True Soap vs Synthetic

As usual business was slow during the winter months. Sometimes painfully slow when everyone is suffering the effects of rapidly declining economy. And face it. Our product is not one that most would consider to me a necessity. Most who do not know the health benefits of using naturally handmade bath soap consider it to be a luxury item that gets pushed to the back of the budget in these economic times.

Let's examine some of the reasons to consider handmade soap a regular commodity to be added to your normal shopping regimen.

NO DETERGENTS OR SYNTHETICS

These days the majority of commercial bar soap and most all liquid soap found on store shelves are actually synthetic detergents. According to the FDA, it no long fits the definition of "true soap".

NATURAL SKIN HYDRATING GLYCERIN

As is the way of big business, commercial soap manufacturers found a way to make and sell two products from one. When soap is made a natural occurrence is the formation of Glycerin; a humectant. One molecule of glycerin is created for every three molecules of soap. So commercial soap manufacturers remove the glycerin, replacing it with synthetic ingredients. They then sell off the beneficial glycerin to pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies. Thus making double the profits from one original product. It's quite brilliant.

QUALITY CONTROL

Most handmade soap is made is smaller batches. Any where from 5 lbs to 50 lbs at a time. As opposed to thousands if not millions of pounds at a time. By making smaller batches it is much easier to control the process from mixing of oils, to molding, unmolding, cutting, etc. You can rest assured that your handmade soap was "supervised" from start to finish.

PASSION

Yes, I said passion. Handmade Soapmakers are passionate about their skill. Not only do they take classes and stay abreast of the lastest in handmade soapmaking technology. But they love what they do. Yes, one can make a decent live at it. But few do it just to make a living. I've been a soapmaker for 13 years, and soapmaker that I've met is passionate about his (yes their are men in this industry) or her skill. They just plain enjoy making soap. Learning new methods such as "Funnel" soapmaking. Yep, pouring various colors of soap through a funnel into your mold so as to achieve a certain design in the out coming cut bars of soap.

SUPPORT

So you can buy synthetic detergent bars or bottled liquid in the store. But your just not going to get the love and passion, and energy put into a wholesome, healthy, beautiful bar of handmade soap full of skin hydrating glycerin like you would if you purchased some great handmade soap from a skilled, passionate Soapmaker at your local Farmer's Market. Or do a web search for Soapmaker in your area. Or go to The Soap Guild and look for a Soapmaker in your state. Be patriotic. Please support local small business and buy MADE IN THE USA!

And if you live in the Greater Spokane, WA area come see us at the Community Roots Farmer's market every Sunday from 11 am till 4 pm at 2015 N. Division St. Mention This article and our Blog and receive a 10% discount on your purchase!

New Soaping Technique - Funnel Soaping

So, one of the newest thing in techniques (new to me anyway), is called Funnel Soaping. It is a method by which you pour your thinly traced cold process soap into your mold through a funnel.

After you are done pouring it appears as the above photo, revealing a series of concentric circles. The end result should be something like these.



These are two batches of absolutes gorgeous funnel soaps made by Shawna of Body Luxe. Breath-taking!
Clearly she has had some practice.

Mine on the other hand, did not result in such a beautiful display of talent. Instead, this is what I got after cutting.



Such a disappointment this was for me. I'm told that it is difficult to get the same results as Shawna (concentric circles) from a log mould, which is what I use. And I'm told that first attempts quite often come out exactly like this. So, I will keep at it. And maybe try a few different kinds of moulds. I'm thinking maybe a deep round silicon cake pan since I don't have a slab mold. Now that might yield something interesting.

At any rate, you will see this batch on the website after it has finished drying. It will be listed under the Silk & Shea category - Moonbeams & Magick :)

5 Days of Friendship- Daily Drawing Winners

This Blog post will be a ongoing update of winners from our Daily Drawings.
2/9/09 Monday Grand Prize Winner Announced!!
We have a tie! Waiting for one more Valhalla Tribe member to read entries and break the tie. Will report back soon :)

2/8/09 Sunday 5 pm
Cynthya P. and her friend Thelma won tonight's drawing which will be 2 bars of soap from our Limited Edition Collection yet TBD.

