About

 

My name is Melissa Valentine, and I'm an eccentric, artistic 80's child, who loves making handcrafted soap! In the soaping community, my username is "Levana Soaps". If you look me up, I welcome add requests and followers. 

 

So why the passion for handcrafted soap, you ask? I will explain how that came to be in a moment. 

 

But first, I would like to talk about the name "Levana" and why I use it. It is my way of honoring my mother, who passed away in 2012. Both her first and middle names meant "moon" or "moon goddess" in 2 different languages. I checked around, and there were already soap makers using her names. So I set out in search of a name that meant "moon" in a different language, but also sounded pretty. 

 

I decided on "Levana", which means moon in Hebrew. While my family is not Jewish, I still thought it had a pretty ring to it. I also included a moon shape on my logo, to match the name. 

 

That being said-- yes my friends, I have started a soaping blog. It felt like the next logical step for someone like me, who enjoys both writing and making soap. After all, who doesn’t love to talk about their passions?

One might say that my love for soapmaking began in February, 2021, when I made my very first batch of soap. Luckily, it came out superb and that positive experience got me hooked.

But in truth, the soap bug first bit me about 11 years ago.

I was living on our family’s land, at the foot of majestic Mount Shasta, which is in  northern California. My uncle Marty and his wife, aunt Barb, drove out to visit us.

Aunt Barb told us that she had taken up making and selling her own hand crafted soap! She gave me 3 bars to try out, sporting fragrances of Vanilla, Sandalwood, and Chocolate.

 

 

I tried the chocolate one first, intrigued by the idea of a dessert-like soap. Right away, I noticed a difference. The bar was firmer with a nicer slip than the ones we always bought from the store. It lasted much longer too!

The best part was the way my skin felt. After a wash with commercial soap, I always wanted to apply lotion to my hands, to combat the dry skin it caused. 

 

But with this hand-crafted soap, that wasn’t necessary. My hands were soft and felt nourished all day.

Today I laugh at the memory of how I would sneak to the bathroom to wash my hands, when I didn’t need to. All so I could enjoy the soothing suds again.

I found the idea of homemade soap fascinating. Until then, I didn’t even know it was possible to make soap at home. In fact, I didn’t know anything about it! I thought soap was a modern invention and only big, rich companies made it. I thought it required complicated ingredients, unavailable to most of us. Formulated by people in lab coats.

I had no idea that soap in its simplest forms had likely been around for thousands of years. That even the poorest peasants made it centuries ago, with animal fat, wood ashes, and water.

One of my biggest regrets was that I didn’t think to research it back then. That I didn't ask Aunt Barb for more information, or give making it a try.

I was such a YouTube video-making nut (still am). I have always been the creative type and I would have loved soaping, I'm sure! Especially mixing it with my other hobbies of video making/editing.

Better late than never though, right?

Anyway, years later in 2020, I noticed that one of my favorite companies (Lume) was now making natural soap! So I bought some, to try it out. 

 

 

The first thing I thought when I tried their soap was, 

 

“Oh wow, this reminds me of the handcrafted soap aunt Barb gave me!”

I used that bar up pretty fast, for both hand washing and showers. I was happy to have a quality soap again. But I remember one afternoon while I was using that soap, I looked down at the bar in my hands and thought,

“If only I could make my own soap, like aunt Barb did, and have it be this good. Hmm... Could I?"

Within minutes, I was curled up in the living room recliner, pulling out my phone and opening YouTube. I did a video search for “How to make soap.” 

 

 

I found so many channels of soapers, showing the entire process. Both simple bars and themed artisan soaps that made my jaw drop!

I watched some “soapmaking safety” videos too. Then looked up an easy recipe, and drove to the store to get the ingredients.

I found a wooden box in Hobby Lobby to use as my first mold (hey, they had a 40% off sale, how could I resist?). I also found some fancy oils and butters there. Bought some freezer paper to line my mold with at Walmart. Along with Sodium Hydroxide/Lye in the Hardware section. Finally, a jug of distilled water, plus a few other safety and mixing supplies.

With the proper tools in tote, I came home and told my roommate I was going to make soap! He looked at me with curiosity. Then he mentioned that his own mother made soap with olive oil back in his home country, years ago.

But he was curious to see how I intended to pull it off.

I was nervous working with lye the first time, as many new soapers are. I leaned waaay back as I mixed, while my roommate lingered nearby and chuckled at how jumpy I was.

But when I poured my creamy batter into the mold and cut my loaf into beautiful, ivory colored bars the next day—I was hooked! They were exactly what I wanted and it made me proud. 

 

 

 

 

 

A few days later, I tested a scrap piece and the lather was perfect! I was falling in love with an art and I didn’t even know it yet. 

 

 

I wanted to make more soap. Unfortunately, I borrowed a simple, pre-weighed recipe, because I had no clue how to formulate one of my own. Beyond that, I knew nothing about formulating soap recipes.

I was willing to learn though. I wanted to know about all the properties of different oils and butters, what they all do. Learn about the fragrances, colorants, all the different techniques.

This was my new passion.

So I set out to learn as much as I could. I bought and read several books on the subject. Watched countless tutorials and informative videos. Browsed websites and tried DOZENS of recipes. Some worked out, and some did not. 

 

 

Eventually, I learned how to formulate my own recipes and have fun with it.

I came up with a few of my own base recipes that I am quite happy with. Of course that doesn’t mean I won't try plenty of new ones in the future for fun. But the ones I put together suit my needs quite well.

I want this blog to be a place where I can ramble on about the joys and challenges of soaping. Have it be helpful or even entertaining to others who share my interest.

If that sounds like you, then please do follow along!