Ida's Soap Box

Although handmade soaps usually get better with age, we recommend using our unscented soaps within 12 months of purchase, and our scented soaps within 6-10 months for best results. Although the soaps will not be "spoiled" after that time, you may notice that some natural colors and the scents from pure natural essential oils will fade over time.

While the process for making a shampoo bar is the same as making soap and the ingredients are similar, a well-formulated shampoo bar is not your typical soap bar. Shampoo bar "recipes" are tweaked to use different proportions of oils and butters and to include botanicals, like nettles right, herb infused oils and essential oils that are known to help nourish the hair and scalp.

We are often asked, "Why No Jasmine, Sandalwood or Apple Scents?" When we use scents (essential oils) we look at a few criteria such as the method of extraction, sustainability, cost and of course is it a pure essential oil.

The chemical composition of essential oils cannot be recreated in a laboratory. Essential oils are derived from real plant material. Fragrance oils are artificially created and, even those that are derived from natural components, do not offer the therapeutic advantages of essential oils.