by 33 people |
Where the Senses Meet the Psyche
After a hard day, coming home and drawing a bath is one of the most renourishing things for one's psyche. But, the great indulgence is in the soap you choose. From high lather producing shea soaps, to a hard milled, exfoliating lather of a handmade oatmeal soap, nothing completes the experience until you have chosen the soap that will wash away the worries of the day. Don't think of it as an indulgence, think of it as self-help therapy.
Tell us your favorite soap and relaxation bath practices! It could help us all!
Soap Photos
People with their soaps!
The Courthouse - San...
Berkeley Pool large
The Bistro Stoke by...
L'Horizon-Deluxe Oce...
L'Horizon-Pool large
L'Horizon fruit and...
Athenaeum Apt 3 bed...
Clarice Hse Lady in...
Athenaeum bedroom 1...
French Lavendar Abbey
French Lavendar Shea Butter Soap
Pre de Provence Lavender Soap, 250g wrapped bar. Imported from France. With shea butter and natural herbs and scents.
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/06/2009)
BIG, BIG, BIG in France, the home of people with LOVELY skin, shea butter is one of the most comforting and soothing soaps on the market.
This has the wonderful addition of French Lavendar, which soothes and relaxes your mood and body.
Primo Soaps
Luscious Luxury Soaps
- You're Gorgeous
- Luxury natural handmade soap from fine natural ingredients, based in the Conwy Valley in North Wales.
- Pre de Provence Soap
- Shea butter enriched soaps spring to a rich lather at the slightest touch.
- Crabtree & Evelyn
- Following in the tradition of 19th century French soapmaking, we take thirty steps to create each tablet of our triple-milled soaps. Infused with conditioning botanical extracts to soothe and comfort the skin.
- French Soaps from FrenchSoaps.com
- Soapmakers in the South of France follow techniques perfected by their ancestors, using natural ingredients and fagrances that are unique to Southern France.
- Valhalla Soap Company
- Experience incredible handcrafted products made from today's finest ingredients, with yesterdays simplicity and elegance. We at Valhalla only use the finest products available to soap makers, so that we may give you, the luxury soap connoisseur, nothing less than excellence.
- Luxury Handmade Soap
- Botanical soaps that are made with a blend of tropical nut butters and exotic oils, no animal fats are used. Rich silky lather and aromatic blends of pure essential oils or fragrance oils give you the luxury of handmade soap
- LUSH
- Soap Cut Off The Block. My daughter swears by all of their products.
- Squeaky Monroe
- A cool collection of shapes, sizes, colors and scents. All are pure and natural, free of synthetic dyes, perfumes, or preservatives.
Rose Shea Butter
Pre de Provence Rose Petal Soap, 250g wrapped bar. Imported from France. With shea butter and natural herbs and scents.
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 07/06/2009)
Mediterranean Roses are the some of the most lush, and fragrant, roses you'll find anywhere in the world.
No wonder they are highly prized in France and used regularly in their soaps and oils!
Rumor has it that the scent of roses has an effect on the heart, which is a BIG reason why they make such wonderful gifts for lovers.
Renoir's Roses
Some useful terms to know when shopping for soap.
Wikipedia Luxury Soap Making Information
- Cold Process is a method of making soap (saponification) which does not require use an external heat source to force the saponification process to begin. (Heat is often still applied in order to melt fats or oils that are solid at room temperature and to speed the reaction.) For this reason, this process is often used by soapers, or home soapmakers. Lye, either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, is mixed with an appropriate amount of fats and/or oils to start the saponification process that leads to soap.
- Hot process is a traditional method of making soap, still used by some soapmakers.
In the hot process, fats and oils are boiled in a lye solution (either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide). After saponification has occurred, the soap is precipitated from the solution by adding salt, after which the liquid component was drained.
- Melt and pour is a process often used by soapmakers. The process differs from the cold process or hot process in that no actual soap is made; a ready-made soap base acquired in commerce is melted and poured into individual moulds, tray molds, or blocks which can then be sliced. Additional ingredients such as fragrances, colourings, and moisturizers may be added.
- Rebatching, or hand milling, is a soapmaking technique used by hobbyists and artisan soapmakers. The commercial equivalent is French milling.
