Paraben free and sulfate free products!

This is not meant to be a follow up to my petroleum by product blog, but hey this is what I do. I will always pick up something and read the ingredients. I stopped by a very pretty shop today, possible a well know shop and I was looking at their bags but how can I pass by the hand cream section and not pick it up. It says Hand balm, no parabens and no sulfates and it comes in such a pretty container. Flipped it over and the first word petroleum jelly followed by mineral oil, shea butter, beeswax, paraffin, etc. Why would anyone bother to advertise parabens free and sulfate free and then put in petroleum by products.

This is the reason, if there is no water in the product and you will not need to add preservatives. So do not be deceived by the claim that it does not contain parabens!

Sulfates I would affiliate it with some form of detergent, again why would you need detergent in a hand cream? So I have learn something new today. Take home message:

No water, no presertives required! So paraben free means squat!

Leave on products should not have detergent in it! So sulfate free works only if you buying something that cleans!

It infuriates me, how 'reputable' companies does such a wonderful job marketing a product when the money should really go into the product.

How to read into ingredients on labels.

I've quoted Dr Oz on my facebook page, so you should avoid any products that contain petroleum jelly and mineral oil as they are by products of the petroleum industry. Using these ingredients is equivalent to drinking gasoline. Now that is really quite frightening. Another by product that is commonly found is paraffin, which is a wax used to make candles. If you love the ambience that candles create, avoid paraffin, it is no better than smoking. If you have children, imagine what you are exposing them to.

So there are three key words to look out for when you purchase a product

1. Petroleum Jelly (think vapour rub, lipbalm)
2. Mineral Oil (commonly found in baby oil, baby liquid bath)
3.Paraffin (facial bar, note no mention of soap)

It gets a bit more complicated when you read the ingredient list when they throw in big scientific words which may be good or bad, but chances are if it is good they will put the common name in a bracket for the product eg Cocos nucifera (coconut oil). It is more important to spot what you can and just avoid that product all together.


I have spent a tiny fortune on all sorts of raw material and with all that I have, I usually can make my own products and they are not difficult. I buy mica to colour my soaps, but the same mica (cosmetic grade) can be used as an eye shadow. All I need really is a brush. Sometimes when I am in hurry I forget to pack my make-up and when I get to the airport, I'll try to get some make-up to make myself presentable for an event I maybe attending. I will be eyeing all the expensive cosmetics, knowing fully well they contain some ingredients I do not agree with. So I walk off and go into the bookstore, heading towards the teenage magazine sections. You know what they have there, a free make-up kit attached to the magazines. I feel less guilty because once I use it I will throw it away. I am starting to sound really cheap here, but to me it is more about the principle. So even though these sample cosmetics are just the right stuff I need, I can't help reading the ingredients(Paraben another story for another time). That makes me even more mad that these magazines are targeting young teens. Shame on them. Time we take control and look after our children in more than one ways, help them to start caring for themselves and google around, they will be educated much faster than we would.

Making Quinoa Milk for Soaps to come.

Lately in the supermarket, I have seen rows and rows of exotic milks. What exactly is Rice Milk? I've had rice all my life and never seen rice with an adder :). Ok, my first suspicion is that the box contain rice water, the stuff that's left over from washing our rice, now how can I justify paying for that? But I was totally wrong, there is a soap making channel on you tube call Soaping 101 and rice milk is more plain porridge. 4 cups of water and 1 cup of rice, cooked, grind and possibly filtered. I am definitely not paying for that!

I did buy the almond milk and the listed ingredient is mostly water (including 7% Almond, agava (sweetener)and corn maltodextrin. I'm ok with the ingredients but of course making it yourself you'll probably could do without the corm Maltodextrin (my son is allergic to corn) and it will be fresh, fresh, fresh. Practically like milking your own vegetarian cow!

Quinoa is so exotic, I've never heard of it. I did a little research on it and it has been hailed as the as a food with "high nutritive value," impressive biodiversity, and an important role to play in the achievement of food security worldwide and declaring 2013 as "The International Year of the Quinoa." It is interesting that this seed has anti-inflammatory properties and also has a fat content. It can only make a great milk for our soap, so starting to love it even before adding to our soap. Why did I decide to go with Quinoa? I've heard hempseed heart milk makes a great milk soap but let's face it, buying hemp hearts is not going to be easy specially with our anti-drug law. I can almost hear you guys who uses hempseed heart on a regular basis screaming "it has no hallucinogenic effect!" and it does look like crispy cereal from the photos. Perhaps when hempseed heart is better known and readily available in my organic shop I will use it.

