Pipestone Soaps

Goats Milk - Lavender

I stumbled across Pipestone Soaps on Facebook, of all places, while I was browsing around for Canadian-made products I could feature on this blog.  Made in Alberta, these soaps are clearly made by someone who enjoys their work.  If you follow them on Facebook you will see new "flavours" every couple of days, such as Vanilla Mint, Dragon Tree, Sweet Orange Chili Pepper, Citrus Lavender, Maple Walnut Fudge, Toffee Apple Crunch (are you drooling yet?).  I ordered 5 or 6 bars (was able to justify this by allocating most as gifts...) and when my package arrived I sure was surprised and thrilled to find the bars I ordered, all individually wrapped with care in tissue paper, along with a bunch of samples, some solid perfume sticks, and even some candy treats (which were a big hit with the husband).  Apparently there are different samples and/or treats in all her packages, which is great because you get to try out new soap scents/types in small doses, to help you decide what you might want in your next order.  You can also see the eco-friendly packaging, as my soaps were shipped in a sturdy, repurposed Raysbestos Brake Pads box. 

After I opened the package...here are all the little treats!

Don't let the packaging fool you though, the master chef at Pipestone Soaps certainly knows her stuff.  The soaps are a generous 4.5oz (or more) and will last a long time (particularly if they are kept dry between uses, such as in a soap dish that allows the water from the bar to drain off).  They are made from scratch with "Sustainable Premium Raw Ingredients such as Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, Castor Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Mango Butter, Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter..." and soaps are available in all-natural, or as I mentioned above, many wonderful scents and combinations.  The bars are about an inch thick, and slightly larger than my palm, and the soap is marvelously dense and lathers up smoothly and quickly.  It rinses clean and leaves just the lightest scent on your hands.  In this season of colds, colds, and more colds, I am wiping three noses on a regular basis, and as you can imagine, washing my hands ALL THE TIME.  I find the Pipestone Soaps do not dry out my hands like some of the more common antibacterial pump soaps do, and it's nice to know that they are not full of all kinds of unpronounceable ingredients.

Goats Milk - Toasted Marshmallow

I have been using a sample of Berry Breeze in the shower for a few weeks now, and although it sits alongside the manly bar of Zest, I am noticing that even my husband seems to prefer using the Pipestone Soaps bar (as the Zest is just not getting any smaller...).  I also have a sample of the Nutcracker in my kitchen, and a full size "Monkey Farts" in the kids bathroom.  This is a really cute "kids" soap, it's got a flower shape in the middle and a creamy light colored soap around it.  The smell is fresh, clean, and kid-friendly, and I feel great about even washing my 7 month old baby with it.  If I had to make one suggestion it would be that this soap be cut smaller to better suit little kid hands...my 4 year old has a hard time picking up the big 4.5oz bar and it often gets dropped into the bottom of the sink (where I quickly snatch it out and put it back on the soap dish, no one wants a drowned soap!)

Toddler-size your soap!

*UPDATE* It turns out that Pipestone Soaps has a suggestion/fix for this - since these soaps are homemade they can be cut at home (unlike storebought soaps which tend to flake & crack...).  So if you would like to make guest size soaps, toddler size soaps, or just cut your bars smaller (so you can switch them up more often) all you need is a cutting board and a sharp knife!  Like so: 

One thing I should mention is that she also makes Goats Milk soaps, they are a bit pricier ($1 extra per bar) but they are supposed to be incredible and moisturizing for your skin.  I haven't had a chance to try my Goats Milk bar yet but I hope to break it out soon!

If you would like to find out more about Pipestone Soaps, check them out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PipestoneSoaps (but beware, seeing pictures in your feed of their gorgeous soaps may make you want to buy all kinds of them...)  Their prices are $5.50 for a regular bar, $6.50 for a Goats Milk bar, plus shipping of course, unless you are local.  If you stay tuned to their Facebook page you might even get lucky and catch a sale or 1/2 price shipping event...

