Anatomy of TSF Soap

 I’m always humbled and grateful when asked to speak about what I do here on Thompson Street Farm.  This week I was the speaker at a local garden club here in town and I have to say what a wonderful group of ladies! I understand there are 5 garden clubs in town, and this particular club has been together for over 30 years.  Can you imagine how much knowledge and experience there was sitting in that room! How cool!

After my presentation on growing micro-greens, a sweet woman asked about how I made my soaps. She identifies handmade soap to her childhood elderly neighbor, Mrs. Jones, peddling her soap door to door.  Apparently her soap was extremely harsh that one lost a few layers of skin when using it. I’m guessing from the age of my new friend, “Mrs. Jones” learned how to make soap between World War I and the Depression. In those days, there weren’t a lot of choices for oils other than animal fats and other moisturizing ingredients - which explains the harshness of her soap. Commercial Soap Today there is a world of difference between commercial soaps and handmade. Technically commercial soap is not real soap but a detergent that is created from petroleum based products .  Yes, the base ingredient in commercial soap is petroleum oil! My Decision to make Handmade Soap

(Lavender Soap made with lavender grown on our property)

When I began researching how to make soap it was out of necessity.  I had been purchasing a goat’s milk soap from an independently owned health food store for my daughter.  My daughter had a stroke before she was born and as a result she is missing 80% of her right brain, so we had many health issues to deal with.  She is also a beautiful redhead with extremely sensitive skin.  It didn’t matter which commercial soap I used, her skin was as red as her hair and irritated – similar to the reaction to Mrs. Jones soap! Perfumes were also a huge problem for my daughter.  It is not uncommon for children that have severe brain damage to have an over-reactive sensory system. I can only explain it as standing in front of a speaker at rock concert 24 /7.  The brain’s sensory system is on overload it can’t filter out and dial down what’s going on around them. If you stop and think about it, our world is pretty noisy. For Katie as a baby, sound, smell and textures was magnified a billion times over. Its an understatement that the early days for Katie were painful – everything bothered her. For example, my husband loved Irish Spring Soap, but when he came near her she would become overwhelmed and started to scream and cry.  We went through a period of time when I dumped every commercially made product including the toothpaste and toilet paper and we went O-Natural!  Thankfully, Katie is much better thanks to years of therapy. The Decision to Make My Own Soap: (Pine Soap - pine needles are harvested from our own pine trees and now that I'm becoming a herbalist, I'm adding my own pine infused olive oil to this soap!) When Wholefoods moved to town our small independent health food store went out of business and that ended my source for handcrafted goat’s milk soap. The good news is soap making had become popular and with YouTube at my fingertips, I decided it was time to take control of our soap supply and learn how to make soap. When I started my research I had a basic list of requirements:

• The soap had to be moisturizing, have a great lather but be a firm enough that didn’t melt into a pile of goo in the shower.
• Ingredients had to be mild enough for daughter’s sensitive skin.
• Oils for the soap had to be found in the grocery store and had to come from the plant world.
• Scents need to be from the plant world (correction/clarification from original posting: I do use fragrance oils if essential oils are not available, too expensive, or I happen to like the scent!).

I knew I wanted my soap to have at lease 2 oils that were great for skin, olive oil and coconut oil. After weeks of research, my first generation master soap recipe was born and it was a Mediterranean inspired blend using 4 oils and raw goats’ milk.

•  Olive oil – has been used for centuries as a great skin conditioner and moisturizer.
• Coconut oil – has been used for centuries as a great skin conditioner and moisturizer.
• Canola Oil – creates a stable lather and a great skin conditioner.
• Safflower Oil – creates a wonderful lather and is a great skin conditioner.
• Herbs, flowers, vegetables and goats milk had to be either grown by me or acquired by a local farmer that shared my socially responsible beliefs.

During my research, I learned there is a minefield related to certain common ingredients in soap making. The biggest one is palm oil, and the atrocities associated to the destruction of rainforests to meet the worlds demand for palm oil. I admit, my soaps are not for everyone, but I can honestly say I try to be socially conscious and intentional on where my ingredients are sourced. It is important to my daughter’s wellbeing and to me. I want to create a product that is safe; with no chemicals or preservatives. New Sea Salt and Mineral Clay Inspired Soap with Avocado Oil I have to say I have the best customers! They are intelligent, well-traveled and socially conscious and they are challenging me to take my social responsibility even further! Over the summer I heard a few concerns expressed about how canola oil is grown and processed. Canola oil comes from a plant called rapeseed and most of the crop grown in the world is from GMO seed. Since I refuse to use GMO vegetable seeds on my farm it was an easy decision to do the right thing and switch out that oil and substitute it for sunflower oil. In addition, I did some more research on the benefits of sea salt and mineral clays in soap.  Out of that research I created a new 4 oil sea salt soap using avocado oil. Avocado oil is rich in vitamins A, B, D, and E.  Sea salt is known for its relaxing properties and is a natural detoxifier as well as some of the mineral clays that I use - Dead Sea Clay, French Green Clay, Bentonite Clay and Moroccan Clay. So  I say to my new" Garden Club Friend" – try my soaps, I think you will be pleasantly surprised just how good you will feel! Please check out my entire line of soap on website online store.

(Honey, Cinnamon and Carrot Soap - I purchase my honey from a local farmer. Although I might get brave and purchase a hive in the coming year.)