Christmas Greetings!

The Natural Soapworks is now closed for Christmas and New Year. We'll re-open the studio on Saturday 2nd January 2010, and website orders will be prepared and despatched from Monday 4th January 2010.

We'd like to thank all of our customers, for their ongoing support and custom. It's been our busiest Christmas to date, and it's lovely to think that so many of our hampers will be opened on Christmas morning. We're now going to take a well earned rest!

We hope you all have a peaceful and relaxing Christmas and a Happy New Year 2010!

Last chance to purchase Natural Soapworks Christmas skincare gift hampers!

We're relieved to be able to say that the last of our Christmas gift hamper items have now been manufactured! It's been a very busy few weeks for everyone at The Natural Soapworks, so once again a big thank you to all of our customers who popped in to collect their orders and wish us a Merry Christmas!!

But it's not over yet! There's still one more weekend before Christmas, and we know how frustrating it can be when you can't find a suitable gift for someone.

That's why we're going to open up Studio 12 again during this last weekend of the year, and we'll have a range of Natroma skincare products, goat's milk soap mini soaps, botanical bath melts and other lovely fragrant goodies available to purchase. We still have a few of our special £5 Secret Santa hampers too, but they'll be selling out soon!

On Saturday and Sunday we'll be offering our popular 'while you wait' hamper wrapping service, so remember to pop in and see us if you're in need of some final gift inspiration!

Our final opening hours for 2009 will be:

Thursday (17th) from 1pm-4pm

Friday (18th) from 11am - 4pm

Saturday (19th) from 11am-4pm

Sunday (20th) from 11am - 4pm

Monday (21st) 10am-1pm

Tuesday (22nd) 11am - 4pm

Natural Soapworks Christmas orders

We just wanted to add a quick thank you to all of our customers who are calling in to collect Christmas gift orders from the Studio. Last weekend was busy and we're expecting the coming weekend to be even busier! It's been lovely to see everyone, and we'd like to thank you for your seasonal good wishes.

As we predicted, some of our goat's milk soap varieties are now at very limited stock and will definitely sell out before Christmas. (Sorry but Geranium, Herbal Zest and South Pacific are now down to just a handful of bars). So if you'd like a particular fragrance, we'd advise you to try to purchase very soon.

We're already scheduling lots of soap manufacture in the coming weeks so we can bring old favourites back to the shelves towards the end of January. Phew! Looks like we're going to be busy again.....

Christmas time at The Natural Soapworks

It's a hive of activity at the Soapworks at the moment! Christmas has well and truly arrived, with orders seeming to be arriving from all over the place - which has made it a little difficult to blog.

Apologies for this, but we're rushed off our feet and need to maintain the momentum of making our natural skincare goodies and packaging them into hampers. To give you an idea of what we mean, this week we've been making hundreds of bath bombs and fizzing bath melts - since as usual it's difficult to keep up with demand for these. Fingers crossed there should be a good stocks available again by this weekend! Also, we're already running low on certain soap varieties, so we'll be updating the website as each variety sells out - if you want a particular variety over the Christmas period it may be best to purchase early to avoid disappointment.

From this weekend, remember that Santa takes up residence at the Cone, with his own grotto and fun activities for children - so you'll need to ring the Cone for details since pre-booking is essential! See you soon...

Natural Soapworks Christmas Gifts!

This weekend, the Red House Glass Cone hosts it's popular Christmas Craft Market. There will be an abundance of craft stalls including items handmade by the Cone's resident businesses: jewellery, textiles, painted ceramics, glass designs, and of course The Natural Soapworks bathing and skincare goodies!

This year looks like being an extra special event, with mulled wine and roasted chestnuts on offer. We'll be offering some a fantastic skin care hamper offers, free gifts if you spend a certain amount, festive soaps and bath bombs, Christmas candles, handmade fragrant Christmas decorations and much, much more! The Christmas Craft Market is open on Saturday the 21st of November from 11.00 am till 4.00 pm & on Sunday the 22nd of November from 11.00 am till 4.00 pm.

In praise of Rhassoul Clay

We're continuing our series on Autumnal skincare, with this short feature on the benefits of gentle facial exfoliation.

Colder weather means that it’s even more important to exfoliate the skin to reveal healthy, plumper new cells underneath. The summer sun can leave the skin feeling dry and tight, so using a muslin cloth as part of your cleaning approach does help. But we're great believers in the use of facial masks, and when used once or twice each week, these ensure your complexion remains bright and uncongested.

Rhassoul is a spa quality clay which has been evaluated in the USA, to test the effectiveness of including it in facial mask treatments. This research concluded that rhassoul clay gave measurable improvements in skin clarity, elasticity and texture and even reduced dryness even after one treatment! It has a very unusual texture when mixed with water - becoming cooling and almost gel-like when it's applied to the skin. We selected this remarkable clay for our masks since it is very gentle, so can be tolerated by all skin types, and it cleans without stripping sebum from the skin. (Readers may be more familiar with green clay masks, which can be quite harsh and drawing on the skin, cracking as they dry out). Instead our non-drying cream clay masks contain rhassoul with hydrolat flower waters, jojoba and coconut oils, soothing aloe vera, D-panthenol, glycerine and botanical extracts. You can read more about these natural ingredients at: http://www.natroma.co.uk/store/d5-exfoliators-rhassoul-clay-masks/

On a personal note, I find that rhassoul clay can be a life saver when my very sensitive skin decides to have a nasty flare up! I have mild roseaca and it misbehaved just recently, so I quickly reached for my rhassoul clay mask to calm things down again. I’m pleased to say that it cooled the uncomfortable burning sensation, and over the next few days was invaluable for exfoliating away the nasty little dry bumps that formed on the surface of my cheeks. So I definitely love rhassoul clay!

