About Us
The start of Covid-19 resulted in small business shut-downs everywhere. Jess & Sam were experiencing their own small business slow downs at Dog Tales when Rachel approached them about buying her soap company. Having a deep belief that micro businesses are the backbone of local economy and great workplaces, they were eager to learn the craft. Jess & Sam knew that with the right teacher, enough time, and continued support from the original employees, they could carry on the tradition of craft manufacturing and take on the next small business.
After an internship and new skill development, they’re doing it…making soap, lotions and potions the way it has been done forever—using real ingredients that are simple and good for your skin and safe for our water. We are committed to making awesome products with natural ingredients and doing business in a way brings us joy and pride. We’re also committed to maintaining the craft of cold-processed soap making and providing small bath goods to our customers through local sales, Amazon and wholesale avenues.
If you like handmade products, with ingredients you can pronounce, made by people who will pick up the phone if you have a question, we’re your soap, lotion and potion maker! Our small crew of makers and shakers would love to answer your questions. Oh, and that Ford truck in the photo, that’s an original family vehicle too, just rebuilt by Jess’s dad. We like to think it represents our restoration of a classic company we already loved.
Our mission is to create quality products, at a fair price, that allows us to sustain our business practices, we pay our employees, serve our customers, buy from our community, and take care of our environment.
We take pride in:
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Manufacturing quality, cold-processed soaps in small batches
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Buying high quality ingredients
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Producing very little waste
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Establishing and building relationships with our customers
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Being a local resource for quality products in North Carolina
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Being a small, owner operated business
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NEVER testing on animals
Product Tips
Shave Soaps
Shave soaps can be used many ways. Traditionally, they are used with open comb safety razors and a shave bowl for face shaving. Combine the shave bowl with a badger brush for a daily ritual. If using this method, allow the shave puck to soak in hot water while you shower. Wet the brush, shake it out and rub the brush over the puck until you get your preferred lather density. More recently, shave soaps are used to shave any part of the body and offer a fast, safe way to glide over the skin.
Celebrate no more “aluminum rings” or additional plastic jars with chemical filled goo in your shower. The clay and vitamin E in this soap makes the hair stand up and glide right off with one swoop of your shower razor. The lather is thin and slippery. Shave soaps also make excellent bar soaps for your shower or bath. While it’s a bit more costly, the ingredients are great for your skin and the bar lasts longer than bars made without clay. As with all bar soaps, store the soap high on a ledge or outside of the water stream. Try to avoid puddling around your bar soap so that you can extend the life and maintain hardness during non-use.
Bar Soaps
Bar soaps can be used in the bathroom, kitchen, outdoors or for storage. Bar soaps offer an aromatherapy treat for the senses and plenty of natural moisture for the skin in the shower/bath. To extend the life of your bar soap, use a soap deck or storage unit to discourage puddling around the bottom. Also, consider storing it in a dryer area of your shower, like up on a ledge or a shower shelf. Combine a soap sleeve with your bar soap for extra exfoliation along with a hanging storage solution. If using bar soap for storage purposes, consider adding it to linen closets, drawers or storage bins for an added boost of freshness. Bar soap will last much longer than sachets or potpourri and can ultimately be used years later. Any bar soaps containing natural citrus oils will lose their fragrance sooner than other fragrances. Tea tree, for example, will hold its fragrance for many years!
Diaper Lotion Potion
Diaper Lotion Potion can be used on baby’s sensitive skin or even on mom/dad’s sensitive face. This is a simple oil infusion with calming herbs and is so nourishing to skin. If you’re using it between diaper changes, it makes clean up gentle so that you don’t have to wipe so much. The spray loosens any organic matter making wiping a breeze. Too much wiping can lead to chaffing and rashes and that’s tough on skin. Think of this as an natural oil cleanser. Nothing gets stripped away and it’s chemical free. Make sure to purchase the herbal version if you don’t want lavender and tea tree oil added. One of our favorite versions of this base solution is the concentrate mixed with witch hazel…just magical.
Shower Steamers
Shower steamers are all natural and are great for morning showers. Because they are not designed to touch the skin, we use high concentrates of menthol, eucalyptus and other essential oils that can be used to infuse the steam in the air. These are a great way to open your sinuses, clear your head and simply stimulate the senses. For best use, wet the steamer and then put it just outside the stream of water, allowing the steamer to last for the duration of one shower. Your whole bathroom will be filled with the natural oils and scents leaving you with an awakened attitude. Treat yourself.
Bath Bombs
Bath bombs can be made of several different ingredients. We opt for lovely, safe ingredients. In it’s most basic form, it contains baking soda, citric acid, buttermilk powder, jojoba oil, cream of tartar, polysorbate 80 (keeps the bath bomb from staining your tub), witch hazel, fragrance, cosmetic grade colorant and sometimes mica. The size of the bath bomb is dictated by the mold our crafter chooses.
Some of our bath bombs for kids include embeds, which are made of the same ingredients and are there simply to surprise and delight with a color splash when dissolving. Our adult bath bombs will occasionally come with impacted rose petals or lavender pedals.
Tub Teas
Tub teas are for adults looking to soothe irritated skin and relax naturally, we suggest our all natural herbal tub teas. This is essentially an oversized tea bag that you add to your bathwater. It contains herbs, botanicals, milk powders and grains. If you will allow it to steep for about 5-10 minutes, your bath water becomes an old fashioned milk bath—oatmilk if you choose our chamomile calendula tea, or buttermilk if you choose our lavender tub tea. There are 3 baths per package.
For new moms and anyone in need of soothing delicate, torn skin or reduce swelling with a tub soak, choose our mother’s ease perineal soak. You can use the herbs to create cold or hot compresses as well. There are four baths per package.
Bath and massage oils
Bath and massage oils—almond oil, jojoba oil and Vitamin E (and some essential or fragrance oils of your choice) added to bath water can transform your bath into a relaxation treat. This oil is natural and great for skin and hair.
Bath Salts
Bath salts are for those looking for an all-natural relaxing salt bath experience, look no further than our bath salts. Epsom, dead sea, dendritic salt, and essential oils combine to provide a therapeutic soak for tired aching muscles. Citrus, Lavender and Foot blends available at local farmers markets only in one pound bags.