Why Write a Book?
Why would an artist write a book about all natural skincare? It’s a question I recently got and I found it interesting because for me, and people who know me personally, we get why I would. Yes, I consider myself an artist BUT I consider myself much more than just an artist. One of my passions is nature and I think that’s pretty evident when you look at my work. BUT what you may not know about me is that I love to use nature in my everyday life, and not just as my muse for my art.
My family and I live on a few acres of land, we have a rather large + beautiful stream that runs through our property. We have a small flock of animals: chickens, ducks, quail, rabbits, and goats. I have a garden that I expand every year and can a lot of my harvest. I grow several different types of herbs and use them in all sorts of ways: fresh in sourdough bread, dried for seasonings, pesto, in salads, I make medicines with them, and use them for their medicinal properties in cold process soaps + skincare products. I have also been experimenting with plants in my art in a completely new and different way(more to come on that soon!)
The magical stream that runs through our property
I started making cold process soap about 5 years ago. I’ve been on a journey for the last 12 or so years to minimize our commercial product use, and I am happy to say, I make about 90% of our own cleaning products. This flowed into cutting out commercial soaps as well. I have always had sensitive skin and suffered from eczema and psoriasis off and on for years. I learned how to make cold process soaps (cp soaps) for myself and to give as gifts that Christmas and became hooked. I couldn’t believe how soft my skin felt- and I haven’t had a skin issue since! I became obsessed with making different soaps, testing different formulas I found online until I developed a formula that I felt surpassed all others. I started incorporating different herbs and essential oils into the soaps to make completely new varieties. I quickly moved on to face soaps and developed 2 varieties I still alternate to this day. I haven’t used a commercial face soap in probably 8 years (I used the oil cleansing method prior to creating my own soaps).
It was only a matter of time before my obsession led to creating different products. I live for lip balm, it would be the ONE thing I took on a deserted island for survival, and am proud to say I believe my formula is better than ANY other lip balm I have EVER tried.
Summer Honey is a personal favorite! I infuse wild honeysuckle in oils and add a bit of honey from my own beehives (when available)
I started giving my soaps away to friends and family and decided to start selling them so that my hobby at least paid for itself. I am proud to say that hobby DID pay for itself but in true Manifesting Generator (new to Human Design? It’s like your enneagram number or your astrology sign) I got bored with it about a year and a half ago. And bored isn’t the right word, really. I mastered what I had set out to do. I created an entire line of skin care products I LOVE and continue to use to this day. I loved the creation process. I even love making the products. But what I don’t love is all the manufacturing rules that go along with it. Because I tend to use seasonal plants and herbs in my products I was constantly having to change and update my labels and packaging. That’s probably not the best business practice but I believe in using local products. Just like the eating local + farm to table movements. I believe in using seasonal plants when they are at their peek (when possible), I believe our skin and bodies need these plant allies throughout the growing season, it’s Mother Nature’s gift to us. But having to constantly change labels became more trouble then I wanted to deal with. So I scaled back on production and slowly pulled back on selling.
Earlier this year when I was going to make a batch of herbal soothing balm, I went to pull out my worn-out formulas I chicken scratched on paper all those years ago and I thought I really needed to get all of these formulas typed up and in one document so I could keep them all together. That was when the seed had been planted.
The balm that I needed to make when the seed had been planted to put this book together.
I knew I could actually help MORE people if I released all of my formulas into one format. I wanted others to print off the pages so they could make their own notes, and tweak my formulas to fit their needs. Create their own products or use my formulas as is, it didn’t matter to me. I just wanted to help others get beautiful, healthy skin and to stop being dependent on so many commercial products. So a few months ago, I started typing all of my formulas into a google doc. I created a beautiful cover for it, formatted it for a kindle version AND a paperback version too.
The book is about 40 pages, so it’s not huge. I get straight to the point with the formulas, there isn’t a lot of fluff scattered throughout and each page has a note section so you can write your own notes. Maybe you’ll want to sub out an oil or use a different essential oil blend, or add more beeswax to a formula for a thicker consistency, etc.
I don’t go into a lot of detail or step-by-step instructions to make the products, especially cold process soap. So if you aren’t a current soaper, I did include a few resourced in the back of the book to help you learn the ins and outs of soaping as there is some chemistry to it and there is safety concerns you need to learn about. Aside from the soaps, every other product is pretty straight forward, you combine all ingredients, warm over a double boiler to melt, and then pour into your jar of choice.
My book is available for pre-order now and launches on October 1st. Just in time for you to start making cold process soap for Christmas presents! (cold process soaps need to cure for at least 6 weeks before use) The PDF version will also be available October 1st, on my website.
If you have any questions feel free to email me sarahhartmorgan@gmail.com or leave me a comment below!
xoxo
Sarah