Natural foot care

In the third of our series of articles abour Autumn skincare, today we're looking at the feet.

A major problem associated with the feet at the end of Summer, is dry, cracked heels. These are typically caused by wearing open backed sandals during the summer. Cracked heel problems can vary between dry or flaky skin, to hard skin and deep fissures which may be very sore. So it’s a good idea to treat your feet to a pedicure.

We’d suggest using a natural pumice stone to smooth away areas of toughened skin. But a gentler approach would be to use a foot scrub to slough away dead skin. This is why we developed our Peppermint Foot Scrub (see http://www.naturalsoapworks.co.uk/Saltscrubs.aspx)

These contain a mixture of fine salts (including Dead Sea Salt), nourishing botanical oils, honey, shea butter, and Vitamin E. It's fragranced with lavender, peppermint and tea tree essential oils, and leaves the feet feeling moisturised and with a delicious fragrance! After smoothing the skin, we'd suggest that a balm product is applied to assist with re-hydration of the skin.

Psst....watch this space, since we have a new foot product on the way! Our rich Foot Balm contains jojoba oil, cocoa and avocado butters, with healing lavender, chamomile and tea tree to refresh and nourish the feet. We'll be adding this to the website in the next few days.

Looking after your lips the natural way

In the second of our articles on Autumn Skincare, we're focussing on the lips...

Colder weather will affect your lips, making them more prone to chapping and soreness. Unfortunately the wind and cold temperatures can cause the lips to flake, usually due to dehydration. So it's important to remember to drink lots of fluids, and use a lip balm to moisturise and protect the lips, ensuring they stay soft and in condition.

Our Lips Silk lip balm is rich in unrefined cocoa and shea butters, and is enriched with avocado oil and Vitamin E. It has no added flavour (but definitely smells of chocolate), since we think it's better that you aren’t encouraged to lick your lips. If your lips become sore or chapped, then it's Lips Soothe to the rescue! This is an enriched version of our lip balm, which is bright yellow in colour (but don't worry, it doesn't stain the lips). The colour comes from the Sea Buckthorn botanical extract we've added to the formulation, and together with some comfrey oil it really does calm things down when your lips are feeling uncomfortable.

PS: We know that many people like to use a flavoured/fragranced lip balm, so we're finally giving in to customer requests. Later in October we'll be launching a new range of lip balms which contain subtle organic aromas/flavours so watch this space!

Natroma Autumn Skincare Advice

Sadly the days are shortening, and it’s definitely becoming chilly at night! So while Autumn may encourage you to enjoy outdoor activities, it’s important to remember that your skin will retain less moisture as the air becomes cooler and drier. This is why at this time of year, many people experience dryness, fine lines, dull and sallow skin tone, sun and age spots, flaking and irritation as well as the flare-up of some conditions like rosacea. So it’s a good idea to pamper your skin in the Autumn and make some adjustments to your skincare regime in readiness for Winter. During the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing a series of articles on Autumn skincare starting with the hands and nails.

Hands and Nails

Nails and cuticles can become dry and flaky at this time of year, so we’d suggest that you invest in products which will replenish lost moisture to keep the skin soft and in good condition.

Our orange blossom and rose hand creams have a lovely formulation, enriched with jojoba and avocado oils with glycerine, comfrey and evening primrose extracts to nourish and condition the hands without greasiness. For the nails we’d particularly recommend a butter enriched nail balm. Our Nail Silk contains shea and cocoa butters, jojoba and avocado oils to replenish the nail surface and surrounding skin. This is a rich balm which smells heavenly (it contains frankincense and neroli, with a touch of lime) but it sinks in within a few minutes. Many of our customers enjoy massaging their nails and cuticles with Nail Silk, whilst watching the TV each evening.

For extra special pampering, invest in a pair of cotton gloves. Slather your hands with balm and hand cream and wear the gloves in bed. You’ll be amazed at how much softer your hands will feel in the morning!

Visit http://www.natroma.co.uk/store/d26-nails-and-hands/ for more information on these items.

Anniversary Event Thank You!

We'd just like to say a special "thank you" to everyone who popped in to see us during our anniversary weekend. It was lovely to see everyone, and we were very touched by your good wishes and birthday cards! We launched our new Natroma dry facial masks and Q10 Facial Balm, so we hope that you enjoy using these new products.

We're sure that lots of you, are now checking through our natural skincare Christmas gift catalogue (we handed out loads this weekend), so we plan to have the display of Christmas gift hampers available to view in Studio 12 during the next few weeks.

The first 50 orders placed in Studio 7 during October will qualify for a 10% discount. We've already taken quite a few orders this weekend, so we suspect the next few days may be a little busy! With this in mind, we have extended opening hours this coming week:
Wednesday 12pm - 4pm
Thursday 10.30am - 4pm
Friday 11am - 4pm

Hope to see you soon!

Natural Soapworks Anniversary Event 3rd - 4th October 2009

Our anniversary event has arrived! To celebrate 3 years of making natural skincare, we'll be offering 10% off every item purchased in the studio at The Red House Glass Cone this weekend. In addition to this, we'll also be giving away a free bath bomb with every puchase of Q10 (full size) products. There's also a prize draw and we'll be demonstrating some lovely new products which we're launching this weekend. These include a new Q10 facial balm (a natural, intense moisturiser), some dry facial masks (supplied in powder form so you can mix them at home, and we do not need to add any preservatives), and a new Exotic Flowers body lotion enriched with camelina oil. We'll have testers available so you can try them out during your visit.

