In conversation with Caroline Anderson

Husband and wife team Jay and Caroline Anderson became beekeepers in 2011 as part of their dream of self-sufficiency. After several years of learning the ropes they finally had a honey crop (didn’t know that was a thing) and after extracting the honey, they were left with…. beeswax.

In the very first of our ‘In Conversation With’ features, Caroline told YOMU about how one beautiful pot of fresh wax started her foray into making soap.

My first bars made in 2018 were unscented, uncoloured slabs made in an old plastic dog food tub (washed well, of course!). But they worked and highlighted the vast difference between the soaps and synthetic detergent bars that you find in the supermarket and skin nourishing bars of handmade soap.

My bars have a higher amount of free oils left at the end of the chemical process known as saponification, meaning they do not dry your skin so much, which was a very handy quality during the 'hand washing months' of Covid. Handmade soaps also contain glycerin, a moisturising substance naturally formed as a by-product of the process and an ingredient that commercially made soaps do not have. It’s highly valuable, and so big companies extract it and sell it separately.

I quickly fell in love with the soap making process and then the myriad of creative possibilities. A competition in The Soap Suite membership pushed me to try new designs and techniques and I was very pleased to have come third. In March 2023 I entered the worldwide competition The Soap Challenge Club, creating piped flowers. I’m planning on doing more bars with flowers on, or within them as I feel it fits the Bee theme quite well, and gives me an excuse to play! After all a beautiful bar of soap with an array of essential oils transforms an everyday item into something to make you smile.

What is so good about beeswax though, and what else is in those bars?

Beeswax is thought to be antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory, and is a non toxic, natural product created within the bodies of honeybees. Using beeswax in soap helps form a harder bar, this along with the richly moisturising benefits of cocoa butter, conditioning olive oil, amazing lather of both coconut oil and castor oil gives my soaps the right balance of bubbles and longevity. Although it should be said that a good draining soap dish is important for a handmade soap too, they need to dry out between uses or even the best bar can turn to mush.

I don't just make soap with the beeswax either, there's lip balms, scented and unscented with my absolute favourite being Rose Geranium. It always makes me smile at markets when I tell people it smells of Turkish Delight, they take a big sniff and confirm it really does!

There's also lotion bars - think hand cream but solid, for deeply moisturising your skin, without the fear of a tube mishap in your bag. I'm the person who puts hand cream on and then needs to wash their hands again soon after, but with this, the beeswax has already locked in that moisture and formed a protective barrier to keep your skin soft.

For such a small insect, bees provide quite an array of products that humans find useful. Honey to eat (there is even medical-grade honey for use in hospitals), wax for cosmetics and candles, royal jelly, propolis, and even venom are all used.

We have a lot to thank the bees for!

Caroline

For more details head over to www.beesoap.co.uk or follow on IG www.instagram.com/beesoap.co.uk