Celebrating a joyful 21 years in business, the Samson family of Seven Seed Soap Co. in Newton, NC, has always been dedicated to wellness, community, and above all, kindness.
Since taking over the business in 2019, daughter Jennifer has stayed true to her parents’ mission, knowing everything they do now has been inspired – in many ways – by her mother! The company is now serving new generations of loyal customers, which adds to their blessing, and giving back to their community has always been a high priority for the Samsons.
“My parents have always been generous with the attention and time spent with customers,” says Jennifer. That means offering them something that’s both valuable to their family’s health and well-being, and something beautiful as well. All of the Seven Seed Soap Co. products fit that definition perfectly, and have become a family tradition for many customers through the years.
Each product is also a labor of love! Making soap from scratch is a true art, and Jennifer shares the tried-and-true process that has been the foundation of their success.
“Real soap is made when a base is combined with an acid,” explains Jennifer. “In this chemistry lesson made simple, the base is the lye and the acid is fat, whether vegetable based or animal based.”
She says they make lye solution using a powdered form of sodium hydroxide and use a variety of oils to make the company’s over-40 different soap varieties.
“When lye is mixed with water and combined thoroughly with the melted oils, a chemical process occurs called saponification. After the mixture is completely blended, the molecules rearrange themselves to make two parts soap and one part glycerin, a natural humectant, drawing moisture from the air straight to your skin,” explains Jennifer. “The longer a cold-processed soap cures, the less water and more concentrated a soap becomes. That’s why an older bar of soap may look smaller than a newer bar of handmade soap. Soap doesn’t ‘go bad’ or melt.”
She also explains “cold-process soap” – what happens after the lye and oils mix.
“If heat is applied, that is referred to as hot-process soap, what our ancestors were doing after the hog fat was rendered in the fall over a fire in a large, cast-iron pot. In cold-process soap, there’s no extra heat that is applied and therefore the saponifiaction takes a little longer, since heat speeds up the process,” says Jennifer. She also explains the concept of “melt and pour” soap, which is a product manufactured as soap already, and may contain synthetic detergents.
“Most of the equipment we use now has been made by my dad, including the soap cutters and many of the molds,” Jennifer adds. “We’ve also had a carpenter friend make some of our most-used molds – we typically make 48 bars of soap at a time, but occasionally use molds to make 72 bars.”
Set aside some time to visit the store – or shop their website – to find wonderful options for face care, including the Seven Seed Facial Serum, a variety of soaps, lip balms, and facial scrubs; body products including herbal deodorant, lotions, and the popular brown sugar butter scrub; a wellness category filled with essential oils, natural hand sanitizers and bug sprays; plus a men’s category that features beard butter, oil, and soaps.
Seven Seed Soap Co. is located at 111 N. College Avenue in Newton, 828-466-2271. Hours are Tuesday through Friday 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., or shop online at Sevenseedsoap.com.
