Customizable Natural Hand Poured Soap Hand Crafted With Passion and Love For Nature.
A few decades ago, the world moved from using soap bars to body wash, shower gels, shampoos, and hand wash. All these replacements were considered signs of advancement and using the latest products in the beauty and hygiene category. But in the last few years, soap bars have become popular again. There are many reasons why this could be—the most important being the sustainability factor. Using soap bars helps reduce the plastic waste generated by shampoo bottles, body wash, and other such products. Also, soap bars don’t contain ingredients that pollute the environment.
The luxury angle is another factor. Soap bars come in various textures and scents, and some even have little surprises like sea salt, almonds, or charcoal embedded in them. Others are available in attractive or even humorous novelty shapes and sizes. Beautiful soap bars can be wrapped in silk ribbons and given as gifts to loved ones.
Ashley Marie is one such entrepreneur who started making luxury soap bars as gifts for her family at Christmas, and there was no looking back after that. Ashley Marie, the owner and creator of Ashley Marie Soap, is based in St. George, Utah. Marie and her family were fascinated with everything organic and homemade while growing up in Chihuahua, Mexico. They collected these items from their farm. They grew vegetables, made cheese, milked cows, and baked bread.
After graduating from college in Utah, Ashley Marie was at a loss for what to give the many members of her vast family for Christmas that would be considerate and practical without going over budget. Her next move was obviously to create something!
She learned how to make soap. Before she knew it, she’d nervously combined the components for natural, handcrafted soap as lye poured into a kitchen bowl. Her first batch was a mess and led her nowhere. She wanted to learn from her mistakes and gave the process another shot. She made a new batch, and her entire family cherished the thoughtful and lovely gift, and she appreciated the fact that she knew what was going into her skincare products.
Marie’s soap and skincare recipes are inspired by the maxim that you shouldn’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t eat. She uses only natural ingredients in her products, which are 100% synthetic-free. In contrast to many soap makers who utilize fragrance oils, refined oils, and butter, she uses virgin oils and essential oils for fragrance. She is proud that she taught herself how to make a product that people love and that actually sells, and she gets to do it all right out of her home. The soaps are made in small batches to ensure the highest quality. Marie makes the soaps old-fashioned, without removing the glycerin, which helps with skin hydration. The cold process technique ensures that the ingredients retain their therapeutic properties. The soaps are cured for 4-6 weeks, each bar being unique and varying in size, shape, and weight.
The small business development center in St. George, where she lives, was incredibly helpful in her journey. They assisted her with business registration and paid for her travel expenses to the 2019 Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild conference in Dallas, Texas. There, she picked up a lot of knowledge about soapmaking. Her recipes improved, her packaging changed, and her company management improved.
After making skin-nourishing soaps on the side for two years, working almost 100 hours a week, and with no social life, she decided to quit her job and devote her full time to making these artisan soaps.
The demand for her products has been growing steadily for the last few years, and she is currently making beautiful soap loaves in her St. George kitchen studio with a lot of love, passion, and years of experience. She goes above and beyond to ensure that all her products adhere to her principles. She is passionate about using high-quality, organic, and synthetic-free ingredients.
Marie can be found exploring and canyoneering in the vast canyons of southern Utah or climbing, rappelling, and touring, when not working in her soap store. She currently sells her soap at 20 stores. Marie believes that it takes a certain kind of personality to be an entrepreneur and start a business, and it’s not for the faint of heart because there is a lot of hard work, and things can be very stressful at times. However, she also feels an entrepreneur should be open to learning and keep trying without aiming for perfection. Trying to be perfect can be limiting for a business and can hold you back. It is always better to attempt something, even if it’s not perfect, than not do it at all.
TROORA MAGAZINE | MAY 2023
WRITTEN BY NEHA SURADKAR
PHOTOGRAPHED BY ASHLEY MARIE
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