Review: Maple Hill Naturals lip balm, shampoo bar, and soap

Today I want to introduce you to an awesome American company, Maple Hill Naturals. There are a lot of reasons why I like this company. All the products listed on their site are made here in the United States. Even their dryer balls are from 100% American wool. And, many of their dryer balls are made by moms, providing a work-from-home income!

To review, I received a Peppermint Essential Oil Lip Balm; a Pure & Gentle Natural Shampoo & Conditioning Bar; and Pure & Gentle Fragrance Free Soap.

I loved the packaging on the soaps! This is a company that’s truly trying to be sustainable.

As I’ve mentioned before, my skin reacts negatively to shower gels, so I always use bar soap. Lately I’ve even been using bar soap on my face too; I just have to make sure I moisturize well. I’ve used the Pure & Gentle Fragrance Free Soap from Maple Hill Naturals for a week now. It gives a great lather and cleans without leaving a scent. As far as my face…well, my face hasn’t broken out any more than usual since I started using the bar soap to clean it. That’s the best I can expect from any product I use on my face. The ingredients are olive oil, water, coconut oil, palm oil, and sodium hydroxide (no sodium hydroxide remains after saponifying oils into soap and glycerin). 

Because it’s a gentle, natural product I figured it may take a couple of weeks before the Pure & Gentle Natural Shampoo & Conditioning Bar started to work for me, and that my hair might be a little oily in the meantime. However, I was wrong. Right away the bar was leaving my hair clean. If I rub the bar directly on my hair, I get an amazing lather. The ingredients are coconut oil, water, palm oil, castor oil, sodium hydroxide, olive oil, hemp seed butter, shea butter, avocado oil, and jojoba oil. (No sodium hydroxide remains after saponifying oils into soap and glycerin).

Clean hair!

I’m someone who has to have something on their lips. Even if I’m bare faced and/or walking around my home, I’m using lip balm regularly. The Maple Hill Naturals Peppermint Essential Oil Lip Balm looks thicker maybe even a little grainier in the tube than what I’m used to, but it goes on completely smooth. It doesn’t tingle, and once it’s on, I can’t smell the peppermint. The balm leaves my lips very smooth and moisturized. The ingredients are beeswax, organic cocoa butter, organic shea butter, organic carnauba wax, almond oil, and organic hemp oil.

Overall I’m very pleased with this company. Their products work, and they are truly natural. I also think the prices are very reasonable. They do have products in some retail stores, but you can purchase directly from the Maple Hill Naturals website. Visit Maple Hill Naturals on Facebook and Twitter for updates and more information on their products and company.

Do you use natural products? What from Maple Hill Naturals would you like to try?

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Review: YesterYear Soap Company

YesterYear SoapsI’m a soap girl. I’ve tried numerous body washes over the years, but I just never felt clean from them and a lot of them made me break out. Eeuh. Also, you might think I’m strange, but there’s just something about scrubbing a bar of soap across my skin that makes me actually feel clean. But I can’t use your well-known, typical name-brand soaps found in the soap aisle of the big name retail stores. Those bars dry out my skin or make me break out, sometimes both. Double Eeuh. It doesn’t matter if they’re made for “sensitive” skin or not, so I end up purchasing my natural soaps from specialty stores or wherever I can find them.

Now that I’ve explained my interest in bar soap, you’ll understand why I was very excited when YesterYear Soap Company set me a 3-bar sampler of their soap to review!

YesterYear Soap 3 Pack

The YesterYear Soap Company has an interesting beginning. Cindy O’Neill and her husband Dave transported authentic, dilapidated early-19th century cabins to their 60 acre property nestled inside the Holly Springs National Forest. While creating their frontier town known as YesterYear Lodge, they discovered a soap maker’s kettle in the ruins of one of the buildings. The idea of YesterYear Soap Company became a reality after they learned the difference between the artisan soaps of the past and today’s factory-made body deodorant products.

YesterYear Soaps are handcrafted with natural ingredients like olive oil, coconut oil, hemp oil, organic shea butter, and water. They do not contain preservatives, animal products, petroleum products, or lauryl sulfate. No synthetic fragrances or colorants are used!

They also sell body scrubs made with real sea salt. A 3-bar gift set retails for $12.99.

