We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Krista Lee a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Krista, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I began Helix Soap Co without interest in industry standards and with little expectations of the future. As I began building and making decisions about the products and direction of the company, I stuck with issues close to my heart, keeping it natural and sustainable.

That led to many differences between us and the commercial industry, specifically in regard to using local ingredients, minimal packaging, no preservatives and using only natural colorants. Many ingredients we source locally or grow our own. This aligns with our other must-follow-rules: sustainability and reducing waste.

If you follow us online or have met us, you know we’re avid gardeners with a passion to eat local, sustainable and clean. We grow much of our own fruits and vegetables and that passion expanded to our natural soap making products and ingredients. Most soap recipes are garden inspired (our first passion) and several contain ingredients directly from our own backyard, including mint, calendula, lavender, luffa, yarrow, honey, propolis and beeswax. We became passionate about growing even more of our own ingredients for our soaps and we continually strive to add to that list as well as gather other hyper-local ingredients.

All of our website and product photos were taken by us, from our gardens and featuring our ingredients, we’re kinda proud of that.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi, I’m Krista! I’m an early intervention Speech-Language Pathologist and mom of three boys by day, and soap maker by night.

Helix Soap Co makes natural and locally-sourced soap, shampoo bars, lip balm, salve and bath bombs. Our new soap dishes are cast resin with real pressed flowers, hops cones, sea shells or coffee beans. I got into soap making the way I get into all my hobbies, simply to learn something new. I tend to be multi-passionate and love learning and making things. I first decided I wanted to make soap after trying a handmade bar from my local backyard produce/bounty swap. I host that event monthly with several others in my area to share the bounty of our garden harvests and kitchen talents. I had never used natural soap and absolutely adored it, I had to make my own.

Soap making was a natural complement to my other hobbies, gardening, beekeeping and flower pressing (to name a few). It provided a place for my raw beeswax, propolis, yarrow, mint, calendula, flowers and more to be used. Plus, my husband’s photography interest and talent provides a fun way to document and share our interests and products with others. Making soap can be so versatile in ingredients and I have found that people tend to have preferences in raw materials and scents. I wanted to make clean and eco-friendly products for many to use, enjoy and feel comfortable using with their families.
I’m most proud when we’re recognized and remembered within the community. It’s not something I expected or even hoped for, but a fun perk to the job.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

At Helix Soap Co we manufacture our own soap, shampoo, bath bombs, salve and lip balm. It all started as a hobby and when it first began. I didn’t know how to make soap and I had a lot to learn. It took months of testing and many failed attempts to find our perfect recipes!

I first decided I wanted to make soap after trying a bar someone had made from the local backyard produce/bounty swap event that I host with several others in my area every month. I absolutely adored the soap and the process, so I was set on making my own. I tinkered with numerous recipes and experimented with natural colors, herbs and flowers. When I began bringing my soap to the backyard bounty swap it instantly became a hit, then I was brave enough to start gifting to family, friends and teachers.

That’s when the requests began coming in. Friends, family and local neighbors at the produce swap began asking for my soap, making special requests for gifts or for specific ingredients. I even made a custom batch on request using real apples apples from a customer’s mother’s garden, creating a sentimental unique gift. We got so busy trading and making special orders that the idea for Helix Soap Co was born. We began making, curing and storing more soap while learning about the market; online, in town stores (showcasing local artisans), plus in person pop-up markets.

There were many learning challenges with manufacturing and there continues to be surprises when trying new items or ingredients. Natural colorants are a challenge for example and can vary greatly from batch to batch, they can change color depending on ph, temperature and even the weather!

Each bar needs a month of resting before it can be used, so we quickly discovered we would need more curing space and invested in storage racks. One soon became two and we grew as fast as we could maintain. It’s still a struggle learning the market, getting used to slower seasons and super crazy seasons such as the holidays. Every year we learn more and more. It’s a never ending adventure if you’re doing it right!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think the primary reason we have gained a reputation within our market is that we “walk the walk”. We keep our values in mind for every decision and they always come first. If there is a product I want to make but can’t find a sustainable way to make it or package it, we don’t. For example, bath bombs commercially come in plastic wrapping and it took almost a year before I found a recipe and a way to store and display them without the use of plastic. Lip balm was the same way, commercial tubes are plastic and finding another alternative took some time to find and also costs more to produce. The most fun part of building our business has been the local connections. We have reached out and worked with other makers and local small businesses on some fun collaborations. For example, we created a Dark Horse Coffee soap bar made with real coffee and coffee grounds. We created several beer soap varieties made with beer from Helix Brewing, our local favorites. It was fun! Social media has also made a big difference for us, it’s a fun way for customers to get to know us, our product and our values.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.helixsoap.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/helixsoapco
• Facebook: www.facebookbook.com/helixsoapco

Image Credits
Person Photo of Eric and Krista was taken by Ariana Brookshier of Brookshier Creative The other photos were taken by Eric, VP at Helix Soap Co