FAQ

Question: Why buy homemade soap?
Answer: Try a bar and you’ll see. Here at Pleasant River Soap Co., we make soap the old-fashioned way, called Cold Process. This means we start with the basics, olive, coconut, and palm oil, and combine them with lye in a gentle process that leaves all the naturally occurring glycerin in these vegetable oils in tact and present (many commercial bars have had the glycerin removed). Then, at the end of the process, even more nutrient-rich, skin nourishing oil is added, as extra “moisture-insurance.” This process is called Cold Process because no heat is involved, thereby preserving the integrity and qualities of all the ingredients- only the coconut oil and palm oil are gently warmed, because they are solids at room temperature. So, all these steps are taken to make the gentlest, most moisturizing soap possible…and that is why you should buy homemade soap!

Question: How long is the shelf life of your soap? 
Answer: Our soap is gently preserved with naturally-derived Grapefruit Seed Extract, which, in addition to lending it’s anti-bacterial and deodorizing qualities, also helps keep each bar fresh for well over a year!
Question: How long does a bar of soap last? 
Answer: That is a difficult question to answer…it depends on so many things. This is the best answer we can provide. If used as a hand soap, and left to dry after each use in a dish that allows air to circulate underneath it, and there is only one user, it will last a month or two. If used as a shower soap, by one user, and left out of the shower stream, and allowed to dry thoroughly between showers, it will last anywhere from 2 weeks to a month, depending on the length of your showers~!
Question: How soon will my order ship? 
Answer: We generally try to get all orders out within 1-2 days of when they are received…how long it takes you to receive it depends on how far away you live and what method of shipping you choose.

Question: Can you accommodate large orders- for example, enough bars or balms to give as favors at a wedding?
Answer: Absolutely! However, as we do not keep 200-300 of each variety of product in stock at all times, we do need about 2 months advance notice to fill the super-huge orders (on soap only, that is, because it has to cure and dry after it’s made- lip balm does not require that much advance notice).

Question: What the heck is Mary’s Madness?
Answer: It’s like this. Mary, our owner and founder, has always been told by her dad that in order to be happy and successful in life, she should find what she loves to do, and figure out a way to get paid for it! That, in a sentence, is Mary’s Madness. Mary’s Madness is everything fabric. It is the result of a combination of fabulously fun fabric, her sewing machine, and late nights. Mary is happiest when she is dreaming up new designs, or, as she calls it, “doodling with her sewing machine.” It all began, she says, because she always wears an apron while making her soaps and lip balms, and looking around at her extensive fabric collection, she realized, “…if I’m gonna wear an apron all the time, it might as well be fabulous!!!” And so she shares a bit of her love for fabric and sewing with you…with adult and kid-sized aprons, hair ties, bibs, placemat & dinner-napkin sets, cocktail napkins… though her creations are always changing and growing. Looking at her designs overall, you’ll notice her strong propensity for all things polka-dotted, and vintage reproduction prints. When asked what to watch for next, what is in “research and development,” Mary laughs and says “….kid’s capes, of course!!!”