spam bot eliminated, thank you for your patience!

IMPORTANT NOTICE

3 Clues Your soap is Making You Sick

Are you sensitive to scents?  May is MCS Awareness Month.  MCS stands for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, a disorder that affects one in 4 Americans, according to a recent study.  So, if you are sensitive to scents, you are not alone.  Fragrance sensitivity is on the rise, and so are fragrances used in many marketing campaigns.  How do you know if you are sensitive to scents?

• You walk by the candle shop at the mall and suddenly get a headache.
• You’re in a close environment (elevator, public transportation) and someone’s cologne or after shave sends you into a sneezing fit
• The soap in your company’s washroom makes your hands break out in a rash
• Passing the fragrance counter in a department store makes you sick to your stomach
• Magazines with scented flyers make you dizzy

If this sounds like you, or someone in your household, here are 3 things you can do today to reduce or eliminate your symptoms.

Steps You Can Take Today

• Read the labels of your household and personal care products.  Start by getting rid of anything with an artificial scent.  If symptoms persist, get rid of anything scented.
• When buying products, especially personal care products, look for ones that are chemical and scent free.
• Keep a travel size bottle of liquid unscented chemical free soap with you and avoid using soaps in public washrooms.

Read Your Labels

If your sensitivity goes beyond scented products, it could be caused by chemicals that are commonly used in personal care and cleaning products.  You will be shocked at the lengthy list of chemicals you are exposed to once you get in the habit of reading labels.  Rule of thumb – if you can’t pronounce it, question it!  Here are 3 common (and unnecessary) chemicals found in many personal care and cleaning products:

• Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a detergent added to create a rich lather or bubbles.  This might look appealing but it does nothing to aid cleaning.  Detergent strips the skin of protective natural oils.  Who wants that?
• Triclosan is an antibacterial additive.  Recent studies show it may cause bacteria resistant to antibacterial agents to thrive.  Natural soap is antibacterial.  It’s been used for centuries as first aid to clean wounds.
• Parabens are preservatives.  They are chemicals that mimic estrogens.  If they get into the bloodstream, they could disrupt normal hormonal balance and cause health problems.

Your Best Defense

The best way to protect yourself from chemical and/or scent sensitivity is knowledge of what you are buying or using.  Penns Hill Organic Soap Company is committed to making soap products that are pure, clean and natural.  You will find unscented liquid and bar soap that is made from 2 ingredients – saponified certified organic extra virgin olive oil and water.  It can’t get much simpler!

To honor MCS Awareness Month, all our unscented products are 10% off!  The discount will apply to unscented liquid soap, unscented bar soap and unscented bar soap made with organic oats.  Use the coupon MCSAWARE in your shopping cart!

Today I’m going behind the scenes to share how Penns Hill Organic Soap started. I promise I won’t break into song. Truth be told, I’m much better at making soap than singing.  I’ll leave “That’s My Story And I’m Sticking To It” to the country singer that made it famous!

Customers often ask me how I came up with the idea to start a soap company.  We just celebrated our six year anniversay.  So here’s my trip down memory lane!

“When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade”

Well, in my case instead of making lemonade, I made castile soap.  The lemon I was handed was a layoff from the biotech field.  As a way to take my mind off the frustration of job hunting, I looked for a way to express my creativity.  By combining my natural curiosity for how things are made and my background as a biochemist, I began searching for recipes for household products I could make at home. Somehow, my research led me to an article about making castile soap. Intrigued, I thought, “why not”!

My first batch produced the best soap I’ve ever used. Ironically, I noticed my usual dry winter skin patches vanished. I gave samples to friends and family and their response was “this soap is great, where can I get more?” When my wife used the soap as a bridal shower favor, the guests raved about it. I started to see the potential for a business.

My Next Big Surprise

So, my next thought was “how do I make this even better?”  And the answer  came from my biochemist background.  It’s simple.  “Use high quality ingredients, don’t cut corners, and develop a process that is consistent and repeatable.”  As the company grew, customers asked me to expand my product line.  The original line up consisted of bar soap that was either unscented or made with organic essential oils for a subtle, natural fragrance.  “How about liquid soap?” Great question, I’d answer.  So, after many requests for liquid soap, I searched for a recipe, but struck out.  So, back to the drawing board.  After about 18 months of testing, my formula for liquid organic olive oil castile soap met the quality standards of Penns Hill Soap.  Today our liquid soap is by far our most popular product.

