Scented Essentials

By Sandy Maine
Published on October 1, 1995
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Wash away the dust of the day with one of these delicately scented, handcrafted soaps.
Wash away the dust of the day with one of these delicately scented, handcrafted soaps.
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Herbs and herbal flowers can add color, fragrance, texture, and gentle soothing action to a simple bar of soap. Rose, lavender, and calendula are among the possibilities.
Herbs and herbal flowers can add color, fragrance, texture, and gentle soothing action to a simple bar of soap. Rose, lavender, and calendula are among the possibilities.
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Mr. Spicy Shaving Soap will work up a lather for the toughest beards.
Mr. Spicy Shaving Soap will work up a lather for the toughest beards.
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Pour the soap mixture into a plastic mold to set. It can later be cut into chunks or bars of any size.
Pour the soap mixture into a plastic mold to set. It can later be cut into chunks or bars of any size.
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Before you start your soapmaking project, assemble all the equipment you’ll need.
Before you start your soapmaking project, assemble all the equipment you’ll need.
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Wash away the dust of the day with one of these delicately scented, handcrafted soaps.
Wash away the dust of the day with one of these delicately scented, handcrafted soaps.

Click here to learn how to make soap

Soap Recipes:

Calendula Unscented Baby Soap
Comfrey and Aloe Vera Soap
Garden Mint Soap
Lavender Soap
Lemon Verbena Soap
Chamomile and Lavender Baby Soap
Rosemary Morning Soap
Gentleman Farmer Soap
Mr. Spicy Shaving Soap

My love affair with herbal soapmaking began in my farm­house kitchen fifteen years ago. Since that day, it has grown into a thriving business for me. Now thousands of other people are discovering the pleasure of making fragrant homemade soaps and are at their soap pots this very moment stirring, brewing, and sniffing.

Soap has played a role throughout much of human history. Our ancestors extracted it from plants such as yucca, soapwort, and horsetail. The first known written mention of soap is on Sume­rian clay tablets dating to about 2500 b.c. that were found in Mesopotamia in what is now southern Iraq. The excavation of Pompeii, a city buried during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in a.d. 79, revealed the existence of an entire soap factory.

Ancient Roman legend gives soap its name. From Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed, rain washed a mixture of melted animal fats and wood ashes down into the Tiber River below. There the soapy mixture was discovered to be useful for washing clothing, fur, and skin. With the fall of the Roman Empire in a.d. 467, the popularity of soap and bathing went into decline. The resulting lack of cleanliness is ­believed to have contributed heavily to the plagues of the Middle Ages. It wasn’t until several centuries later that bathing would come back into fashion in Europe.

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