Courses In The Midlands

Have you ever wanted to learn the art of soap making, or fancy dabbling in lotions and potions, or maybe want to learn how to make fizzing bath bombs or some really special treats for your bath?

‘Mad About Nature’ are now running workshops (maximum 2 people) at their Leicester ‘soap shack’! Have some one to one tuition and learn some hands on skills. Experiment with lots of natural ingredients and learn the techniques of the trade.

Throughout the day you will make lots of samples to take home, have lunch & refreshments, and go home with lots of notes & a detailed information booklet. You will feel confident to try experimenting in your own home with lots of ideas!

Workshops run on Thursday’s of every week from 10am-4pm. The cost is £85 for one workshop – or book all 3 courses (basic soapmaking / how to make balms & creams / playday with bath goodies) and receive 10% discount. The cost of 2 people to book on the same workshop is £75 each.

Please have a look at the website for more details www.madaboutnature.co.uk and contact through the email link for more information.

Get Stoned!

This is a slightly OT post but I am ever so excited!! Today I received my equipment (pictured - it is much bigger than it looks) that will allow me to introduce Hot Stone Therapy into my treatment menu. I can't wait to start using it and have already made plans to integrate it into other treatments that I already do. My clients are going to be so pleased!

It has sparked some really creative juices when it comes to truly indulgent treatments. I have planned an organic cocoa envelopment treatment. I will of course be making the products using some lovely organic ingredients and am designing a lurvly ritual for the treatment.

Going back to the stone therapy, I have been thinking about some real gorgeous blends, to include organic virgin coconut oil, frangipani and ylang. Soft music, candle light ahhh.... just lovely.

I am really looking forward to putting some of the plans into action. Ooh.... so excited!!

New, Back In & Price Reductions

Just a quick update at what's going on in the Fresholi Shop... We now have those great lip balm cylinders and rice bran oil back in stock. In addition, we have some natural vitamin E back in but the great news is, we are able to offer this at a much lower price than previously. We have also added polysorbate 80 and we have a little something else coming very soon. Watch this space........

Many Products Now At Lower Prices!

With the credit crunch gripping many of us in locked jaws, we decided to have a close look at our pricing structure to see if we could help make things a bit easier on our customer's pockets. We are very pleased that we have managed to lower the price of some of our oils, butters & other ingredients, such as cetyl alcohol. We hope this will go some way to help our customers.

Floral Waxes Back In Stock!!

With their divine rich, deep aromas, floral waxes are an indulgent ingredient to add to soaps, lotions, creams, massage bars, solid perfumes, candles and anything else you can think of where aromatic depth & longevity is desired.

A floral wax is a product of the production of absolutes and while their scent is much softer than the absolute, they have wonderfully well rounded aromas that tend to linger. By adding up to 10% to your products will create new aromatic elements and fusions of some of the richest and most exotic scents at a fraction of the cost of the absolute. Not only will these beautiful waxes add scent but they also lend a subtle degree of hardness to the products they are added

The Following Floral Waxes Are Now In Stock At Fresholi...

Jasmine Grandaflorum Wax: A soft, mid-brown wax with a melting point of around 50-60 degrees C. Jasmine is one of the most prized perfumers ingredients, the grandiflorum is often favoured due to its round aroma. It has a rich, deeply sweet, floral aroma with undertones that are rather tea like. It has a great tenacity in blends and blends well with just about everything.

Rose Wax: A medium hard wax with a yellow/green colour. It has a melting point of around 60 degrees C. Like jasmine, rose is an important perfume component and this intensely sweet, rich, floral aroma has distinctive rose characteristics.

Orange Flower Wax: (Neroli) A medium hard, brown wax with a that has a fresh top note with warm, sweet floral undertones. A delicate yet rich aroma that would add depth to fragrance blends.

Recipe Idea!

Floral Liquiwax

I found a really simple way of making use of the exotic aromas of floral (or fruit peel) waxes, at a fraction of the cost if you were to use the absolute. This makes a great stand alone after bath/shower oil or for really dry skin (gorgeous aroma)

50% Jojoba
44% Apricot kernel oil
6% Floral wax of choice (I used rose)

- Add the jojoba and the apricot oil to a dark glass bottle (I used an amber glass bottle)
- Place in a saucepan of boiling hot water (I turned the heat on low)
- When the oils are nice and hot, add in the floral wax and put the lid on the bottle
- Place back in the hot water for a minute then take out the bottle and shake
- Continue to do this heat/shake until all of the wax has completely melted
- Then it is good to go!

