Tea Tree Oil

I can't say I'm much of a fan of the scent of Tea Tree oil. It's camphorous smell can only be described as medicinal and somehow doesn't seem like the obvious choice for a luxurious bath time session. However, it is a powerful oil (toxic if taken internally!) and is a necessary ingredient in any soaper's pantry. It is effective as a treatment for acne and for athlete's foot and is used as an anti-microbial, anti-fungal an anti-septic, and reportedly is effective against MRSA in laboratory tests. My guess is that it is one of the most widely purchased essential oils for self-treatment. Still, it doesn't smell too good. We team it up with lemony Litsea Cubeba oil in our Jojoba Oil soap from our Essence of Purity Range and it is a big seller for us in China. It's a handsome soap, a warm yellowy colour from the golden jojoba and a dash of carrot root oil and is sprinkled with fennel seeds. All in all, it's a soap that is Good For You and I do sometimes take it home when I feel the skin needs a clear out.

We also make a Tea Tree and Lavender soap for the same Chinese customer, again a big seller. Up till now, it has been a bit of a Plain Jane, so when a new customer in Singapore asked for a Tea Tree soap,  I decided to give it a a makeover and glam it up a bit. Somehow, Tea Tree always says blue-green to me. Teal. Tea-l? So out came the piping bag and melon/soap baller and a new design is born.

Tea Tree and Lavender Soap

Out With The Old, In With The New.

When I first started our little company,  I was making soap in the kitchen and work had to be completed, cleared up and put away in time to make dinner. That couldn't last long, so I soon took over a spare bedroom, then the dining room, then the hall way . .  . We were in danger of being squeezed out of house and home by boxes of soap and soap equipment. That's when a friend came to the rescue and offered to rent me a small building on her farm with its fabulous views over the Conwy Valley. Lovely! We got it all spruced up and kitted out and it was heaven working up at the farm, listening to the cows, joining in with lambing and having loads of animal friends to talk to during soaping breaks. This happy arrangement unfortunately had to come to an end as eventually we ended up busting at the seams and it was difficult to manoeuvre pallets down the ramp and onto the lorries which lumbered up to the farm along the bumpy track. So we moved down to our local business park, first renting one unit and then, when that quickly became too small, renting a second one. Consequently, we have spent the last few years running between the two, ferrying supplies and equipment backwards and forwards as needed.

Luckily enough, a bigger unit has become available on the same business park and so we are on the move to Unit 3!!. It is already partitioned off into separate work spaces, offices and storage, is fully shelved and has lovely space heaters and fans to keep us toasty/cool while we work. We even have a loading bay! Right now we are marvelling at all that space and running around like kids at a wedding, but we will soon have those shelves full, equipment installed, storage stowed, computers plugged in and be ready for a New Year of soaping!

A little loading bay with strip curtains

Two work spaces and stairs up to storage area!

Soaping space waiting to be filled with soaping clutter

Looking down from the offices!