From Amsterdam, With Lather

From a sunny Amsterdam afternoon to a workshop spanning continents — how twenty-six years of curiosity, travel, and trial-and-error led to one oval and round bar at a time.

How it all began

More than twenty-six years ago, on a sunny afternoon in my apartment somewhere on the edge of a buzzing city called Amsterdam, I was flipping through an old magazine when I discovered an article about making soap at home. It sounded like alchemy — simple ingredients transforming into something pure and nourishing. While my American partner was studying for his bachelor’s degree, I felt a spark. Why not? Let’s start this adventure.

That’s how my journey toward the perfect bar of natural soap began — a path full of discoveries, failures, and triumphs spanning continents and many years.

The cold process method

I plunged into the world of the Cold Process (CP) method, the traditional way of making soap where oils and lye meet at room temperature in a chemical dance called saponification. No heat, no rush—just pure transformation. I ordered my first ingredients online: basic oils like olive and coconut, and a small amount of lye to start the magic. My earliest batches were far from perfect. Too soft, too crumbly, or with scents that vanished like mist in the morning sun. But every failure taught me something. Through trial and error I slowly uncovered the secrets. I collected books, reference guides, and joined online forums, building a personal library of knowledge older than modern cosmetics itself.

“Travels through Italy, Africa, and Asia deepened my knowledge — from pure olive oil straight from farmers to rich shea butter used by local communities for generations.”

The formula

Shea butter Deep hydration	Olive oil Softness	Coconut oil Gentle cleansing	Palm oil Firmness
Castor oil Rich lather	Silk protein Silky feel	Kaolin clay Mild exfoliation	Honey & oatmeal Soothing & nourishing

On scent

For the scent, I now mainly work with high-quality fragrance oils rather than essential oils in my CP soaps. During saponification, the natural therapeutic properties of essential oils are largely lost, so I reserve pure, high-quality essential oils for my skincare products like day creams, eye serums, etc. Fragrance oils give more stable, complex, and longer-lasting scents in soap. Currently, five different scents are available.

“It’s not about choosing only natural or only synthetic — it’s about smart balance.”

I combine the best of nature with the precision of science to create soaps that cleanse effectively without drying the skin and leave it feeling soft and cared for.

The oval and round

I’ve always disliked sharp corners, so I had special oval and round molds made. An oval bar fits perfectly in the hand, glides smoothly over the skin, and feels alive and natural.

Every batch begins with blending the oils, adding the lye solution at just the right moment, and then introducing the fragrance oils—not too early, not too late—to preserve their beautiful fragrance. After mixing, the batch rests in the mold for 24 hours while saponification works its quiet magic.Then comes the exciting part: unmolding and cutting the bars into elegant ovals. I lay them out on racks in a cool, dry space.

Soap must cure, just like a fine cheese or a good wine. The harder the bar becomes, the better its quality. A well-cured bar lasts for months, doesn’t melt away in the shower, and leaves your skin feeling silky and cared for. It is a lesson in patience, a meditation in transformation.

What’s next

Today I’m excited to expand the collection with bath syrups, natural hormone-balancing tinctures, day creams, eye serums, and more — all created with the same philosophy of respect for the skin and effective results.

This twenty-six-year journey has taught me resilience, balance, and the beauty of simplicity. Every product carries the story of curiosity, travel, and dedication.

Would you like to join this adventure? Try making a simple batch yourself, or order one of my creations. Let’s make the world a little softer—one oval bar of soap at a time.