So, there are a few reasons why I decided to start Sarah Jade Soap Co. Let me start at the beginning. I have for a very long time been extremely passionate about the natural world around me. Growing up, this first manifested as becoming a vegetarian at age twelve, and as I grew older it expanded to seeking out organic food, using natural products, and trying to learn to be as self-sufficient as possible. In my mid-twenties one November, I met my husband. It was love at first sight and on Thanksgiving of that same month we announced our engagement to our families. We married on New Year’s Eve the following month so that we could start our life together officially at the beginning of the calendar year. We had a little over a year of a wonderful relationship (really just getting to know each other!) when we had a sudden surprise - we were going to have a baby! I of course dove into learning everything I could about natural birth, and that November, nearly exactly two years after we first met, we welcomed our first baby boy!

Becoming a parent opened up a whole new world for me, and I just wanted to provide him with the best of everything. We dressed him in only cotton clothes, fed him organic fruits and vegetables, cooked everything from scratch, bought the “Castile” soap from the grocery store, and thought “So far, so good!” We went on like that for a couple of years and decided that we enjoyed our little family so much that it was time to add another addition! And that’s when our second little boy came into the world. But by this time, things had started to change. This little boy was smaller, he developed eczema at around six months old, I was exhausted, waking up feeling tired everyday, and couldn’t figure out why, with everything we were doing “right” our health wasn’t what it should be. Enter: the Carnivore Diet.

I had started eating a little bit of meat when I was pregnant with our first, but not a lot. During my endless online quest for answers - vitamins, supplements, possible environmental toxins, psychology, you name it - I kept coming across testimonials of people who were doing this crazy thing: fixing their health problems by eating only meat and other animal products. I was at a point where I was getting pretty desperate, so I thought, “Why not give this a shot?” And that little thought changed my life forever.

So we started transitioning, and eventually got to the point where about 98% of our food was animal products. And then something magical happened: my exhaustion lifted and I suddenly had more energy than I’d had since I was a kid! But not only that, my anxiety disorder disappeared, my constant sinus problems ceased, my hair started growing in thicker, and a million other little ailments just vanished! Even my son’s eczema started to improve!

Now, if you eat a lot of meat, you know that you end up with a lot of extra fat jarred up, because that’s precious nutrients in there that don’t belong in the trash! But who can possibly eat that much? So I saved it, thinking I’d figure out what to do with it eventually. And eventually came rather quickly.

It was few months before Christmas, and I was perusing Amazon for some unscented soap because I could no longer find the ones we were used to buying at the store. I found one that looked okay and purchased it. A few days later it shows up at our door, but when I opened the packaging I was hit with a wave of synthetic chemical fragrance. They had sent us “Fresh Scent” in the “Unscented” packaging. Okay, no big deal. I made the return and ordered from a different listing. Lo and behold, a few days later, “Fresh Scent” ends up on our doorstep again! “Okay,” I thought, “I’ll give this one more shot.” I chose yet another different listing, and wouldn’t you know what showed up? My new arch nemesis: Fresh Scent. That’s when I decided enough with these shenanigans. I have a mountain of fat. Soap is just fat and lye. I have access to YouTube. I already like to make things myself. Let’s figure this soap thing out.

I spent the next months learning and experimenting, making loaf after loaf and bar after bar of cold process soap using only pure, natural ingredients. I even found my first ever specialty mold - the Virgin Mary, which I immediately knew had to be the first soap that I would make for my grandmother. She was getting on in years, and as a teacher and mother of six herself, she had always driven my enthusiasm for knowledge and love of family. She inspired me to do everything I can for my family, and I wanted to make her something she would love. I set all of my soaps in boxes to cure, and come Christmastime, I had gifts for everyone I knew, and a new favorite hobby! And the best part? This new soap I was making myself was the best I’d used so far on my little boy’s skin!

So in this time, we had had two more little boys, and two more homebirths with the most incredible midwife I could ask for, so of course she was on my gift list! Another on that gift list was a wonderful woman I’d met through my midwife who produces milk from the cows on her farm that we pick up every week (the most delicious milk I’ve ever had, too!). Another on that list was a woman who comes each week to help take care of my grandmother. Now, all of this time, since our first child was born, I have been a stay-at-home mama and wife, and loving every minute of it, but it wasn’t always easy. My husband was (and still is!) working hard every day to support us, and as our family grew, I started not only praying for him, but praying for something to come along - some elusive opportunity, that would help to lift some of the burden from him. And on one weekend I received what I felt like was a sign from God. My friend who had the farm sent me an encouraging review of one of my bars saying she enjoyed it so much she thought I could sell them - seed planted. My midwife offered to partner with me to buy them wholesale - door of opportunity kicked wide open. And then, to top it all off, my grandmother’s caretaker called to ask me if she could purchase a specially made set of soap - I had my very first order! And just like that, I knew that it couldn’t all be a coincidence, and Sarah Jade Soap Co. was born. I named it so because that is what my grandmother always called me, and in addition to my lovely son, she is who I first thought of when I started this endeavor. And now I can make soap to benefit them both!