We'll be opening Studio 7 & 12 between 11am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday, and hope you can join us to see the launch of our Christmas Gift Catalogue! We have some lovely gift ideas this year with stocking fillers from £1, and a range of natural skincare gift hampers ranging from £3 upwards. In total we have 64 different items in the studio catalogue, so there should be something for everyone. The new hampers will be on display in Studio 12 for the next few weeks, so you can see them before placing your order. Since it's our anniversary, we'll also be offering a special 10% off the first 50 Christmas orders placed in the studio during October, so you're advised to order early this year!

So that website customers don't feel left out, we'll also be offering a 10% discount off purchases made on the Natroma website at http://www.natroma.co.uk/ this weekend.

To take advantage of this 10% discount, please enter: CELEBRATE at the checkout. This code will only work on Saturday and Sunday (3rd-4th October). This offer is not applicable retroactively, and may not be used in conjunction with any other discounts. To qualify for this special discount all website orders must be paid by Sunday 5th October at 11:59pm BST.

Fragrant Rock & Fossil Festival

On 19th & 20th September Dudley concert hall and museum will be hosting the bi-annual rock and fossil festival. We'll be exhibiting, and have created some special ammonite soaps and dinosaur bath bombs.

So why not visit with all the family? The festival will be open between 10 am and 5 pm on Saturday, 10 am and 4 pm on Sunday, the entrance fee is only £1.00 per person. Exhibitors will be there from the world of geology, and there are special events including superb fossil and crystal displays, gems and cut stones, jewellery, face painting, fossil casting and lots of craft activities for children. There will be a Birds of Prey Display and lots of small animals from Dudley Zoo to interact with too!

Studio customers should please note that we'll have reduced opening hours this weekend.

Natural Soapworks & Natroma Anniversary event!

How time has flown by! Can you believe it, The Natural Soapworks is nearly 3 years old, and Natroma is also approaching it's first birthday too.

It's been a fantastic few years, and we've loved formulating more and more bathing and skin care products. Whoever would have thought that a soap making hobby would turn into a product range which now numbers over 100 items! But probably the nicest part of what we do, is that we get to meet lots of people to talk about skincare (and our products of course!) The feedback has been wonderful, and we're really chuffed whenever someone pops in to say "thank you" or tell us about why a particular soap or a cream is really suiting their skin. Thank you -it always makes our day!

So to celebrate our two anniversaries, we're holding a "First and Third Anniversary" event at The Red House Glass Cone on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October 2009. We'll have lots of special offers, will be launching some new products, running a prize draw, and revealling our Christmas gift range! So why not call in to collect your copy of the Christmas Catalogue. You'll also be able to have a look at the new seasonal hampers which will be on display, so you can start to think about which Christmas goodies to send to your friends and loved ones.

For website customers, we don't want you to feel left out. Orders placed on The Natural Soapworks and Natroma websites on the 3rd and 4th of October will also have some special offers...we'll tell you more, closer to the time.

So for now, pencil these dates into your dairies!!

Bath Bomb Workshop - Sunday 27th September 2009!

Have you ever wondered how bath bombs are made? By popular request, we'll be running another bath bomb workshop on Sunday 27th September. This is the last chance this year, to have fun making lots of fizzy bath treats using natural ingredients and essential oils.

The workshop will include a session on creating bath bomb recipes, including how you add in additional luxury ingredients like botanical oils and butters. We also include a session on blending essential oils for use in the bath, so you use the right concentration to fragrance your new creations!

The session will start at 10am, and lasts until lunchtime. The cost is £25, and this includes all the materials and use of equipment etc. You'll get to keep all of the bath bombs you create, and these will be available to collect a few days after your course. We can also post out the bath bombs, if people live further away (but there's a separate postage charge for this).

This course is limited to 8 attendees, so book early to avoid disappointment. Lots of fun and laughs guaranteed!!

It's beginning smell a bit like Christmas....

It's that time of year again, when soap production is stepped up in readiness for Christmas. We've been very busy formulating so we can introduce a few new seasonal soaps for this year. But there will be some old favourites too. So don't worry Frankincense & Myrrh fans, the first batch was made yesterday and the studio smells just heavenly!

So if you pop in to see us this weekend, we hope you'll understand why there's more than a hint of Frankincense, Myrrh, Cinnamon and Clove in the air. We'll be on site all weekend, but will have limited opening hours on Saturday since we're running another soap making class to introduce another group of people to the addictive fun of soaping!

Handmade @ The Cone Exhibition

Here's the reason, why there weren't many posts during July! We've been preparing for an exhibition at the Red House Glass Cone in Stourbridge (it runs from this weekend until 13th September 2009). In a moment of sheer madness, we decided to create a soap sculpture....so here it is!

It's made from our cold-processed handmade goat's milk soap, and contains over 1000 hand carved bricks which form the shape of the Cone. As you can imagine this was really difficult to do, to ensure that each layer decreased at the correct angle to make up the outline of the Cone's shape.

Then on the outside of the Cone, we've added a collection of hundreds of ivy leaves and flowers - all moulded by hand from coloured soap. We estimate that it's taken well over 100 hours to create this sculpture, and we will be taking great care to ensure that it doesn't get wet!!

So if you're interested in wacky pieces of art, we hope you'll pop along to see our Natural Soap Cone. It smells quite nice too!

Explorer 8 problems for The Natural Soapworks website

We're sorry for there being a long gap between blog postings. It's because we've been very busy during the last few weeks, but we'll be adding more articles and telling you what we've been up to very soon!

