Charcoal, other natural ingredients in soap

KIM CAVADA displays her homemade soap products.(CDN/VANESSA LUCERO)

For soap-maker Kim Cavada, the hardest part is educating the market.

“Filipinos don’t normally talk about the ingredients of soap – they don’t really know the benefits of homemade soap. Many are also discouraged by the price,” she said.

While it is generally more expensive than the commercial soaps available in grocery stores, her handcrafted soap is healthier because less synthetic ingredients are used.

“As much as possible, I make sure my ingredients are all natural and plant-based,” she added.

Currently, she  has several products available, including coffee, fresh milk with lavender, rosemary and mint, charcoal, chamomile and oats, and coffee with sweet almond oil.

Of her products, charcoal is the best-selling soap.

“I think people are intrigued by the fact that it’s black. For my regulars, they find it effective in treating pimples and lessening skin redness,” she said.

She has been making soap for over a year, under the name Apron Strings Handmade Soap.

“It has a connection to mom or wife. I wanted a name that, when you hear it, you think home and know it’s homemade,” she said.

Cavada is one of the very few soap makers in Cebu. Many of the soap makers are in Manila.

She makes her soap using the cold process. She started  out with the melt-and-pour method but wanted something that was more creative and allowed her more control over the ingredients of her soap.

“All my soaps are moisturizing. They are formulated in oils like palm, olive and virgin coconut oil that aren’t drying to the skin,” she said.

Apron Strings, homemade soap by Kim Cavada(Facebook)

Aside from being moisturizing and having all-natural ingredients, she said her soaps nourish, detoxify and cleanse the skin gently.

Cavada said her products depend heavily on the availability of raw materials in the market. Her raw materials are usually shipped to her from Manila, or in the case with lavender, imported.

However, Cavada believes that a lot of the raw ingredients she uses can be found locally.

“There are many ingredients that we have locally, coconut oil for example. However, a lot of the raw materials are unutilized or underutilized because people don’t know that they can be used in soap,” she said.

“Soap making is a very creative and exploratory process. I continually experiment with the ingredients I have, figuring out which ones work well together and which don’t,” she added.

Each loaf of soap takes half a day to make. Cavada said it takes an hour to weigh and mix all the ingredients together and put it in a mold. She then lets it sit for 12 hours before cutting the loaf into bars and lets it cure for 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the oils used.

The soaps are priced at P80 for standard and P150 for premium. Apron Strings was part of the Cebu Makers’ Market during the Gabii sa Kabilin. It is on Facebook at https://m.facebook.com/Apron Strings hand made soap