Natroma Handmade Goat's Milk Soap Wins Best Buy Award!

Natroma - handmade aromatherapy organic goat's milk soap 

We’re delighted to announce that The Green Parent magazine has awarded a Best Buy award to our Natroma Carrot & Calendula organic goat’s milk soap in their 2016 Natural Beauty Awards!

Handmade with organic cruelty-free certified botanical oils and aromatherapy grade essential oils, our Carrot & Calendula has been a popular soap variety for a while.  So we were thrilled to hear that one of our handmade natural soaps beat off competition from much larger companies, to achieve the Best Buy award!

Our goat's milk soaps were developed especially for eczema, psoriasis and sensitive skin types, so we hope this award encourages more people to try using natural soaps as a more gentle and natural way of cleansing their skin.  We think the addition of the goat's milk really adds something to the way our aromatherapy soaps feel on the skin, helping sufferers of eczema and psoriasis who often struggle to find cosmetic products that don't cause skin irritation. 

Each year The Green Parent Magazine Beauty Awards search for the safest, cleanest, greenest and most effective natural products in a range of categories.  Each of the winning items in the 2016 awards has been carefully chosen and tested by an independent review panel.  The Award winners will appear in the 2016 Natural Beauty Bible which will be published later in July.

We decided to enter this year’s awards because of The Green Parent’s approach, they say:  “We insist on products free from petroleum-based chemicals, propylene glycol, parabens or sulphates and NO animal testing so you can be assured of their safety. We believe that beauty is more than skin deep. So we seek out those products that are made by passionate people; companies that we can trust; those who put care and love into their work”.

Thanks Green Parent - we're delighted with this win!

What is aromatherapy?

These days, there are all manner of products on the market claiming to have aromatherapy benefits. The problem is that quite often cosmetics have names that make them sound like aromatherapy products, but they only contain minute amounts of essential oils or even have synthetic fragrances. These products may not even be formulated by a professional Aromatherapist, so how do you spot the genuine article? We hope the following information about essential oils and aromatherapy will be useful.

Aromatherapy is often defined as the careful, controlled use of essential oils, to enhance the well-being of the mind, body and spirit. Essential oils are highly concentrated, volatile, and fragrant substances that are extracted from flowers, berries, twigs, wood, seeds, fruits and leaves of many familiar plants. Essential oils have many different properties and research has shown that each oil contains a complex mixture of chemical components which contribute to essential oil therapeutic qualities. These could be stimulant, expectorant, anti-infectious, anti-inflammatory, relaxant, calming, soothing or uplifting. The important thing to stress is that they need to be used with respect and knowledge, so aromatherapy is far more than just pretty smells!

A professional Aromatherapist will have extensive knowledge of the therapeutic qualities and the chemical components within each essential oil. This enables them to create synergistic blends that are personalized for their client, taking into account their needs and any existing health conditions. In the hands of a knowledgable professional Aromatherapist, this means that these plant essences can be therapeutically blended to assist with stress, enhance health and support the body’s own healing processes. Clinical aromatherapy focuses on achieving synergy within the essential oil blend, and usually employs massage to use essential oils in a holistic treatment. So while this is not a medical treatment, aromatherapy has been found to work psychologically and physiologically to improve well-being.

In the coming months, we’ll be featuring a number of essential oils to explain their qualities and why we use them in our handmade natural skincare products. In the meantime, you can see more about our natural ingredients on our websites.

The Natural Soapworks and Natroma product ranges are formulated in-house by a professionally qualified Clinical Aromatherapist, and member of the International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists (IFPA).

Goats milk soap stocks are improving!

It's been a busy few weeks at The Natural Soapworks....making lots of soap!

Christmas was so busy that we actually ran out of some of our most popular varieties, but rest assured we now have lots of lovely goats milk soap bars curing on our drying racks. But before they are ready, we still have lots of soap offers which will be available in the studio and on the Special offers page of The Natural Soapworks website during January.

The website also has a new soap (it usually sells out in the studio before we have time to add it to the website!) which is called Blue Lagoon. This is a really lovely soap with a deep evocative fragrance of ylang ylang blended with vetiver and citrus notes. It has a deep purple base layer with a thicker blue layer over the top and contains Monoi de Tahiti, which makes the lather really creamy. It's one of our most luxurious goats milk soaps, so catch it while you can, by visiting the goats milk soap page on our website: Blue Lagoon goats milk soap

We should also mention that we're having lots of fun developing some new goats milk and coconut milk soap varieties. These are for a new range of contemporary soaps which are on the way - they will be launched in time for Mother's Day... so watch this space!

Natural Soapworks New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year to all Natural Soapworks customers!

It's been lovely to hear back from so many people, regarding their Christmas orders - it sounds like your gift recipients loved our packaging and have had an enjoyable time trying out our skincare products too. Our thanks for the lovely feedback!

It's now that time of year, when we all make some resolutions. So as a responsible skin care business, we thought we'd share some of our resolutions for 2010 with our readers.

We resolve to:

1. Continue to only make skincare products containing natural fragrances from essential oils and natural colours.

2. Continue to source only the finest ingredients for our skincare products, taking care in selecting responsible, eco-friendly suppliers who are opposed to any form of animal testing.

3. Continue to only use sustainable palm oil in our goat's milk soaps - so our soap production never contributes to the destruction of the orangutan's habitat in Borneo.

4. Introduce a new range of soaps in 2010, which will not contain any palm oil within their formulation. Watch this space!

5. Continue to publicise and support the work of Borneo Orangutan Survival UK, and their wonderful work to save and rehabiliate orphaned orangutans.

6. Continue to only use paper, glass and plastic product packaging which can be recycled. Our gift packaging will also be recyclable (or be manufactured from recycled materials).

7. Continue to re-cycle boxes and packaging materials and ensure that used printer toners etc are donated to charitable causes.

8. Maintain our stance of refusing to use cosmetic ingredients containing parabens, SLS detergents, pthalates, PEG's, petroleum derived ingredients (including mineral oil) and other nasty ingredients in our products.

9. Continue to be perfectionists - whether it be taking extra care when we manufacture our handmade skincare products, or packaging them with care so they reach our mail order customers in perfect condition. This also means that we'll value and continue to listen to customer feedback, so we keep on improving The Natural Soapworks and Natroma product ranges.

10. Continue to offer our customers great value for money by selling concentrated natural products which last and genuinely work in harmony with the skin. We'll also increase the selection of items available to mail order from The Natural Soapworks website.

We'll review these at the end of 2010 to see how we've done!

So to start things off this year, we've made a few changes to The Natural Soapworks website. Sadly part of this is due to changes in our prices, due to the increase in VAT and raw material costs etc. But this is our first price rise since 2008, and we've done everything we can to keep our products as affordable as possible. We'll also be updating the special offers page regularly so website customers can benefit from extra savings throughout 2010. So remember to visit: http://www.naturalsoapworks.co.uk/Special.aspx

To end on a positive, we've also reviewed our website postage charges for 2010 - these used to be on a sliding scale which was dependent on the value of the order. But from today we're pleased to announce a flat rate approach for The Natural Soapworks website. Orders under £50 will now cost just £2.95 on postage, and if you spend over £50 then postage will be FREE!

Thanks for reading!

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.....

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!

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.

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!!

"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.

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!

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

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.