Who we are... Simmons Naturals

What our soap shop looks like today, 2/29/12

Somehow life's whirlwind  has kept me preoccupied & I've neglected this blog.
In the spirit of a new beginning, I wish to start here with the story of our business, as that is pretty much the story of my life right now...

Here at Simmons Natural Bodycare it is our mission to provide for the basic needs of our skin and bodies in the best possible way. We strive to create luscious soaps and basic skin care that will Make EveryDay Special.

Since 1979, when we first began crafting soaps for our own family, we have always chosen the purest, highest quality oils & other botanical ingredients for their simple natural benefits. The basic care we provide works by assisting the natural processes of renewal and protection that keep us healthy and beautiful; care for everyday needs as well as for special needs such as dry, chapped skin, skin irritation, allergies, or congestion.

However, at Simmons Natural Bodycare, what we make is only half of the story.

We believe, practice, and promote a philosophy of sustainiblility. This encompasses the use of renewable energy sources and ingredients to create our products, and doing it in a way which does not degrade the environment or cause harm to us and its other inhabitants.
It is not so much the idea of 'doing the right thing', but simply that it is the right thing to do.

Our soaps

This is why we use minimal packaging incorporating as much recycled and recyclable materials as possible.. Even the beautiful handmade Thai papers that wrap our soaps are from trees harvested in a sustainable manner, limbed, so the tree keeps growing. And this is why our ingredients are biodegradable, renewable, and mostly organic, and why we do not test on animals.

Simmons Natural Bodycare is part of a self-sufficient family homestead in the rural mountains of far northern California.

The electricity for our home and business is self generated using solar (PV) panels, a 1kw wind turbine, and a small hydro-power system. Our goal is to live and run our business with as little impact on the planet as possible. The business began by crafting natural, nontoxic, soaps & body care products to ensure the mildness needed for our own family's sensitive skin. It now provides for our family as part of a working homestead in conjunction with our large organic vegetable garden, orchard, and poultry.

Our Solar PV Array

We contribute to our local community and the world community through volunteer work and donations. We have donated 2% of the sales of our bars soaps to Heifer International since 2004 and support other small businesses through our website. Since 2006 we have been 100% Carbon Neutral as we planted enough trees worldwide to offset our carbon emissions through Trees for the Future. In addition, we double our offsets annually by donating to CarbonFund.org to support renewable energy and energy conservation projects, and we continue to plant trees, 1 for every 12 of our 4 oz. bar soaps sold, over 4500 to date.

Please visit our online store and see what we have. 
You can take a short photo tour of our soap shop here.

Making our Soaps...

mixing the oils in the kettle

We've been making a lot of soap lately. It is, after all, our business. And while it keeps us indoors on beautiful sunny days, it is still a labor of love.

We have been making soap since 1979, when we began as a way to provide natural & nontoxic soap for our own special needs. Sensitive to synthetic fragrances and colors, we could not find commercial soap locally that worked for us. And since that time we have never tired of creating the best soap we possibly can.

Saponification

Soap is the result of a chemical reaction called Saponification. Briefly, Saponification is the chemical reaction between fatty acids (oils & fats) & caustic ("lye", caustic soda, sodium hydroxide, etc.) that results in 98% soap and 2% glycerin. Different oils/fats and different caustic solutions can be used for different types of soap. Potassium Hydroxide, for instance, is used for liquid or soft soaps.

We start by mixing organic oils of olive, palm, and coconut together. We choose these oils for their individual benefits. Olive oil is the best for the skin. Palm creates a harder, longer lasting bar. Coconut oil is the source of rich, copious lather, without it bubbles are small and thin. These oils are heated and then we add the sodium hydroxide that starts the chemical reaction. This process requires a lot of stirring. At the point when the mixture has thickened the proper amount we add the various botanical elements that give the individual varieties their characteristics.

Dennis cutting the Orange Spice soap

Our soaps are made in rectangular columns. Once the liquid soap is ready, we pump it into these molds, cover it with an insulating layer and let it sit up to 48 hours before it is ready to cut into bars. Our soap cutter is a machine of our own devising, custom made by us for our soaps. Once cut we place the soaps on trays, then on ventilated shelves, where it cures for at least 3 weeks before we wrap it to sell.
We wrap the soap by hand. Each bar is wrapped in ecologically sustainable Thai mulberry paper, then labeled with a recycled paper band. You've probably noticed we color code our soaps: each variety has its own specific color paper.

Wrapping Lemon Shea Butter soap

Our soap shop has evolved a lot over the years. Starting by making soap in our kitchen, our original shop was built from trees we fell and milled ourselves (5 big buggy Douglas fir that were dying).
We outgrew that in a few years and expanded it into the shop we have today.




Here is a quicky version of the photo tour we have on our website:

Our kettles, lye station & manufacturing area

Where we wrap & label the soaps, etc.

The curing room with our renewable energy power wall

With over 30 years of soap making experience, it is our pleasure to provide you with the finest natural organic soaps. It makes us even happier to be able to do it in the most environmentally conscious way we know how. To learn more about our business and philosophy, please see 'About Us'.