Many that follow my social media and read my blog posts know by now that I am a bit of a history nerd. Among the history subjects I enjoy studying are the cosmetics and beauty rituals, some of which I have tried and will say do work quite well. Yes, some are on the questionable side and you might have to substitute some of their old ingredients with some modern ones that are similar or have a similar effect. But I always say don't knock it til you've tried it. I have a few 18th century cosmetic recipe books, including a new one called The New London Toilet that I purchased at Fort Frederick back in April. I will be trying some more old recipes and reporting to you how they worked (or didn't work).
Since there are so many cosmetic, health and beauty manuals from that era, they apparently cared a lot more about hygiene than people tend to think. Now of course as it is with anything else, just how well they kept up with it varied with circumstance, culture, region, etc, but many are shocked to learn that there are actually deodorant recipes that date back to the Middle Ages and that much of the sanitation practices we have today has its base in Ancient Rome. But I'll save all that for another blogpost. Today, I am reviewing a couple products from one of my absolute favorite sutlers at 18th century events, Grandma's Soap and Stuff.
Along with hand fans, I have a thing for handmade soap and homemade personal care products. I make a lot of my own personal care products, have some in my website store, and will be participating in a soap making day at a historic site, which I am excited about.
Like hand fans, I believe that you can never have too many bars of homemade soap. To date, I have bought several products from Grandma's Soap and Stuff, and just getting to talk and hang out with the business owners is reason enough to visit their tent. But they also have a great product and today I am reviewing their shampoo bar and lip balm.
One aspect of Grandma's Soap and Stuff that I really appreciate is their ingredients. As I stated in a previous write up of their product, I am one of 'those people' that reads labels and GS&S passes my test. :)
Therefore, I was really looking forward to their shampoo bar, which I purchased at Fort Frederick.
So now that we have all that out of the way, I have a confession. I haven't used 'normal' shampoo in several years. Instead I've used dry shampoo (which I make myself) and a variety of shampoo bars, from more higher end brand names like LUSH to smaller local soap makers you might find at a farmer's market. Some of these shampoo bars worked better for me than others, but I fortunately never bought one that I could say I hate.
Upon opening the packaging of the GS&S shampoo bar, I was immediately loving the aroma and it also fit beautifully in my antique soap dish.
For using it, "Grandma" Joy of GS&S suggests rinsing with some vinegar cut with water after using the shampoo bar on your hair. Most handmade shampoo bars (as well as homemade body soaps) made from all natural ingredients typically will not lather, mainly due to the fact that they don't have the combination of detergents and such that cause the lather. But they work just as well, if not better in my opinion.
After using Grandma's Soap and Stuff Shampoo bar a few times (I do need to have some time with a new product to really assess how well it works), I can say that it has officially replaced LUSH's sea kelp bar as my new favorite shampoo bar. Yes, Grandma Joy is better than LUSH (sorry LUSH).
Another note for the GS&S shampoo bar is that it does lather a little despite not having any of the chemicals or detergents that most commercial brands have (I'd like to know their secret on that one!). And the another great thing about the shampoo bar is that my hair was left smelling amazing the following morning (this is one thing that I did miss about commercial shampoo). I will say that this is hands down the best stuff I've ever put in my hair and very highly recommend it.
So go get you some.
Another product I'm currently using is their lip balm. As I stated in my Fort Niagara blogs, I rarely purchase lip balm, simply because I make my own. But upon my arrival in Fort Niagara, I realized that I was running low. Thankfully, Grandma's Soap and Stuff had some! While I am bias to the formula that I use in my own lip balm, GS&S does make a good lip product with some very nice ingredients.
Another item I purchased from GS&S is a bottle of Argon Oil. And anyone that has used argon oil can very likely attest to its awesomeness for skin and hair.
Once again, I cannot recommend Grandma's Soap and Stuff nearly enough. Every product I've tried from them so far I end up loving. They also offer gift wrapping, so if your purchase is meant to be a gift, there is that option. :)
Up next will be a review of Besame Cosmetics (I just tried their Snow White Red lipstick from their 1937 Snow White Collection) and some more from Eddie Funkhouser, so stay tuned for that!
Grandma's Soap and Stuff Website
Since there are so many cosmetic, health and beauty manuals from that era, they apparently cared a lot more about hygiene than people tend to think. Now of course as it is with anything else, just how well they kept up with it varied with circumstance, culture, region, etc, but many are shocked to learn that there are actually deodorant recipes that date back to the Middle Ages and that much of the sanitation practices we have today has its base in Ancient Rome. But I'll save all that for another blogpost. Today, I am reviewing a couple products from one of my absolute favorite sutlers at 18th century events, Grandma's Soap and Stuff.
my Grandma's Soap and Stuff Fort Frederick purchases
my purchases from Fort Niagara
Like hand fans, I believe that you can never have too many bars of homemade soap. To date, I have bought several products from Grandma's Soap and Stuff, and just getting to talk and hang out with the business owners is reason enough to visit their tent. But they also have a great product and today I am reviewing their shampoo bar and lip balm.
One aspect of Grandma's Soap and Stuff that I really appreciate is their ingredients. As I stated in a previous write up of their product, I am one of 'those people' that reads labels and GS&S passes my test. :)
YAAAS!! Loving these ingedients!
So now that we have all that out of the way, I have a confession. I haven't used 'normal' shampoo in several years. Instead I've used dry shampoo (which I make myself) and a variety of shampoo bars, from more higher end brand names like LUSH to smaller local soap makers you might find at a farmer's market. Some of these shampoo bars worked better for me than others, but I fortunately never bought one that I could say I hate.
Upon opening the packaging of the GS&S shampoo bar, I was immediately loving the aroma and it also fit beautifully in my antique soap dish.
For using it, "Grandma" Joy of GS&S suggests rinsing with some vinegar cut with water after using the shampoo bar on your hair. Most handmade shampoo bars (as well as homemade body soaps) made from all natural ingredients typically will not lather, mainly due to the fact that they don't have the combination of detergents and such that cause the lather. But they work just as well, if not better in my opinion.
After using Grandma's Soap and Stuff Shampoo bar a few times (I do need to have some time with a new product to really assess how well it works), I can say that it has officially replaced LUSH's sea kelp bar as my new favorite shampoo bar. Yes, Grandma Joy is better than LUSH (sorry LUSH).
Another note for the GS&S shampoo bar is that it does lather a little despite not having any of the chemicals or detergents that most commercial brands have (I'd like to know their secret on that one!). And the another great thing about the shampoo bar is that my hair was left smelling amazing the following morning (this is one thing that I did miss about commercial shampoo). I will say that this is hands down the best stuff I've ever put in my hair and very highly recommend it.
So go get you some.
Another product I'm currently using is their lip balm. As I stated in my Fort Niagara blogs, I rarely purchase lip balm, simply because I make my own. But upon my arrival in Fort Niagara, I realized that I was running low. Thankfully, Grandma's Soap and Stuff had some! While I am bias to the formula that I use in my own lip balm, GS&S does make a good lip product with some very nice ingredients.
Another item I purchased from GS&S is a bottle of Argon Oil. And anyone that has used argon oil can very likely attest to its awesomeness for skin and hair.
Once again, I cannot recommend Grandma's Soap and Stuff nearly enough. Every product I've tried from them so far I end up loving. They also offer gift wrapping, so if your purchase is meant to be a gift, there is that option. :)
Up next will be a review of Besame Cosmetics (I just tried their Snow White Red lipstick from their 1937 Snow White Collection) and some more from Eddie Funkhouser, so stay tuned for that!
Grandma's Soap and Stuff Website
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