At the start of the pandemic, our family passed the time by rummaging through YouTube and it was there that we discovered the expansive world of soap making. We would sit for hours watching soap being made. Who knew at that time that this would become a passion?!

In addition to learning the process of homemade soap making, we also learned that commercially available soaps use harsh chemical detergents and remove naturally occurring glycerin to increase shelf-life, leaving the user's skin thirsty for lotions and creams. The companies are meeting a demand while creating a new demand, further increasing their profits but the consumer is left with dry skin and the need to constantly hydrate. Homemade soaps not only have naturally occurring glycerin that acts as a humectant to bring moisture to the skin, but can also be "superfatted" with oils and butters to create a more hydrating bar with essential fatty acids. Pennington Cottage creates a 5% superfat in all of our bar soap.

Why this lesson was important to our family....Our son had eczema flare ups throughout his first three years of life and making our own natural, homemade soap seemed like a great idea to help heal his dry patches. Not only could we tailor the soap to meet our family's needs but prices on every day items like soap, were going up due to supply chain issues and driver shortages. We wanted to make a quality product more affordable than the expensive natural product we were using at the time.

We researched what we needed, purchased the ingredients and made a successful first batch of soap. My degree in Chemistry may have helped a little with our success and it felt like I was right back in the lab! There is nothing like unmolding your first batch of soap, slicing it and seeing a perfect bar to get you motivated to make more!

Our son's eczema has cleared up completely and we can't imagine going back to commercial soap! We enjoy this process so much and wanted to bring our little pandemic hobby to all of you! We strive to create a cleansing, moisturizing bar of handmade soap with natural ingredients. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!