All natural handmade shampoo bars & soaps
Except for my face, I’m all for using soaps. Handmade natural ones that is. I started with Yuan soaps for my body and while I do like them a lot, but they all come with a strong herbal smell. While I do not mind that, but I definitely prefer something more exciting especially while showering in the mornings. In addition, I was also on the lookout for a soap to use on my hair. I’ve had some luck many years ago with Lush soaps, but they’re no longer available here. So I was quite excited to chance upon a spree for Chagrin Valley all natural handmade soaps and shampoo bars. The prices also seem reasonable – comparable to the Yuan soaps! Plus some of them smell really heavenly too!
Mud & Clay Shampoo Bar US$6.80
I’ve been dying to get hold of a rhassoul clay shampoo bar for awhile and was happy to have found this at Chagrin Valley. This mineral rich shampoo is really great and I love it! I was so surprised how soft it made my hair and even gave it volume because it didn’t foam that much. Okay, the volume is not as great compared to when I use Burt’s Bees Very Volumizing Pomegranate & Soy Shampoo but I’m still happy with the results because it does keep my scalp relatively oil free. According to the website description, this shampoo bar absorbs unwanted residues and deposits natural beneficial minerals plus it also re-mineralizes the hair and scalp and helps rid the scalp of impurities. The full size bar is rather huge but because it’s quite soft when it comes into contact with water, I’m not sure if it’ll be very long lasting. However, I’ll rate it 5 out of 5 for the results I got!
Chamomile & Citrus Shampoo Bar US$6.60
I haven’t moved on to using this yet because I want to finish up my bar of Mud & Clay Shampoo Bar first. However, compared to the former which has a mild scent, this one has a has a yummy fresh citrus scent! I got it because it’s described as being great for oily hair without drying the hair due to the astringent benefits of the citrus essential oils.
Herb Garden Shampoo Bar US$6.75
This shampoo bar is formulated to stimulate the scalp and curb potential hair loss with infusions of oils with nettles, rosemary, chamomile, sage, green tea, parsley, comfrey leaves, and comfrey root. The essential oil blend of rosemary, lavender, cedarwood, sage, thyme, and black pepper, was created to stimulate the scalp and creates a nice herbal scent. I haven’t used it long enough to notice a difference but this doesn’t give my hair volume nor does it keep my scalp relatively oil free so I don’t think I’ll be ordering this one again.
Shea Rose Clay Soap US$6.75
This is supposed to be used a facial and body bar but I don’t like the squeaky feel after washing. So I only used it on my body instead and I love this! The rose scent is fantastic and it keeps my skin rather supple and soft. Ingredients include over 35% unrefined shea butter, enriched with mango butter, rose petal oil, rose hips, rose petals, rose water, French pink clay, aloe, and coconut milk. I rate this 5 out of 5 too and I’ve already re-ordered!
Rhassoul Clay & Yogurt Complexion Soap US$6.75
I do like rhassoul clay quite a bit and thought I’ll try this since it’s described as a gentle soap that deep cleans, gently exfoliates, and removes impurities without drying our skin. I figured out that I probably won’t like it on my face and so I’ve used it on my body only. I didn’t like it very much initially because it doesn’t smell as great as the Shea Rose Clay Soap. But after using it a few times, it sort of grew on me and I’m liking it too.
Full bar vs sample bar
The good thing about Chagrin Valley is that they offer sample bars for customers to try out. I ordered two full bars and the rest in sample bars. Sample bars cost around US$2.60 each and is about a third of the full size. In fact, I thought the sample bar is a bit easier to handle plus the wastage is lower. So I re-ordered the Shea Rose Clay Bar in sample size, along with Lemon Lavender Soap, Patchouli Herb Soap, Orange Creamsicle Soap, Juniper Comfrey Mint Soap and Cucumber Lime Yogurt Soap.
Vegan formulas
Besides being completely natural, most of the soaps are also made with vegan recipes so it should make many people happy too. As a whole, I find their prices fairly reasonable too. And most important, of the lot I’ve tried, they deliver what they promise. So I would highly recommend you to try them if you’re into handmade soaps with benefits.
Chagrin Valley ships internationally but those in Singapore might want to try ordering via sprees. The one I participated is msshopalot at livejournal.
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These bars look yummy! Good enough to eat. Thks for these recommendations cause I really like to use Bar Soaps
wow.. yummy bars ?
Some of them are very delicious looking with the pretty colors. Smell great too!
These bars look like they mean serious business! Thanks for the info. Their website is lovely and the bars so very tempting – I think I’ll be placing my order there soon. I too have an affinity to bars, except for facial use.
I used to read this blog “bonbons in the bath” where the blogger brought some niche lines like Maryam’s soap nook and soaptopia to my attention.
They’re quite good. Have you come across Bethesda Sunscreen Soap? I’m kind of keen to try that one out. It sounds interesting. I’ll also be checking out the Maryam ones you mentioned. ?
I also use soap bar . The first facial soap I use is YUAN oat soap . It cost RM22.50 & I’m using the 2nd piece. I like the light smell and it really suite my sensitive skin and my skin does not feel that dry compare to previously ?
I do like Yuan soap. I’ve used quite a few bars since I got started. But the smell is more herbal than sweet.
Wow, thanks for the post. Chargrain’s soaps look good. ?
How do you keep that many soap bars in the bathroom, though? Soap containers?
I use a plastic soap holder – not the best solution though but it’s do-able.
dear,
i knew how to make one =)
I’ve been using Chagrin Valley soap & shampoo bars too, currently I’m still trying out the various bars.
What I do is that I normally cut like 1/5 of the big bar for my soap deck when I’m going to use it, plus its easier to handle a smaller piece of soap too! I think this reduces wastage as the entire bar shrinks by alot very quickly if you use it whole and leave it on the soap deck.
You’re right! I should have cut up the big bar…it’s a big hard to handle. So now I order the smaller ones. Anyway, the shampoo bars are taking forever!
I tried their sample soap bars and was disappointed that they melt away so quickly. Did that happen to you? I left it on the soap deck. Now trying to use a covered soap container. Hope that will help. Otherwise I won’t try it again as it disappears too quickly.
The only one that melted for me was the Rhassoul shampoo bar. It’s still there but it’s very soft. One of the shampoo bars is very hard though and very hard to use sometimes. The face/body ones are average – quite similar to Yuan’s.
Hmmm … I ordered the Castile & Calendula Baby Soap and Goat Milk Honey Oatmeal for face/body. The goat milk one especially, disintegrated even as I was using it. The Yuan ones lasted much longer. Perhaps the ones that are more gentle don’t last as long.
Depends on which ones…some of the Yuan soaps don’t last that long too but I can’t remember which one now.
The olive oil based soaps will be soft, but they are the gentler and more moisturising ones. Palm and coconut oils make harder bars but will be harder but harsher on skins. The higher % the palm and coconut oils used the harder a bar will be. However, olive oil is the more expensive one, although it might give too oily a feeling after wash in hot humid weather.
Milk also makes a soap softer.
The choice of base oil is dependent on your skin type. Choose the ones with more olive oil for dry skins and those with sunflower oil or hemp seed oil as primary base oil for oily skin. Also depends on whether it’s summer or winter (not a factor in Sg).
You can try to take out the soap from the bathroom after use, and leave in a place less humid and wet.
For unused bars you can cling-wrap it and leave it in fridge to store.
That’s interesting to know! I don’t think I’ve ever tried milk in a soap bar.
If their face/body soaps are average, do you have another brandname to recommend: for non-scented body soap that’s ultra-moisturizing?