Welcome to a new regular feature here at Soap Leaves, “Get the Dirt!”.  I’ll answer all soap-related questions… how to choose it, use it, care for it, and more!  Send me your question, and you’ll be entered in a monthly drawing for a free bar of Sarva soap, your choice!

Our first question is from Julie Cajigas, a talented freelance writer, designer, and marketing consultant in the Cleveland, Ohio area.  Her blog can be found at Inspired Freelancer.

I have oily skin and it seems like a lot of your soaps utilize olive oil or another oil as a major ingredient – will this make my skin more oily?

Good news:  With regular use of artisanal soap, your skin may actually begin to feel less oily!

Maybe you’ve tried a cleanser designed to control oily skin.  It worked great at first!  Your skin feels a little tight, definitely not oily… but only for about a half hour!  Then, out of nowhere, you become a human oil slick.  Yuck!

Can you relate?  Your skin has actually gone into a “rebound mode”, struggling to regain its balance, working to normalize its baseline surface moisture and pH level, tying up all its energy in recovery. And what does the body do when it’s recovering from harm? Inflammation, excess oil production, and so on.

Oil is the major ingredient in any true soap. You can’t make soap without oil, but there’s almost no oil in the finished product.   Soap is created through a naturally-occurring reaction between sodium hydroxide and oil.  This reaction transforms these ingredients into soap and leaves behind no sodium hydroxide, and, depending on the soap’s formulation, little to no oil.

Glycerin is created in artisanal soap as a byproduct of the above process.   Glycerin is a humectant, drawing ambient moisture to your skin.  Oily skin still needs moisture!  Most moisturizers use oils to help your skin feel soft.  Glycerin is not an oil and is non-comedogenic (will not clog your pores).   Commercial soaps are often stripped of their glycerin through chemical processes; glycerin is profitable and is used to make other products.  Artisanal soaps retain all of this glycerin, and are thus generally far less drying than most commercial soaps.

Most “beauty bars” are really chemical detergents, which are also not biodegradable or earth-friendly.  They may be drying to the skin or cause a “rebound” situation.   Other synthetic ingredients, including fragrances or pigments, may also cause your skin to react.

Sarva Soaps contain natural glycerin, are made with food-grade vegetable oils, and we are one of the few truly all-natural soap companies. We choose our base oils carefully, avoiding soybean oil, a cheap filler which can cause problems for many people, even in the trace amount left behind in a bar.  Sarva Soaps are free of ANY synthetics… no synthetic fragrances, no synthetic pigments… and many happy Sarva customers are people with sensitive or reactionary skin.  Read customer raves here.

Some Sarva soaps also contain clays which, especially in the summer, may draw just a little bit of excess oil from your skin without stripping it.  Check out Summer Sun, for example… a perfect soap for this time of year, a treat for the senses too… an earthy/citrus/floral blend with a sunny, summery terracotta swirl.

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Do you have a soapy question of your own?  Submit it here and be entered in a monthly drawing to win a soap of your choice!

Shop online at Sarva Natural Artisan Soaps.

Note:  Information given on Soap Leaves is not intended as medical, diagnostic, or curative treatment, and your results may vary.   Know your own skin, and if you’re working with a medical professional, follow their advice first.

Water Lily, © 2006 Michelle Gilbert

Stages of Motherhood

4 Years of Age — My Mommy can do anything!
8 Years of Age — My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot.
12 Years of Age — My Mother doesn’t really know quite everything.
14 Years of Age — Naturally, Mother doesn’t know that, either…
16 Years of Age — Mother? She’s hopelessly old-fashioned.
18 Years of Age — That old woman? She’s way out of date.
25 Years of Age — Well, she might know a little bit about it…
35 Years of Age — Before we decide, let’s get Mom’s opinion.
45 Years of Age — Wonder what Mom would have thought about it.
65 Years of Age — Wish I could talk it over with Mom.

- Anonymous

I’m back from a fun, successful day at the Orange Art Fair.  Thanks to all of you who came out and visited… the show was a great success, and it was great to see you!

Mother’s Day is this Sunday (yes, already!).   So I want to offer you a special discount while you shop for Mom (read on for the discount code, at the bottom of the post) and show you some brand new gift sets that were very well received at their debut today!

There is also a brand new soap just in time for Mother’s Day!  In the frenzy of preparing for this weekend, I never had a chance to get it photographed… but it will be on the site by early Monday afternoon, and it’s beautiful!

“Grace“, $6.95,  is made from the same base formulation as popular Purity, which is 95% grade A olive oil.  Grace has an exquisitely divine heady rose/geranium/rosewood scent, formulated to showcase the sustainably harvested rosewood essential oil I recently obtained.  It’s a creamy white soap topped with organic rosebuds.  Simply stunning.  Grace will, of course, be included in the sale, so if you’d like to purchase that soap, be sure to stop by the Sarva web site, in the Spa Series section, on Monday afternoon.   EDIT:  It’s now on the site, found here.

And now, the four new gift sets!  I’m so excited about these, and they ARE already on the Sarva web site in the Gifts and Sets section.  The Artisanal Soap Trios are eco-friendly luxury at its finest… a set of three soaps (you get to choose the soaps!) from either the Rustic, Gallery, or Spa Series (or a set of one soap from each Series), packaged in a gorgeous 100% postconsumer recycled box.  The finishing touch is the vegetable-dyed, biodegradable paper ribbon that is hand-tied onto the slide-open box.  Each soap is individually labeled with a beautiful, ornate paper label, which is also 100% postconsumer recycled paper!

I’ve worked so hard to bring you these gift sets in some special earth-friendly packaging (please recycle on your end!), and I finally sourced out everything I wanted!  I hope you, and your recipients, enjoy them!  Pricing ranges from $15.50 to $20.50.    Here’s a photo of the “Mixed Series” gift box:

Of course, the other lovely gift sets are still available… check them all out here!

So, I’ve saved the best part for last!  When you shop today through midnight Wednesday, May 6, please enter MOMLOVE in the “discount coupon code” section at checkout to enjoy a 15% discount.    I’ll need to receive your order by Tuesday night at the absolute latest to “guaranteed” get it to Mom… I ship USPS Priority Mail… but I’m extending the sale for an extra day in case you’d like to still see if we can get your gift to her, or you, in time!

Happy shopping!