I get asked this a lot.  I'm at the Farmers Market and potential customers see this little round bar in a beautiful tin and the first thing that ask  "Is this Soap?" Well no, it's a lotion bar.  Then they see the Foot Balm and ask "Is this deodorant?" no, again.  
Let me tell you how these two products got started.

I initially developed the lotion bar for my cracked heels(trust me they were gnarly).  I liked the idea of a rich moisturizing bar that would glide over the heel easily and actually last.  
In the last 5 years I had become self concious of wearing sandals in the summer because of my nasty heels.  I remembered several years back when I noticed a young woman with cracked heels and I thought she needed a serious pedicure! Well Karma's a bitch and I ended up with the same problem.  At the time I didn't realize it was actually a problem just thought someone needed better grooming.  Well that is not the case.  I would get pedicures and they would be smooth for a couple of days but then the cracks would return and some of them were deep.
I tried several moisturizers and even the dreaded Vaseline with socks (I can't stand wearing socks to bed) and nothing worked.  I began searching the inter web to find out what could be causing the issue.

Cracked heels can come from many factors and not limited to the ones below.

• Walking around barefoot or constantly in sandals(that was me)
• Standing for long periods of time
• Wearing the wrong shoes
• Aging(yup is sucks getting old)
• Vitamin deficiency
• Fungal infection
• Poor Circulation
• Pregnancy

I was guilty of a few of these and then there is the aging, of course!

As I mentioned above, I decided to make a lotion bar.  I read up on the moisturizing benefits of coconut oil, shea butter and beeswax and of course, essential oils.  With the combination of the carrier and essential oils, the bar worked! I started with soaking my feet in an epsom salt/essential oil foot bath and then massaged the lotion bar in to my feet every night as well as in the morning prior to putting on my socks and shoes.  My cracked heels improved within a month!   While the lotion bar was great, I wanted a better application so I created the Soothing Foot Balm that comes in a convenient tube.  The foot balm contains Peppermint, Tea Tree and Lavender essential oils that are known for being anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, anti-microbial and soothing.  These products saved my feet!  I'm no longer embarrassed to wear sandals.

I use both of these product daily and I never travel without them.  The Moisturizing Lotion Bar  has come to be my go to for dry winter skin. The constant hand washing my job requires can make my skin really dry, but the lotion bar keeps that at bay.  I pop the bar out of the tin and rub on my hands and cuticles.  

Have you tried MB Botanicals Moisturizing Lotion Bar or the Soothing Foot Balm?  Let me know I would love to know what you think,

P.S.  MB Botanicals offers the Soothing Set which includes the Soothing Foot Soak and Foot Balm.
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As some of you may have seen, I finally updated the MB Botanicals website.  I have been pondering updating the website for quite a while, but every time I look up website builders the cost and difficulty of doing a website made me just want to run away.
I am not the best when it comes to all the technical computer stuff.  I want something that is drag and drop, no code or complicated fields.  

I was a little reluctant to start making soap.  It seemed a little complicated, time consuming and expensive.  I wasn't ready to take on that responsibility.  However, as the markets went on this summer, several customers asked if I made soap.  Wanting to please my customers I started to rethink this whole soap thing.  So the research began and guess what?  It didn't seem as bad as I had originally thought.  After much research I decided to make soap and use the cold process soap method.
What is Cold Process Soap?

​Cold process soap is combining fats/oils(i.e. Palm, Coconut, Olive) with an alkali(Lye or Sodium Hydroxide) to create soap.  The process is called saponification.  I vaguely remember this from my organic chemistry class in college.  I was preoccupied with other things at the time:)
Back to the soap.  I gathered the fats, essential oils, botanicals I was going to use and finalized my recipe.  I decided on Coconut Oil, Olive Oil, sustainable Palm Oil and Shea Butter as my fat base.  As you have seen from my Facebook and Instagram posts, the soap making has begun and guess what...I love it!!!
I now have five batches of soap sitting on my shelf curing in three options: Cedar Coal, Lavender Eucalyptus and Chamomile Tea.  In order for you, the customer to have a hard bar of soap that will sudsy and last longer than two washes, it needs to cure at least 4-6 weeks.
As I sit here writing this blog, all I can think about is my next batch of soap.  I think it has actually become a little addicting.  I dream about new creations constantly and I can't wait to get back to my workshop.
I want to know what you think.
What do you like about handmade soap?  What type of fragrances to you like in your soap?
Please leave comments I am always open for suggestions:)