You could change the ratio of the floral wax to a much higher % and you can use different oils if you like then use this fragrant oil to add to creams after they have been emulsified and cooled (just make sure that whatever % you intend to add in at the end - usually a max of 10% - you deduct this from your oil phase. Also, if you are adding in essential oils, please ensure you account for the essentail oils present in the wax (that is roughly just less than half the total weight of the wax).

Floral Waxes now available from www.fresholi.com

From Orangs To Red Noses

Sarah from The Natual Soapworks passed on a little bit of news about the support NSW has been giving to some very worthy causes. I will let Sarah explain...

Borneo Orangutan Survival UK

In 2008, The Natural Soapworks took the decision to only source organic palm oil from a sustainable source in Columbia, to make our soaps. So what's the significance of it being from a sustainable source, you may wonder? The problem with palm oil sourced from the Far East, is that it tends to be grown on palm plantations which have been planted after the rain forest has been cut down and burnt. This is causing catastrophic damage to the environment, and as the forests are destroyed it means that the local animals die too.

Palm oil is found in many products on our supermarket shelves (e.g. crisps, cakes, chocolate, biscuits, cosmetics, detergents, soaps etc), with more problems on the horizon due to the interest in bio fuels. Unless action is taken, more and more habitat will be destroyed and ultimately this could lead to the extinction of many animal species. When we discovered that even in a small way we were contributing to such destruction, we decided to act quickly to find some palm oil that is grown in a responsible and sustainable way, that doesn't endanger the environment. It’s more expensive, but we think it’s the right thing to do.

One of the worst things that we discovered about palm oil, was the impact it is having on the orangutan populations in Sumatra and Borneo. There is a serious risk that one of our closest cousins will be wiped out within 10 years. Since we were very concerned about this, we contacted Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS UK) and they confirmed that our soap is "orangutan friendly". This very worthwhile charity works to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned orangutans in Borneo, whose mother's are killed as the rainforest is cleared. BOS's work, led by Lone Droscher Nielsen, is featured in the Orangutan Diary screened by the BBC in 2007, and now back for a second series on BBC2 each Sunday evening. We wanted to help this fabulous charity so we have adopted 2 orphaned orangutans, and fund raise to support BOS by attending events and selling our ‘Orang’ soap.


Orang - £3.25 per bar with £1 being donated to BOS UK

This is a lovely zesty bar of luxurious goat’s milk soap that’s full of citrus essential oils. We created Orang, to support the fantastic work carried out by BOS UK to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned orangutans in Borneo. Specially wrapped with orange hairy string and a BOS tag, we guarantee that £1 from the sale of each bar will be donated to this charity.

NEW! Orang bath bomb - £1.25 with 50p from each bath bomb being donated to BOS UK

To mark the beginning of Orangutan Diary 2, we’re very pleased to launch a new Orang product. This bath bomb contains a lovely blend of citrus essential oils in a pure white bath bomb, that’s wrapped in orange tissue paper. Specially wrapped with a BOS tag, we guarantee that 50p from the sale of each bath bomb will be donated to this charity.

Red Nose Day – 13th March 2009

We’re delighted to announce that The Natural Soapworks has been given permission by Comic Relief, to sell some new bath bombs and mini soaps in support of Red Nose Day. We have also applied for a license to operate a street collection in aid of Comic Relief at our business premises, the Red House Glass Cone in Stourbridge, which will temporarily be renamed as the Red Nose Glass Cone! There will be a tombola and Red Nose Day themed children’s activities running between 13th-15th March, to coincide with a Mother’s Day Craft Market on the site.

Red Nose Day Bath Bomb - £1.25 with 50p from each bath bomb being donated to Comic Relief

Special Edition Red Nose Bath Bomb, to celebrate Comic Relief 2009. We guarantee that 50p from the sale of each bath bomb will be donated to Comic Relief. This is a white 70g bath bomb wrapped in red tissue paper, fragranced with essential oils.

Red Nose Day Mini Soap - £1.00 with 50p from each mini soap being donated to Comic Relief

Special Edition Red Nose Day Soap, this is a pretty bar, coloured with red clay and rooibos tea, fragranced with lavender, rosewood, spearmint and geranium essential oils. We guarantee that 50p from the sale of this soap will be donated to Comic Relief. This is a 30g mini soap bar.