On a practical note, we've found that The Natural Soapworks website is having problems with the latest version of Explorer so the drop down menus aren't working. This is a bit of a problem since you need to use these menus when placing orders! So if you've upgraded to Explorer 8 , we'd suggest that you choose the Compatibility View so you can see everything as normal. To do this, you simply click on the Compatibility View button which is located in the top right hand side of the browser address line, next to the Refresh button.

Isn't technology wonderful! In due course, we'll have to see if this part of our website can be changed, but for now this offers a simple fix for users.

Botanical Soap Making Courses

We're still taking bookings for our popular cold-process soap making courses this Summer. But we wanted to mention a special annual one which is scheduled to run at The Birmingham Botanical Gardens on Saturday 27th June 2009.

Our soap making class will run from 10.30am - 4pm in the Study Centre. This is such a beautiful venue, since you'll have the chance to walk around the gardens and glasshouses during the lunch break and after the class ends.

We always run the soap making classes at The Botanical Gardens with a larger group. This is a big advantage during the practical sessions, since participants work in pairs to share the vigorous whisking that's involved in making real soap! Since it's a bigger group, there's also a discount on our usual course fees, so you'll only pay £65.

So if you're interested in learning how to make real soap in a beautiful botanical setting then please contact the Study Centre to reserve your place on 0121 454 1860.

http://www.birminghambotanicalgardens.org.uk/leisurelearning/workshopseries?id=11

"Oh what a lovely smell...."

Everyday we hear positive comments about the lovely smell within our little shop. It's a joke that you only have to arrive in the courtyard at the Red House Glass Cone, and then you simply follow your nose to find our shop!

It's amazing how smells can be so evocative, and it's nice to know that we can create such a postive reaction. The second comment we usually hear is how our products do not smell like the ones on the high street, and descriptions usually include words like: uplifting, relaxing, gorgeous, sophisticated and above all...natural. It's at this point, we usually have to explain about the difference between synthetic fragrances and the pure aromatherapy grade essential oils that we use.

So what are essential oils? A technical definition would be: concentrated, hydrophobic liquids (i.e they won't mix with water) containing volatile aroma compounds derived from plants. More simply they are the natural oils extracted from plant material. Usually this is via steam distillation, but they can also be expressed (such as squeezing the peel of citrus fruits) or by solvent extraction. The cost of essential oils varies according to how difficult it is to extract the essence - so this is why citrus oils are typically cheap whereas rose (which may require kilos of rose petals to produce a single ounce of rose otto essential oil) is very expensive.

Essential oils are highly concentrated essences, each with it's own distinctive aroma, which should be handled with knowledge and care. They should not be applied undiluted on to the skin. They are sold in small bottles which have a dropper attachment and this is so they can be carefully measured out, and there is less chance of them being accidentally injested. They should always be stored in a cool, dark place away from animals and children. Aromatherapists use these volatile aromatic compounds to assist a person's mood or health, and research is still ongoing to evaluate the effectiveness of aromatherapy as an alternative therapy.

So why do we use essential oils in our products? Well, we think it's better to use natural essences on the skin rather than synthetics. But great care has to be taken when developing skincare products, since even these "natural" plant oils can irritate sensitive skin if they are used in the wrong concentration. That's why we use controlled percentages in our products so customers can enjoy the soothing benefits of these lovely fragrances, safe in the knowledge that they are well within the limits that are laid down within the EU's Cosmetic's Directive which governs the sale of all cosmetic products manufactured in Europe. Despite these concerns, we believe that natural essences are more harmonious for the skin, than many of the cheaper synthetic alternatives that are available.

We hope you found this little article interesting and the next time you say "what a lovely smell", you can now appreciate that you're admiring a natural fragrance that's captured the essence of many plants species.

Orang 2 palm-free goat's milk soap

This is a quick note to mention that Orang 2, our new palm-free orangutan friendly soap, is now ready for sale!

A couple of weeks ago we told you about how the very first batch of Orang 2 soap had been donated to Borneo Orangutan Survival UK. We're very pleased to say that it seems to be selling well at the BOS UK events.

Our own batch of this brand new soap has completed it's curing period, so it has been added to the charity page of The Natural Soapworks website. So if you'd like to one of the first to try out this lovely sweet but citrussy natural goat's milk soap, please visit: http://www.naturalsoapworks.co.uk/CharitySkincare.aspx and £1 from the sale of each Orang 2 bar will be donated to BOS UK!

Gok at the Red House Glass Cone

Did any eagle eyed viewers spot the location for this week's Gok's Fashion fix?

Yes it was none other than the Red House Glass Cone in Stourbridge! We were all treated to some TV excitement in March when Gok and his crew came to see Mandy Moore from Wordsley, and our famous local landmark was used as the back drop for filming.

You will have seen the washing line set up by the canal, and Gok and Mandy arrived on a barge for the filming. It was a pretty poor day weatherwise, but luckily the showers held off for long enough to film Mandy's reaction as she arrived, and Gok advising her on her fashion choices. Gok was really lovely and supportive all day, helping Mandy to get over the shock of seeing all of her clothes on display for all to see.

Well done Mandy, you looked fabulous at the end of the programme so hopefully you'll pop in to see us all and show off your new wardrobe!

For anyone that missed Tuesday's show, you'll have to check out the repeat programmes of Gok's Fashion Fix on Channel 4 or watch the episode on-line.

NEW! Natroma Gentle Facial Exfoliators

This week we're introducing a new product into the Natroma range - our lovely gentle facial exfoliators! So we thought it might be useful to add a few lines about why exfoliation is so good for the skin.

So why should we exfoliate?

