Esther's Homemade Soap
Ingredients you can understand
Vegan and Organic Options
Collection
Soap
Honey Yogurt Oatmeal - Large
This vegetarian soap is a soothing blend of honey, oats and yogurt with no added fragrance other than the soft sweet smell.
C$5
Himalayian Pink - Extra Large
A swirl of pink clay and kaolin clay, with aloe and coconut milk, blended with Himalayan pink salt and a coconut scent.
C$7C$4
Mango Citrus
Fresh mango blended with aloe juice, coconut milk, kaolin clay, and poppy seeds.
C$5
Vanilla Rooibos
Soothing rooibos tea is gentle on the skin and has a warm vanilla smell.
C$5
Charcoal Face Bar
Includes activated charcoal, and clay to cleanse the face, as well as aloe, and oils to moisturize. This soap is intended for medium to oily skin.
C$2.50C$1.50
Forest
Extracts of pine and cedar, coloured with chickweed and chamomile, and a naturally fresh woods smell.
C$5
Citrus Swirl
A blend of natural colours: activated charcoal, cocoa, and paprika with poppy seeds to scrub the skin and a gentle citrus scent.
C$5
Lavender Sea Salt Soap
The qualities of a salt bath without the hassle. This soap is both cleansing and exfoliating and is made with a lavender scent for those who wants a relaxing bath or shower.
C$5
Aloe Avocado Cucumber
A mix of fresh avocado and cucumber blended with aloe vera juice and shea butter.
C$5C$3
Fresh Grapefruit Scrub - large
Made with plant-based oils, aloe juice, and grapefruit for a fresh zesty soap. African loofa inside to scrub and exfoliate skin.
C$6
Lemongrass & Patchouli
Soap blended with goat’s milk to gently cleanse and nourish the skin, scented with lemongrass and patchouli.
C$5
Lilac Fairy Soap
LILAC FAIRY SOAP Made with hibiscus flower petals, and scented with lilacs and lilies, with a purple sparkly look, this is all you need for a dazzling flowery fairy soap.
C$5
Aloe & Eucalyptus
This Soothing aloe soap is made with aloe vera juice as well as whole blended aloe vera from a plant I grow in my home. It has hydrating and nourishing properties.
C$5
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
This fall soap, with its sweet and spicy smell, is great for relaxing.
C$5C$2
Fresh Rain
A fresh mix of aloe, green tea and charcoal with exfoliating poppy seeds.
C$5
Hawaiian Swirl
A mix of fruit, shea butter and coconut milk to nourish skin, as well as green herbs, and clays for cleansing skin.
C$5C$3
Strawberries & Cream
Blended whole strawberries, and real cream to nourish the skin.
C$5
Calendula Chamomile - small
Blended with both dried calendula and chamomile flowers, as well as a sweet birch essential oil, for a calm, gentle soap.
C$4C$2.50
Sugar Plum
This festive Christmas soap, with its sweet smell, is for relaxing over the holidays.
C$5
Pure Olive
True castille soap with 100% olive oil. Simple Old-fashioned soap. Olive oil soaps are mild. Unscented.
C$6C$1
Custom Soap Batch - 8 bars
Made to order. Choose your own ingredients.
C$40
Pumpkin Spice Shaving bar
This fall soap, with its sweet and spicy smell, is great for relaxing, and the creamy lather works well for shaving or to use as body wash.
C$5C$2
Aloe Coconut Shampoo & Body Bar
Made to moisturize the scalp, and make hair shine, with shea butter and castor oil as well as coconut oil, aloe juice, coconut milk, and seaweed. Recommended to use an acidic rinse after such as apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
C$6C$3.50
Coconut Hand Soap
Made by combining three simple ingredients: lye, water, and organic coconut oil to create a TRUE soap. Coconut soap is great for cleansing, with added coconut oil to moisturize. 100% organic cold pressed coconut oil.
C$2.50C$1.50
Natural Lavender
A soap made for a relaxing bath or shower. Made with plant-based oils, aloe juice, clay, dried lavender buds, and lavender essential oil.
C$5C$3
Laundry Soap
Unscented Laundry Powder
Made with a coconut oil soap base for washing clothes. approx. 1/4 cup per load. 1/2 cup for double or large loads, or very soiled clothes. 27 regular washes.
C$10
Fresh Citrus Laundry Powder
Made with a coconut oil base soap and essential oils for washing clothes. approx. 1/4 cup per load. 1/2 cup for double or large loads, or very soiled clothes. 27 regular washes.
C$13
Vegan
Aloe Avocado Cucumber
A mix of fresh avocado and cucumber blended with aloe vera juice and shea butter.
