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Scents and Stories…. a Woodspirits tale…
Woodspirits began as a "spirit" in a scrap of pine wood that turned into a child’s toy, and then became an herb shop, and then a bar of soap, which grew into a natural body care company that moved all around the world to bring people joy in their daily bathing ritual. Does this sound magical? It is, and there’s more…. but first the stories behind the scents and the scents themselves.
In the history of Woodspirits, there is a natural progression of soaps; the "old wise ones" are Mountain Sage, Zanzibar, Windsor, Frankincense and Myrrh, Marco Polo, Lavender, Lamb Cakes, Kamikaze and Lemon Geranium.
Newer scents are Amber, Phome, Barley Bath, Lapis, Pacific Mist, Portuguese Breakfast, Savon D’ete, Sea Weed Scrub, The Sun and the Sky, Salad Bar, Formula #7 and Rose Quartz.
The newest are Surrender, The Mud Cakes Collection; [Mud Ripple, Spirulina Groove, Double Dip], Sweet Cheeks, Almond Flip and the other soaps in the Woodspirits Café, Biscotti and Carob Smoothy.
Salt Scrubs were added in 1995, which brought our company into the "big time" as we then had opened the door with other body care products. Soon came an expansion of the Formula #7 line. We added a powder and lotion, cologne and candles to the mix. Formula #7 was our first "stand alone" line designed for department stores and upscale salons and spas. In 1999 our daughter was married and I developed a scent for her wedding, which soon entered our line as Surrender to Summer. The latest step was to create 14 colognes based on our most popular scents. You can see that since 1988, we have been very busy indeed, and the years before that, since 1978, we have been working with herbs, natural medicines, essential oils and natural healing, all to bring us to this place of botanical body care named Woodspirits.
We are listing the scents in alphabetical order to make it easy for you to find what you would like.
A note on natural colors, scents, and ingredients:
We do not use synthetics, which are longer lasting since there are no natural processes to break down synthetics. We metabolize our food in a natural process, but cannot process synthetics, which are a cause, some feel, of modern diseases. We therefore believe in natural ingredients in our soaps and body care products. These nature-based products can sometimes be hard to "capture". In other words, they do not last as long as we may like when exposed to air.
Storage
Store you soap away from strong odors, as the scent may become transferred to the soap. If you have a favorite potpourri, you may want to lay an unscented soap such as Lamb Cakes on the potpourri to extract its scent.
The outer "rind" of the soap will sometimes loose its color or scent over time, but be assured that inside the soap is still fresh.
Once the soap is wet, a natural seal of glycerin covers the soap and protects it from air damage. Just like with fresh herbs, oxygen, light and heat are the processes that affect color and scent in natural products.
Ingredients
Soaps:
We use only coconut and olive oil in our soap base. They are edible. We do use an edible alcohol (Ethyl) in our 14 Woodspirits colognes, and in the Surrender to Summer and #7 colognes we use SD alcohol (specially denatured) Although we do not advocate ingesting our soaps and colognes, we feel the skin is a permeable organ and therefore the finest "food grade" ingredients should be used in making body care products.
We choose not to use Palm oil in any of our products as well. Only the most emollient oils will suit the purposes we have set forth.
Candles:
Our candles are aromatherapy quality, meaning no paraffin. We use only 100% beeswax. Help save the European honeybee, our American source for honey and wax and the all-important pollination they provide as well.
Salt Scrubs:
The Safflower oil and salt in our salt scrubs are the purest food grade available. We do not believe in using "cosmetic grade" if the item is available in food grade.
If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact us at woodspirits@earthlink.net
Air Castles:
I fell in love with Maxfield Parrish’s work in my childhood, and revived my love with the recent upsurge of interest in his work.
When a friend suggested his print "Air Castles" as a soap label, I pursued the idea and married the image with the wonderful heady scent of Litsea Cubeba. Many people refer to this scent as Verbena, which it isn’t, but Litsea could be Verbena’s twin sister. Lemony, fluffy and exuberant, this scent is very green and fruity. A great wake up in the morning scent whenever you need it. The color of the soap is of course pale yellow which is accomplished with the vitamin Beta Carotene; good for the skin, but a rather fragile pigment, so it may not be a lasting color on the exterior of the soap, however, deeper in, the color will remain fresh. Great in the kitchen to remove onion smells from hands.