Exfoliating is a skin treatment where the upper layers of dead skin cells are sloughed off by using a mechanical method (such as a brush, loofah, or scrub product) or chemically (such as enzyme/AHA fruit peel/chemical peel mask). We would advocate the mechanical method since some chemical products have been shown to damage the skin if used incorrectly.

The average person generates a new layer of skin every two to four weeks in a continuous cycle which moves old (keratinized) dead cells to the surface so they can be shed. Exfoliation works by sloughing off the uppermost layer of these dead cells to reveal the fresher, younger and more translucent cells which are underneath. If the older cells are not removed they can clog the sebaceous pores, leading to spots or blackheads and a generally poor complexion. Also as we age, skin cell turnover slows down, so facial exfoliation encourages a faster cell turnover so the skin looks plumper and fresher. As an added bonus, exfoliation prepares the skin to absorb and react more effectively to moisturizers or lotions which are applied afterwards.

How to exfoliate and how often

You can exfoliate any part of the skin but you need to treat facial skin with special care, using gentle products which are free from gritty abrasives (such as nut shells). The best thing is to choose an exfoliating product which is the least irritating to your skin and apply it to dampened skin using a circular motion. We’d suggest that you should exfoliate once or twice each week. For oily and less sensitive skin it’s fine to use an exfoliator every other day, but sensitive skin types will probably find that once or twice each week is more than enough.

Our new Gentle Exfoliators

Our gentle exfoliators have been carefully formulated with lots of skin-kind natural ingredients to soothe delicate facial skin. It's never a good idea to apply harsh or abrasive products to the face since these can irritate the skin making it sore and uncomfortable. Therefore our exoliator creams really are gentle, and contain tiny jojoba beads. These are perfect spheres, and they can be safely massaged very lightly across the skin to exfoliate without any nasty after-effects.

We're also chosen our ingredients very carefully - gentle jojoba, papaya seed, evening primrose and comfrey oils are teamed up with D-Panthenol, Sea Buckthorn and Echium botanical extracts. This is a lightly textured cream, which can be rinsed off with water. We'd recommend using one of our muslin cloths to completely remove all of the tiny jojoba beads, followed by a spritz of hydrolat toner and the application of some moisturiser to finish off your mini facial treatment. There are two varieties to choose from: rose or orange blossom (neroli), so further details can be found at: http://www.natroma.co.uk/store/d5-exfoliators-rhassoul-clay-masks/

To celebrate this new product launch, until the end of May we're offering a 5% discount off Natroma website orders. Quote: SPRING at the checkout to receive your discount!

Why your cleanser needs a muslin cloth

We've noticed that muslin cloths are a bit of a mystery to some visitors to the studio. At first this came as a bit of shock since we've been using them for years, and think they should be an essential part of any skincare regime.

So why are they so good? It's because they are great for removing facial cleansers and masks, since they gently exfoliate the skin at the same time. The trick is to apply the cream cleanser or mask product and gently massage across the skin. Then rinse the muslin cloth in hand-hot water, and wring it out so it feels warm and damp when applied to the skin. The cloth will feel really soft, so there's no danger of scratching or irritating the skin - and you will feel cleaner and refreshed after each use since they lightly stimulate the skin.

The nice thing about muslin cloths is that they can easily be laundered and re-used, so they're good for the environment. We'd suggest that you should have at least a couple of muslin cloths, so whilst one is being used the other is in the wash. Ours have a nice weave so they dry quickly and unlike a traditional flannel, they won't be a breeding ground for bacteria. We also took a while sourcing our cloths for Natroma and have them specially made for us by a small English community company, so it's also nice to know that we're supporting training and job creation too.

So the next time you buy a cleanser, why not try a muslin cloth? We're sure that you'll love the way your skin feels, and they'll become an essential part of your daily skincare regime! As a special encouragement to try out muslin cloths during May 2009, we'll send you a FREE muslin cloth when you purchase a full size 100ml Natroma Cleanser. This offer will apply to studio and website orders received before 31 May 2009.

Our first palm-free soap is donated to BOS!

We're delighted to announce that we've finally cracked it! We've successfully re-formulated our luxurious goat's milk soap so it's now palm-free. You cannot imagine how excited we are about this, since it's taken over 12 months of testing to finally achieve the perfect formulation.

As you know, we're perfectionists when it comes to soap so we had a pretty long list of demands from this new soap...and we love the result! It's still a hard bar, still has a luxurious creamy lather, still looks beautiful, still smells gorgeous, and it's still packed with natural ingredients and goat's milk so it still feels like our soap!! (draws breath) BUT most importantly it lacks palm oil in it's formulation! Can you tell that we're over the moon with this soap?

It seemed only right that Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) UK should receive the first palm-free batch, since they have been our inspiration for removing palm oil from our soaps. Therefore we've donated the first 50 bars to BOS UK, and created a brand new ‘Orang 2’ palm-free goat’s milk soap to celebrate this important landmark for The Natural Soapworks. Just look at that lovely pile of soap.....

'Orang 2' is a lovely sweet but citrussy bar, containing a blend of citrus and ho leaf essential oils. Ho leaf has lovely floral but woody notes, but is the ecological substitute for rosewood. 'Orang 2' also features a pretty swirled pattern of natural clay, and as usual each bar is decorated with our hairy string and a BOS label. Every penny raised from the sale of this first batch will go to BOS UK, so Grainne and the team will be selling these bars at forthcoming BOS UK events. We'd just ask that anyone who gets the chance to buy one of these bars - please give generously, so as much money as possible can be raised for this wonderful charity.