C$4.98C$3
Aloe & Eucalyptus
This Soothing aloe soap is made with aloe vera juice as well as whole blended aloe vera from a plant I grow in my home. It has hydrating and nourishing properties.
C$4.98
Fresh Grapefruit Scrub - large
Made with plant-based oils, aloe juice, and grapefruit for a fresh zesty soap. African loofa inside to scrub and exfoliate skin.
C$5.98
Natural Lavender
A soap made for a relaxing bath or shower. Made with plant-based oils, aloe juice, clay, dried lavender buds, and lavender essential oil.
C$5.98
100% Olive oil Castille Soap (6 bars coming soon)
Made by combining three simple ingredients: lye, water, and organic extra virgin olive oil to create a TRUE soap. Olive oil creates a very gentle soap.
C$5.98
Coconut Hand Soap
Made by combining three simple ingredients: lye, water, and organic coconut oil to create a TRUE soap. Coconut soap is great for cleansing, with added coconut oil to moisturize. 100% organic cold pressed coconut oil.
C$2.49
Herbal body bar with Macadamia nut oil
Vegan bar with flowers, herbs, essential oils, and macadamia nut oil
C$5.98
Shampoo & Conditioner Bars
Aloe Coconut Shampoo & Body Bar
Made to moisturize the scalp, and make hair shine, with shea butter and castor oil as well as coconut oil, aloe juice, coconut milk, and seaweed.
C$5.98
Conditioner bar - Strawberry Coconut
Made for moisturizing the ends of the hair, and detangling. Leaves hair soft, shiny, and smooth, without a greasy feel. Please ask if you would like a different smell or unscented. recommended to use very sparingly, aiming mostly for the dry ends of the hair. Can also be used to deep condition before shampooing.
C$5
Organic Soap
100% Olive oil Castille Soap
Made by combining three simple ingredients: lye, water, and organic extra virgin olive oil to create a TRUE soap. Olive oil creates a very gentle soap.
C$5.98
Coconut Hand Soap
Made by combining three simple ingredients: lye, water, and organic coconut oil to create a TRUE soap. Coconut soap is great for cleansing, with added coconut oil to moisturize. 100% organic cold pressed coconut oil.
C$2.49
Sugar Scrubs
Sugar Scrubs
sugar, himalayan pink salt, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, sunflower oil, fragrance oil. Please return the container for a dollar off your next order.
C$5
Face Mask
Clay Mask
With avocado oil, coconut, green tea, vitamin E...
C$5
40% off all soaps!
Pumpkin Spice, Aloe Avocado Cucumber, Honey Yogurt Oatmeal and more...
About
1) BEING NATURAL
I started making my own soap to get away from the chemicals in commercial ones; returning to how soap was made before fancy detergents, the goal is more natural ingredients, such as oils, plants, clay, and essential oils.
There are no dyes in soaps; colours are from fruits, veggies, clays, or herbs.
I try for as many single ingredient items as possible for an ingredient list that you can understand. Who doesn't want that?
2) BEING TRANSPARENT
It is very important that you know what is in the products you use for your body
3) CUTTING DOWN ON WASTE
I have tried to cut down on packaging. Soaps have a paper label (please recycle it!) and are sold in paper bags, or homemade newspaper bags (I make them myself out of recycled newspaper).
Other Values
- Palm oil free to reduce deforestation
- Respect for customer’s lifestyle: vegan, vegetarian and organic options
- Passion for natural products
- Integrity
- Charity and support for those less fortunate
- Confidence in our product
- Health and helping others with their health
Contact
- Surrey, British Columbia V3S 2V8, Canada
- No physical store. Location is only for pickups scheduled in advance.
- +1-(604) 674-4943 - Please text or leave a message. Please contact if you have not received confirmation of your order within 3 days.
- esthershomemadesoap@gmail.com
Process & ingredients
Soap is made using the cold-process soap technique.
Soap is made by:
- Mixing Sodium Hydroxide (lye) crystals with water or aloe vera juice
- Blending the oils/fats/butters together for the recipe (from list below)
- Mix the liquid lye solution with the oils.