Almond Flip
This soap is the centerpiece of the Woodspirits Café Collection. Made with the ever popular scent of Bitter Almond, [now actually extracted from peach, cherry and plum pits and called natural benzaldehyde] we associate this scent with familiar scents from our childhood, such as Jergen’s lotion, and the ubiquitous Maraschino Cherry [incidentally, these cherries are flavored with their own crushed pits, hence the connection with benzaldehyde] This soap is great for the kitchen as well as the bath as its scent is popular anywhere.
Amber Essence
This soap is one of our 100% olive oil soaps, very creamy, great for shaving and long lasting.
This blend named "Amber" has nothing to do with the gem Amber and is the only ‘mystery’ blend in our repertoire. A mixture of resins, blended in Northern Africa we buy this mixture, which resembles brown sugar with syrup poured over it, from an importer. Its scent is highly aphrodisiac to some, and I would describe it as warm, earthy, with a honeyed woody overtone. It smells like gold looks, hence the name Amber I would guess. Try our salt scrub and cologne in this scent for a "layering" effect. Unfortunately this resin blend does not work in a candle, as it "clogs" the wick and puts out the flame! Mysterious!
Amethyst
This bar is part of the "Gem Soaps Collection", along with Lapis and Rose Quartz. We cut our Lavender soap into chunks and pour a white base around them. It makes a lovely way to present the ever-popular scent of Lavender. We buy our lavender from various sources so there may be a change from season to season in the scent. We sometimes buy from Croatia and Bulgaria where Lavender production is still a part of the agriculture of that region.
Artica
This cool blue and white number will remind you of icebergs floating in a clear artic sea. Spearmint grown in Michigan joins a sea blue background flowing around icy white chunks to beat the heat wherever you are. This is the same spearmint oil used by Wrigley’s and other companies that use Spearmint for its refreshing flavor. It’ll make you sing in the shower for sure!
Azteca
This bar has a following! Folks who seek out this simple bar are looking for a great hair and scalp product. If your water is not terribly hard, this bar will give you soft hair and a comfortable scalp. It’s a gym bag friendly bar you can use on your hair and body as well. Great as a shaving bar as it is one of our 100% olive oil soaps. If your water is too hard to help this bar do its magic, catch some rainwater, which is always free of the minerals, which retard later. A great camping bar. You can wash everything in this one, and like all of our soap, its totally biodegradable. Safe for the environment!
Barley Bath
A simple bar with a dual purpose. Without any essential oils, this bar delivers a smooth side of pure white with barley flour for soothing skin, and a rough side for exfoliating and stimulating. The rough side is a honey brown color and contains ground fenugreek seeds, which gives this bar a mild scent of maple. A lovely graphic of a farm boy raking barley straw completes this homey package.
Biscotti
Part of the Woodspirits Café collection, Biscotti is a ‘non-munchy’ treat for the bath. We promise no calories, but a fun time in the bath. Topped with Anise seeds and scented with Sweet Fennel this bar could help you curb your appetite as these two herbs are often mentioned in Aromatherapy texts as appetite suppressants. We just think you could take a bath for lunch!
Carob Smoothy
Another Woodspirits Café partner we have re-created a popular smoothie drink for bathing. It looks like a deep chocolate drink topped with cream. You will love the spicy kick of Cinnamon, Clove and Nutmeg. As we say on the label, at the Woodspirits Café we want you to play with your food…so go ahead; rub your face in it!
Carrara
Inspired by the art of the Master carvers…
This complex blend of 10 essential oils, Coriander, Myrrh, Sandalwood, Ylang, Patchouli, Rose Geranium, Orange,
Grapefruit Peel and Bergamot offer up a sunny, fruity treat. Soft in the dry down stage and powdery at the finish, you will love this ethereal blend of nature’s more precious oils. If you have been to Tuscany in the summer, this blend will surely remind you of that time. Its look reminds one of the famous marble from that area.
Double Dip
Another double treat ‘half and half’ bar, you can cut the two halves apart if you must…But they are a dynamic duo. This scent is rich ripe and earthy. Patchouli and Balsam Peru anchor the scent with a musky rich base, while Bergamot, Ginger and Tagetes lift the scent into the present moment. A trip to a "mud" spa inspired this bar. Listen to the music of Andrea Bochelli for more inspiration.