Our own batch of 'Orang 2' is still maturing, and will be available in the studio and on our websites in a couple of weeks. As before, we guarantee that £1 from the sale of each bar will be sent to BOS UK in support of Lone, and everyone in the Nyaru Menteng team. For a while we'll still be using up the last of our supplies of organic sustainable palm oil, but then soap production will be switched over to this very 'orangutan friendly' new formulation. Our BOS soap page is: http://www.naturalsoapworks.co.uk/CharitySkincare.aspx

Meet the new neighbours!

We thought you might like to see our new neighbours -aren't they cute!

These lovely little ducklings arrived 2 weeks ago and we've had some trouble taking their picture, since they move around so fast. Finally at last we managed to catch them all in one place, so hopefully you can see that there are 10 little ones following their Mum.

They are growing at an amazing speed and have doubled in size since they arrived. So if you pop down to the Red House Glass Cone, try to find the time to stop by the canal. They can be regularly seen outside our studio, and you'll know they're around since they make a surprising amount of noise for such little ones! We'll try to keep you updated on their progress.

BOS Update - The Final Stage of Rehabilitation

Today we heard from BOS UK, giving us an update on the orangutans who are living on the Islands. We thought you'd like to hear how they are getting on:

Four orangutans from Nyaru Menteng - Borneo Orangutan Survival’s rescue and rehabilitation centre - have just started the final phase of their rehabilitation - relocation to a nearby island, Hampapak Matei. They’re only one step away now from release back into the wild, but it’ll be another 18 months to 2 years before they’re able to enjoy complete freedom. Life on Hampapak Matei will, however, be quite an experience for these for orangutans. They’ll be living in a state of near-freedom, in their natural habitat, with the ability to explore their new terrain at will, forage for food if they wish, and generally learn to acclimatise to life outside the confines of Nyaru Menteng and Forest School, where they’ve led a sheltered existence for something approaching 8 years.

Bobo, Marwan, Tim and Dani were victims of the illegal pet trade on Java, where they had been kept as pets in an urban environment. They were confiscated by government authorities between 7 and 8 years ago, and sent to Nyaru Menteng to be cared for and nurtured by Lone Droscher-Neilsen and her staff. There they were given the chance to learn how to be wild again, climbing trees and playing with the other orangutans in Forest School. One can only imagine what joy they must have felt at being able to move freely again, and to breathe the clean forest air. During their years at Nyaru Menteng, Bobo, Marwan, Tim and Dani developed all the skills which they’ll need to survive in the rainforest - learning how to build a nest, which fruits and leaves are edible, how to collect insects and how to avoid danger.

Progressing from one class to the next, they became more and more independent of their human charges, and developed the social skills necessary to interact with other orangutans. Now, on Hampapak Matei, the four orangutans will have an opportunity to put into practice what they’ve learned at Nyaru Menteng. They’ll be out in the forest night and day, and meet the other orangutans who are sharing the 20 ha island with them. They’ll have as little contact with humans as possible, although food will be provided daily, and they’ll be monitored to make sure that they come to no harm and that they’re adjusting to their new lifestyle.

Hampapak Matei is one of five orangutan islands belonging to Nyaru Menteng which, in total, cover an area of 245 ha. There are 87 orangutans living on these islands, in preparation for their final release. Nyaru Menteng is presently working on acquiring other islands to be able to accommodate not only those orangutans who are ready for pre-release, but those who can’t be released into the wild, due to either disease or disability.

If you would like to help, please visit BOS UK: http://www.savetheorangutan.co.uk/
or make a donation:
BOS continually needs to find funding to cover the costs of leasing these islands, as well as surveying future sites for the safe release of the wild rescued orangutans.

Introducing...Natroma Bathing!

We're delighted to introduce a new range to Natroma, with the addition of our new bathing collection! With Natroma Bathing we've splurged on the most luxurious natural skincare ingredients to create a really indulgent range of goat's milk soaps and bathing products.

The goat's milk soap contains a decadent blend of organic botanical oils and Fair Trade butters, enriched with real goat's milk. We've then added the gorgeously scented Monoi de Tahiti, to create a top of the range soap with a lather that feels even more moisturising and creamy. We've co-ordinated these soaps to our Natroma skincare fragrances, so we've been able to use many of the very expensive essential oils that you do not usually see in handmade soaps. The initial fragrance choice is Chamomile, Rose and Orange Blossom. Each bar is handwrapped in a pure muslin cloth and decorated with a stylish organza ribbon, and we'd suggest that these natural wrappings are re-cycled as facial cloths so there's no waste. More of these luxurious soaps will follow during 2009, so watch this space!

We're also very pleased to introduce our Fizzing Bath Melt range. These are lovely little bathing beauties which really do look good enough to eat! We wouldn't recommend it though, since our new cup-cake range is designed to gently fizz in the bath and release lots of Fair Trade Cocoa and Shea butters into the bath water. They feature some lovely new blends of essential oils, and are naturally coloured with petals and other natural ingredients. Available on their own, or in a pretty ribbon decorated ballotin box, these are already proving to be very popular with our Studio customers. More fragrances will be released during the year, since these make lovely small gifts and are sure to be popular at Christmas.

Please visit: http://www.natroma.co.uk/store/d24-natroma-bathing/ for more information.

Natural Soapworks Favourites

We've noticed that quite a few of our customers are ordering from the Natural Soapworks and Natroma websites at the same time. This is great, since we can combine postage and despatch everything in the same parcel. But it's not so convenient for the customer since you end up placing two orders instead of one.

So we're very pleased to introduce Natural Soapworks Favourites to the Natroma website: http://www.natroma.co.uk/store/d20-natural-soapworks-favourites/

This is a new section on the site, which will feature some of our most popular soaps, lip balms and bathing items so these can be purchased at the same time as Natroma natural skincare items. We hope you enjoy this added convenience and as a special introductory offer, until 30th April 2009 quote: SOAPWORKS at the checkout to claim a 5% discount off your order!

