I think I'm addicted to soap.

A final review of the products I've ordered in the past will be posted soon. I had combined them, but well it made for a very very long post...

I'm not quite out of what I've already ordered yet, but that didn't stop me from stocking up for the future (I think I might have a problem. At least this one encourages good hygiene).

Although I was super happy with Praireland Herbs, I wanted to branch out and try a new place.

This time, I went with Chagrin Valley. I didn't order from them the first time, because their website is incredibly confusing, and it was nearly impossible to figure out shipping charges. (This time around, the website was slighlty less confusing- because I spent more time on it, but shipping charges are still a mystery. They have lots of different shipping methods, but only flat rate is affordable. They say if something won't fit in flat rate, they just remove it from your order, no contact about changing shipping or removing something else. This chart is really important for figuring that out. Once again, finding that chart took me way more time than it probably should have. I had actually already ordered, hoping for the best, before I found it and confirmed my order was okay) Once I had it figured out, shipping was $5.70 and I ordered Monday and got these Friday

So, Chagrin Valley Soap and Craft has TONS of different products, soaps, shampoos, lotions, and lots of other bath and body products. Google them, and there are tons of great reviews, I was eager to try them.


Look at the adorable packaging- no plastics here! Just good for the environment paper bags. (Which was a little nerve wracking since this came in the pouring rain. It didn't seemed to have affected the product though the outside package was a little wet.)

After much deliberation, I got 3 soaps and 3 shampoo samples. Let's talk about the soaps first. They are all priced differently, likely based on ingredients and popularity.
I got: Honey Butter, Chocolate and Almond, and Peppermint Twist. (Also in the picture, shampoo samples, and solid lotion)

Honey Butter- $7.15
The Honey Butter is for Kevin's dry skin (though with winter almost over, it might not be an issue). He stole my LUSH "Honey I washed the kids" and I was hoping this would give him similar results, LUSH is just too expensive. The ingredients show lots of rich skin softeners. All of the soaps have "filtered rainwater" as one of their ingredientsl I just love that. Sadly, palm oil is in all of them, but no chemical ingredients.

There is not much of a scent at all (though my dog seems to think there is, she has been trying to eat this one in particular since it got into the house!) However, since I bought this one with Kevin in mind, I think that’s a good thing. The Old Spice commercials tell me that I prefer a gajillion to one for my man to smell like the guy riding the horse backwards and not like a girl; I’m confident this soap won’t make him smell like a girl. (Also- weirdest commercials ever.) This soap is labeled 6.5-7.5 oz Handcut Wt, and weighed 7.1 ounces when I weighed it. I think it’s not fully cured though, because when I cut it for a slice for the shower, it was a) very easy to cut and b) a totally different inside color than outside color. I’m a bit disappointed by this, because soft soaps that aren’t fully cured will melt faster, and also lose weight by the curing process.

Chocolate Almond- $7
This soap I bought just because it is BEAUTIFUL. So pretty. I think handmade soap should look like this. It has a very very strong Almond Oil smell, not really chocolately at all, it reminds me of baking cookies (which is weird because I don't make almond cookies). I’m really excited about this one, and it went into the shower first. The weight on this one was 6.6 ounces.

Peppermint Twist- $7
This one I bought because I am a peppermint nut. It’s such an invigorating scent for a morning shower. And well, it smells just like peppermint. Not sure what the twist is :) Looking at the ingredients, the twist must be the bits of rosemary. Kind of funny because when my older rosemary shampoo almost ran out I combined the pieces with my older peppermint ones. It was like a peppermint pizza! This doesn’t smell like that at all. (The Rosemary nettle soap always made me think of pizza). The weight of this was 6.6 oz

Slight Disappointment
I know I’m crazy for weighing all my soaps. The website makes huge claims about how big their soaps are (and they are! Most places sell 3 or 4 ounces soaps) Of course, because they are hand cut, they aren’t exact. The website and packaging says they will be between 6.5-7.5 ounces, and of course, they all are. However, I’m a bit disappointed because they are all on the low end. I know they didn’t cheat me at all, but I wish they were higher on the range. Because of the ease of cutting, and the two color issue of the one soap, I don’t think these are fully cured yet- so they are going to lose more weight. Still, the price was good, and I am very happy overall.

Shampoo Samples.
I got 3 shampoo samples. Those are the smaller bars in the picture. Café Moreno (2.0 oz of a coffee/cinnamon smell- it’s supposed to help darken hair), Babassu & Marsh Mallow (2.1 oz and I can’t even describe this one… it was the marshmallow that sold me), and Extra Honey Beer & Eggs (1.4 oz of a sweet smell, described as their most popular). These samples are a great value $2.60 each, and I imagine they’ll last a LONG time based on the life of the other bars I’ve used. (These are about half the size of those- so at least a month each…)

And more
I also ordered a solid lotion $5.50. It comes in a tin and smells of sweet sweet mango. (Which it should! It’s called Hemp Mango Mint) This is smaller than I thought it would be, but I love the smell. I got this because I loved the LUSH massage bar, but not so much the smell. I’m not sure if this will be a good substitute or not.

Reviews to come when I actually use the products!!!