In rebatching, commercially purchased or previously made soap (a soap base) is shredded or diced finely and mixed with a liquid, into which the soap shreds begin to dissolve. It is then heated at a fairly low temperature until the mass is more or less homogenous. When it becomes translucent and reaches a thick, gel-liked consistency, it is spooned or piped into molds and allowed to harden.
Luxury Soap Spa Gift
Luxury Spa Pampering Gift Basket X-Large
Amazon Price: (as of 07/06/2009)
There isn't hardly a more useful gift (except chocolate) for someone you love.
Relaxation, comfort, and mood enhancing scents- what's NOT to like about that?
Luxury Soap in the News
Special European Style Baby Soaps
Noodle & Boo French-Milled Baby Soap, Two 3.5-Ounce Bars (Pack of 2)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/06/2009)
So many chemicals in mass produced soap, and such tender baby skin!
Really, think hard about what kinds of soaps you use on your little ones. They can be healthy and GOOD for them! These have healthy oils, oatmeal and other things that cherish and nurture soft skin.
Shaving With Soap
Bey Berk Silver Shaving Set
Amazon Price: $54.00 (as of 07/06/2009)
My father used to shave with soap, and a true razor. His skin was under a lot of pressure because of his work environment, but he always looked GREAT.
Many men actually prefer to shave this way, and if so, then a beautiful set of tools is NECESSARY!
Exotic Soaps
Hard to find luxury soaps
- Soak
- Offers Demeter, Molton Brown, Primal Elements, 3000 BC, e shave, Tipton Charles products and bath bombs.
- Vernon Sinclair Aromatics
- Scented bodybars combining essential oils, herbs, and selected fragrance oils.
- Dreamsoap
- Offering the Reve-de-Provence line of authentic French soaps and bath products, made with shea butter, organic olive oil, and essential oils of Provence.
- Maja Soap
- Offering soaps and products including perfumes and cream powders.
- Midani Erbe
- Collections of soap, Pre de Provence, Midani Erbe, Kama Sutra.
- Scicorp Systems Inc
- Offering a baby safe, fragrance-free, germ killing, biodegradable, moisturizing and natural cleansing product.
- French Soaps, Ltd.
- Fine French soaps and skin care.
- Jupiter Imports, UK
- Offers the original red Lifebuoy toilet soap, also Pears "Vinolia".
- Tspink corp.
- Offering soaprocks and other earthly treasures.
- Seattle Soap
- Skin care soap products for a clear complexion.
- Miracle 2 Soap
- All-natural liquid soaps, without harsh surfactants.
- Bon Savon
- A comprehensive collection of soaps from around the world. Including soap for body, hand, pet, laundry, facial, and shaving.
- Thunder Mountain Soaps
- Natural soaps made with fine oils, as well as some products made with goatsmilk.
- Pacifica
- Offering aromatherapy candles and scented soaps.
- Redgum
- Offering castile soaps and natural skincare products from Australia. Shipping provided worldwide.
- DeLuxe Soap
- Offering vegetable soaps for bath and body.
- Sassy Suds
- Assorted soaps and shower gel.
- Sulfur Soap
- Formulated for acne prone skin.
- Rocky Mountain Soap Company
- Soap and bath products including bath oil, massage oil and bubble bath in custom fragrances.
- Splash Body
- Bath and body products from a Canadian soapmaker.
- Seventy Degrees and Sunny
- Primal Elements glycerin soaps, potpourri and gift items.
- Galassia New York
- Offerings include soaps, home spa bath kits, bath tea or goat milk bath.
- Amalthia
- Soap from olive oil and Cretan herbs.
- Fine Soap Gifts and Favors
- Includes gift baskets, as well as soaps in a variety of scents and bath oil.
- Soaphia.com
- Offers variety of health and beauty products.
- African Pacific Organic
- Certified 100% organic, no synthetic oils or chemicals, not tested on animals.
- Go Products, Inc.
- A new bar soap concept that completely eliminates bar soap mess and waste at home or away.
- Air de Provence
- Natural vegetable oil soaps from the beautiful region of Provence in France.
- Aoqili Premium Seaweed Soap
- Developed by Chinese dermatologists to reduce the accumulation of fluid and astringe the skin.
- Getfresh
- Supplies a range of soaps and other aromatherapy bath and body products.
- Carbolic Soap
- A cleansing product that used to be available in most hardware shops.
- American Soap Company
- Offering a variety of soaps, bath beads, and bath salts.
- Lush
- Wide variety of bath and body products, including original blends of soap, bubble bars and hair products.