Jojoba - simmondsia chinensis

In the second article about our natural skincare ingredients, today we’re looking at Jojoba oil (pronounced ho-ho-ba).

Jojoba is a botanical extract from the seed of the jojoba tree (simmondsia chinenis), and these are pressed to release a pure golden oil-like substance. You see, Jojoba isn’t actually an oil, it’s a natural wax ester and this makes it a very interesting skincare ingredient. The significance is that because it’s a wax ester, it's very similar to the sebum in our skin. This is a very important quality since it means that jojoba works in harmony with our skin, and can even “trick” the skin into slowing down sebum production resulting in greater balance and less shine for oily skin types.

Ours is a lovely organic, cold-pressed oil that is a bright golden colour. We love jojoba since it suits all skin types, doesn’t feel greasy when applied to the skin and spreads and is absorbed easily. It is said to be non-comedogenic (this means it won’t block the skin’s pores and cause acne). It's a lovely ingredient providing lasting hydration, and that's why it appears in many of our moisturizing products. Jojoba is also very stable so it has a very long shelf life, so won’t become rancid or lose anti-oxidants easily. This is another star quality since it means that we can use it in our products safe in the knowledge that they will have a good shelf life.

So as you can see jojoba is a valuable addition to any skincare product, and is included in many of our Natroma skincare products.

What's so special about goat’s milk soap?

It’s a question we’re asked most weeks! We can guarantee that anyone who asks, has never tried a goat’s milk soap before. We’ll try to explain why we think goat’s milk soap is special…

Goat’s milk soap is more difficult to make than a typical handmade bar, since the milk affects the saponification process. We use real goat’s milk (not powdered) since it contains proteins, amino acids and Vitamin A to nourish and soften the skin. You may read some articles which claim that natural goat’s milk soap has the same pH as the skin. We’d disagree with this claim, since soap is a naturally alkaline substance, so it’s doubtful if a natural soap could become slightly acidic without the addition of chemicals.

Our formulation has come about after years of perfecting our soap recipe. The brief was to create a hard, long-lasting bar with a rich, creamy lather whilst being highly moisturizing and skin-kind too. Okay, we admit that we’re perfectionists so that’s why it’s taken a few years to create our recipe!

It’s no accident that our soap contains many botanical oils and butters (such as olive, coconut, shea and cocoa) and these had to be carefully balanced to produce the rich texture and foaming qualities we were looking for. We also use a cold-process saponification manufacturing process and use traditional handmade wooden moulds. Each new soap is matured for 4-8 weeks so it hardens and becomes mild before it is presented for sale. So the next time you try a new natural soap remember that each recipe will be different, since the skilled soap maker crafts their recipe to produce particular results.

So what can you expect from a Natural Soapworks goat’s milk soap? The first thing people always do, is give the bar a sniff! Fragranced with pure essential oils, each soap variety has its own special character, and this adds to the pleasure of using the soap each day. We also love pretty soaps, so we use natural clays and spices to add colour and we often swirl them through the soap so each bar has unique patterns. The goat’s milk gives a unique, creamy lather that’s so rich that it can be used for shaving or as a natural body wash. The soap suits delicate skin conditions, and people who visit our little shop are often invited to try washing their hands before making a purchase. Most people are impressed by the conditioning feel of the lather, and everyone comments on how soft their skin feels after just one wash. So we’d sum up our goat’s milk soaps as being pretty and fragrant, but very functional and full of top quality ingredients.

Tempted to give it a try? Visit out Goat’s Milk Soap page if you’d like more details:

http://www.naturalsoapworks.co.uk/GoatSoaps.aspx

Hydrolats, Hydrosols, Flower Waters

This is the first in a series of articles covering our cosmetic ingredients. This week, we're focussing upon hydrolats (sometimes called hydrosols or flower waters).

Hydrolats are a by-product from the production of essential oils from botanical materials, via a steam distillation process. During distillation the essential oil is separated from the water or condensed steam. This pure water is collected and contains the water soluble parts of the plant. Many hydrolats have a light aroma and are mild and cooling, making them ideal to use as ingredients in cosmetic products or as natural skin toners or compresses. The most well-known one is traditional rose water, but there are a great many hydrolats available. They each have their own charicteristics, but all are soothing, refreshing and help to balance the skin.

We have carefully selected a small range of organic hydrolats (from a Soil Association accredited producer) and they smell gorgeous! It took us a while to find these lovely floral waters, since a great many have added preservatives and are not produced organically. You'll find them in all of our Natroma cream products, and they alone provide the subtle aroma in our Facial Cleansers and Rhassoul Clay Masks.

Our Chamomile variety has a very subtle fragrance so is perfect for sensitive skin. Rose has a rich, sweet note and is great on all skin-types. Orange Blossom comes from the distillation of neroli essential oil, and has a light, sophisticated note (and is definitely our favorite!) After finding such a lovely product we thought they deserved special packaging, so we chose some elegant violet glass bottles. This special heavy glass looks almost black and protects them from daylight so they do not need any added preservative. These bottles have a fabulous spray attachment which produces the finest of mists - so you can spray them directly onto the face. Our tip is to keep a bottle in the fridge during hot weather, and use it to spritz the neck when you're feeling too warm. This also works wonderfully, for anyone suffering from hot flushes.

We love organic hydrolats, and would definitely recommend using them as a natural alternative to commercial toner products. They leave the skin feeling soft and hydrated and are an essential part of our skincare range. More information can be found on the Natroma website: http://www.natroma.co.uk/store/d2-hydrolat-skin-toners/

Soap making classes are fun!

