Virginia Soaps and Scents
www.virginiasoapsandscents.com
When this box arrived in the mail, it smelled so good. Normally, scented products give me such a headache. I generally avoid the aisle(s) with cleaning/laundry products due to the assault of scents. These products were definitely different. We were given, free of charge, to review a sampler of the various products handmade by the Spargur family–a homeschooling family. We received three 1.75 ounce (sampler size) bars of soap, a sample size shampoo bar, and a small laundry soap kit. Upon perusing their site, I see that they make many other products as well–lip balm, all-in-one bars (great for traveling or camping) and other bath/body products (powder, etc.) I wish I could attach some pictures so you could see just how beautiful and yummy these look. You really need to just click on over to their site!
The regular bars of soap smell and look so good, I had to remind my children that this was soap, not candy 🙂 I don’t really think they would have tried to eat any, but with ‘flavors’ like fresh orange or oatmeal, milk & honey you cannot be too sure. The third scent, which proved to be my favorite, was coconut lemongrass. The full size of these soap bars is 4.5 ounces and sells for $4.50 each, 3 for $12 or buy 4 get 1 free. With 22+ scents/varieties available–including unscented or the wonderful sounding (smelling?) cookies and cream (looks like fudge!) you are sure to find a favorite as well as gifts to share. These would be great stocking stuffers. There are even some great seasonal scents available: Wild Bayberry, Pumpkin Spice, and Peppermint.
I am not completely unfamiliar with shampoo bars, but have never used one myself. I have split personality hair which is not unusual as long as it is. The ends are extremely dry (and somewhere around knee-length) while the roots are oily. My hair is also fairly thick and thus difficult to wash/rinse thoroughly. My husband’s and son’s hair is short, my daughters’ hair is longer and each has their own texture and thickness. The eldest DD has thick wavy hair like mine–though so far no split personality. DD #2 has fine, thin hair that is not wavy or curly, nor is it really straight. DD #3 has hair that is not thick or thin, but can be very curly at the ends. DD #4 is not quite 2 and we don’t know how her hair will be, though it does have curl too it. The shampoo bar we recieved is the ginger lime. After following the directions (don’t lather in your hands), we found it to clean quite well. Rinsing was a dream (especially for those with thick hair). My split personality hair really needed the version for oily hair (tangerine grapefruit) after about 4 washes. We normally have to condition the longer hair but did not need to with this bar. I probably would still do some sort of monthly conditioning treatment on the longer hair just because we are not regular hair cutters and tend towards split ends and frizzies if left alone. The shampoo bars come in 5.5 ounces and sell for $5.50 each or 2 for $10. We definitely will be using shampoo bars versus bottled shampoos.
The last item in our fantastic sampler is the small laundry soap kit. It contains a small amount of the unscented laundry bar (a lard soap) grated, small amounts of washing soda and borax. I have been making our own laundry soap for a few years, so was very familiar with the process. Full directions are included for the newby. It is a very simple process. My least favorite part is the grating of the soap so I was glad that part was done 🙂 I have used various soaps in this basic formula with mixed results. We have somewhat sensitive skin, so usually go for dye free, perfume/scent free soaps. Some of these do not clean as well when used as the base for laundry soap. This soap from Virginia Soaps and Scents cleaned great!
They sell kits that will make 2 gallons of soap gel (64-72 loads) with the soap grated (yay!) and appropriate amounts of borax and washing soda for $4.95 each or 6 kits for $25.00. If you prefer, you can purchase just a cleaning bar (9 ounces) and use your own borax and washing soda. The bars should be enough to mix up 2 batches of the soap (recipe available here http://www.virginiasoapsandscents.com/vss_006.htm ) and sell for $3.95 each. This laundry soap gel is low sudsing and works great in both top and front load washers. We cloth diaper and live rurally (our kids get muddy!) and have never had a problem with things getting clean (and looking and smelling that way).
You may be wondering just how the Homeschool Crew came to review such a product. According to the wonderful brochure that came with our products, making handcrafted soap started as a project related to a history study. As we learn and create with our families, we never know what path the Lord may be leading us down.
If you would like to read what others have to say on these great products, be sure to check out my fellow crew mates’ reviews at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HomeschoolCrew/735619/