2/8/09 Sunday 9 am
Denise M. D. and friend Debra won this morning's drawing which will be 2 bars of soap from our Limited Edition Collection yet TBD.

2/7/09 Saturday 5 pm
Deborah B. and her best friend her Sister won tonight's drawing which will be 2 bars of soap from our Limited Edition Collection yet TBD.

2/7/09 Saturday 9 am
Jennifer H. and friend Carrie won this morning's drawing which will be 2 bars of soap from our Limited Edition Collection yet TBD.


2/6/09 Friday 5 pm
Debbie S. and friend (sister) Peggy are tonight's winners. Congrat's to you both!!
Prize TBD.

2/6/09 Friday 9 am
Daphne and friend Sue are this mornings winners. Congratulations!
Prize TBD.


2/5/09 Thursday 5 pm
Frankie C. and friend Kerri are tonights winners. Each will receive a bar of Spiced Raspberry Handmade Soap from our Limited Edition Collection. Congrats!

2/5/09 Thursday 9 am
Denise D. & friend Kathlene are this mornings winners. They each will receive a bar of our "Black Magick Woman" Handmade Soap from our Limited Edition Collection. Congratulations!!

2/4/09 Wednesday 5 pm
Nicole S. & her much older friend (Nicloe left our her friends name), are tonights winners. They each will receive a bar of our popular Love Sick Handmade Soap from our Silk & Shea Butter Collection. Enjoy!!

2/4/09 Wednesday 9 am
Trystn B. & friend Diana are this mornings winners. Trystn wins a bar of Balefire Handmade Soap from our Men's Collection & and his friend Diana wins a bar of Spiced Raspberry Handmade Soap from our Limited Edition Collection. Congrats!

2/3/09 Tuesday 5 pm
Otto W & friend Mitch are the winners in our 5:00 drawing! Each wins a bar of Thorr's Thunder Handmade Soap from our Men's Collection. Congratulations!!

WINNERS: If you have not gotten an email from us, please contact us with your mailing address so we can mail your prizes to you.

Thanks for participating in our 5 Days of Friendship Contest. It's not over yet. So go tell your friends to enter!

5 Days of Friendship Contest

Happy Tuesday!
We're excited to announce our 5 Days of Friendship Contest.
Starting today and ending at 6:00 pm PST February 8, 2009 you have the chance to win Gift Certificates and Prizes for you and a friend! Here's how it works:

Go to our website and find the Contact Page (hint: a link can be found at the top of any page). Fill out the form with your name and email address, and then tell us about something about your best friend. Tell why they are special to you. What makes them unique. What is different about your friendship from anyone else's. And tell us why you and your friend should win our Grand Prize of a $50 Gift Certificate each!! That's right, if chosen, each of you will win a $50 Gift Certificate to spend towards anything at our Valhalla Soap Company webstore!
**NOTE: *Shipping on redeemed goods NOT included. Winner is responsible for shipping on redeemed goods.

Also during the 5 days we will be doing random drawings for product prizes. Winners and their friends will win product prizes all through out the 5 days of the contest.

Entries will be read by our staff, and then anonymously voted on to determine the Grand Prize winners. Winners will be announced no later than 10:00 am February 9, 2009. Winners will be notified via email. So it is very important that we have your correct email address. Fill out that contact form carefully :)

While your at the website entering the contest, be sure to check out the newest Valentine additions which can be found on the Limited Edition page on our website. Or by doing a search on our site using the keyword "valentine" .

These amazing romantic, sensual scents have proven to be very popular here in our local venues. We are confident they will be just as popular on our website.

**These are only available for the month of February. So get them will supplies last, because they won't be available again until next year.

