THE SUSSEX HANDMADE SOAP COMPANY STORY
The Beginning
The Sussex Handmade Soap Company was formed in 2019 in the ancient fishing town of Hastings, East Sussex by friends Anne and Wayne. That's us, on the left! This photo was taken on the day we found out that we had won an award for our "Dead Sea Clay" soap bar - hence the Champagne! Our main aim when starting this business was to create a product that was natural, attractive, good quality and above all else, something that we were both passionate about making!
​
We began by making soap as a hobby as this combined Wayne's love of cooking with Anne's love of science and chemistry. We both have a creative side and enjoy coming up with new scent combinations and decorative ideas. We chose to use the cold process method for making our soaps as in a fast paced, modern world, we liked the idea of creating something using an old fashioned and traditional method.
Thinking naturally
We combined this traditional method with the more modern values that we both feel strongly about. To us, this meant that all our soaps had to contain clean, safe, cruelty free ingredients and absolutely no parabens or sls.
We were also conscious that we wanted our soaps to be as environmentally friendly as possible. This means that all of our soaps and other products are either vegetarian or vegan and we avoid the use of palm oil wherever possible. Our packaging is all recyclable or biodegradable and none of the packaging materials that we use leave behind microplastics.​
​
Our first soap bars were created and tested on our human friends and family - no animal testing took place either on our finished bars or on any of the ingredients that we used to make them. We listened to feedback from our friends and family and used that feedback to create what we feel is the perfect collection of products.
Moving Forwards
Although we initially started just selling soaps, we have grown a bit from our humble beginnings! In addition to soap, we now offer a much wider range of products. These include bath bombs, body butters, shampoo bars, sugar scrubs and gift sets. We also offer some very special seasonal soaps and bath bombs in the run up to Christmas each year.
​
As we have grown, we have had to allow our business plan to change slightly too. Though our core range of soaps still remain wholly natural, some of our new products do contain safe synthetic ingredients. Where synthetic ingredients have been used, we have always researched them fully first to ensure their safety (all of our products are fully checked over and certified by cosmetic chemists before we release them for sale). We only include synthetic ingredients in a small number of our ranges and this is only when there is no natural alternative available.
​
We are always researching new products and new ideas so with a little luck and a lot of hard work, we hope to continue to be able to bring you new and exciting things for many years to come!