Run Oregon sometimes receives products to review. In this post, Matt Rasmussen provides some thoughts on some bar soaps. Please note that these products are NOT for men only, though Matt was the only blogger to test these out.
Company: A Wild Soap Bar
We handcraft our soap using the slow cold process method, which means no external heat is used so the goodness of the natural ingredients are preserved for you as much as possible. Each bar begins with a high percentage of nutrient rich organic extra virgin olive oil to which we add organic coconut oil for fluffy lather, sustainable organic palm oil to increase longevity, organic high oleic sunflower oil for its superior skin care properties, and organic castor oil for a dense creamy lather that conditions and moisturizes. Next we add responsibly wildcrafted and organic botanicals, fragrant organic spices, purifying earth clays, and tropical butters for their exceptional skin care benefits. Finally, we scent our wildly aromatic olive oil soaps with only pure essential oils extracted from plants… fresh clean scents, the way mother nature intended.
Why use that fake evil corporate “soap” stuff when our 100% REAL soap feels so good?
Product:Yucca Root Shampoo and Body Soap
Price: $6.50 (more expensive on A Wild Soapbar Amazon Store) – Use code AWILD to get 10% off
Impressions: This soap is actually two products in one – a soap AND shampoo. I have heard of shampoo bars before, but my brain usually conjures up rugged old men scrubbing a bar of soap into their ratty hair. A Wild Soap Bar and it’s ingredients (therapeutic tea tree essential oil blend) allow for naturally shampooing without all the other ingredients. It may take some time to adjust, and converts may want to create their own natural hair rinse, which A Wild Soap Bar provides a recipe for:
Natural Hair Rinse
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 C distilled water
3 drops of your favorite essential oil (optional)Combine all ingredients in a clean squeeze bottle & massage into hair and scalp after shampooing, then rinse with cool water. The vinegar smell will be undetectable when your hair dries.
If shampooing with a bar isn’t your thing, it still solidly does it’s job as a bar of soap. The smell is nice, yet mild – something that I have found many natural soaps don’t do so well. I also found it really gentle on my skin and other reviews on the product seem to echo the benefits their blemished skin (dermatitis, for example) has received since switching to natural soaps and A Wild Soap Bar.
Check out A Wild Soap Bar on Facebook, and head to their webstore for all kinds of scents of soap and other natural products.
Company: The Grandpa Soap Co.
In the early 1870’s, Jess Hoffman made the very first bar of Grandpa’s Pine Tar Soap from his own recipe on the family farm, located in Tippecanoe (now Tipp City), Ohio. During an era of innovation, this family recipe was proclaimed for its restorative and cleansing benefits. As Grandpa’s Pine Tar Soap continued to earn praise and popularity, more specialty soaps were crafted for different purposes. Today, you can find a whole line of soaps that have been thoughtfully created. We are confident that you will enjoy our products as generations have since the first batch was sold in 1878. The Grandpa Soap Company takes pride in sourcing high quality ingredients for our products. Our famous Pine Tar Soap is manufactured with pine tar oil created in a closed kiln process and always creosote free.
Impressions: We reviewed The Grandpa Soap Co back in January, but since that time they have gone through a restaging of their company and products. This consisted of them improving their formulas a bit, making all of their bars in the famous rectangle shape of their famous Pine Tar Soap, and updating some of the graphics and cartons.
As I mentioned above, we reviewed the pine tar soap about 9 months ago. As the recipe has remained unchanged since 1878, there isn’t much new to report than what I said before:
Their tried and true Pine Tar Soap is also good. It’s definitely stronger than the [other bar tested], but it wasn’t as overpowering as I anticipated. It was also a very smooth lather. I have utilized other pine tar soaps, and have found that some give off a more “abrasive” feel and fill the shower with black residue. Grandpa’s Pine Tar Soap goes on smooth and looks/feels just like a normal bar of soap – something I truly appreciate.
In the process of writing this review, I actually learned what witch hazel is. It is “a shrub with fragrant yellow flowers that is widely grown as an ornamental.” Parts of the shrub are actually used to make medicine – from diarreah and colds, all the way up to cancer. And apparently some people put it directly on their skin for itching and other irritations, as well as to reduce inflammation and tighten loose skin.
This Witch Hazel soap actually says right on the box that it is used to “tone”. I was hoping that my excess love handles would be gone after using this for a few weeks, but alas it was not meant to be 🙂 That being said, it performed as I expected a soap to, and smelled great thanks to the addition of organic lavendar – one of my favorite scents. It’s also an all-natural soap, so it leaves my skin feeling great as well.
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