Formula #7
Inspiration for this scent came from our formulator friend Jeanne Rose who had recently introduced us to Spikenard, that warm grounding scent from India and Pakistan. Like a soft scarf, or an ancient memory, it floats into our consciousness bringing a feeling of comfort. It's a simple blend of Spiknard, Grapefruit, Douglas Fir, and a whisper of Spearmint.
The smooth feel of this bar is aided by powdered shale, giving the bar a smooth river rock look and feel. Enjoy this bar in a long leisurely bath surrounded by its own candle. Available in powder, cologne, beeswax candles and salt scrubs too!
Frankincense and Myrrh
An old formula in our line, we developed this blend to aid in skin sensitivities, including in the blend Castor Oil for extra emoliency. The lift in this blend are the Lavender and Pettigrain notes. The anchor is furnished by the Patchouli and Myrrh scents. The scent is very Middle Eastern. The Lavender comes from the northern shores of the Mediterranean.
Ginger Dream
This bar was inspired by one of our favorite culinary spices and the history behind its use in Europe. Imagine a holiday without Ginger and Gingerbread! The bar we developed is pure white, echoing Ginger’s beautiful flowers and is topped with a piece of the dried root, just for fun! The label features a square-rigged sailing ship in a harbor in Cathay. Ginger Dream is a great warm up bar for winter too, subtly spicy.
Kamikaze
Our idea for this one came when bathing our flea-infested dogs with a Pennyroyal oil soap and deciding we didn’t much like the smell of Pennyroyal oil. So we cracked open a few books and discovered Cajeput Oil could do the same thing and smell better, especially when buffered by Cassia [cinnamon], Cedar wood, Orange and Lemon. See if you and your pets don’t agree, this is better, and the mosquitoes seem to like foraging elsewhere too! This soap is Great for camping and of course there’s a candle too. We find Kamikaze to be a more elegant outdoor candle than citronella.
Lamb Cakes
This humble bar has no added scent, but it is true that pure soap has a scent and the added lanolin, washed from sheep’s’ wool has a earthy homey scent as well. Try a bar for tender skin, or for those who wish to have their skin smell like skin! No that’s a concept!
Lapis
A gem of a soap, from our Gem Soaps Collection. Lapis has a luxurious look with 23k gold flecks topping a deep blue bar. The scent is brought about with Palmarosa Oil. Used in Aromatherapy for acne, the French used Palmarosa to adulterate costly Rose oil. There is a "Rosy" edge to Palmarosa, but I feel it is far ‘edgier’ than Rose. More refreshing, lighter, and tea-like in my nose, but a lovely scent on its own.
Lemon Geranium
If you are a gardener, smell the roses, and then smell the rose geraniums! Without the oil of Lemon Geranium available we blended the Rose Geranium oil with Lemon oil to bring about a close scent of what this might smell like…we hope they start distilling Lemon Geranium soon, then we can take what nature offers. Until then, enjoy this fresh green spring and summer scent in our soap bar, cologne and candle too. This soap looses its color quickly, so enjoy it immediately.
Marco Polo
Oh, Marco you are such a mysterious man! Where have you gone and what have you seen? More important, what smells did you find there?
Pick up an atlas and you can guess what might have been in store for Marco and those who traveled in that region. Certainly they found Sandalwood, an ancient scent, with its wood tones and sweet Oriental tang. Nutmeg from the Spice Islands, Coriander, Balsam Peru perhaps, Patchouli and Vetiver, from India’s highlands, were all in trade in Asia long before Marco arrived. We can only speculate, but even though myth and fiction abound about this legendary traveler, we know this scent works beautifully in our 100% olive oil base which makes it a favorite for shaving. A long lasting bar and fabulous cologne. Great for a man’s gift too. Isn’t that Marco on the label?
Mountain Sage
We know, for over 10 years, this bar has been a favorite of men. We have only met one man, just one, (and we think he might be teasing us) who isn’t crazy about this scent. Wild nature is captured in this blend. We think this smells like a high desert pine grove after a rain. The cologne is nice too! Can’t make it to the desert? Then fire up a candle and enjoy the scent of the desert at home!
Mud Ripple
Another "Mud Cakes Collection" member, we’ve swirled the two other members of this trio together to make a meeting of scents and colors. The Moor Mud swirls are scented with a composition of Bergamot, Tagetes, Patchouli, Balsam Peru, Ginger and Ylang. The light green swirls are infused with Bergamot and Tagetes. You have, joined here together' fruity, woody, and warm scents with a light floral/green top note. The Moor Mud is a great treat for your skin too.
