All of our soap is popular. Fragrance preferences are highly personal. Because of this, we try to offer a broad spectrum of product fragrances, especially in our soap line.
Fragrances preferences are partly genetic and partly experiential. For example, some people love the smell of lavender while others can't stand it. The same goes for florals. Have a friend who doesn't mind the smell of skunk while you want to barf? This is most likely the genetic component of fragrance preferences.
Common fragrance families are citrus, floral, herbal and musk. Preferring one family over another may be a predisposed genetic preference.
However, being predisposed to a particular fragrance family doesn't mean that genetics trump life experiences with fragrances. We accumulate many fragrance experiences throughout our lives. In fact, we learn to navigate the world by smell alone before we learn language.
Our sense of smell is our only fully formed sense at birth. Newborns can differentiate between mother and not mother within 6 hours of birth by smell alone.
During childhood, we're
heavily influenced by smells and tastes. Pre-pubescent children have 3x the taste and odor receptors of adults. It's why children prefer bland food - their sensory perception is much finer than grown-ups.
Shortly before puberty, 2/3 of these odor and taste receptors are
harvested naturally by our bodies. The process is so subtle that we're not even aware of the loss. When a child's food preferences suddenly change to much spicier foods, the onset of puberty is imminent. Although we lose 2/3 of smell and taste receptors at puberty, we don't lose the neural networks that support our body's memories of these smells and tastes. We build a body of non-language based odor and taste experiences that significantly influence our fragrance preferences as adults. This is why most of our soap fragrances are equally popular - it's personal.
For which part of my body can I use this soap? top
Every part of your body including your face.
I like glycerin soap. Do you carry glycerin soap? top
All of our soap has retained its glycerin. In comercially made soap, the soap is heated to such a high temperature that the glycerin floats to the top of the vat and is skimmed off. The glycerin is then sold in the aftermarket to make all glycerin soap.
Our soap process (cold process) does not remove the natural glycerin from the vegetable oils because we don't overheat the soap during the saponification process. We allow this chemical reaction to occur naturally, instead of 'helping' it along with excess heat. In this respect, our soap is more balanced and better for your skin than either commercial soap or a bar of pure glycerin soap because your skin receives all the benefits of both the vegetable and essential oils that we use in our formulas.
I have super sensitive skin. Which soaps do you recommend? top
If you have skin sensitivities, we recommend that you start with our simplest soaps. These are the soaps made with mostly olive oil. We also recommend that you don't try the 95/5 line of soap until you've determined that you have no reaction to all natural soap.
For people with extra dry skin, our customers tell us that switching to all natural soap clears up a boatload of skin problems. This is especially true for eczema sufferers.
Anecdotally, we believe that many people who have reactions to many of the commercially produced personal care products have undiagnosed generalized chemical sensitivities. The medical model is not equipped to address your problems. Why not?
Because dermatologists simply add more chemical compounds to your existing chemical sensitivities. These come in the form of prescribed specialized soaps, creams and salves. So, you wash yourself with some synthetic chemical cocktail that damages your skin and then you try to fix the damage with a different chemical cocktail. All of it only exacerbates your current generalized chemical sensitivities.
We have many customers who finally find relief from itchy, dry damaged skin by switching from commercial cleansing products to handmade, all natural products. One of our very special cases saw her skin clear up for the first time in 15 years, something her dermatologist couldn't accomplish with prescription $20/bar special soap and creams.
This customer's experience, and many others like her, is what leads us to believe that there is a segment of the population (all ages) with what we call undiagnosed generalized chemical sensitivities. However, it would take a very large study and funds to demonstrate this effect.
Therefore, we can only make this observation one customer at a time. However, each customer who finds relief for his damaged skin with our all natural handmade soap is one step closer to ending the use of toxic chemicals in all of our personal care products.
I'm allergic to all fragrances. Do you carry fragrance-free soap? top
Yes, we offer fragrance-free soap. This means that we have soap with no added fragrances. These soaps, however, have their own unique scents as a result of their ingredients.
On the other hand, we question many customers' claims of fragrance sensitivities. Why? Because we believe that these fragrance sensitivities may be generalized chemical sensitivities.
We don't live in a fragrance-free world. If you were allergic to all fragrances, then you wouldn't be able to stand the smell of food. However, most perfumes and fragrances today are made with synthetic compounds and not thel natural essential oils of decades past. These synthetic cocktails are what cause the worst reactions in most people with fragrance sensitivities.
For many of our fragrance sensitive customers, trying our handmade soap scented with natural essential oils is like opening the door to an entirely new universe. These customers finally enjoy fragrance for the first time in their adult lives. It's a truly wondrous thing because fragrances are so important in our lives.
If you're one of those people who's avoided scented soap because you have fragrance sensitivities and would like to give it a try, please e-mail us. We'll send you a list of our lightly scented soaps that we think could introduce you to the wonderful world of fragrance.
Yes! All natural soap lathers just like commercial soap. Well, it's actually better. The suds are a creamy, rich skin softening lather. The lather is so luxurious that men love shaving with some of our soaps, especially the olive oil and goat's milk soap. Olive oil (pure castile) and goat's milk soap also makes your skin feel like silk.
A bar of Dr. Bubbles soap will last from 6-8 weeks if you treat it well. How should you take care of your all natural soap? All natural soap, because it contains no fillers or binding agents like commercial soap, needs to breathe and be dry when not in use. You need a soap dish that allows your soap to completely drain and dry between uses. If you allow your natural soap to sit in water, you'll very soon have soap soup. We offer both soap dishes and soap saver bags to help you enjoy your Dr. Bubbles soap to the very last bubble.
How much time will it take to notice a difference in my skin? top
Switching to all natural soap is a lifestyle choice. That said, you should see a significant transformation of your skin with 3-4 weeks. Why so long? We grow a whole new outer layer of skin every 3-4 weeks. While your skin is de-toxifying from your previous cleansing regimen, it will take some time for your body to shed the current epidermal layer and grow a whole new outer layer. Once this process is complete, you get to enjoy lovely skin for the rest of your life assuming that you maintain good health.
I'm looking for a special fragrance in a soap. Would you make a custom soap? top
Yes, we make custom soap all of the time. Please e-mail us for more information and minimum quantities. We can customize soap to fulfill your desires.
Is your soap's fragrance throughout the entire bar? top
Yes! The fragrance in our soaps is added during the mixing process. You will enjoy its fragrance to the very last bubbles. We have many customers, particularly children, who love to leave a bar of Dr. Bubbles Soap in a special dish on their bedside table. The soap's fragrance lulls them to sleep and is very comforting. This is especially true of the relaxing fragrances like lavender or litsea (sweet lemon).
