Pandora's Soapbox Company Soaps

I've made three soaps recently and am making a goats milk tomorrow October 12th 2008!  I'll post pictures soon!

Pandora's Soapbox Company has four lines of soaps.  Each line will have it's own base soap recipe to make each line uniform, these are still being selected for the purpose.  All the soap lines are kind to the skin.  Price is still being determined but most likely the price per bar will be around $5.00.  All "Naturals" and "Goats Milk Soaps"  may be slightly more expensive due to prices of materials for these special soaps, the price would be around $5.75 most likely.  I am in the process of determining my cost for making each batch and what I should charge for the completed bars of soap.  Of course family and friends that purchase my soap and toiletries will receive a 30% "Soapbox" discount.

Pandora's Soapbox Company "Signature Soaps": Pandora's signature soaps use fragrance oils for scent, FDA approved colorants (synthetic and safe) as well as natural colorants for some bars.  These soaps have a great variety in fragrance, coloration and designs such as swirls, and blocks of color within the bar.

Pandora's Soapbox Company "Naturals": Pandora's all natural soaps use steam distilled essential oils for scent and natural colorants such as spices and herbs (I do not consider ultramarines and oxides natural even though they are safe to use cosmetically).  These soaps are a line of beautiful soaps made with mother nature's bounty.  They only contain vegetable oils and are therefore vegetarian friendly.

Pandora's Soapbox Company "Goats Milk Soaps": Goats milk soaps are my most skin friendly soaps (I use goats milk soaps during the dry winter and definitely notice the difference!) They not only contain fresh Goats milk as 100% of the liquid component but extra rich oils have been added to the base recipe to give these bars a special touch of luxury.  Goats milk soaps are fragranced with both fragrance oils and essential oils.  Natural and FDA approved colorants are also used.

Pandora's Soapbox Company "Colorado Soaps": The Colorado Soaps are eight soaps that depict different aspects of living in this great state.  The soaps include:

 Colorado 14er, Colorado Wildflowers, Rock Bottom River, Scrub Desert Rain, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain Forest, Colorado Grasslands and Autumn Aspen. 

These soaps include fragrance oils, essential oils, natural and synthetic colorants in many combinations.  (Even if I move out of the state after I get my Masters in Biology I will still make these soaps of my home state, and maybe a new line for my new state!)

About Pandora's Soaps

Pandora's Soapbox Company is still more of a hobby than a full business.  I enjoy making soaps and make them as gifts for family and friends.  I'm always looking for new guinea pigs who would like to try some soap and critique it as well.

I make soap via the Cold Process method.  My handmade soap lacks alcohol and synthetic additives that can be drying, and gets its lather solely from the oils used rather than "sodium laurel sulfate".  This leaves a  moisturizing soap and lets some oils, such as shea butter or mango butter soften your skin.  After the initial chemical reaction,

Chemical Reaction: Lye + Oils = Soap + Glycerin The Products

the soap then sits for about a month and "cures", meaning water evaporates, the soap hardens and grows milder by the day.  My goat's milk soaps have 100% fresh goats milk in place of the water used to dissolve the lye (Don't worry No Lye is in the final soap bar, lye is only the reactant used to turn oils into soap and glycerin).  To read about how soap is made go to "Learn soap" and read about Cold Process Soap Making.  To make double sure no lye remains in my soaps I have an excess of 5% to 6% more oil in my recipe than is necessary to react with the lye, therefore there is pure shea, olive, coconut, cocoa butter or any oil in the recipe left intact within the soap and this makes the lather much creamier and gentler on the skin than soaps made in the pioneer days.

What does this mean all mean?  Pandora's homemade soap is "Glycerin soap"!  Those clear see through soaps do contain glycerin but also have used alcohol in the process to suspend the soap crystals and make the bar clear.  Both are good soaps, I intend someday to learn how to make clear soap, but needless to say homemade soap is better than regular commercial soap since the glycerin remains in the homemade soap bars.  Commercial soap often has this extracted since the glycerin gums up the milling machines and companies can make more money selling pure glycerin to the cosmetics industry.  Often commercial soap companies add chemicals to lessen the harshness of pure soap minus the glycerin.  Go ahead read the package on store soap, many ingredients listed are not even pronounceable!  Pandora's Soapbox Company soaps have all the ingredients listed for each soap and product, most of which you are familiar.  So what are all those ingredients in Pandora's Soaps?  What are they used for? 

COMING SOON: To A Tub Near You!