Pacific Mist
Definitely a "places" scent, that transports you to the ocean’s edge, with its heady scent of Douglas Fir, Rosemary, Rose Geranium, Frankincense, Grapefruit, and Spearmint with Kelp bits, for a nice visual effect in the center!
The story behind this one relates to my first trip to the Pacific shore (I had flown over the Pacific when I was younger) but this time it was an approach on foot. What a magnificent living thing, this vast blue ocean. I will never forget my experience at Goat Rock north of San Francisco and re-experience it each time I bathe with Pacific Mist.
The scent is crisp and refreshing.
Palmarosa
This blend is fresh and clean. The base of Palmarosa, the French discovery from the Comoro Islands, a plant whose essential oil was used to "extend" precious rose oil. Aromatherapy sources site Palmarosa for acneic skin. We’ve bumped up the scent and anti-inflammatory properties with Lavender oil. Paired with green clay this bar is great for teens.
Phome
This is a great family story! My daughter was 17, my office manager (the boy next door) was 19 when they wanted to be a part of the creation process in our then young soap company. Emily suggested they create a soap.
With clipboard in hand they descended into the basement soap room…emerging hours later with their design.
" It will be called ‘Phome’ she began, "and will be blue with white bubbles on top!" We were in the kitchen at the time and I knew there were real problems with this design. At that point I had not made a blue soap, and white bubbles, how would we possibly do that? Also in the kitchen during this design dilemma was the youngest in the family, Alex then about 12, who constantly orbited around Rick and Emily. When the white bubbles idea was shot down by an incredulous me saying, "How would you get white bubbles?"
Alex interjected,
"Tapioca!"
We were all dumbstruck. Luckily, I being an old fashioned cook, we all loved Tapioca pudding and it was a staple in our kitchen, we had our white bubbles! Of course, it worked beautifully with the blue I eventually found through the kindness of Paul Penders whose body care company was using safe clay based ultramarines for their cosmetics. With the addition of Jeanne Rose’s skill with essential oil blending, "Phome" was created…. and was a hit. The original design did call for ‘bubbles on top’ and the soap was made in a laborious two-step method with a layer of white on top with lots of tapioca. This process was later abandoned for a swirl pattern with the tapioca throughout.
Emily is still very creative as an art teacher and graduate student…and Alex, is still solving problems as an engineering student! His "eureka" moment, or more correctly "Tapioca" moment hopefully won’t be his last. Rick is a great father with two kids and a budding real estate agent. Jeanne is still working with scents and Paul Penders is still continuing his kindness in the natural products field.
Thanks to their creativity we all have Phome to enjoy with its soft warm woody tones in its blend of Rosewood, Sandalwood, Rose Geranium, and Palmarosa. I still love to tickle the soles of my feet with those pearly bubbles!
Thanks everyone for a great soap!
Portuguese Breakfast
"Sweet, fruity and spicy." are the first scents that pop into your mind when you smell this marbled terra cotta bar. I’ve not been to Portugal, but imagine it might smell like this in the summer. Someone who knows should let me know! I just love the idea of having fresh squeezed Orange juice and almonds with Cinnamon Tea under an Orange tree on a terrace overlooking the tiled roofs of a small seaside village. Sounds great doesn’t it? Until we get there, let’s just imagine, and take a bath!
Rose Quartz
With a single essential oil you have a complete perfume from nature!
With Rosewood, or ‘Bois de Rose’ as the French say, you will have a full complement of spicy and woody. That’s all you need, c’est tout!
From the South American forest, this oil’s importance in commerce goes back over 200 years. Used in the perfumer’s cupboard this lovely scent is a classic. A Gem Soap Collection Member.
Salad Bar
This bar does not have an essential oil blend unique to its formula…it’s a salad of many of our other colored soaps…it will have a "changing" scent as there are many contributors here.
Sauna
This is one of our early designs and a staple to our customers. We think the combination of a spicy woodsy scent appeals to many. Think ‘Wintergreen’ but know that the scent is derived from Sweet Birch oil. Bay contributes a spicy note, as does Cinnamon. Marjoram, Basil and Rose Geranium add a green, fresh tang.
Savon d’ete
This soap was created when one of our French friends came to visit us one summer and thought this Peppermint soap was a great shower companion in our muggy Ohio summers. ‘Tis simple, but still a favorite of many who like mint. ‘Tres’ refreshing too!