- Separate into different containers for recipes with multiple colours
- Add additional ingredients (from list below):
- Spray with isopropyl alcohol (dissipates when soap dries)
- Let naturally heat (or use heading pad) and harden for 24 hours
- Take out of mold and cut into bars
- Let dry and cure for 2 – 6 weeks
- Wrap with label for sale
| Clays | bentonite, french pink, glacier, kaolin |
| Essential oils (EO’s) and fragrance oils (FO’s) (all phthalate free) | apple pie FO, bergamot EO, birch sweet EO, coconut FO, creamy chai FO, eucalyptus EO, fresh cucumber FO, grapefruit FO, lavender EO, lavender FO, lemon, lemon EO, lemongrass FO, lilac & lilies FO, lime EO, orange EO, organic orange EO, papaya mango FO, patchouli FO, pineapple mango FO, strawberry FO, sugar plum FO, sweet cucumber FO, sweet pea FO, warm vanilla FO |
| Fruits/vegetables | avocado, banana, blackberries, coconut, cucumber, dragonfruit, grapefruit, grapes, jam, mango, orange, papaya, pumpkin, strawberries |
| Herbs/plants | aloe vera juice, calendula, cedar, chamomile, chickweed, dandelion, hibiscus, horsetail, lavender, pine needle, plantain leaf, seaweed |
| Milks | coconut cream, coconut milk, cream, goat’s milk, milk, yogurt |
| Oils/Fats/Butters | avocado oil, castor oil, cocoa butter, coconut oil, olive oil, organic coconut oil, grapeseed oil, macadamia nut oil, organic extra virgin olive oil, organic unrefined shea butter, sunflower oil, tallow/lard |
| Other | aloe vera juice, coffee, honey, loofahs, poppyseeds, sodium hydroxide (lye), water |
| Salts | Himalayan pink salt and sea salt |
| Spices | cinnamon, cloves, cocoa, ginger, nutmeg, rosemary, turmeric |
| Tea leaves | green tea, mint tea, rooibos tea |
History
Handcrafted soap is an ancient part of human history. People have been making soap for over 4000 years, with some believing the first soap was created in 2800 BC. Some early civilizations used goat fat and wood ash to make soap, by boiling them together in a large pot, and then would let it cool to create bars. Around 1790 lye was created from salt as an alternative to wood ash. True soap is made by mixing lye, water and plant and/or animal fats. This causes a chemical reaction called saponification to happen which creates a true soap. The lye comes from potassium carbonate or potash. When the process is finished, there is no lye left in the soap, but there may be a little extra fat, and natural glycerin.
It was only around the 1950’s that detergents started coming out and replacing soap. Dish detergent, laundry detergent and fabric softeners were just a couple of the new products. After world war two, soap became scarce and tetra propylene was the ingredient used to create many home detergents. Unfortunately with the rise of industrially produced detergents, many skin products became irritants to the skin and potentially harmful. Today many soaps sold in stores are actually synthetic detergents.
Sources:
Berley S. (2015, September 3). The Truth About Lye: A Short History of Soap. Retrieved November 22, 2018, from http://blog.drsquatch.com/the-truth-about-lye-a-short-history-of-soap/
History of Soap and Soap Interesting Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2018, from http://www.soaphistory.net/
Founder
I think I first fell in love with handcrafted soap when I lived on Salt Spring Island. At the Saturday market there was a company called Salt Spring Soapworks© I began to start buying natural and homemade soaps and seeing a difference right away. When I moved back to my birth city, Surrey, BC I wanted to try making my own soap, so I could know exactly what went into it. I started making soap for myself, and quickly ended up with too much soap. I made my first batch of soap at the end of March 2018. I thoroughly enjoyed making original soap with no color dyes, or chemical detergents. I had too many soaps and started posting on them for sale on Facebook Market place. The response I got was fantastic. People were very happy to buy soaps that were homemade, that were local, and that had ingredients they could read. I started creating more interesting soaps for these followers, adding fruits and veggies to create colours, as well as avocados and yogurt to add to the fats in the soap. I started collecting olive oil, coconut oil, lard, castor oil and more to test out new recipes. I would try to “soap” almost anything I could get my hands on. Then I started finding friends with skin issues. I started researching articles about natural herbs, oils, clays, or extracts that could help with these, and started putting them in the soap. I had success! Happy customers kept coming back, asking if I had conditioner, and deodorant, and laundry soap. In this first year, I have created over 25 different soaps, including holiday specific ones. I have also started a vegan line, an organic line, a line of deodorant, and laundry soap. In September 2018 I started a webpage, connected to the Facebook page for ordering. It was absolutely exhilarating the first time an order came in. I was able to let them know it was in progress, and later ready for pickup. It was so great to meet people had the same interests that I did, in natural products for the skin. In August 2018, we switched from plastic packaging to all paper, and started to use bags made from recycled newspaper. Customers were thrilled about this. Most recently the company has donated $700, and fundraised $200 to send 38 shoeboxes full of toys, school supplies and hygiene items to third world countries, through Samaritans’ Purse Operation Christmas Child.
“People are always more important than profit”
Esther Halliday, CEO and founder of Esther’s Homemade Soap
