Using unique combinations of herbs and essential oils, Sheila Gouchie nourishes the body, mind and soul with her handmade soaps.
q: How did you get into making soap?
a: I believe we teach what we need to learn. I felt like I needed to learn to relax and so I started making the soaps, which are very soothing. I remember I had been using a soap from the States but it was very expensive so I just started making them. I started making them in Vancouver in 1994, then I went to New Brunswick and did the St. John's farmer's market and then to Australia. I'm still part owner of a shop in Byron Bay, New South Wales, Australia, called Nurture with Nature.
a: They're made from pure coconut oil, pure olive oil, vegetable glycerin and herbs as a color and exfoliate. Plus therapeutic essential oils. I also have a living water unit which takes the water back to its original state. Lye has to be in every soap but I've decreased the amounts of that to the lowest possible amount so the soap is very gentle. Because of that the hardening process takes a bit longer than usual.
When I add things like myrrh and ylang ylang I don't skimp on them. Sometimes I've used Bulgarian rose. A lot of soapmakers believe putting oils into soap destroys the quality of it and I disagree. I've also started making massage/bath/body oils and those oils have a higher concentrate of essential oils. Most bath oils have between three and five percent; mine are between seven and nine percent.
q:
How are the soaps actually made?
a: I get the oils and lye to a certain temperature and stir those for an hour. Then they sit between five and twelve hours and I stir them sporadically until they solidify enough, like a heavy pudding, so the herbs can suspend in the mixture. The herbs and essential oils are added last. I then pour the mixture into large wooden molds and they sit for 24 hours. I draw a grid, measure them and cut them with a knife. Then I stack them for a month. They have to cure for a month because they go through a process called suponification which allows the lye to mellow out. Otherwise the lye is too caustic. It takes a good twelve hours to make the soaps. I usually make them at the beginning of the month and I make between 1500 and 2000 soaps a month. I package them individually in hemp paper from Nepal and tie them with string.
q: : Who do you sell to?
a: I sell to 38 stores now, as well as one distributor. Plus I do retail from my studio here. I don't advertise; it's just word of mouth. Some of the stores I sell to are Urban Barn, Choices and Circling Dawn. Plus I sell to three stores in Washington and one in England. Choices alone sells about one hundred soaps a month. I've also got a rep working on markets in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.
q:
What are some of the most popular soaps you carry?
a: "Peaceful," "Ocean," and "Fresh" are really popular now. They're all very different from each other. "Peaceful" is made of geranium, rosemary, juniper berry, pine, lavender, patchouli, crushed rose hips and rosebuds. "Ocean" is made of geranium, lavender, basil, patchouli and seaweed.
q: How do you come up with your ideas?
a: The idea is that the daily cleanse is a ritual so that you're mindful of how you feel and can transfer that feeling into your day. My soaps are peaceful and euphoric and blissful and encourage that state of being. Through my research I seem to have hit some combinations that really work. I have thirteen different combinations right now. I have all kinds of certifications in many different disciplines having to do with oils and healing, so I've got a lot of background. But a lot of it comes from instinct; I just think of a situation, an emotion, and the ideas just come out.q: What did you do before you started Nurture with Nature?
a: Before that my path was developing experiential education programs. Those were programs for young people who were kind of ex-communicated from society, from their families, kids who were not in the juvenile system but on their way. We did rock climbing and other activities that helped them experience a feeling of happiness.
q: Where would you like to go from here?
a: My intention with Nurture with Nature is to have a wholesale space that young people can be incorporated into, someplace where they can learn about the power of presence and being mindful of what they do. Instead of a salary, they'd get a percentage of the profits from the soaps they make and they'd learn that when you put energy into something you get it back. That sort of ties in with what I was doing before, helping young kids out. One of the reasons I started this business is because I really do believe my purpose is to offer something healthy back to society, to share what I've learned.
Nurture With Nature
#120-2050 Scotia St.
Tel: 709-3299
Interested in finding an Interior Designer? Visit our Business Directory!