Announcement

Fireweed Soap Company has relocated. We've moved from Alaska to Arkansas.

We are in the process of negotiating with a couple people for possible partnerships in the business. One of the potential partners will be a huge help with research and development.

Look for big things in the future.

Lotion report and new product going through R&D

Last night we made a lotion that we are extremely pleased with.

It goes on smooth. Very little tack to it. It absorbs quickly, leaving our hands feeling silky and velvety. We feel a person can apply this lotion, pick up an x-ray film and not leave a grease print on the film.

Our next step in this process is to have the lotion tested to make sure the preservative works as it should.

Last night we also made our first batch of hair conditioner. We haven't tested it yet, but will later tonight. It's another item we're hoping we can fine tune and offer to the public in the future.

While many would like these products now, the reality is simple: all new items take time to develop and test. We've been testing different lotion creations for six months. While the first batches were okay, they didn't have the quality we were expecting. Now that we have the quality and texture we were hoping to achieve, we still have to let it age. We want to know, not suspect but know, this product will hold up over time.

We feel our current and future customers deserve this. The only way we can know for sure is to test it ourself and keep it here so we can observe the product. Plus ship a sample to a lab so they can test the microbial counts at various intervals.

All products at Fireweed Soap Company go through the same testing. We don't test our products on animals. We test them on ourselves.

Happy bathing.

Still working on a lotion

This past week a fellow soaper came to our factory. She wanted to make soap. When she moved to Alaska she left a lot of her soaping equipment behind.

It was fun to have another soaper in the factory. She examined the supplies area, the inventory area, etc. She gazed upon the equipment with an expression of longing.

It was the first time she'd used a stick blender to make soap. That one item is on her want list now.

After her soap had traced and was in the mold, we pulled out a lotion recipe. With a few tweaks here and there, we watched her make lotion. Another first for her.

This batch is even better than the last batch. There is one more quality we want the lotion to have before we create it for the market. Once that quality is blended into the lotion Fireweed Soap Company will have a hand and body lotion available for the public.

We hope you're as excited about this as we are.

Available items

Christmas is around the corner. We wanted to have our website up and running by now, but due to personal obligations, we haven't been able to move forward yet.

We have plenty of stock. We just don't have an e-commerce site up and running yet.

Here is a list of the soaps that are available.

*Alaskan Handy Man Soap*

weight 4 ounces. Packaged in a muslin bag so your handyman or woman can toss it into their tool box.

Ingredients: Olive oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil, castor oil, Alaskan rainwater, sodium hydroxide, oatmeal, blood orange and patchouli essential oil.

Price: $6.00

*Bay Crest Morning Soap*

Weight 4 ounces. Packaged in a brown Kraft box, ready for gift giving. Bay Crest morning is burst of lemon and lime for those gray mornings. It's like a ray of sunshine in the shower.

Ingredients: Palm oil, olive oil, coconut oil and sweet almond oil. Alaskan rainwater, sodium hydroxide, coconut milk. Scented with litsea, lime and lemon essential oil.

Price $6.00

*Black Knight Soap*

Weight 1, 3, 4 and 5 ounce packages. One ounce packaged in small white guest size box, three ounce packaged in muslin bag, four ounce packaged in brown Kraft box, five ounce size packaged in white Kraft box.

This is the one that pleases him and her. Made for a man, but with enough floral and citrus for a woman. The patchouli and vanilla appeal to the man in your life.

Ingredients: palm oil, olive oil, coconut oil. Purified water, sodium hydroxide, coconut milk, ground red sandalwood and black knight fragrance oil.

Price: 1 ounce package - $2.00
3 ounce package - $4.80
4 ounce package - $6.00
5 ounce package - $7.00

*Eclipse Soap*

Weight 1.5 and 3.5 ounce.

Eclipse has a sultry aroma that sets you apart from the crowd. It's a blend of tangerine and vetiver essential oil. The 1.5 ounce is packaged in a small muslin bag. The 3.5 ounce is packaged in a brown Kraft box.

Ingredients: Palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil and canola oil. Alaskan rainwater, sodium hydroxide, coconut milk, tangerine and vetiver essential oil.

Price: 1.5 ounce - $3.50
3.5 ounce - $5.50

*Fish On Soap*

Weight 1.5 and 4 ounce.

This soap is packaged in a muslin bag so it will fit into any tackle box. Fish are supposed to love the aroma of anise, plus it masks the human aroma. Shower with Fish On before going fishing. Then toss the bar, or carry an extra bar in your tackle box. Rub the soap on your hands before baiting the hook, and rub a little on your line and hook. Then go fishing and see if you don't start yelling "Fish On" too.

Ingredients: Lard, coconut oil, palm oil, glacier water, sodium hydroxide, coconut milk, anise seed, anise essential oil.

Price 1.5 ounce - $3.50
4 ounce - $6.00

NOTE: This is NOT a vegan soap.

*Hint of Vanilla Soap*

Weight: 1.5 and 3.5 ounce

This soap is exactly what it says...a hint of vanilla. The only scent is from ground vanilla beans, which adds a mild exfoliating property to the soap. A glass of wine, a couple candles and this soap is pure decadence in the tub. Packaged in a muslin bag.

