Monika’s Story

“My desire is to extend love through my handcrafted skin care.”

When I first started, it was just a hobby, something to blow off steam and enjoy being creative. For a long time, I made natural soap for my husband, he really loves handmade soaps. Everyone I gave them to said the same thing, that I should sell them at the farmers market downtown. So, I signed up to attend the Farm & Art Markets, and it was a huge success! I felt like this was my calling, and without hesitation, I quit my job as a Head Vet Tech and decided to work on my skin care ideas full-time.

I always made everything from scratch, no outside recipes, and only all natural ingredients, no fragrance oil. I was definitely in my element when I was reading, learning, and experimenting with new body care creations. I started with soaps for acne, shaving, stinky arm pits, shampoo bars. That evolved into body oils and butters, face serums, bath bombs, sugar scrubs, lip balms, rehydrating mists and beard care products. I found out that I was really good at formulating daily skin care routines for friends with sensitive skin issues, and I put together an easy to use reference guide, check it out here – SKINCARE 101.

A year later, on a hot summer day, my mother-in-law got very badly sunburned at the beginning of her long awaited beach trip. The vacation was ruined, she was too embarrassed to go to the restaurants she enjoyed, she wouldn’t go anywhere during the day, she could barely sit down without being in terrible pain. She asked me, “Why did showering make my sunburn worse? ”

The answer is – the soap you use is really important because almost every soap/body wash will exacerbate sunburn. Showering in hot water can make sunburn hurt more, even using a loofah can over exfoliate and lead to a longer recovery time. Unfortunately, she used the hotel soap and it made her sunburn even worse. Your skin absorbs the water and soap you use when you bathe.

I became obsessed with designing a natural soap that could wash away sunburn. I thought, “Why wasn’t something like this on the market already?” The short of it was, the info on the internet said it wasn’t possible. Sure there were other soaps out there with aloe and other botanicals, but they had other ingredients that were bad for sunburn. So, year after year, I spent countless hours researching, experimenting, finding all the combinations that didn’t work perfectly. My husband and I would even get sunburned on purpose, just to test out my newest prototype.

But, I still had a strong desire to find the key, to find the missing link, so I would try again with different techniques, different calculations, I basically tried everything. I even gave up once or twice… After almost seven years, in 2020, I finally perfected the The Original Sunburn Soap, a soap that smells amazing and literally washes away sunburn! So, grab a bar, pack it in your outdoor gear. Let your friends and family know that you never have to worry about sneaky sunburn again!

Happy Adventures!
– Monika

Gabi’s P.A.L.S.

We partner with Gabi’s P.A.L.S. – A Non-Profit Organization that helps those with disabilities find meaningful employment.

Gabi has created more than 50 jobs for those with special abilities. We love what they do!
Thank you Gabi’s team for putting our labeling and packaging together, we really appreciate all of you!