Soap and Washcloth in One!

Look at what my soapmaking Friend Cheryl sent me!  These are felted soaps.  They are like a soap and a washcloth in one.  I have just discovered these recently.  And now I must learn to make them.  They are lovely soaps, surrounded with something called roving wool.  As you lather the soaps, the wool tightens around the soap.  It shrinks down as the soap get's smaller.  

I had a very hard time getting myself to use one.  But since that is actually a pet peeve of mine (When people won't use my soap, because it is too pretty.)  So I got brave and am using it. It is lovely.  The wool is soft, and feels like a washcloth.  And the lather is creamy and smooth.  

I hear the soap will last longer wrapped in wool.  And I am told that the wool is naturally anti-microbial, or something else like that.  I need to do more research.  But I can say I love using them.  They gently exfoliate and leave my skin smooth and clean.  

I must learn to do this, after the holidays!

Spooky Fun Soaps

This Halloween I wanted to make some fun and spooky soaps.  I have a little mold that I think may be normally used for making chocolates into little skull shaped candies.  But of course I thought it would be great as a tiny soap mold.

The Macabre Midnight skull soap smells very yummy.  The fragrance is black current with white tea, and an enchanting floral overtone.  The soap is much prettier in person, colored a deep purple with soft black swirling. These happy smiling skulls can decorate your sink, and then after Halloween, you still have a lovely soap to use for the fall.

I wanted to make something really special that I thought my grandkids would really like.  And what kid doesn't like skulls and dirt.  So these Disturbed Earth soaps are perfect for kids.  They really do smell like rich loamy garden soil, with a touch of pine and blackberry.  But mostly they just smell like dirt.


These soaps are very limited in supply, and I expect to sell out of them.  So get them while you can at Sego Lily Soap.

Have You Ever Used Real Soap?

Have you ever used soap?  You may think you have, but are you sure? If soap leaves you dry, tight or itchy, then there is a good chance that what you have been using isn't soap.  Did you know that grocery store soap is not soap? 

Years ago, I remember being in a little shop that specialized in handmade soap.  I remember thinking, these are all very pretty, and they smell nice, but what is the big deal?  I thought, “A whole store full of just soap?  What a waste.  I can’t use soap anyway.  It makes my skin dry and itchy and bothers my psoriasis.”  So I patiently waited while the lady I was with browsed the selection and made her purchase. 

A few years later, I went to the doctor with my kids for psoriasis and eczema.  Our normal doctor was not in, and we needed to see a different doctor.  Like I always did, I asked this doctor what soap we should use.  I expected him to say Dove or Carress, like they normally did.  This doctor's answer made my jaw drop.  He said that if I knew anyone who made “old fashioned lye soap”, then we should use that.

I couldn't believe someone would recommend that!  I had heard stories about old fashioned lye soap and it sounded pretty awful.  I thought that lye soap was stinky and harsh and would eat your skin.  This doctor explained to me that today's handmade soaps are the most gentle soaps available.  He told me the bars I had been buying were not even soap at all.  Most were actually detergents. He explained how a true soap is very gentle and beneficial to skin, and detergents are not.  

If the only soaps you have used are the regular bars and body washes available in the grocery store, then you are washing with detergents.   Detergents are great for washing dishes, but not so good on your skin.  Have you ever used these bars and gotten that tight, dry, itchy feeling?  Try a true soap, and that dry itchy feeling will go away.   

Here are the ingredients of a leading bar made for sensitive skin.  There are a few nice ingredients in this list, but most are harsh synthetics or chemicals.

Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (Synthetic detergent), Stearic Acid (fatty acid), Sodium Tallowate (soap) , Water, Sodium Isethionate(Synthetic detergent) , Coconut Acid, Sodium Stearate (Synthetic detergent), Cocamidopropyl Betaine (Synthetic detergent), Sodium Cocoate (Soap)  or Sodium Palm Kernelate (soap), Sodium Chloride (table salt), Titanium Dioxide (natural whitener), Sweet Almond Oil, Rosewood Oil (essential oil), Tetrasodium EDTA (water softener), Trisodium Etidronate(preservative), BHT (preservative), Cedarwood Oil (essential oil), Rose Oil (essential oil), Disodium Cocamido-MEA-Sulfosuccinate (synthetic detergent), Cetyl Alcohol (alcohol derived from fats), Tocopheryl Acetate (vitamin E).

I have had multiple friends come to me and tell me my soaps are so pretty, they wished they could use them.  They said their skin was so sensitive or dry that they can't use soap.  I explained the difference between the detergents they were familiar with, and a true soap like mine, they would reluctantly give it a try.  Every time they have come back to me and told me how wonderful real soap felt on their skin, and how it even helped with whatever skin ailments they had.  

So have you ever used soap?  Read the ingredient list on whatever bar or body wash you use.  If you see things like this list, you are not using soap.  

Sodium Lauroyl isethionate       

Sodium Laureth Sulfate

ammonium laureth sulfate

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)

Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate

Ammonium Laureth Sulfate

Ammonium Xylene Sulfonate

TEA Lauryl Sulfate

Cocoyl Isethionate

Sodium Isethionate

Ccamidoproply Betaine

Now read the ingredients of ANY handmade soap and compare.  If you have never used a handmade soap, then chances are you have never really used a real, pure soap.  You owe it to yourself to give it a try.