Who Makes Our Soap Bags?
Who makes our soap pouches
I’m feeling very excited to be asked as a guest blogger for these wonderful new beauty products derived from Qasil Leaf by ‘Batula’ the inspiration and creation of Lulu and Rashal.
Lulu and I have worked together for over 4 years, whilst working on creative digital marketing campaigns we realised we had the same aspirations for a cleaner, more sustainable and natural lifestyle. When she came to me with her new idea for a natural beauty range made from Qasil I was really intrigued having never heard of this ingredient before. It’s ground from the leaves of the Gob tree found in the Horn of Africa and originally native to the southern Himalayas, it travelled to the rich fertile lands of East Africa 2000 years ago. Having now used these fantastic products I’m a total convert, they leave my skin both face and body feeling clean, fresh and well nourished, I even now use it as a shampoo bar. Easy to use and a great alternative to a bottled shampoo, plastic free packaging, free from Sodium Laurel Sulphate, preservatives and nasties leaving my hair super soft!
Qasil is a powerful purifying and healing powder and Batula has launched its range with a natural vegan friendly cold processed artisan soap bar and natural cleansing face mask offering a simple all natural beauty regime even gentle enough to keep your babies and children clean. With plastic free 100% recyclable packaging this brings me to my own range of products made from up cycled coffee sacks.
I’ve been an avid recycler/up-cycler since I was 8 years old keeping old containers and clothing under my bed waiting to be inspired by the creative folks on Blue Peter. As a teenager I made my own clothes and me and my super fashionable grandmother regularly took trips to charity shops in Brighton where we rummaged together for vintage treasures to be refashioned. I would change buttons, embellish, repair with patches and embroidery, Fast Fashion was never my thing it came and went too quickly and I didn’t want to look like everyone else. I’ve been a green activist all my adult life believing in eco friendly, ethical and sustainable living, running an organic and natural skincare company for pregnant and post-natal women, babies and children ‘Earth Mother Aromatherapy’. And over the years I have designed and created a range of bespoke fashion pieces refashioning existing pieces of clothing or vintage fabric, from party wear/evening wear/lingerie for dancers, actors and celebrities in high end fashion independent stores and the famous lingerie shop in Covent Garden London ‘Coco de Mer’. I also designed and created fabric for upholstery from up-cycled Denim Jeans for a restaurant bar project.
Now being the proud owner of 2 dogs I’ve become a regular dog walker at a local park where the awesome barista Dan and his coffee van ‘The Sprout London’ supply us with a much needed hot beverage on our morning walk. One morning Dan was asking for ideas and inspiration for his ever growing mountain of coffee sacks, so I rose to the challenge and started designing different products.
First out the blocks were Soap Bags and Bath Mitts both designed and produced from different grades of coffee sacks jute and hessian. For the soap bags which Batula have kindly agreed to pair up in collaboration with their soaps are the Jute sack grade offering a gentle exfoliation when massaged in a circular direction over the skin top to toe in a bath or shower. By adding either the all natural Batula vegan friendly cold pressed soap bar or your left over pieces of soap, this combination offers a wonderful cleansing and nourishing wash. [The use of our soap bags should not be used on eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis or any infectious or contagious skin disease.]
As there are no plastics in our soap bags, no micro-fibres of plastic will enter our water supply and oceans and all three materials that make up the soap bags, Jute/Hessian, cotton string and upcycled wooden beads, will eventually bio-degrade!
Plastic facts - ‘The average person eats 70,000 micro plastics each year. That works out to about 100 bits of micro-plastic over the course of just one meal, according to a study published in Environmental Pollution from Global Citizen and ‘ Plastic is killing more than 1.1 million seabirds and animals every year. A study conducted by the University of Queensland in Australia based on data collected since the late 1980s, found that Green sea turtles now ingest twice the plastic they did 25 years ago. More than 90% of all birds and fish are believed to have plastic particles in their stomach’ form Global Citizen. Is this how we treat our planet!
Both massage and exfoliation have very important positive actions on your skin. They stimulates the blood supply to the skin bringing oxygenated rich blood to the skins surface and encouraging the release of toxins and dry skin build up, both actions leaving your skin feeling smooth, invigorated and glowing! Regular massage and exfoliation may even help reduce the appearance of fine lines and stimulate the healing process of scar tissue. Along with this wonderful handmade soap it will give you an all round cleansing regime which is simple, time friendly and both ethical and sustainable.
I have some new ideas in the pipeline for these super useful coffee sacks and hope to collaborate again with Batula and their amazing natural handmade Qasil products!
