Santa Barbara Soaps : A Soap Review

I had decided not to do soap reviews anymore. Since then, Julia, of Cocobong Soap, ended her soap review duties, I thought I should get back into it. I'm glad I did, because I am going back to what I love to do on my spare time. See, touch and use other handcrafted soaps. There is an deep-seeded pleasure I get from holding a bar made with care and thought from another person in this world. I am going back to the beginning when I was eager to begin my soap blog and got an overwhelming response with soaps from around the world...I loved giving back to the handmade community with reviews, which at the time, didn't exist on the internet.

Tracy Wells, of Santa Barbara Soaps, sent me bamboo charcoal when I was clean out of it for my Detox soap.  WOW...she sent it for no other reason than she had some and I didn’t.  What a generous gesture -- I was so impressed by the offering, I can't even tell you.  Two weeks later I received a soapy package from her, including Salted Lavender Salt Soap.  Now, as many of you know, I am not a huge lavender fan.  I mostly like lavender blends…yes, it has grown on me, just like patchouli has (in a blend, mind you).  But Tracy's soap was so pleasant smelling.

Tracy’s soap popped into the shower with me when I received the package from California.  The smell was mellow, not medicinal, and the color, a calming light lilac with a swirled top.  The soap was shaped like a cake instead of a straight up bar and the edges were smoothed when it arrived.  Because salt soap is typically hard and rigid, I found the smoothed edges to be much more gentle as the bar slid over my wet skin.  A stroke of genius, I say.

Bubbles, big and lovely, came to fruition quickly in the shower and then went to the tight, creamy bubbles that soothed my skin.  Washing with Salted Lavender was a delight and my skin felt so nice afterwards.  Sometimes with salt bars there is a slight tightening of the skin, which I did get with her bar, but I didn’t feel dry necessarily, just more firm, I guess, is the way to describe it.

I've tried a few others of Tracy's and they are quite nice.  Check out how pretty her Frisky Kitten Soap is.  So cute and feminine!

Photo of Frisky on my dining room table.....

At the moment, and perhaps even forever, Tracy is only doing wholesale, so this post may be a bit of a tease, but I leave you with photos and maybe in the future, she will sell to the public.  Her wholesale clients are currently in the Santa Barbara area, so if you live there you can find them.  Go to Tracy’s FB page for info or to browse some of the photos she has posted…. https://www.facebook.com/SantaBarbaraSoaps

        

One of Tracy's Salt Soaps....so you get the idea. Photo: courtesy of Tracy.