Soap Works Soap Bars

It makes me a little crazy when folks who want to go green with their household cleaners and body care products tell me there is nothing available to them. Here in Victoria, we have many local soap specialists who create safe and effective products that are 100% natural and good for both the body and the earth.

What I do understand though is the notion that the green cleaners in your average shopping aisle might not be all they seem. Green washing was a term that was explained to me by local Victoria cleaners Green Wheel Cleaners (see article here) and is a marketing term given to products that bombard us with all the right words ‘natural’, ‘green’, ‘eco friendly’, whilst really being anything but.

This is where the smaller health focused soap and cleaning product stores step in.

I was recently in a local health food store that was selling Soap Works products. I found about 30 bars of soap each for just over $2. I felt like I’d struck gold – each bar was gluten free (their oatmeal and goat milk soaps are not) and each was aimed at a specific skin type. I wanted to buy a bar for each of my friends I was so thrilled, but that’s like going into the giant dollar store… before you know it you’re spending $50 and waved bye-bye to any hope of thriftiness. I just chose two bars that I thought would work for my family. These were Sea Kelp and Bee Pollen, both all round skincare soaps. It’s true I’m easily excited by new discoveries, but these soaps are by far the best, most effective and gentlest soaps I’ve used. Take a look at their website puresoapworks for a list of all their soaps.

The Soap Works, like many specialist soap stores was created to find a solution to sensitive skin. Based in Toronto, this soap is available all over Canada and also online – their site will give you a list of where to buy near you.

Here in Victoria we also have The Soap Exchange. I reviewed their hair care products for VictoriaMom.ca – click link for article. The Soap Exchange supplies 100% biodegradable products for the body and home. As well as having a store, they also distribute their wares all over B.C. They offer reusable packaging making them even greener. If I could have a dollar for every time a fellow mom recommended a cleaning product from The Soap Exchange, I probably could buy that bar of soap for each of my Facebook friends.

The products I hear about the most are for carpets. That’s because us moms are forever worrying about our dirty carpets and the horrifically toxic products we’re meant to clean them with. Their Carpet Clean is a fantastically tough product whilst still being gentle on the environment and their Enzymes product is one of the best odour eaters on the market, great if you have potty training age kids like I do and/or pets.

For those of you not local to B.C., there is The Rocky Mountain Soap Company, a chain of natural soap selling stores that you can find all across Canada. For a list of their stores, see our link here: The Rocky Mountain Soap Company Stores. This place has everyday-use soaps and body care products as well as beautiful gift ideas.

Similar and currently local to B.C. are Jordan River Soapworks – some of the most eye catching packaging I’ve seen, Nezza Naturals – offering body care and raved about home care products and Saltspring Soapworks – easily the widest and most varied array of natural artisan soap products ever known!

So as you can see, we here in Victoria have a lot of choice when it comes to making safer choices when cleaning our house, home and family.

But what about those farther afield….friends of Used.ca in far off places i.e anywhere over the water! Where do you buy your natural soaps? Let us know so that we can share with our readers and take a look ourselves!