Down the Spiral with Halo Aynie- Soap making

When did you make your first soap?

The first soap I made was back in 2009. My kids were babies back then! I made glycerin melt & pour skull soaps. At the time, I was working at Real Food Rehab. 

It was called Raw Food Rehab back then and It was this amazing online community of people who were incorporating more raw fruits and vegetables in their diet and in general were trying to be healthier. I think there were about 12,000 members when I started and close to 20,000 not long after. In health communities like that, it's really easy to get dialed into what other people are doing. And everyone wants to help everyone else, so it was a great community to learn and expand in. Raw Food Rehab was run by Penni Shelton, a fiery redheaded Goddess of a woman if I have ever met one. She was also my friend mentor and taught me so many things about being in a community of (mostly) like minded people.

Several people I was connected with in the community were making their own skin care and body care products and I was no exception to that. I had been making my own remedies for over a decade at that point. Shampoo, lotions, body butters, body wash, toners, teas for most ailments I could think of. But soap making? To be honest, I had not given it much thought till then. It seemed like it was too hard and could be dangerous (and it can be if you don't set your self up for safety!)

Some of my friends on the site were making cold process, hot process and melt & pour soap varieties. Some soaps had lavender and rose petals in them and they were scented with lovely oils too. I was really intrigued by this and wanted to give it a go. Having small kids at home, I was looking for something that was not very time consuming and would be safe to do with little ones nearby. I researched different melt & pour brands looking for an option that would be a good fit for my family. I also looked for cute molds and decided on some mini skulls. If you know me, you know I live like it’s Halloween all year long! My first soaps were a light green translucent glycerin skull shaped soap bars and I was so proud of them and I think I made some for my whole family.  

What I found interesting about my first soap batches was not how easy it was to melt & pour the soap into the molds, but how I didn't have any trouble with the soap! Since that time, I have had a number of times where the soap would sweat and I wouldn't wrap it in time, or it would be humid out and cause sweating. But in those first few  batches, I didn't do anything special to them and they came out perfect. It was another thing I could make myself and control the ingredients.

Truth be told though, M&P soap making was short lived. I made a few big batches that lasted a long, long time and then I mostly went back to using castile soap bases to make shampoo and body washes, etc. It was a few years later before I would pick up soap making again.

Even though it wasn't something that stuck for me at the time, it was still a really cool experience that stayed with me and I think helped me stay on this journey. I believe that all our experiences are connected to us in our life, and maybe that magical time at Penni's Raw Food Rehab led me to the journey I am on today with Halo Aynie's! I'd like to think that it did and thank her regardless. The impact of my years at Raw Food Rehab is still with me today.

To find out more about Halo Aynie's Botanical and our all natural, hand-crafted soap, bath, body & creations, visit Haloaynie.com