Ingredients: palm oil, olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, Alaskan rainwater, sodium hydroxide, coconut milk and ground vanilla bean.

Price: 1.5 ounce package - $3.50
3.5 ounce package - $5.50

*Kachemak Bay Breakfast Bar Soap*

Weight 4 ounces.

Want a nutritious way to start your morning by pampering your skin? Oatmeal, honey and milk are a great way to start your skin's day. Ground oatmeal is added for exfoliation. Honey acts and a humicant. And coconut milk provides a creamy lather. The only scent is a slight fragrance from the honey in the soap. Packaged in a brown Kraft box.

Ingredients: palm oil, olive oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, castor oil, Alaskan rainwater, sodium hydroxide, coconut milk, honey, oatmeal.

Price 4 ounce package - $6.00

*Salty Dawg Soap*

Weight 4 ounces.

The world famous Salty Dawg Saloon in Homer, Alaska welcomes its doors to almost everyone. Once you walk through the doors you're greeted with an ambiance of cheer with a large dose of nostalgia.

While creating this aroma, we had to use an essential oil that might irritate sensitive skin. We think you'll agree though, this aroma is so cheerful it makes you want to turn up the radio and dance.

Packaged in a brown Kraft box.

Ingredients: palm oil, olive oil, coconut oil, Alaskan rainwater, sodium hydroxide, coconut milk, ground cinnamon, cinnamon leaf, lemon and five fold orange essential oil.

NOTE: Cinnamon can be an irritant to some skin types.

Price 4 ounce package - $6.00

*Seaside Bliss - Luxury Bar Soap*

Weight 4 ounce package.

The sea offers us many nutrients for our body. Kelp is loaded with nutrients that our skin loves. This soap also has avocado oil, apricot kernel oil and honey to pamper your skin. Using a blend of holy basil, lavender and jasmine essential oils, relax in a tub with this soap to wash the stress away.

Packaged in a brown Kraft box.

Ingredients: olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, apricot kernel oil, Alaskan rainwater, sodium hydroxide, coconut milk, honey, kelp, holy basil, lavender and jasmine essential oils.

Price: 4 ounce package - $8.00

*Tropical Fruit Slices Soap*

Weight 1, 3, 4 and 5 ounce packages.

Imagine yourself on a white sandy beach. The drink on your table has an umbrella sticking above the rim of the glass. The only thing missing is the cabana boy or girl.

One ounce sizes are packaged in a white gift box. Three ounce sizes are packaged in a muslin bag. Four ounce sizes are packaged in a brown Kraft box. Five ounce sizes are packaged in a white Kraft box.

Ingredients: palm oil, olive oil, coconut oil, purified water, sodium hydroxide, coconut milk, yellow French clay and tropical fruit slice fragrance oil.

Price: 1 ounce package - $2.00
3 ounce package - $4.80
4 ounce package - $6.00
5 ounce package - $7.00

From the lab

We're happy with the deodorant we created. We've been using it for a month now and it's holding up very nicely.

We're working on two new products. One is liquid soap. We've started our first batch. It didn't cook like we expected it to cook. After letting the paste set for a few days, we added the dilution water to it. It was still nothing but paste. We cooked it some more. Now it's pretty much the consistency of a thick gel. Later today we'll neutralize the soap. Then we'll add fragrance and some additives to see if we can't make a nice scrub out of it.

We're also working on a new lotion formulation. The old one is too greasy for our taste.

Once we have a lotion that we're happy with, we'll offer it through the company. We are almost there.

The next item we want to formulate is a cream soap.

Until next time, happy bathing.

Whipped cocoa body butter

Whipped body butters are supposed to be creamy and fluffy.

The whipped cocoa body butter we made on Sunday is hard. Cocoa butter is a fairly brittle butter by itself. In an attempt to get the creamy, fluffy effect, we cut off a chunk of the whipped body butter and we're remelting it. It's our hope that if we add more soft oils to it we'll be able to get the texture we're aiming to achieve.

After our experiment we'll post the results.

Creating new products

Sunday we worked on two new products. Plus we made a new batch of lip balm.

The lip balm has natural beeswax in it. When we open the bag we can smell the honey. We like a fairly hard lip balm, instead of the ones that border on mushy. This recipe has plenty beeswax, shea butter and grapeseed oil.

We're aware some like flavored lip balm, but this batch we left natural. It's a firm balm, yet it glides on the lips, leaving them very moist.

Our next project was to create a deodorant. This is not an antiperspirant. We feel that nature really did know something that we don't want to tamper with: sweating rids the body of toxins. Our goal is not to stop people from sweating, but to provide a deodorant that will adsorb normal under arm sweat and assist with body odor.

The trials we are putting the deodorant through are very encouraging. We're especially pleased that it's meeting our needs without using any harmful ingredients.

Our last project was to create a whipped body butter. We used cocoa butter, natural, not the deodorized version, so there is a hint of chocolate. In this recipe we used grape seed and walnut oil. It did take longer to reach the whipped stage than expected, but the end result is a very nice body butter that smells wonderful. We added a tiny bit of white ginger and amber fragrance oil. With the chocolate aroma in the cocoa butter this has a rich white chocolate aroma.