About Bayside Soap and Candle

Bayside Soap and Candle is a small, home-based business in Bellingham, Washington.  Since I have had sensitive skin all of my life, it has always been necessary for me to be very conscious of what I put on my skin.  This, combined with the desire to run my own business and a love for bath products and candles, led me to create Bayside Soap and Candle.

Skin Care Products

All of Bayside’s skin care products are made with the finest, natural ingredients.  None of the skin care products contain harsh preservatives or artificial coloring.  Only natural herbs, grains, or flowers are used to accentuate the soap.  These products get their scent from pure essential oils, not synthetic fragrances.  Only plant and vegetable oils go into the products, never animal fats.

  What Are Essential Oils?

They are what we smell when we rub the leaves of an herb with our fingers, grate an orange rind, or when we smell a rose.  Any part of a plant or flower may contain its essential oil.  These fragrant oils are extracted either by distillation or expression.  Not all fragrances can be extracted, such as apple and watermelon.  When you smell those fragrances, they are synthetic.

The benefits obtained from essential oils vary from skin, emotional, digestive, even memory.  This helps explain the enormous popularity of ‘aromatherapy’.  Many people prefer to try natural alternatives for healing.  I do not make any promises regarding aromatherapy benefits, but I do list some of the possibilities in my product descriptions.  The reason I choose to use essential oils is simply because they are pure and natural…and nothing smells better than the real thing.

  How Is Soap Made?

I make all of my soaps in small batches using the cold process method.  What this means is that I heat the oils until they are melted, then I remove them from the heat (hence the name ‘cold process’).  I then add sodium hydroxide (lye) to the oils and I start stirring.  I stir until the mixture reaches the correct consistency.  This thickening is caused by the chemical reaction between the oils and lye.  I then pour the mixture into molds where it sits insulated and undisturbed for at least twenty-four hours until it solidifies.  It is then removed from the molds, cut, and then cured for three to six weeks (depending on the recipe).  The chemical reaction that has now taken place between the oils and lye to make soap is called ‘saponification’.  The lye actually ‘uses itself up’ in this process and does not remain in the final ingredient.  This is why you will not see lye (or sodium hydroxide) listed in the ingredients on a package of soap even though all soap is made with lye.  Because the cold process method allows flexibility of the oils being used, this is what enables me to make quality, mild soaps.

The primary oils used in my soaps are coconut, palm, and olive.  I also use many other oils for various benefits such as moisturizing.  As I mentioned above, I never use animal fats.  Animal fats used in soap-making are either tallow or lard.  Tallow comes from the solid fat around the kidneys and loins of sheep and cattle.  Lard is the fat from the abdomens of pigs, which has been melted and clarified.  Keep that in mind if you are using soap with animal fats.  They may be listed as sodium tallowate and sodium lardate.

If you have any questions or comments for Bayside Soap and Candle, please feel free to contact me.  Also, be sure to re-visit the website to see if anything is new since the inventory is still evolving and I will always be looking for new ways to please my valuable customers.  I hope you enjoy my website and my product.

Thank you for your interest in Bayside Soap and Candle,

Kristy Carpenter