Pampered Damsel Bar Soaps

A lovely layered bar of soap
from Pampered Damsel

It seems these days, one thing after another that we thought was good for us, turns out to be bad for us.  Take soap for example.  Soap used to be a pretty standard, simple thing.  Pure.  Clean.  Now, it's often a cocktail of chemicals, marketed to us as "ANTIBACTERIAL", and containing among other things, Triclosan, which has been implicated in various health concerns (note: this isn't a medical blog and so my statement is based on data found on the internet, and I realize that this may not be a guarantee that triclosan is bad for you).  However, being of the philosophy that we should keep our bodies free of as many unnecessary chemicals as possible (within reason), I am moving away from antibacterial soaps containing triclosan and moving towards bar and liquid soaps that do not contain this antibacterial agent.

One example of a simple and beautiful triclosan free soap is the lovely handmade Pampered Damsel bar soaps, created right here in Canada - in Moncton, New Brunswick.  The soap is not detergent based, but rather it is "real" soap.  It is gentle on your skin, comes in delicious colourful scents, and lasts a long time without getting gooey or cracking like some other bar soaps can do.  Imagine how lovely a bar of "Apple Cinnamon" or "Almond Biscotti" would be on a cool November night?  Or how the fresh and clean scent of "Cucumber White Rose" would make your kitchen a nicer place to be?  Personally, I would love to try the "One Hot Tamale" scent, and maybe get a bar of "How YOU Doin'?" for the man in the house to use.

I received a bar from my sister some time back and it's taken up residence in my master bathroom where I look forward to using it each time I wash my hands.  The delicate (but not wimpy) scent has not faded as I've been using the bar, and it lathers up beautifully and leaves my hands so soft.

You can read more about Pampered Damsel at http://www.pampereddamsel.com.

A stunningly gorgeous selection of Pampered Damsel soaps

The soaps are a splurge-worthy $6 per bar, or buy 5 bars for $25.  They are perhaps 7 or 8 cm wide, 5 or 6 cm tall and 3 or 4 cm thick (I did not measure mine before I started using it so no guarantees on those measurements) but as I already mentioned in my review, they last a lo-o-o-ong time so don't think that it will have a short lifespan just because it's not huge.  The manufacturer has offered all of my lovely readers a 25% discount off the cost of shipping the soap to you if you aren't able to pick it up in person at the Dieppe Farmer's Market, if you just mention you saw this on Geekmommy Reviews to her in your order request.  Offer ends on November 30th, 2011 so you can take advantage of the shipping cost reduction in time to pick some of these soaps up as gifts for your friends & family.

Review: Buncha Farmers Stain Remover

I picked up one of these stain remover sticks at a local natural parenting store, hoping it would help out in the laundry room and not leave me resorting to the awful smelling stain removal spray that literally burns my nostrils (goodness knows what it's doing to our clothes or skin).

Buncha Farmers stain remover comes in a 60 gram stick, about 1 inch by 1 inch by 4 inches long, and sort of resembles a long thin bar of soap.  (According to their website it is, in fact, soap, "enhanced with Borax to soften the water and aid the cleaning process").  It has a clean smell which I assume comes from the Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil in the ingredient list.  It has just 8 all-natural ingredients, one of which is water, and is advertised as being 100% biodegradable.  This is a good thing as we are on a septic system and I don't like to put anything down the drain that I wouldn't want to end up in my soil!

To use it, the instructions state "Wet Stick! Rub directly on stain."  I find that wetting the garment/stained area is more effective, as the stick lathers up nicely when there's a good bit of water involved.  Simply wetting the stick doesn't seem to be quite enough to get the soap to rub into the garment, so what I usually do is hold the stained garment under the water flow in the washing machine as it fills up, then I place the garment on the dryer and give the stain a rub with the stick til it lathers up.  Then I toss the garment into the wash.

I haven't had too many stains to deal with since I bought it, but so far it's done a good job on tomato based sauce messes, Crystal Light spills, mashed blueberries, and ground-in dirt.  I will definitely continue to use this stick as my first line of defense against stubborn stains.

If you want to check it out, you can buy it locally at Nurtured (http://www.nurtured.ca) on Robie Street in Halifax or at  BLISS (http://www.facebook.com/pages/BLISS-Natural-Parenting-Resource-Centre-Every-Baby-Deserves-Breastmilk/) for about $3.  Buy it on Amazon here: Stain Remover Stick (60g) Buncha Farmers Brand: Buncha Farmers, or you can have a look at the product website at http://www.bunchafarmers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=6 for more information.