Seaweed Scrub
A top seller in our line for ages. A favorite in our own family too. Its full name is "Jeanne Rose’s Super Duper Seaweed Scrub", as she indeed contributed this her first Woodspirits formula. Success!
People who love Lemon and Lavender with a hint of spice will love this one. The oat bran creates the scrub, which is confusing since the title infers the scrub comes from the seaweed. Seaweed, as you may know, when wet is very soft and smooth. Irish moss (a robust sea vegetable) is a great skin tonic. Try the candle if you like the scent.
Spirulina Groove
This one was fun to create. Using Spirulina and blue green algae
(With high protein), we wrapped this bar in a scent formula that included Bergamot, the "greenest" scent in our fruit pantry, and Tagetes, the Mexican Marigold for its "cutting edge green" allure. If you like fresh, you’ll like this scent.
The Sun and the Sky
This one has a lovely scent and a terrific story. Originally blended for a customer who didn’t pick up this formula for their own line. The card-on which the formula was written, became lost in the debris of my formulation area. The tiny amount of blend I had made as a sample haunted me in its jar for 7 years. I mourned the loss of the card, which held the secret of this lovely blend’s ratios. Then, as luck would have it, nature brought a flood of rain in the spring of 1997. In pushing my huge chest freezer away from the wall to clean up after the rains, I found the formula card! I knew instantly what I had found. That same year my daughter was studying art in Aix en Provence, and when we visited her there in April, I noticed all the pots of blue and yellow pansies around this ancient southern town. The colors, the scent and the name all came together in a lovely fruity warm blend. The essential oil of Tagetes is an accent of green in this softly warm base of Ginger and Bergamot. The cologne color ranges from pale, pale yellow to an almost fluorescent yellow according to the harvest.
And now, all the formulas are written in pencil in a bound notebook that cannot slip away and hide for 7 years!
Surrender to Summer
My daughter’s summer wedding upon a sailboat in Baltimore’s harbor brought about the creative urge to create a scent for her and her 5 bridesmaids. I chose a spicy group of scents and added a tropical floral accent. This is an almost hot blend of botanicals that will make even a cold drizzly winter day seem like Hawaii. The cologne is a great seller too. The Palm frond botanical graphic was found in a British magazine in the airport in Geneva. Our first full color label with gold stamping! Elegant.
Sweet Cheeks
Two formulas are available and both contain honey. One is Lavender and the other is Sweet Orange. Both are very complimentary to the honey in the bath bars and the "Faces Salt Scrubs" are great to dip your finger in and have a taste! Buyers in the aisles at the NYC Extracts trade show were amazed we could "eat" our products! We use Ohio wild flower honey for its amazing qualities to stay liquid longer. If the salt scrub honey crystallizes, simply remove the metal bands from the container and heat for a minute in the micro wave, or submerge the closed jar in hot water for about 20 minutes…magic!
Windsor
Two of my son’s love this blend, as does Jeanne Rose. It is not an original Woodspirits formula. We borrowed this idea from the first book we read on soap making, Ann Bramson’s Soap. According to Ann this formula was presented at the Great Exposition in London in 1851. Spicy, herby and powdery, its scent is enjoyed by men and women too.
Zanzibar
Alphabetically last, but actually first, in sales, is our trusty, spicy leader Zanzibar. Nearly every order we receive includes this super popular bar. Always one step ahead of Seaweed Scrub, we know the Cinnamon in this bar is what does it for most. The dark chocolate color is certainly arresting, if not the scent. The story behind the soap is interesting too.
It was near Holiday time and my baking schedule was in full swing. Back then me basement kitchen doubles as a soap-making workroom too.
The neighbor boy Rick sees my Almond Carob Cheesecake cooling near the stove and asks if it is soap? Hum, what a great idea, I think. That holiday season was when Trivial Pursuit was launched and of course we played the game with friends that very weekend. The answer to one of the questions was "Zanzibar" with that I had the name for a terrific looking combination. People don’t even mind cinnamon coloring their white washcloths. I think many, like myself, don’t use washcloths for soaping up any way. Just rub this gritty bar on your skin. SUPER spicy with the Maraschino cherry scent of benzaldehyde, from cherry pits.
There you have part of the story of Woodspirits. Of course there is more, and our stories are always unfolding.
Watch this space for more updates in the future.