SCL: Behind the Scenes

     I have a passion and respect for the old way of doing things.  Due to the lack of an available doctor or store, people had to get creative and use what was around them to meet their day-to-day needs.  I love researching the medicinal use of plants and old recipes for making things for general use around the house.  After many years of practicing this way of life, our products are now so integrated in our home that I buy very little commercial product.      At the end of 2019, I really wanted to reformulate my main soap recipe...

       Lye soap is actually the first soap variety I ever made.  I had heard about how good it was at cleaning, but I also heard how harsh it was and that it could make your skin turn red.  In the old days, that was pretty much true.  Grandma did not have the advanced calculators we have nowadays for figuring out safe recipes to make soap.  The recipe was in 'abouts'...you know....about this much lye, about this much oil.  Basically it was the same way she cooked the family meal. (photo at left taken from the Rushville (Indiana) Republican newspaper...

     When I started Simply Creative Living, I wanted to focus on old, heirloom recipes.  I love history and wanted to be sure to have some old recipes that were quite popular before all this factory mass production started.  Because of this, I will always carry authentic Castile, Lard Laundry Bar, plus some heirloom-based soaps such as Pine Tar and Sulfur.  My main soaps, however, were very similar to what other soapers offered as far as ingredients.    This coming year, however, I am doing a restart and am reworking my main soap recipe to more reflect soaps Grandma...