At this point just blurting out that my daughter was born and expecting you to put the puzzle together how it led me down the path to making handcrafted soaps and other skin care products would be sort of silly. It was actually a pretty complicated path that I will attempt to simplify. When my daughter was born, she was my second child. I was certain I had this parenting thing figured after all of the stumbles we have with our first. She was sleeping well, not complaining much, breezy right? Oh was I ever so wrong! She just was not thriving. I was feeding her regularly, but it seemed that my milk was passing straight through, my worst nightmare realized.
After many doctor visits and weight checks, giving up different foods, logging what I ate, her poop schedule, sleep schedule, and so on and so on, I finally gave in and went on a full elimination diet. IT WAS HARD. It was not as hard, however, as watching my little angel suffer. After a couple of days, she started to thrive, gain, I was thrilled! Then came some more challenges, adding back foods one at a time. It came down to she could not tolerate wheat, dairy, corn, eggs, potatoes, or soy. Yes, I know they are in EVERYTHING. So my family took on a new way of eating.
But how does this relate to soap you ask? Hmm, well I am getting to that. Eventually, we went to organic choices after I had started to research food, specifically chemicals on food. It seemed that if I ate something conventionally grown, she would have a skin reaction, a little eczema and dry patches that would spread and itch or a stomach ache that would double her over. The more I read about chemicals the more worried I got. I went from being a pretty laid back, Cheerios serving Momma to swing the pendulum in the complete opposite direction, nothing but organic was ever going to touch my precious angels lips ever again. As we all know, this isn't always the easiest tenet to follow either, but the pendulum eventually gets back to a middle path.
It was at this time of chemical discovery that I started to read ingredients labels on EVERYTHING! It had become an obsession. I was making all of my food from scratch, growing a huge garden, shopping co-ops and farmers markets, canning, and toting my own food to parties and denying my children the delights at other kids parties. I was THAT Mom. I noticed all of these chemicals on my kids soaps and shampoos and lotions that I could not pronounce, or that I could pronounce, and as an environmental engineer scared the living poo out of me to put on their delicate skin, so I set out to see if it was something that I could do. Someone was doing it in these factories, right? There had to be a way. As it turns out, there is, and with some determination, we can make anything!
So, I researched and searched. I started with lotions, those seemed to come easiest. I made salves and balms, toothpastes and deodorants. Some of them worked and some of them failed. I kept on. Eventually, I came up with some recipes that I liked and I have stuck with them. I found a friend who makes soap and asked her to teach me, she did. It was like chemistry class. I loved chemistry class. I started to ask myself why I was so intimidated by the thought of making it myself. Now it's a hobby, it's a love, it's a business. My family eats and walks a more middle path. We have settled the pendulum and make good choices. I have found my way to help them and others.
It is truly in my blood. My Grandmother always told me to keep the Witch Hazel handy, drink vinegar with honey every day, and there is nothing a good salve cannot solve. She was the daughter of the town apothecary and midwife, who was the daughter of the town apothecary and midwife, and so on and so on. I wish to pass on these traditions and pure products to the next generation and so on and so on.
