Dense, black, absorbent and fascinating, this isn't the charcoal you would set light to on your outdoor barbecue grill to cook your juicy steaks and corn cobs. This is activated charcoal and a valuable ingredient to add to the self-care pantry. The activated charcoal we use is a very fine, odourless powder with bamboo or coconut shells being "activated" by heating to very high temperatures which greatly increases the surface area and absorption potential of the charcoal. The activated charcoal can "trap" toxins and remove them from the body. It has been used internally to treat poisonings and ..read more

Cocoa butter is one of our most important ingredients because we love the qualities it brings to our products. It adds hardness to our soap and gives it a thick, rich, creamy lather. We also use it in our bath melts, along with shea butter, so that they slowly infuse the bath water with a creamy foam to moisturise the skin. Cocoa butter offers a load of important benefits to skin and hair products. Firstly, it contains several antioxidants called polyphenols protecting skin cells from oxidative stress. Cocoa butter protects against harmful UV rays which contribute to premature ageing of the s ..read more

Karité, or Shea Butter is one of most important ingredients and we have to make sure we never run out as we include it in a lot of our products. It's one of the reasons our products are so creamy, and so luxurious - we don't hold back on the Shea Butter! Well I was talking to somebody the other day, and they asked me what it was, so I thought I'd write a little bio here. Shea butter comes from a smooth nut harvested from wild, uncultivated Karité or Shea trees Butyrospermum parkii, growing in savannah areas of West and Central Africa, where the trees are protected and provide mainly women wit ..read more

As a follow-up to my previous post on nettles and shampoo, here's some info that should be interesting to those who want to treat their hair gently and naturally. Our solid shampoos are based on a soap formula using selected plant oils, coconut oil, olive oil a LOT of cocoa butter and thick castor oil for creaminess. We make strong infusions of herbs and include both the infusion and the infused herbs in the shampoos, along with blends of essential oils. They are designed to wash hair gently, cleaning the hair and allowing it to achieve its natural balance. Unfortunately, and we are fessing up ..read more

I love nettles. Yes, it's true. We are brought up to avoid them, hate them, because of their sting, and of course a nettle sting can irritate for hours. The tiny stinging barbs on the underside of their leaves are there to protect the plant from being eaten. But assuming you can avoid their itchiness, they have a lot to offer. A patch of stinging nettles, or Utica dioica, can be a beautiful thing with their tall spikes, serrated leaves and tassled flowers. And they have a lovely scent, green and cleansing, and they can be made into an absolute. Once the leaves are dried, the acid in the sting ..read more

Presenting our handmade soaps is all part of the fun. We send our soaps to you as a blank canvas, along with all the information you need to fulfil labelling requirements. You can then add your particular style and individualise our soaps in all sorts of ways. Think of a theme: rustic, vintage, minimalist, boudoir, patisserie, urban, and then try to find materials that will easily adapt to your theme. Our soaps need to be able to breathe, so I picked up some muslin bags quite cheap on Ebay and employed the office stamp to give them a bit of design. Don't stop there though. You can get a custom ..read more

Since we first launched our website in 2002, we've had several different looks as we all need a bit of a makeover from time to time. Website publishing is getting easier and it's possible to include all sorts of design features now, without having a lot of techie knowlege. We've added a members log in to this site, so we can interact a bit more with our customers and provide them with extra help and info so that they can show off our products to their very best. So if you want to find our more about our ingredients, we are slowly listing them on the Our Ingredients Page. We'll be adding descri ..read more

Karité, or Shea Butter is one of most important ingredients and we have to make sure we never run out as we include it in a lot of our products. It's one of the reasons our products are so creamy, and so luxurious - we don't hold back on the Shea Butter! Well I was talking to somebody the other day, and they asked me what it was, so I thought I'd write a little bio here. Shea butter comes from a smooth nut harvested from wild, uncultivated Karité or Shea trees Butyrospermum parkii, growing in savannah areas of West and Central Africa, where the trees are protected and provide mainly women wit ..read more

As a follow-up to my previous post on nettles and shampoo, here's some info that should be interesting to those who want to treat their hair gently and naturally. Our solid shampoos are based on a soap formula using selected plant oils, coconut oil, olive oil a LOT of cocoa butter and thick castor oil for creaminess. We make strong infusions of herbs and include both the infusion and the infused herbs in the shampoos, along with blends of essential oils. They are designed to wash hair gently, cleaning the hair and allowing it to achieve its natural balance. Unfortunately, and we are fessing up ..read more

A ..read more