In October 2014, Sarah Cartron thought to herself, “I’m going to learn how to make soap, and I’m going to give everyone soap for Christmas.” She turned that whim into a reality.
That same year I tried my hand at soap making too, also for the main purpose of giving handmade soap as Christmas presents. While the soaps I made were passable, they were not as spectacular as I had hoped (much to my dismay I’m not great at everything on the first try), and I quickly decided to support local soap makers and buy their products.
Sarah had a different experience on her first try. After a coworker wanted to buy a bar from her, she quickly grew her new hobby into a small business called Soap-A-Saurus based out of Aurora in Preston County.
Another part of Sarah’s motivation for making soap was her own sensitive skin. Via getting rashes when a teenager, she learned that commercial products often contain harmful ingredients. Making her own products allows her to know and control the ingredients in her body care products.
She learned to make soap through online research. “Honestly I watched 17,000 hours of YouTube videos,” she said.
After following recipes others had developed for her first couple of years into the craft, Sarah created her own recipes for soap. She enjoys making soaps and recipes for products because she said “it’s a lot of science and weird fun stuff.”
Sarah recently experimented with different scent combinations, and produced a pineapple and bergamot soap that quickly became her favorite of the moment.
In 2017, she began expanding into other personal care products — her second product after soap bars was a lotion bar. These days, in addition to a variety of bar soaps, Sarah also makes shampoo, hair conditioner, shaving cream, body lotion and cologne. On her to-do shortlist are bath bombs.
Sarah is intentional about what goes into all her products — she tries to source locally produced organic ingredients as much as she can. A small New Jersey business makes the essential oils she uses. She uses locally produced honey and beeswax, and she said “I buy all my lye from an Amish market locally.”
Sarah gives special consideration to the wrapping of her products. “All of my packaging can be recycled,” she said. Her products are wrapped in brown wax paper, and the stickers are made from recycled paper.
This aspect of her products particularly attracts me — trying to reduce my own plastic consumption involves often choosing products based on their packaging as well as ingredients.
I asked Sarah what she loves about making her products. She told me that in addition to the fun of the science, she likes making products other people who value natural body care enjoy. She likes sharing her products with friends who don’t get the skin or hair results they want from commercial products. When her products suit them, she enjoys saying, “see, I told you.”
Sarah said so far she has been making products to sell at events, and then listing the extras online. But this year she plans to try something new — making 10 products per month. A few weeks ago, Sarah said she made over 200 bars of soap in three days to fulfill her goal for January. She lists them on her Etsy page, and has soaps available at the Highland Market in Davis.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, exploring possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County.
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