Sometimes you have to travel out of your zone (literally and figuratively) to see new things. As in heading to Toronto for the January Trade Shows, and finding a proudly Nova Scotian personal care product company called ‘The Soap Company of Nova Scotia’. Leigh McFarlane is the founder, developer, CEO, Nana, and Mom of The Soap Company. Her team includes grandchildren (product testers). Her passion for ensuring you “feel great in your skin” has led to a collection that goes head to toe to make sure this happens.
Here’s a bit of her background from her website -After a lifetime of chronic issues caused by synthetic ingredients & growing up with a dad who was even more afflicted by the same things, I was inspired to create simple, gluten-free, nut-free products that were both unscented (guaranteed!) & scented with essential oils. Sought out by folks suffering from scent and/or chemical sensitivities, these products make a meaningful difference for those who must avoid scent, synthetics, nuts, gluten & latex reactive ingredients.
The Soap Company makes soaps, including 3-in-1 shampoo, shave and wash bars, body and foot soaks, stain removers, laundry powder, and offers essential oils as well. While many of Leigh’s products are unscented, others have the most wonderful fresh smell, like the Acadian Forest Laundry Powder or the Cinnamon Soap Bar. If you like Lemon, the 3-in-1 bar will be your favourite. Or if Patchouli is your thing, that soap bar is amazing.
What makes this company stand out is two things in particular; one, the concentration and quality of ingredients, and two, the attention to every detail, including packaging. The “simple, honest ingredients” include washing soda, borax, pure soap (water, vegetable shortening, coconut oil, olive oil, sodium hydroxide), and if it is a scented product, essential oils. It only takes 1-2 teaspoons to do a load of laundry in a High Efficiency washer, or 1/2 -2 tablespoons in a standard machine. Customer testimony suggests that one tablespoon is enough to properly wash a load of cloth diapers, hockey or mechanics clothes. Impressive. By the time this article comes out, I will have had two weeks of personal testing on my laundry.
The packaging is reminiscent of old-time paper packages, with soft colours, a compostable box printed with vegetable ink, and in the laundry boxes, there’s a little bonus of a try-me soap. It’s a thoughtful product, as Leigh was greatly influenced by summers spent with her grandmother who lived on the Eastern shore. The smell of fresh laundry, hung to dry, and snuggled into as sheets or pulling on a t-shirt; these are childhood memories for Leigh. And now she is the grandmother, bridging generations of knowledge with today’s need for simpler, less synthetic products.
It’s a wonderful success story for a Nova Scotian company, and a useful collection of products for anyone who wants to ‘feel great in your skin.’
Did you know? We grow the plants needed to produce vegetable-based inks such as soybean and linseed (flax) oils right here in Canada. Soy oil gives vegetable-based ink what’s needed to produce vibrant colours.
Cathy