We only use the very best ingredients in our soap – certified organic extra virgin olive oil, certified organic essential oils instead of “fragrance” for a subtle scent (in our scented soaps) and  water. That’s it – pure, clean and natural. No fillers, surprises or ingredients you cannot pronounce. If you read the labels of other soaps, you will find they are usually made with a blend of oils. We find olive oil gives the soap a silky finish that pampers your skin. The original recipes used olive and laurel oil. We decided to follow the centuries old original formula for our liquid and bar soap.  So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Enjoy reading the following excerpt on the history of castile soap (see history below taken from Wikipedia).

Castile soap is a name used in English-speaking countries for olive oil based soap made in a style similar to that originating in the Castile region of Spain.

 History of Castile Olive Oil Soap

The origins of Castile Soap can be traced back to The Levant where Aleppo soap artisans have been making an olive and laurel oil based hard soap for millennia. However, early soap makers in Europe did not have easy access to laurel oil and and therefore dropped it from their formulations thereby creating an olive oil soap now known as castile soap.

It is commonly believed that the Crusaders brought Aleppo Soap back to Europe with them in the 11th century. Following the Crusades, production of this soap was extended to the whole Mediterranean area. The first European soap-making factories were created in the 12th century in Spain (Alicante, Malaga, Carthagene and Castile) and in Italy (Naples, Savone, Genoa, Bologna and Venice) and then, in the middle of the 15th century, in Marseille France, giving birth to Marseille soap [1]. References

[1]. Retrieved September 2011.

Garzena, Patrizia & Tadiello, Marina (2004). Soap Naturally : Ingredients, methods and recipes for natural handmade soap (1st ed.). Programmer Publishing. ISBN 0-9756764-0-7

Dietz, Brian (editor) 1972. The port and trade of early Elizabethan London: documents (London Record Society).

If you live in a cold climate knowing how to get relief from winter dry skin is essential to making winter bearable.  If you spend a lot of time outdoors in the elements, the following tips should help you make this winter more bearable for your skin.  By making a few easy changes to your skin care routine, you can make winter dry skin history.  You do not have to suffer from winter dry skin any more.Look for properties in your soap and skin products that protect and sooth, like extra virgin oils. Olive, oat, aloe and sweet almond are fine examples.  Gentle exfoliants like organic oatmeal and other soft organic botanicals will help remove rough flaky skin, leaving you smooth and soft.  If your skin is ultra sensitive, try to avoid scents.

What You Want To Avoid

Remember to read labels for your skin care products.  Look for anything you cannot pronounce.  If you have to look up the ingredient it is a red flag! The best way to get relief from winter dry skin is prevention.  Avoid products that contain artificial fragrance, alcohol and detergents.  They tend to dry and irritate.  Also, avoid parabens and other preservatives found in most commercial soap and cosmetics.

What To Use

Try eliminating one potential irritant at a time to find the culprit.  For example, you might try changing to unscented (or scent-free) soaps and laundry detergent.  Next, maybe eliminating any detergent (dish washing liquid, laundry) and substituting detergent-free cleaners.  For extra moisture, try using a very light layer of massage oil made with any of the above mentioned oils.  They can be used alone or in combination.  Stay hydrated by drinking extra water and avoid caffeine which can dehydrate.  Use a humidifier in your home, especially in your bedroom.  And, keep telling yourself – don’t worry, spring is just around the corner!

Are Parabens Really Bad?

Why Organic?
We get asked if we think a product has to be organic to be good.  When we got into the soap business, we decided as a company to use organic ingredients.  In our opinion, organic ingredients align with our mission of producing high quality products that are good for the environment and good for the consumer.  As we traveled down the entrepreneur path, we realized there is a demand for handmade soap made with organic oils.  We were overwhelmed (and surprised) by the popularity of our handmade organic unscented soaps.  People are looking to make their personal environment as pure, clean and natural as possible. Detergent free soap isn’t enough. Now scent-free non-toxic products are in demand.

So, as long as you keep wanting them, we will keep making them.  We don’t just make castile soap, we make castile soap better!