Making the Quinoa Milk reminds me very much like making soy milk. It used to be such a treat when my mum makes homemade soy milk. This cereal seems to absorb a lot of water (used distilled water for soap sake) and admittedly I did burn the first batch! NOT TO DO: Do not grind the quinoa in the pot and then decide to put it back to the stove to see if you can get it softer! I kept it like I would with making rice porridge, without letting it dry out and cooking under very low heat. Once everything looks soft, I pureed (using blender in circular motion) the cooked quinoa and let it cooled. With soy milk, it is very trick. During the cooling process, it may ferment and turn solid with a nasty ordor. So I was a bit worried with the Quinoa milk but thank goodness it cooled without any problem. I double filtered and squeezed the milk out with a muslin cloth. I don't think the residue will be scratchy when I turn it to soap but after all that work, I wasn't going to risk it. Those of you who makes oatmeal soap will know that the unfiltered colloidal oatmeal may be scratchy when added to soaps. So this is step one to our Triple Avocado milk soap.

Hobbit's Feet

I have always been conscious of my feet, perhaps more the sole of my feet. I went out with the girls to get our medi and pedi in Bangkok, land of affordable medi and pedi. It was awesome, everyone sort of shut down and went into a zen state under the skilful masseur's hands. When we all woke up, there was this huge pile of dead cells and I felt I had set a record for the feet least looked after. The Thai ladies also 'oo' and 'ahh' about the pile and all my gf just looked in horror. This plagued me for years, my hubby wanted silk sheets which sounded rather sexy. Then we got into bed, all I could hear was my rough feet scratch against the silk, and catching on the silk....it was aweful. I couldn't sleep with my feet in that condition. Hopped out of my bed, I took out my handy file and I think I must have spend an hour getting it into better shape or maybe I was just too tired and put on a pair of socks. Those silk sheets never saw light again. I'm really quite comfortable bare feet and running on hot tar road, on cement floors and I have feet my mum calls duck feet they are rather spread out but I thought they gave me better balance, not! Cos I am always falling over. So fast forward, my 14 year old son calls me a hobbit. Yep, the one thing I did remember about the hobbit from the book was the feet. Don't quote me but the impression was thick leathery feet with hairs. And they don't need to wear shoes. Hmmm, there are some resemblance. You can see my collection of files, scrappers, pumice and I have more somewhere. They give instant relief but those sneaky callous does grow back with a vengeance if they are cut too deep. Need I mentioned crack feet (apparently its my love of walking on hot tar road that causes the cracked feet) And what about those plantar warts, thank goodness I don't have them but I heard the removal of them is excruciating and they grow back! I've 'googled' them and some looked like a tree branch or those stalitites and stalamites. It just horrific what happens to our soles. I for one, would like to have my baby soft feet back and bravely venture into silk sheets. Pamper your feet today. I think a gentle continuous scrub with a pumice or our pumice/coffee/himalayan pink salt works quite nicely. Shame it is black but the coffee will deodorize any foot odour. We are looking for something more scrubby, at the moment our pumice soap feels heavy, which I like, but I would like to add more scrubbiness to our pumice soap. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated. The foot balm, we love. I think I can see result in just 2 days. But I think I prefer it a bit more waxy (so back to the drawing board). My dead skin feels softer and it is easier to remove and I don't have that dry flaky look anymore. Share with us a story and if you like to join us in our quest to get rid of your hobbit feet, we can help with our feet balm and pumice soap kit. Contact us at feet.soapparadise@gmail.com To qualify you need to take a photo of your feet and remember only the hobbit ones will qualify. We will give you the balm and soap but unfortunately we CANNOT pay for the postage. For local residence, we can arrange a pick up. A weekly update is required and of course applying the balm once or twice daily is also required. You've got to use it, to get it to work. xxxxSoap-Paradisexxxx

Moisturisers and Lotions are coming!

We have not made moisturisers and lotions because of the issue of preservatives. Most common and versatile preservative is paraben and there are too many controversial issues regarding it. We now have a new approve preservative known as Optiphen and we are happy enough with it to start making our own moisturisers We are still at the "trouble shooting" stage...it is quite a challenge to keep oil and water together without separating! Oil being lighter sometimes will float to the top leaving the water at the bottom. Our whipped moisturiser has a wonderful texture and great for anyone with dry skin. We are fomulating a light version of it so for those who like "the grease free feel" about it would also be able to enjoy it.

