HOW SOAP WAS BORN

During high summer, the Master of the Forest invited the Mistress of the Forest for the day. He lay out Tapio’s Table of bread & honey, honey wine, berries, and forest flowers. So beautiful was the day, so full was the table and so strong and handsome the Master of the Forest was that she fell into his arms. He promised to cherish and protect her; she promised to support and help him in all his work. They enjoyed the table and were sticky with the honey and berries. While they bathed in sauna the Mistress asked him for some fat. He asked why. She replied that they would need it for the babies that would come in winter. He gave her some of his fat from his belly. Taking ashes from the sauna fire, she mixed them with some spring water and cooked them over the fire. When the day was over the Mistress took what she made and stored it in their home. Winter came, babies arrived, and spring came round again. The children had their first sauna and the Master and Mistress of the Forest used the soap she had made from his fat to wash their winter coats.


WHAT IS SOAP?

The basic ingredients are fat, lye and water. Chemically they produce a salt. Original or traditional soap used animal fats (any animal!) Soap making happened in fall after the autumn slaughter. Each part of the animal was used in daily life, nothing was wasted. Lye was made from ash, garbage, animal excrement, same with human urine. Liquid came from Mother Earth.

The final product was laundry soap, house cleaning soap or cheek and bottom soap. What kind of soap depended solely on the skills and knowledge of the maker and the availability and quality of ingredients. Glycerine was a naturally formed ingredient in the soap when made from the combination of fats, lye and water. Sola Soap uses plant oils/fats, cosmetic grade lye and clean local water. The result is a glycerine-rich soap.

Surfacants, petroleum based ingredients, etc. were, in general, born with industrial age-the oil age and especially after Second World War. These are chemically produced and manipulated products which can be found in the majority of cosmetic products, including industrial made soap, hand-made soap, cleansers, toners, lotions and creams, shaving cream, hair products, and sensitive/allergic skin products. Sola Soap does not contain preservatives, tensides, surfacants, petroleum products or fragrance oils.

In your hands you hold handmade soap made in the traditional way: gently cooked in small batches on the stove (wood and electric). Sola Soap is full of natural glycerine and made with some rules (Finnish & EU). It’s gentle on the skin. Use real soap! Just like other living creatures (winged, legged, no-legged, trees, rocks, etc.) too much water (drowning!) and too much heat or sunlight is not a good thing. Please store your soap in a place where water can drain away and not in direct heat or sunlight. Colour and form may vary at time of purchase as well as after prolonged use. This should not alter the ability of the soap to lather and clean.

Herbs, trees, flowers, bee products, dried or ground berries are a part of Sola Soap. Several soaps contain bee products but most do not.

Made by Sola Voima means a genuine handicraft, caring for clean nature and the welfare of animals.