Creating Healthy Soap Free of Toxins
Whether you are cleaning your clothes or washing your hands, it’s reassuring to know the ingredients being used to generate cleanliness. These thoughts are what prompted Julie Chicoine to pursue soap making in 2009.
“While raising our family, I began to understand the potentially unhealthy ingredients in different types of soaps and wanted to find something better for our kids,” Julie remembered.
Now, 17 years later, Julie makes and sells goat milk lotions and soaps, laundry soaps, shampoo bars and other natural products from her storefront, Boji Ware Apparel and Gifts. During the summer months, she also has a weekly booth at the Farmers Market in the Park, and every September, you can find her under the grandstand at the Clay County Fair.
Already, Julie has over 500 bars of different types of goat milk soap ready for this year’s Farmers Market in the Park.
Making Goat Milk Soap
In 2018, Julie began experimenting with making soap via an old-fashioned method called cold process, where oils and lye go through the process called saponification. This chemcial reaction between the fats (oils) and the lye creates soap. She appreciates this technique because it allows her to customize and create more intricate designs.
“After a number of years of making glycerin soap, I wanted to learn a new process that is considered more old-fashioned. This process allowed me to be more in control of the ingredients going into making soap.” she added. “One of my favorite things is creating and sculpting, and I appreciate how each bar of soap looks unique and is different.”
It takes four to six weeks for a bar of soap to cure, which is why many of her soaps are already made for this upcoming summer.
“With our other custom projects in the store, much of the soap making is now done by my daughter-in-laws, Andrea and Kelsey,” Julie said.
When the ladies begin the process, they take the goat milk base and lye mixture and add different oils like shea butter, olive oil, coconut oil, etc. Some soaps have scents such as lavender, citrus blends and floral. All soap products are paraben and sulfate chemical free.
After the different parts have been mixed together, it is poured into a loaf mold where it sits for at least 24 hours. Then it is cut and cures for four to six weeks. She said the longer it sits the better soap it becomes.
“When you are pouring it in, it is pudding consistency. Some soaps harden super fast and you don’t have time to sculpt, but most of the time you are allowed to sculpt and add creativity,” Julie added.
They make soap with charcoal, natural luffas, oatmeal soap for sensitive skin, pumice soap and shampoo bars. Her favorite soap products are made with freshly-picked lavender grown at her friend Wendi’s Sunset Lavender farm in Traverse City, Michigan. “We use Wendi’s Sunset Lavender oil in our goat milk soaps & lotions and laundry soap. We also sell the fresh lavender bundles, straight from her farm, in our store,” Julie said.
Besides goat milk soap, the ladies make whipped soap in a variety of scents as well as lotions, shower steamers, bath bombs, and lip balm.
Laundry Soap
Several years ago, Julie began experimenting with the creation of laundry soap. She launched the product commercially this past spring and it took off quickly. Made with only four ingredients, the laundry soap uses no toxic chemicals, and people have commented after use that their whites are whiter and towels are lighter and fluffier.
“Your skin is your largest organ. It is so important to protect, and this is why I initially began searching for products that are toxin-free,” Julie explained.
She offers four scents in multiple sizes, including citrus, fresh, unscented, and lavender. Each load only requires one to two tablespoons, and she regularly refills containers for customers.
The laundry soap, as well as countless other products, can be found at Boji Ware Apparel and Gifts in downtown Milford or every Saturday at Farmers Market in the Park. Julie can be reached on social media, as well as bojiware2021@outlook.com or by calling (712) 363-2297.
