Last week, I blabbed on and on about
Chagrin Valley's shampoo bars. This week, I'll be talking about their soap bars!
I tend to prefer liquid shower gels over bar soap for cleansing myself, but I ordered several soap bars from the company in the hopes that they would help my face be less stupid, and as travel-friendly cleansing and shaving aids. I tried a couple of the complexion bars on my face, only to break out horribly, since almost all contain coconut oil, which hates my skin, even saponified. Fortunately, they make a few soaps that don't have coconut oil (in addition to the two discussed below, the
Castile is also coconut-free), so I was able to test those on my face. My body is much less persnickety, so I was able to use them all and can now natter about them! A quick note: the complexion bars are designed for use on your face, but that's merely a suggestion––I find they work great on body, and at least one of the soaps that's not deemed a complexion bar would be lovely as a face wash (namely, Olive and Shea).
Grapeseed Tomato Complexion: This is one without coconut oil and designed for troubled complexions (that's such a nice way of putting it!), and it helps clear pores without irritating skin. The picture on the website (above as well) shows a bar significantly redder than mine, so I think I got part of the old batch that had less tomato; hopefully the new and improved version works just as well, because I really like this bar! It's nice and mild, doesn't strip my face, and doesn't contribute to breakouts. I like using it in the morning as it gives a nice soft, clean base for the day. It does remove makeup, but as it's traditional soap, you do
not want to get it near your eyes (not that I speak from experience...), so I prefer to use it in the morning when I have nothing on my eyes, though I have also used it as my post-makeup-removal cleanser. I intend to buy a full size once I go through my current facial cleanser stash (namely, a 12 oz bottle of Purity, ha).
$2.70 for 1.5 oz, $7.80 for 7 oz
Ingredients: Grapeseed Oil; Organic Sustainable Palm Oil; Babassu Oil; Virgin Shea Butter; Water; Sunflower Oil; Olive Oil; Sodium Hydroxide*; Canola Oil (Non-GMO); Organic Tomato Juice; Castor Oil; White China Clay; Organic Tomato Paste; Essential Oils of Lavender, Geranium, Palmarosa, Ylang Ylang. *Used during the Saponification Process to turn oil into soap. None remains in the finished product.
Olive and Shea: Also coconut oil-free, the Olive and Shea is super moisturizing. It's too rich for my face in this climate (where the cold of winter is offset by the raininess of winter, resulting in equally-hydrated skin all year round), but for those living in drier areas, I imagine it would be really nice, regardless of one's coconut sensitivities. I used it on my body and to shave, and it was great for that. The bubbles are, as advertised, "fine [and] lotion-like", which makes it well-suited for interaction with a razor. It's not my absolute favorite for that task (keep reading for that honor!), but it's a very nice soap, especially for those of us who don't get along with coconut oil. (There's about a bajillion times more things with coconut-derived ingredients than without, so it's always nice to find something that bucks the trend!)
$2.70 for 1 oz, $7.80 for 5.6 oz
Ingredients: Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil; Organic Virgin Shea Butter; Organic Sunflower Oil; Goat Milk; Sodium Hydroxide*; Organic Castor Oil; Water; Organic Lavender Buds. *Used during the Saponification Process to turn oil into soap. None remains in the finished product.
Rhassoul Yogurt Complexion: One that I tried on my face to no success, this one is supposed to do pretty much everything: soothe, tighten, purify, hydrate, do laundry, fly a spaceship, defeat cancer. The smell is pleasant but very mild, and it's not as silky smooth as the Olive and Shea or Shea Rose Clay so I didn't enjoy it as a body bar as much. That being said, it's certainly not a bad soap, and I so wish I could use it as a complexion soap, as it's chock-full of lovely ingredients. Oh well!
$2.70 for 1.5 oz, $7.80 for 7 oz
Ingredients: Sunflower Oil; Coconut Oil; Organic Sustainable Palm Oil; Virgin Shea Butter; Water; Olive Oil; Organic Yogurt; Sodium Hydroxide*; Rhassoul Clay; Castor Oil; Essential Oils Of Lavender, Coriander, Pink Grapefruit, Tangerine; Rosemary Oil Extract. *Used during the Saponification Process to turn oil into soap. None remains in the finished product.
