl and kneading it til done. I use a cookie scoop to make balls. You want about 2 TBS per bath.

Add in a hot bath with a book and it makes for a nice evening! Enjoy!

Emily

    Patrick was working on knives last night and I had to slice soap. We are putting in a lot of work hours right now. I like to be early to bed but since I couldn't be I made Hot Chocolate for 2. And we were able to sit for a couple minutes and enjoy it. So nice! 
    We have more soap supplies coming in the mail any day. Then making more soap. We have more soap ready. We are doing pretty well at keeping on top of soap supply. It is funny how things go in spurts. One day most orders will be Tea Tree. The next Lavender. Almost like the customers get together and talk it over ahead of time.
   If you have soap scent ideas let us know! We hope to add in several over the next year!

    Emily

Mailing this week. And How long our soap lasts!

I am mailing twice a day this week. So any orders made by 3 pm will be mailed out same day. We mail Priority mail. Which is said to take 2-4 days to be delivered.
   We are getting lots of orders and questions right now. Which has been great fun! We currently have all scents still available. Making lots of soap also to keep up. Ordered more supplies and planning to make lots more this week! We let our soap cure a month before selling. we want our bars to last you as long as they can. Our Customers say a bar lasts 2 and a half or 3 weeks. 1 Bar in the shower lasts our family of 8 just over a week. And we have tiny boys that get more than daily bathes. ;) 
    If you have never tried our soaps we would love for you to try us and see what you think!  Favorites in our house are the Tea Tree (Patrick) Cinnamon (me) then each child has a favorite also! Spearmint and Lemon are the very favorite of the children!

Emily

Our New Packaging!

My oldest and I spent the day making fabric soap sacks. We had fun and feel they make them feel more old fashioned and homey. And let the air still circulate through them. So they are nice and super dry. The drier your soap the longer it will last. Let us know if you like the change from the plastic bags! We sure do!

Emily

Time is Running Out!!!

Time is running out, Today when I was at the Post Office there was a line out the Door!!! So if you want some soap before Christmas get your orders in now! We have a few baskets left the price is $40 with FREE SHIPPING. Baskets may very but will come with 8 bars of soap two small or one large candle.  In the past it has taken 2-4 days from the day we ship to receiving your package, however with the lines at the Post Office I wouldn't take any chances. If you have your order in before Tuesday morning I would guess you would have it before Christmas, but no guarantees! We are running low on a couple of soaps so that is another reason to get your orders in now! We will do our best to Serve You! Thank You all who have already ordered!

SOAP WINNER!!!

Our Willy drew a name this morning! Thank you for entering! We are planning drawings often So keep checking back with us!

LKS let us know your scents!
Emily

New look

My Lovely Wife!
The ladies of the house wanted to start making bags for the soap, It will take more time but it will add a nice touch. I thought these bags would hang up nice on a wall insuring the soap would continue to dry and double as an air fresher!

SOAP GIVEAWAY!!

I will send out 8 bars to the winner this Friday!

To win you must comment below to tell us your favorite scent (or the one you want to try).
Blogger doesn't always let people comment. So if you cant leave one you are welcome to email me your entries. simplycleansing@gmail.com Put giveaway in the subject please.

To get more chances to win :

1: "like" our FB page http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=94199075209
2: Subscribe to our blog
3: Blog about us
4:Share us on FB

Let us know what you do and I will add you in the drawing that many times.
This is a fast giveaway so you can get it before Christmas.

Emily

Orders going out every Day!

We would like to thank everyone

who has placed an order here lately! In the last two weeks we have shipped out over 70 orders!

We had one person who ended up having to pay shipping cost because the postage got lost in the mail, we refunded the cost and are hoping to get it worked out with the post office. If anyone else had any problems let us know! We have had request for hunting soap and shaving soap and hope to get them out the first of the year! If you have any suggestions of soap you would like let us know!!! Thank You!

Patrick

Soap Curing...

This is our soap curing shelf. About a thousand bars are there now. We are making a couple batches a week right now. (200- 400 bars) It is great!
And it smells so yummy here! The bars sit here to air dry 3-4 weeks. We then package and mail them out. The dryer the bar the longer it lasts.
When you are using your soap if you have a soap dish that drains well your soap will last longer. We use a wooden one at our sinks. It works well.
We really enjoy making soap. And seeing full shelves is wonderful! They empty out fast when cured though.
If you have never tried out soap please do! I think you will be satisfied. If for some reason you are not please let us know. We do all we can to make things right!
Emily~

Soap Bags...

Our oldest heard us say we wanted to make cloth bags for our soaps. She got excited and begged for a week for us to get started! So we will soon have nicer bags for our soaps. And I have her to thank for it. She did great and had fun. Next she is planning on making tags for them. They are cute!
Emily

Packages...

We have been really busy! It has been great! We are working on adding in new soaps. And have gotten many ideas on them from customers too! We love feed back! The more you tell us the more we can do!
With the Holidays here many boxes we are sending are gifts. I think that is so fun! Our tiny Post office has enjoyed seeing us grow. It is really nice! We have put our candles in a local Amish store. Our beeswax comes from a amish neighbor of the store. Local selling at its best! I get the raw unstrained wax and turn them into beautiful candles.
The children are loving to help package soap. If I get caught doing it they hurry to help get the product I need. Makes it fun being a family business! The children are hoping to help get their products online at some point soon also. Which will be a great thing for them!

We made 200 bars of soap again last night. They smell so yummy! Cant wait to cut them!

Emily

Powdered Laundry soap...

We made powdered Laundry soap last night. It is something all the children get in on in one way or another. 2 took pictures and 2 helped with ingredients. It is really easy and works well. We generally make a liquid laundry soap. But this is faster. We will share both recipes here.If you try it share your thoughts here with us. It is way cheaper to make your own. And you know the ingredients. And you chose the scent! That is the best part!












The recipe is
2 bars of soap (we used our Cinnamon smelled great!)
1 cup of Borax
1 cup baking soda or washing soda
Essential oil of choice. (we used none as the soap had plenty to make it smell great)

Grate your soap, Add in the Borax and soda. We worked it with our hands to get the soap smaller as our grater isnt to small. It was fast and easy. Add in the ess. oils if you want to.
Pour into a airtight container and label. We use 2 TBS of the powder per average load.

Emily~

A Little Secret!!!

Here is a little secret, we mail our soap in priority flat rate envelopes. It cost 5 dollars to mail so if you buy one bar it is 5 dollars for shipping... if you buy the 8 bars you get one bar free and it is 5 dollars shipping.... If you buy two 8 packs you get two bars FREE and you pay 5 DOLLARS shipping!!! crazy I know but you are saving money to fill the package up.( disclaimer: you will actually be charged more than that on paypal but we will refund the difference of the shipping cost!) Ok So I made it even easier I now have a button over there on the right go to the drop down list and select 16 pack and it is $45.00 for 16 Bars and FREE SHIPPING!!! That saves even more than the two 8 packs.

Gift Baskets!

We have had requests for gift baskets. If you are interested email us at simplycleansing@gmail.com and let us know what you are wanting in the basket. The above Basket is $30 plus shipping. We can do any size and and combination of our candles and soaps.

If you can think of any other way we can serve you better please let us know!

Emily