At times when you make soap commercially it can feel like it’s all work and no play. Part of this is because soap is a cosmetic product, so here in the UK it’s governed by the EU Cosmetics Directive. Every soap has to be cosmetically safety tested and commercial batches have to consistently use this approved formulation. There’s also a mountain of admin to track ingredients and batch references before the soap can even be presented for sale.

So today was fun! We ran one of our all day soap making courses and met up with 4 lovely “beginners”, to pass on our pearls of wisdom about how to make cold process soap. We love these days since it gives us a chance to share our passion for handmade soap and natural skincare ingredients. Today’s group asked some fantastic questions, and the class over-ran because we were covering so much ground. But it was lovely to have the chance to play again, and it’s resulted in some lovely new soap fragrances. To everyone who attended – it was a real pleasure to meet you all and we hope you had an enjoyable day!

There are now two places left on our April soap making class (Saturday 25th April), and then we’re fully booked. So if you fancy learning a new skill, visit our soap making page http://www.naturalsoapworks.co.uk/Classes.aspx for more details.

After this, our last soap making class of the year will be held at The Birmingham Botanical Gardens on Saturday 27th June. To join this larger class, you’ll need to enrol at the Gardens’ Reception during normal opening hours or enrol over the telephone on 0121 454 1860.

We had a famous visitor this week

What an amazing week so far! On Monday, The Red House Glass Cone was the location for some filming of a very well known TV show.

We were all very excited that a certain celebrity would be visiting the site, but imagine our surprise when he actually came in to our studio! He decided to pop in for a quick chat, after smelling the gorgeous aroma from our essential oils which wafted across the courtyard.

We were thrilled that he called in to see us and even posed for a piccie. So if you want to know who it was, remember to ask us at the weekend and we'll tell you more!

Blowing Red Noses in aid of Comic Relief

What a weekend it's been!

Comic Relief was definitely the focus at 'The Red Nose Glass Cone' this weekend, with a fantastic combined effort from studio tenants and staff all working together to raise as much money as we could in aid of Comic Relief.

As everyone who visited will know, we created a special Red Nose Day bath bomb and soap. We hope you enjoy using them - we've certainly used ours for a nice relaxing bathe this evening! Thank you to everyone who supported us by making a purchase, which has added to a final combined amount of over £1000 collected over the weekend at the Cone (we'll post the final amount, once the count has been completed).

But special thanks has to go to Charlotte Hughes-Martin, our resident glass artist, who you will have seen on the BBC's Midlands Today (and heard on the BBC's Radio WM). Charlotte blew over 200 glass red noses (she's in the piccie), supported by Caroline Scully, and had people travelling to see her from across the Midlands. Good one Charlotte! Sadly she had some very sore hands by the end of weekend, so we rustled up a soothing butter balm which should hopefully help them a little.

BOS UK and Orangutan Diary

It seems only right that our first post should be about Borneo Orangutan Survival UK. We've proudly supported this wonderful charity since the begining of 2008, when The Natural Soapworks took the decision to only use organic palm oil from a sustainable source in Columbia to make our soaps.

So what's the problem with palm oil and the significance of it being from a sustainable source, you may wonder? Well soapmakers use palm oil because it adds hardness to a bar of soap, and it's used as a botanical alternative to tallow (rendered animal fats, which we certainly wouldn't use). But the problem with palm oil sourced from the Far East, is that it tends to be grown on palm plantations which have been planted after the rain forest has been cut down and burnt. This is causing catastrophic damage to the environment, and as the forests are destroyed it means that the local animals die too.

You'll find palm oil in all manner of products on our supermarket shelves (e.g. crisps, cakes, chocolate, biscuits, cosmetics, detergents, soaps etc), and there's even more problems on the horizon due to the interest in bio fuels. Unless action is taken soon, more and more habitat will be destroyed and ultimately this could lead to the extinction of many animal species.

When we discovered that even in a small way we were contributing to such destruction, we decided to act quickly to find some palm oil that is grown in a responsible and sustainable way, that doesn't endanger the environment. Organic sustainable palm oil is more expensive but we think it’s the right thing to include in our soaps. This is because one of the worst things that we discovered about palm oil, was the impact it's having on the orangutan populations in Sumatra and Borneo. There's a serious risk that one of our closest cousins will be wiped out within 10 years.

We were so concerned about this, that we contacted Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS UK) and they confirmed that our soap is "orangutan friendly". This very worthwhile charity works to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned orangutans in Borneo, whose mother's are killed as the rainforest is cleared. BOS's work, led by Lone Droscher Nielsen, is featured in the Orangutan Diary screened by the BBC in 2007, and now back for a second series on BBC2. We wanted to help this fabulous charity so we have adopted 2 orphaned orangutans, and fund raise to support BOS by attending events and selling our ‘Orang’ soap. We guarantee that £1.00 from the sale of each bar of 'Orang' goes straight to BOS UK. http://www.naturalsoapworks.co.uk/CharitySkincare.aspx

So how we all help? It's all about the purchasing power of the consumer, and we'd encourage everyone to try to find products that have sustainably sourced palm ingredients within them. To find out more about helping to save the orangutan visit the BOS UK website: http//www.savetheorangutan.co.uk/index.php

Welcome to the Natroma Blog

Well we've finally caught up with technology, and have started our blog. We've called it the Natroma blog, but it will also cover all things Natural Soapworks too.

We'll be using this to give updates on products, ingredients, events, our charity work and probably a little general musing too. We hope you pop back to see us, once we've added some more information.