Shea Rose Clay Complexion: I didn't even try this on my face after failing with Rhassoul Yogurt and Neem and Tea Tree, but I brought it with me to Turkey to use as a body bar. It was there that I discovered that this is
amazing for shaving. Seriously, it's absolutely heavenly. My legs were always supremely soft and silky after using this when shaving, no lotion needed. I just want to buy a lifetime supply of this, but I'm holding off on that until I try more of their soaps. I can't imagine anything will beat this, but I must do my blogger duty and at least see! But, like, guys: get this soap. If you suffer from dry skin, it is awesome. If you hate shaving, this will make the experience much less miserable (shaving is, for me, right up there with
filling in my brows in the hierarchy of how much I hate doing it). Bonus: it smells lightly of a very natural, pretty rose. True love, y'all.
$2.70 for 1.5 oz, $7.80 for 7 oz
Ingredients: Sunflower and Olive Oils infused with Organic Rose Petals; Coconut Oil; Virgin Shea Butter; Organic Sustainable Palm Oil; Water; Mango Butter; Organic Coconut Milk; Sodium Hydroxide*; Castor Oil; French Pink Clay; Essential Oils of Geranium, Lavender, Palmarosa, Ylang Ylang, Sweet Orange; Organic Rose Hips Powder; Rosemary Oil Extract. *Used during the Saponification Process to turn oil into soap. None remains in the finished product.
Dead Sea Spa: This is supposed to be a mini-spa in every shower, exfoliating and deep cleaning. Unfortunately, it's not exfoliatey (exfoliaty? exfoliationy?) enough for me, but it's grainy enough to not be super luxurious to use. I'm using it as hand soap at my sink, but I can't say I would repurchase. If you want something very mildly scrubby, you might appreciate it more than I do!
Ingredients: Coconut Oil; Sunflower Oil; Organic Sustainable Palm Oil; Olive Oil; Water; Virgin Shea Butter; Dead Sea Mineral Mud; Sodium Hydroxide*; Canola Oil (Non-GMO); Castor Oil; Dead Sea Clay; Sea Kelp; Essential Oils of Lime, Litsea Cubeba, Lavender, Rosemary, Orange, Eucalyptus; Organic Cornstarch; Rosemary Oil Extract. *Used during the Saponification Process to turn oil into soap. None remains in the finished product.
Sweet Basil: Some of you may know that I
love the smell of fresh basil. If there were a perfume that could accurately capture it, I would buy a liter of it. Naturally, I had to try this. Sadly, it does not satisfy my basil cravings. It smells very anisic, which may well be true for some varieties of basil, but not the kind we grow, and much like artificial almond, I have inherited my mother's dislike of anise scents. On the upside, the smell is quite mild, and the soap itself is nicely moisturizing and foamy, so I'm using it as a shower bar. There's little bits of something scrubby, so I find it also does a nice job of exfoliating when used directly on skin. The quest for the perfect basil continues...
$2.70 for 1.5 oz, $7.75 for 7 oz
Ingredients: Olive and Grapeseed Oils infused with Organic Basil; Coconut Oil; Organic Sustainable Palm Oil; Sunflower Oil; Water; Cocoa Butter; Sodium Hydroxide*; Canola Oil (Non-GMO); Organic Aloe Vera; Castor Oil; Essential Oils of Basil, Rosemary, Lavender; Organic Basil; Organic Cornstarch; Rosemary Oil Extract. *Used during the Saponification Process to turn oil into soap. None remains in the finished product.
I brought a lightly used bar of Rhassoul Yogurt and a new bar of Shea Rose Clay with me to Turkey, and they lasted a full month of 1-2 showers a day and frequent shaving (and occasional usage by the boy, when we were at places that didn't provide soap). A full size bar should last upwards of 3 months with daily usage, in case you wondered!
There's a bunch of soap bars I have in my basket for future purchase, including several that others have found helpful for combating eczema, which is a bit of an issue on my arms (and my face, but they all have coconut oil so no-go there), and a few that look to be quite scrub-tastic. I'm not generally all that crazy about soap bars, but Chagrin Valley is definitely changing my mind––they're moisturizing, affordable, portable, and gentle. Plus, no packaging! Though a soap dish is beneficial to non-goopiness, which is a problem with all solid soaps, sigh.
Have you tried any Chagrin Valley soap bars? How do you feel about soap bars in general?
