From the Soap Shed-

I make my apologies to everyone.  I am afraid that between running off to the USA in November to visit family and getting ready for Christmas back here at home, I didn’t give myself enough time to make the last Newsletter.  (Note, New Years Resolution No. 1… Write my newsletter articles early!)

 So we wish everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year and on with the story…

Innovation @ Moon Haven: One of the fun things we do when making soap, is coming up with new ideas, new scents and new products.

Sometimes we decide on a name first to fit in with a theme… ala “Christmas Spice”, and then we do some R&D to come up with colours and scents to match, but most usually we have a flash of an idea first… we develop it… work on the formulation and experiment until we get the effects we want and then it’s a matter of finding the best scent combination for the product which best matches what we are trying to achieve… and finally find a  name best describes what it does (which gets a little silly sometimes, but that is fun!).

The Salt Soap Concept: Take our new salt soap, I know the idea of a salt soap sounds weird but it is a fantastic concept.  It’s a hard, long lasting bar that treats the skin softly, almost like a lotion bar.  The concept is quite fascinating.   If you are familiar with water softeners, these are systems designed to take the hardness out of water with high mineral content.  The prime ingredient used for years has been ordinary salt.  So the idea of a salt bar is a soap that actually softens the water as the soap is being applied to your skin.  Using a bar of salt soap on your body is an unbelievably silky experience, which truly leaves your skin feeling so soft and smooth. 

Product Development Moon Haven Style: First thing we did was some research on the best mix of oils to use and how to best combine them. We were looking to ensure that the skin was cared for while giving a unique experience to the user. As a result of our research and development we have created our fantastic salt laden soap. It’s a bit tricky to make, hardens unbelievably quickly and can be quite difficult to cut.  We are still deciding on the varieties to make, but the initial results are great and the new bar should be on our shelves within a week or so.

Of course we needed to come up with a scent to match so Leonie ran off to her secret laboratory and a short time later came up with the perfect blend of essential oils to really match the soap - think of a visit to the spa and sauna with their invigorating and characteristic eucalyptus/herbal scents.

Colour??  Well to tell the truth, we thought the bare bar looked great without colour… a slight sparkle of the salt crystals was perfect as far as we are concerned. 

Exciting Results: When we made our first batch of the new salt bar,  I couldn’t wait to try it and snagged a piece as soon as it was cut and ran off to the sink to try it! -Something I have never done before with a new soap, because I knew it was uncured and likely to be very harsh on my skin, if fact it was only hours old.  I was absolutely amazed how great it looked and felt.  So I took my piece and scampered down to the Moon Haven cottage to let Leonie and the rest of the Moon Haven Family try it.  The loved it!

Naming the Bar: Ok… so now we need to name it, Leonie is leaning towards “Spa in a  Bar”, I am thinking of how it feels and I am thinking that “Silky Soft” would be a good name… I can see a Moon Haven naming conference coming up in the next day or so, so standby for the name, but the salt bar is here to stay!! Of course if you have any suggestionson what toname the new bar just drop me a This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , we would love to hear from you.

Until next time, have a great holiday, be safe, and be good (as you can be…)

Eric of Moon Haven