- Mistral
- Soap and bath products. List of store locations, gift ideas, and online shop.
- Funk Bubble
- Features natural bath, shower, hair and skin care products in a variety of fragrances.
- Pangea Organics
- Uses sustainable manufacturing process to produce, distribute and market organic bath products.
- Relax Inc.
- Sells products made by Cucina.
Lemons!
Lemony Fresh Citrus themed gift basket French gourmet and soap
Amazon Price: $59.99 (as of 07/06/2009)
For a super-fresh and invigorating experience, there isn't ANYTHING like lemon!
I like this especially in the spring and summer!
Want to make your own soap?
Terrific Soap Making and Recipe Sites
Miller's Homemade Soap Page
Miller's Homemade Soap Page with instructions and more...0 points
Formulas and recipes for homemade soaps
You can make it yourself... craft projects, homema more...0 points
GreenSense- Zenda's Homemade Soap and Beauty Recipes
Homemade Soap and Beauty Recipes and tips0 points
Home made soap recipe
Learn how to make your own home made soap with thi more...0 points
Easy homemade soap (TreeHugger)
0 points
The Soap Making Home Page
Everything you need to know to get started...0 points
Homemade soap
FrontRangeLiving.com - a lifestyle ezine about hom more...0 points
Recipes for Homemade Toiletries
Recipes for Homemade Toiletries, You can easily ma more...0 points
Soap Recipes
Recipes for homemade soap!0 points
Hawaiian Soap Scent Guide
Guide to tropical scents0 points
Home made soaps...
Personalized Luxury Soap Anytime!
As a very young girl, I was fortunate to know many very old people, and I don't mean in their 60's, but 80's. They were incredibly kind and patient, and they also knew things that no one else around me knew.One such woman, a neighbor, almost totally blind, continued her life-long habit of making her own soap out in her yard, near her fabulous flower garden.
She made her own lye with ashes from her fireplace, and cooked her soap in the back, adding things that she preferred. It surprised me at the time, but she raised her beautiful flowers with her homemade soap in mind, using the petals for the fragrance, color and roughage that would keep the skin softened and smooth.
I learned a lot by watching, though I didn't think to get her recipe and instructions at the time. I later regretted it, of course, because her soaps were fragrant, beautiful and felt so good!
I enjoyed watching the process, but I enjoyed even more helping her cut the soap into bars, wrapping it in tissue paper, and helping her put them in her special closet.
I recently came across a library document that explains the process so well, including how lye is made, and used for soapmaking!
Old Fashioned Soap Making
I hope that you will consider learning to make your own soaps; wonderful to give as gifts, of course, but even better when you find your own PERFECT recipe for yourself!
If not, however, there simply isn't anything like soap that is homemade, handmade, and gourmet!
Easy little soap making guide
Making Soaps & Scents : Soaps, Shampoos, Perfumes & Splashes You Can Make At Home
Amazon Price: (as of 07/06/2009)
No, it isn't difficult! It seems its a skill that humans have had throughout history!
Here's a wonderful little guide to making all your favorites right at home!
Great American Tradition: Hand Made Soap!
Soaps? Oil? Candles? Wine? What helps you destress at bath time?
Tell us your recommendations- Life is stressful!
How do you like this lens? Have you used a hot bath and soap for your daily de-stressing?
ReCandle wrote...
My favorite soap is Fraiche, certified organic hand-made goat's milk soap -- 30 fab colors and fragrances, almost too pretty to use . . . but I get over that pretty quickly!
Visit www.myfraiche.com
Posted May 14, 2009
hempnecklace wrote...
You are cordially invited to join my shopping group if you havn't done so already.
My Squidoo Shopping Group
Click here
To join the shopping group.
Thank you
David Depape
p.s. Feel free to leave a comment in my guest book. :)
Posted April 22, 2009
MSG Quixo wrote
Gotta gotta try Soaptopia natural handmade organic soaps. They are beautiful, smell delicious and are very gift-worthy. http://soaptopia.com
Posted April 22, 2009
Donna Dimick wrote
What an awesome lens!
You have put in allot of time and work here. And it shows. Very informative and inspiring. Thank you for sharing your love of handmade soap with the world. And thank you so much for including us!
Blessings,
Donna Dimick
Valhalla Soap Company
http://valhallasoap.com
Posted December 23, 2008