We are using special oils including fish oils, not very pleasant smelling but it is great stuff and I have seen my son heal from taking the stuff and I don't see why applying should cause any problem. If anyone wants to follow my fish oil result I will post a weekly update on my facebook. My son suffers from leaky gut syndrome. His doctor said that he can't eat highly processed food, wheat and even those he could. eg, tomato he should avoid until his gut gets better. He has improved so much. The doctor encourages my son to use handmade soap and we pay alot for moisturisers, so my son asked me to make one for him in green apple! I think that must the first thing he has ever asked me to make. :)

Scrub those lips!

If you have dry lips like me, you can't possibly live without a lip balm. I recently (about 6 months ago) discovered the wonders of sugar scrub for lips. It removes all the dead cells (pretty close) that is on the lips and that line between the mucus layer. I do an intensive scrub once a day for a week (balm through out the day) and go down to twice a week. All these effort for.....yes a glass of red wine! I am not sure if any of you ever turn down a red wine even to go with your red meat and opt for a glass of white, I have countless times and all because that unexfoliated lips have dangling bits of dead skin leaving a strange line on my inner lips making me look like a gothic wannabe. The great thing about the sugar scrub is that it stimulates blood flow and makes your lips look plump and kissable red. Not bad way to look first thing in the morning. We selected 2 flavours Margarita, super limey fresh and Root Beer, which is also surprisingly refreshing. I think we are all tired of good old mint, we can get that from our tooth paste. A must try, it will be up on our website by next week. We are currently making lip balms to go the scrub. These tinted lip balms are delicious and leaves a slight tint to your lips making them look 'oh so natural'. We asked around and apparently full on lipsticks are no longer the rage, these tints are!

Website is finally up!!!

Hey Hey Hey.."Our Website is finally UP!" For a long time I thought my website was just a myth. It's working, check it out and we will be adding more soaps and a few new products. www.soap-paradise.com

Green Fruity Explosion

Our new favourite scent! It is fruity without being too sweet, just refreshing. We pick this scent for our solid moisturising butter bar, but if you like another scent we can always customise for you. The butter bar is absolutely devine and can be used in many ways. We recommend using it after you shower before drying up. Or if you worry about any 'sticky' feeling, just rinse it lightly. It will absorb into your skin after awhile with or without rinsing. This butter is particularly good for dry skin or areas with dry skin like cracked heels, scaly legs. It also doubles up as a perfume, and we have customers who comes back telling us their their sweat smells so fresh after exercising! Stay moisturise and stay fresh!

New Soaps

We have created a new range for you to select. They are now more streamline and easier to hold. We recommend that you scrub once a week, detoxify twice week and use a regular moisturising soap for everyday shower to keep your skin in tip-top condition. Each bar of soap is $7.90 but if you buy 3 bars it will only be $20.

Lavender Essential Oil

Love it hate it, it has been hailed as the oil that heals burn, bites and has a calming effect. We do not toy with essential oils, they deserve big respect because if you do not what you are doing there will be side effects. Lavender essential oil is one of those oils that can be directly applied to the skin safely. We used to be a big fan of Lavender because it smells amazing, now we just believe in it's healing power. It will never be excluded from our collection simply because it is awesome!

Combined with our aloe glycerin soap with added calendular extract, this makes it our ultimate healing soap. Aloe is great for sunburn and calendular is simply great for your skin.

Put your biasness aside, this is a great soap to keep just in case. For lavender lovers, this is your ultimate combination. Perfect for shower before hitting the sack, it will soothe you and put you in slumberland in no time. (Photos coming up)

Website update first time ever!

Second week of September we embark on a new journey with our website designer Isabellla. She is talented and she has done a soap website before. Trust me, a website is not just a website, it has specific use for specific product. We think we have found our magician and we are right! It is a long journey but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is finally ready and live, but we just have to fiqure out how to remove "Soap Paradise coming soon". Go in and click on the site, you will see what we have. We might need to tweak it but with all new things, there will be things we have missed and please feel free to write to us and give us feedback. Anything you have to say will be looked into. We are very excited and many thanks go to people who have helped, taught me, Xek, Jace, Elsie, Isabella, Vicky, my hubby and my sister, Arlene who has always given me the best constructive feedback. The site may be live but we are taking a week break with family. If you make a purchase, things may be slightly delayed but a free gift will be added for your patience.

Vegan Products

While all our products are not made from animal fat, we like to define vegan (khoser, preferrably) product. The strict rule to vegan product means we do not use any form of animal product like animal milk, yoghurt to beeswax. We do carry them but they will be indicated as non-vegan. We are not about to let anyone miss out on a milk product. Coconut milk, soya milk, almond milk are some examples of products we are going to be introducing to our line of soaps. Beeswax can be substitude with vegetable wax like candilla wax, macadamia wax to name a few.

