Product Review: Monica's Cococastile Soap

Confession: I love bars of soap! Whether I'm having a bad day or rewarding myself, pulling out a new fragrant bar of soap really hits the spot.

Image: Monica's Cococastile Soap

One day at the farmer's market, I saw a table full of soap and immediately proceeded to 'oooh' and 'ahhh' over the pretty colors and lovely smells. Monica, who makes the soaps, took the opportunity to give me a sample of her oatmeal bar. She explained that her soaps are all natural and can be used as shampoo and for shaving too. I was very skeptical of these additional claims, but I decided to keep an open mind.

I first tried it on my face and body. It was wonderful! My skin felt clean and soft, and even after a hot shower, there was no tightness. Then I tried shaving with it. This was a little less successful as the oatmeal soap has little bits of exfoliating oatmeal that got stuck in the razor. So I went out and got her Bay Rum scented soap, which is smooth with no additional bits. I gave it another try, and it worked great. The shave is not as smooth as with shaving cream, but I like the soap as a quick, natural alternative that doesn't leave rust rings in the bath tub.

Finally, I had to try the shampoo claim. I seriously did not think it would work. I have fine, curly hair that is unruly and addicted to conditioner. But Monica said that she did not need conditioner with her soap, so I just shampooed and let it dry naturally with no product. Let me tell you, I was shocked. While my hair still had some frizz, it was so soft and the curls got tighter and... curlier! For not having conditioned or added any product, my hair looked great.

I like Monica's Cococastile Soap so much that it has kind of ruined other bars of soap for me. While I still enjoy opening up a fun, new bar of soap, I find myself using it for only a couple days before I put it away and pull out Monica's soap. My favorites are Oatmeal, Bay Rum and Patchouli-Ylang Ylang. I highly recommend trying them out for yourself.

The Details

Ingredients: olive oil, coconut oil, fragrance, food grade dyes, and natural essential oils.

Price: $5.50 for 6 oz bar

Availability: online at http://www.etsy.com/shop/SoapmakerMonica, and locally in Gainesville (Ward's Citizen's Co-Op, Union Street Farmer's Market on Wednesdays)

DIY Diary: Back To The Drawing Board With Paste Deodorant

A few months ago, I wrote about my first experiment with homemade deodorant. After using it with great success for about three months, I started noticing my underarm skin was feeling sensitive. It was nothing visible, but I quit using the deodorant for a couple weeks to let my skin go au naturale. My boyfriend didn't have any problems with it until we traveled to Miami for a hot, Christmas holiday with my family. The deodorant melted in transport, but he continued to use it unaware that it had probably gone bad by this point. It started irritating his skin too, so finally it went in the trash. We both took breaks from deodorants for a few days.

In the mean time, I went back to the drawing board. Since I felt irritation first, I figured the deodorant must have been going bad before the Great Melt. I reviewed the recipe, which included only three things that I haven't used before for skin care: bentonite clay, juniper berry essential oil and cypress essential oil. I switched out the bentonite clay for white clay, added some oatmeal flour, and reduced the concentration of essential oils. I also added rosemary essential oil to help better preserve the deodorant paste.

The initial results are promising. The color is more reminiscent of commercial deodorants. The texture is nicer with the addition of the oatmeal, a little less oily with a little more firmness. The scent is nice and light. The first batch was good, but it ended up being a little too fragrant for my taste.

One drawback to our testing is that we are using a jar container and scooping up the paste with our fingers. I haven't found a good online vendor for deodorant tubes yet, so for now I will take advantage of our application method to test the deodorant's shelf life.

We've used it for two days with regular pit checks to test for effectiveness. So far so good...