Wow – what an incredible summer its been so far.

Holiday weather at home, and a flurry of soap awards! (no… the other kind of soap :))

2014 was the first year we were brave enough to enter the prestigious Free From Skincare and Green Parent Awards.

We sent 4 soaps out for judging, and an amazing 4 came back with badges.

We couldn’t be happier.

As a very small brand up against all the big well-known names in natural skincare we were delighted just to have our soaps shortlisted. The fact that 3 of our soaps were awarded medals, well, we’re just over the moon.

We’ve included some extracts from the judges comments below, which we hope you’ll find interesting.

For us, some of the most noteworthy were the comments about the suitability of our products for sensitive skin and their excellent value for money. (more on this below the images)

Which soaps won which awards?

Our Coco Castile soap won a Silver Free From Skincare Award

Here’s what some of the judges had to say about this extra gentle soap:

“A lovely buttery scent, very natural, more oily than soapy, left a nice level of moisture on my hands. It is mild and creamy … Lovely packaging and very clear labelling”

“Extremely gentle on my sensitive, dry skin, but cleansed effectively even after I had been gardening or cooking”

Our Shea Luxury soap won a Silver Green Parent Natural Beauty Award

When we did a quick straw poll among some of our regular extra sensitive-skinned customers, this bar was a key front-runner of the ones they recommended we enter.

It seems they were right! Thanks so much for your input here, Stacey in particular.

A number of men told us that this is their go-to soap for shaving their heads!

Our Oatmeal Soother soap won a Bronze Free From Skincare Award

Here’s what some of the judges had to say about this exfoliating, yet sensitive-skin-friendly scrub:

“Mild milky fragrance, very clean smelling and neutral. It didn’t have much lather, but was very creamy, cleansing and exfoliating” 

“Gentle to skin and soothing” 

“Excellent value for money – a luxury soap for a great price” 

“I found this by far the most all-round lovely and eczema friendly soap I’ve used”

Our Rose Geranium soap received a Free From Skincare Award Commendation

As the award organisers describe it, commendations go to “really good, well-made products that sit well in the natural or ‘free from’ skincare market.”

Thanks very much indeed!

Industry recognition for our sensitive skin soaps

A key goal for us when we started making soap was to make a generous part of our range suitable for sensitive skin (as well as all other skin types). Many companies merely remove the scent from their generic formula and then deem it a ‘sensitive soap’.

We were keen to go further than that, and:

– take sensitive skin as a starting point for a soap (not a tacked on after thought)
– create a variety of different formulas to take into account various ingredient sensitivities and allergies
– offer a range of different textures to choose from
– make the pleasure of washing with a scented soap something that those with sensitive skin could also enjoy

We definitely haven’t achieved all our goals in this area just yet, but to have our sensitive soaps officially recognised by such a prestigious allergy and sensitivity-focused organisation as the Free From Skincare awards, we can, I think, feel hopeful that we’re on the right track.

The added recognition from the renowned Green Parent magazine also makes us feel very happy that we’re making a good start at addressing the washing needs of the family as a whole – sensitive skin and children’s skin often being pretty similar.

Feedback and comments, as ever, very welcome.

Excellent value for money

Something else we have also been very focused on right from the start are our prices. ‘Posh soap’ (as handmade soap is often referred to as), needn’t really be posh at all.

We see no reason why healthy, enjoyable soap shouldn’t be part of as many peoples’ everyday experience as possible, and so work very hard to keep our prices at a level that allows this.

That’s why it was so great to see the “excellent value for money” comment in the judges’ feedback. We aren’t a large or even medium-sized organisation with a giant marketing budget, and so, as is extremely rare nowadays, most of what you are paying for when you buy one of our bars is actually the very high quality & ethical ingredients that goes into them.

Its interesting to note that the Free From Hard Soaps Gold medal went to a palm oil based bar that retails for around 3-4 times more than our Silver and Gold award winners.

And so to next year

I wonder if we should enter some more awards? I imagine this sort of rigorous external testing is something that you find useful when trying to decide which soaps to buy?

If there are any soaps in particular you would like us to send out into the world, or indeed specific awards you’d like us to enter, please do let us know.