Our website is on the way and if you see not vegan, they simply mean dairy products like goat's milk, yoghurt and honey (although we are not sure the status of honey) are used in the our product. Our pick of the month would be our yoghurt soap, they do make our soap extra mild and we love them to bits. To date, they keep well up to 6 months but we will keep you update on the shelf-life of the yoghurt soap.

New products to look forward to

We have pledge to you that we will use preservative free and detergent free products until we find a safe alternative to use as a preservative.

Things high on our list:

Sugar lip scrub - totally awesome! Before brushing your teeth (yes we think well scrub kissable soft lush lips ranks higher than hygiene) take a tiny ball of the sugar scrub, pucker up and work around the lips as far in as you can. THe scrub removes unsightly dead cells and puts circulation back into your lips, Angie eat your heart out and botox free as well. Rinse and proceed to brushing your teeth.

Sugar Balm that matches the scrub - now further pamper your precious lips with our sheer lip balm made of shea goodness and cocoa butter. They are can be tinted, flavoured, sweeten, or not. You have a choice. If you prefer a glossy look, let us know. We are happy to oblige. Always use your balm to lock in the moisture.

Solid Body Balm - This is a perfect product. After your shower and dry yourself, apply a coat on top of your skin to lock in the moisture, It has wonderful shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut and beeswax and nothing suspect, just pure goodness. It is great for after shaving ladies and we are looking into lavender essential oil skin saver balm. (helps with bites, mild rash and sooths the skin) Neem balm is being evaluated, so we will have to get back to you about that. Citronella, a natural mosquito repellants. Easy to apply container and gentle enough for children who loves playing outdoors.

Completely natural, and makes a wonderful deep lock in moisturiser. We do offer them in other fragrances, so if you are interested to try do write to us Jocelyn.SoapParadise@gmail.com

Soap drainers and lather

We are really greatful for all the wonderful feedback and suggestions you have given us. How else could we give you a product that you like. This video answers two questions we sometimes get, where can we get a soap drainer? Well, we now carry it, so there is no need for you to run around. We do make soap that does not lather as well and we do it just because the soap is soo gentle and the oil and butters that goes into it is so wonderful we carry it as part of our soap line.

The mesh that we sneak into your purchase will help with any lathering issue. Enjoy this video we made just for you.

Enlightement, a state of awareness

We have fallen in love with this fragrance, it is a deep yet clean scent with so many facets. It brings sheer joy, awakens the senses and with each sniff more hint of intriguing notes come through. It is a complex fragrance brilliantly blended utilising both wonderful essential oils and perfume oils to create sheer Nirvana. This is a keeper for us and it correctly makes it's debut on Mother's Day. Who deserves a slice of happiness then our beloved mum who loves us for who we are.

Note: These soaps are best use after the 23rd May, 2011

Ingredients:Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Palm shortening, salt, distilled water, sodium hydroxide, micas and EO/FO blend

Luxurious Line: Victorian Tea Rose

Smells so wonderfully fresh! We have certainly found our perfect perfumer. Love how the fragrance just sticks. Soap will be available in 4 to 6 weeks time. We love giving our soap extra curing time because we get a harder bar and that will mean your soap will last longer in the shower.

Ingredients: Extra Virgin Olive Oil,Coconut oil, Palm Shortening, salt, purified water, sodium hydroxide, skin safe fragrance oil only and mica.

Luxurious handmade soap : Adore Irene cupcakes

Our Fresh Neem

Our distributor, Constance is one of the sweetest lady I know!  She really likes the neem soap and she uses it for herself and her family.  She has the biggest heart and shares all her experience with anyone she feels if the neem soap may help them.

I had the biggest surprise when she sent over, through her brother Simon, my first ever batch of fresh Neem and it was a large batch.  We took off the stem and gave it a good soaked and dried in our food dehydrator.  After quite a few hours, the leaves had turned crispy but the colours have remained green unlike the ones I ordered from overseas.  That is how fresh our neem infused oils will be...and we will all be able to enjoy the benefits of fresh neem thanks to  Constance!

Dried Neem, so fresh it is still Green!

We infused our neem leaves in Extra Virgin oil, for probably a few months


Our last batch of Neem Oil Soap did very well and some people have written in to tell us how it helped them with their eczema.  It doesn't really cured the eczema but the 'itchiness' has decreased by at least 70%.  Constance had more testimonals from her people who used the soap.  We will put up a list of testimony to help you select what  might interest you.

Once the oil is infused, we will have a larger batch of neem oil soap available in our website.  Do look out for it, in a about 3 months time.  Will keep you updated!

Handmade soap "Cutie Pies"

Handmade Glycerin Soaps