We've also restocked the always popular Love Sick Handmade Soap for the holiday. You all know how fast it sells out so rush over quickly and pick up your bars while supplies last.

And save 14% on orders of $20 or more by entering discount code " bestfriend " at checkout! (expires 2/15/09)

That's all for now. Have a great day! And good Luck in our 5 Days of Friendship Contest!

Blessed Be,
Matt, Donna & The VSC Tribe

New Additions for Valentines Day

Just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know that today we added 4 new Valentine's Day Soaps which can be found in the Limited Edition section of our website. Or by doing a search on our site using the keyword "valentine" .

These amazing romantic, sensual scents have proven to be very popular here in our local venues. We are confident they will be just as popular on our website.

These are only available for the month of February. So get them will supplies last, because they won't be available again until next year.

We've also restocked the always popular Love Sick Handmade Soap for the holiday. You all know how fast it sells out so rush over quickly and pick up your bars while supplies last.

That's all for now. Have a great day!

Inventory Clearance Sale!!

Valhalla Soap Company is Shifting Gears!!

Over the next few months you will see lots of changes take place. But one thing that won't change is the Superior Quality you have come to know and love in our products. And the Excellent Customer Service we have provided you for more than 5 years now!

Phase 2
Today we enter into Phase 2 of the plan we told you about last week. The Inventory Clearance Sale. Beginning Today, August 21st, 2008 you will find many items throughout our site that will be at drastically Reduced or Discontinued Prices! We will continue to add more items as we continue to clear out products that we will no longer be offering in order to make room for new inventory.

Special Candle Clearance:
Be sure and check out our Sale & Discontinued Candles page. It is not linked on any of the menus. You may access it via our Blog, via the Index Page announcement or via the Site Map.

Changes you may notice:
We are committed to keeping our environment clean. And therefore are moving into a greener packaging system for wrapping soaps. We will be phasing out the present labeling system. When the last of the "on hand" printed labels are gone, we will not be printing any more. Instead, your soaps will be nicely wrapped as always in 100% recycled tissue paper affixed with a product label. Ingredient information can be found on our website listed under the various soap categories. New and improved "greener" labels will be introduced in Phase 3 the last and final Phase of our "Re-Birth"

You will notice that some categories on our site no longer have any products in them. This is because we have already sold out of these products, or we are not producing any of these products until after the final phases of our "Re-Birth".


We ask that you bare with us during this transition. We promise that when the dust settles we will be "new & improved", and better able to serve your needs. Thank you for continued support.

Blessed Be,
Matt & Donna

New Shopping Experience

If you've noticed that things have looked kind of sparse around the 'ole Valhalla website, well....you'd be right. We haven't done any updating since the holidays. That's because we have been very busy upgrading to a new shopping cart. We are very excited to be able to offer our customers a new, more efficient shopping experience.

With you register your new account, you can now take part in various services we were preciously unable to offer you. Some of these services include:

Permanent Cart - Any products added to your online cart remain there until you remove them, or check them out. This is a handy feature in case you get interrupted, or bumped offline.

Address Book - We can now deliver your products to another address other than yours! This is perfect to send birthday, Secret Pal, or other Holiday Gifts direct to the giftee themselves.

Order History - Can't remember the name of that great bar of soap, or the scent of that luscious lotion you ordered last time? Just look it up! View your history of purchases that you have made with us.

Products Reviews - Share your opinions on products with our other customers. When you share a review of a product that you have used in the past, we will send you a Coupon Code good for 10% off your next order.

Create Your Own Package Deals - Now you can save money and time by putting together you own packages. Select soap pages have matching lotions and body sprays right there at a discount on the same page. No need to wander all over the site looking them.

We've also added a few new soaps and are trying to get pictures done to get up on the site. So stop by and check out the new digs. For a limited time, when you Register with our new site, we will email you a Coupon Code good for 10% your first purchase.

Drop us line telling us what you think of the new shopping cart. We'd love to hear your thoughts. And don't forget to Register to get that 10% off coupon.

Blessings!!