Just a heads up, the $1 off for July is about to end.  We will be doing $1 off once a week after that for regulars to get a discount.  To expand the business and make this worth doing we will need to attempt more revenue, this is why we won't have the regular price at the current discount.  We are getting low on stock but in the process of resupplying.  Once inventory is back up we will be attempting a couple more things to spread Earthen Step to a wider audience.  If you have used up any bars and would like to review it that could help us out!  If you dislike any of the bars they will be discontinued and we will replace with any "bar of the month" that is raved about in the future.  We will continue the 20% off discount "yay4soap" for people to use for another 1-3 months depending on how much soap sells.  The 20% discount just about negates shipping costs depending on how many bars are ordered.

We received our essential oils and natural colors order! We also finished up the "Hippies and Oranges", so we are half way through restocking (hopefully an eternal battle). This week we will most likely make "Poppy Fields" and "Minty Fresh". Another neat side quest we are on is "the adventures of EPA guidelines for insect repellent". So it turns out insect repellents falls under the regulation of the EPA and not the FDA. I would have assumed it was FDA and would be a drug. But, it is considered a pesticide! Well, we should be able to create an all natural bug repellent (we have already been experimenting) because we are using "minimum risk pesticides". It sure is a lot of fun figuring out all the federal rules trying to keep us safe, warm and fuzzy. An email was sent out to the state asking for some clarifications and details if there are any further state requirements.

This picture reminds of Halloween, the soap little hay bales and the tiny oranges are pumpkins! 

Yesterday "Drum Circle" was made. We will make "Hippies and Oranges" next. We will be half way through restocking once hippies is finished up. No more bars will be made till our shipping order comes through, which should be very soon. We are playing around with some jute twine for handmade baskets. We might start with those locally and put them on the site later on.

Today we ordered a lot of essential oils and a few natural colorants. It felt really good to be ordering with saved up money from selling soap. We are rolling 100% of any money made right back into ingredients. If things go well we might be able to expand into body butters and lip balms around the end of year holidays.  Expansion might have to wait till next year due to ingredient cost and testing still being done. We just wanted to put out a big thanks for all the orders!

"Earthen Dream" was made yesterday and "Naked" will be made today.  Earthen dream is a very unique and remarkable bar.  Naked is hypoallergenic and the best bar for sensitive people.  The naked bar could become a great seller in time, those people allergic to more things are becoming common.  These reactions might be more common because of population increase or it might be due to the toxic environment we live in.  All of the bars we have are much more friendly than the junk at the local markets due to the top quality ingredients.  We need to buy more essential oils, so many are running low at this point.  We might take the next few days off waiting for some key essential oils.  That's the main reason why "Naked" is being made today.

Row, row, row, row your boat.  Sometimes dreams seem just as significant as reality while within them.  Even less rare but more remarkable; sometimes dreams seem more significant than reality when you break from them.  I am a dreamer, I love to dream --  sometimes they take me to beauty and sometimes to disgust but the more "intense" the better, they make me think.  I think the bar being made today lightly hits these aspects and sets it merrily apart.  Life is but an "Earthen Dream".

"Herbal Garden" is getting low in inventory.  We made a new batch today.  Hopefully we caught it in time and this one does not sell out. We have a lot of relatives around and hung out with them most of the day and shared part of the soap making experience with a couple of them. Then we had a cookout at the grandparents house; the kids are really enjoying having so many cousins around.  Time to sleep...

Today we are going to make "Valley of the Gods". This bar has been selling more than any others and is running low. If the bar sells out, we will have more cured up and packaged mid August. We have had a recent influx in sales with social media and the local store sale and will need to get busy restocking. Thanks for all of your orders, we hope you all are enjoying the soaps!

One shampoo bar is curing right now with some tweaks, we hope to make a few more micro batches this month.  Today has been all about the body butters!  Out of the 4 attempted so far one has stood out and today we made 3 new versions testing some ideas.  We whipped 2 of them and left one alone, also we split the batches up to test out some in the fridge and some at room temperatures.  Hopefully one of these batches really shine and we can start sending out some samples with soap orders to get some feedback, they smell fantastic! Our daughter covered herself in it and was a shiny little princess before bed.

If anyone is interested in trying Earthen Step soaps now is an ideal time.  Not only is it $1 off, you can take an additional 20% off of your total soap price by using the coupon code "yay4soap" while supplies last. Supplies are limited but we will work on making more of any soaps that run out or are low.  This price is only temporary -- we want you to try this awesome product!  We could not sell it this low forever because we load them with such high grade ingredients. To use the coupon code just click on the "My Cart" at the top of the page when you are done shopping and type the code in the apply coupon section.  Feel free to spread the word!

One of the major reasons Earthen Step got started is because of how much junk is out there.  Check out these "motivating-to-change body care products" articles.

http://naturalhaireverything.tumblr.com/post/3253973196/10-ingredients-to-avoid-putting-on-your-hair

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/chemicals-in-soap-can-cause-male-infertility-claim-scientists-9353159.html

When we started making soap me and my wife both agreed that the soap was fantastic!  We also agreed 100% that the shampoo was degrading the entire experience.  We started using our soap as shampoo most of the time and supplementing in horrible store grade garbage shampoo now and then.  The shampoo is still the downside to our showerings and we are working hard to fix this problem.  We have some shampoo bars curing right now that we are both excited to try.

These are the major issues with the last shampoo bar:

• Too much coconut oil .  Saponified coconut oil is spectacular at cleansing, which might be stripping the hair down.  My hair is very poofy after using it.
• Too high in pH -- the pH test strips are in the mail.  Hair loves to have a low pH, around 5.5, and skin could care less because it has these awesome things called "sebaceous glands" which replenish its acidic barrier very, very quickly. Short hair probably has less of an issue with the terrible shampoo bars out there because the scalp also secretes this oily/waxy sebum.
• Too little extra fats left over in the final bar.  We might need to step up the super-fating in the shampoo bar to bring about better conditioning. 
• The overall thing is that our hair is dry, frizzy and too clean after showers! 

We are going to make micro batches testing these ideas out and see if we can come up with the best shampoo bar in the world!  We will make small adjustments to one bar at a time so we can see what each change adjusts.  This is all part of the fun in being a soap maker, tinkering until you figure out the perfect balance.

Wish our mighty endeavors the luck of a thousand eagle talons so you may soon partake!

Your friends at Earthen Step 

This week we will be adjusting our shampoo formula.  The soap bars we create work decent as a shampoo bar but we can do much better because hair and scalp are different than skin.  The first attempt at a "shampoo" bar was good but not great -- it was a step in the right direction from the body bars.  We will not put a product up for sale until we find it amazing.  We have been discussing ways to fine tune the bar and will be trying multiple micro batches until we have it just right.  We will keep you updated; it might not be ready and available to buy for 3+ months due to cure time and we may need a few more ingredients to get it just right.  Below is a picture of the shampoo bar we are using at our house, but it's not for sale.

"Chocolate Covered Roses" is our latest creation.  It has an abundance of cocoa butter, shea butter and avocado oil.  The bar has Moroccan red clay on the top as a gentle exfoliant.   The overall scent is cocoa from the unrefined cocoa butter and a blend of Geranium Rose and Lavender from pure essential oils. Find more info/ingredient list here: Click Here