YesterYear scrub

I also noticed YesterYear Soap Company sells bricks of soap with a bamboo cutting board and cutter for $22.95. How cool of a gift would that be?!

YesterYear Soap Honeysuckle Brick SoapThey also make African Black Soap which is reported to help with skin issues like acne and eczema. I’m planning on purchasing some to try it out as face soap. I’ll let you know how that goes! I’m also interested in the Greek Yogurt soap; the scents sound delicious: cucumber lime, lemon spice, and tropical garden.

Our Experiences:

The first bar I tried was the Cool Fresh Aloe soap. Before this soap, I didn’t have a good association with aloe vera. Whenever I thought of an aloe smell, what came to mind was that green goopy after-sun stuff I used to smear all over my body after I baked in the sun during my college years. I was surprised and happy that this aloe soap has a very light, pleasant scent. After using it in the shower, I could smell the soap on my skin afterwards, but just barely. I like that. I want to smell clean, but not necessarily like my soap.

The Mango Papaya scent was nice but not my favorite of the three, because I’m not a huge fan of fruity scents. My favorite scent was the Vanilla Honey. It smelled light and exotic. All three soaps worked well in that they did not dry out my skin. I even used them instead of shaving cream, and my legs actually did feel moisturized afterwards, like I’d used lotion. Also, none of them left a residue.

YesterYear Soaps

I’m very pleased with the quality of these soaps. After using the aloe bar for two weeks straight in the shower and at the bathroom sink, I would estimate that one bar will last at least four weeks if only used in the shower. A 3-bar sampler or gift set retails for $9.99 and shipping is very reasonable. Personally, I think the price is great for quality, natural soap.

The only thing I don’t like about YesterYear was the Web site. I do think that could use a little updating. Some of the products give an estimate on bar size, others don’t. Also, some products have the shipping listed and even say orders over $30 have free shipping…but not every product says that, and the main page itself says nothing about the free shipping. I think it’s a little confusing. I’d like to see more consistency, so I don’t have any questions about what I’m buying and the price.

Good to Know:

YesterYear Soap Company has been featured in “Every Day with Rachael Ray” magazine, “Weight Watchers” magazine, CBS Market Watch, and the Wall Street Journal Online. I wouldn’t be surprised to see YesterYear Soap gain even more popularity and recognition in the near future.

Want to win a 3-pack like mine? Click HERE to enter! (US only)

Note: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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CLOSED Giveaway: Goat Milk Stuff 10/02-10/12

 

Sponsor: Goat Milk Stuff 

Dates: October 2nd – October 12th
Open to US Residents Only
18+ Void Where Prohibited

Welcome to the Goat Milk Stuff Giveaway! There will be 2 winners! Each winner will receive a $25 Gift Certificate to Goat Milk Stuff. Everyone loves quality, natural, American-made products, right?
Here is a little history about the company:
For Starters Goat Milk Stuff is a family-run business. The Jonas family is a large family of 10 from Rural Indiana. They have a small herd of Alpine Goats and they work together as a family in conducting their business. All of their children are home schooled and have their own unique rolls in the family business. All of their goats are show quality and are checked annually. The Jonas’ Goats are not fed any antibiotics or growth hormones, so there is nothing unnatural passed into their milk.
Their products include soaps, liquid soap, lip balm, laundry soap, bath bombs, sugar scrubs, and more! 


You can read the full review by Down South Savings HERE

 



The Goat Milk Stuff Family has generously agreed to give 2 Readers a $25 Gift Certificate to try their products! Please enter on the Rafflecopter below. The more entries you get, the better your chances of winning! All entries are verified so please be honest. Good Luck to each and every one of you!

Disclaimer: My Life: A Work in Progress, Down South Savings nor any of the other participating blogs/bloggers are responsible for sponsor prize fulfillment. All opinions are that of my own and my differ from those of your own. At the end of the giveaway, winners will be emailed and announced on the Rafflecopter. You will have 48 hours to claim your prize or another winner will be chosen so please check your spam folders! Your name and email address will then be forwarded to the sponsor “Goat Milk Stuff” for prize fulfillment.

Winners:

Entry #1407 Barb S.

Entry #168 Misty F.
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