Replace My All Natural Bar Soap

April 9, 2024 12:04 PM

My beloved Muddy Mint is no longer producing their soaps. I am NOT going to start making my own! Help me find a replacement?

A few years ago, I got a bar of Muddy Mint's soap as part of a really nice self-care package gift. Within a week, my eczema had improved, and other unexplainable itchiness (I've just got really bad/reactive skin) had almost disappeared. I, of course, became a regular customer. I am down to my last few bars, and a bit overwhelmed (mostly due to Life) by options.

What do you recommend I try first?

Things I LOVE about Muddy Mint:
- All Natural Ingredients (especially no fragrances or artificial colorants) - This one is IMPORTANT as I know my skin is reactive to a LOT fragrances and dyes. I AM able to use most scented Muddy Mint soaps I've tried.
- Variety of muskier/more-"masculine" scents
- Scents are fairly subtle on the skin after rinsing
- Rotating "seasonal" scents along with a core line
- Small batch, hand-crafted, cold press
- Small business

posted by MuChao to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (13 answers total)

Saltspring Soapworks. Their gender neutral scents are more tree themed. Maybe it’s a West Coast thing
posted by shock muppet at 12:25 PM on April 9

Check out Chagrin Valley Soap. I have liked all the soap bars I've gotten from them.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 12:39 PM on April 9

I loooove Crate 61 soaps. I stock up on them every time I co to the veggie food fest
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:08 PM on April 9

Seconding Chagrin Valley shampoo bars. Check the website and contact them directly about recommendations.
I'm waiting for the next scrap sack sale, for a pound of shampoo bar at a good discount.
Personal favorites are Butter Bar Conditioner and Cafe Moreno.
Soapnuts has extra virgin olive oil.
Coconut Milk has sweet almond oil.
posted by TrishaU at 1:27 PM on April 9

There are a ton of soap makers on Etsy and Instagram. But knowing which one to try depends on what ingredients Muddy Mint was using. My instinct is that they weren’t using coconut oil, but other than that, there are a lot of oils that can be used to make soap. It also depends on whether it’s hot process or cold process (with hot process, the soap maker has a lot more control over which oils end up being moisturizers and which ones just turn into soap.) Do you have a list of ingredients so you can post them here?
posted by MexicanYenta at 1:31 PM on April 9

My knowledge of soapmaking is nonexistent, but from what I can tell Formulary55 meets your criteria. I've been using their bar soaps for years, and they have many, many woodsy and non-girlie varieties. This is the product page for one of my favorites.
posted by DrGail at 1:44 PM on April 9

MexicanYenta - they are cold process. Grabbing a bar at random, the ingredient list for Coffee & Clove is:

olive oil, coconut oil, distilled water, fully saponified lye, shea butter, organic cocoa butter, coconut milk, brewed coffee, essential oil blend, avocado oil, castor oil, coffee grounds, colloidal oatmeal, cocoa powder, black sea salt

This one is one of their vegan bars, but other bars also contain goat milk. I have enjoyed several of those as well!
posted by MuChao at 1:45 PM on April 9

I'm partial to Camamu Soap. Their shampoo bars are nice too.
posted by purple_bird at 1:56 PM on April 9

I like Savon de Marseille, the ones with Olive Oil.

Looking at the ingredients, they are: Sodium olivate, Sodium cocoate, Aqua, Sodium chloride, Sodium hydroxide.

I was gifted a chunk of it at a farmers market in France by a vendor who managed to mime enough to tell me to use it on my very obvious eczema and I've ordered it and used it every since.
posted by miscbuff at 6:39 PM on April 9

No idea if it fits all your needs but we love. Vermont Soap Organics. We buy their foaming soap and their unwrapped/boxed bars.
posted by terrapin at 5:13 AM on April 10

I came across this video on YouTube for Nablus Soap, olive oil soap made in the traditional way in the West Bank with just two ingredients.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:38 AM on April 10

I’ve used the traditional soaps from Palestine in the wax paper wrapping. Twinbrook8’s video is from the Toukan factory and their soap features a pair of red keys. The other one is Al-Jamal Soap, which features a red camel (and is literally what Al Jamel translates to).

These are castile soaps and they smell great. The video implies that these are very expensive- but I don’t think so and they can be had for between 4 and 5 USD online a bar.

There is a third Nablus branded soap that comes in a nice box and the stamp is legible and it’s a regular soap shape. As you can guess it’s not at all the same thing.
posted by zenon at 8:48 PM on April 10

Big fan of tyme soap- https://tymesoap.com/

Family made in Utah, incredibly high quality, gentle on my kids sensitive skin
posted by beignet at 7:44 AM on April 19