The History of Little Soap and Emma

We’re often asked how Little Soap came into creation, and its a story we love to tell time and time again- no matter how many times we repeat it. Looking back, we realised its a story we’ve never actually told on this blog before- until now. So, sit back and enjoy- a very brief history of Little Soap and Emma.

It all started with Gran…

My gran was an amazing woman- she was such an inspiration to me- who had a real passion for natural soap. She and my grandpa would travel to many places- always by boat!- and everywhere she went, she brought home soap. And she had the most perfect skin! She never wore makeup, just used soap- and I was always in awe of her natural beauty. Natural soap was just her thing- and as a family, we never needed to buy soap because we always had her stash to go through! 

About three or four years after gran died, we realised we were down to just a few bars of soap and we needed to buy more. So I started to look at the soaps in my supermarket so that I could start to replenish the stock- only to find it was nothing like the soap that gran had. It made my skin tight and dry, and it just wasn’t as good as we were used to. That’s when I realised that what we’d had with gran’s soap stash was very special.

The hunt for better soap

It took a while, but I eventually worked out that the best soap had the fewest ingredients and was made with vegetable oils. The synthetic ingredients in the bars that lined the supermarket shelves were so inferior and just made my skin look and feel terrible. The hunt for better soap was on!

One day I ended up at a craft market, and there I met someone who made her own soap. I bought a couple of bars from her and when I used it later that day the difference was amazing. It lathered beautifully. It smelled amazing. It was actually better than gran’s stuff!

I called her the next day to ask about buying more, and was told that she was wrapping up her business. So I hot-footed it down there and bought the remaining 36 bars… plus the recipe for her  amazing soap. And that was the start of Little Soap Company.

The creation of Little Soap Company

When I acquired the soap recipe, I really only wanted it so that I could make bars for friends and family. But as soon as I started creating my own soap, I realised I genuinely loved making it- and I ended up with SO MANY bars! Everyone was asking me for more soap, I was using it all the time too and I realised that this was about to become small hobby business. I never in my wildest dreams thought that Little Soap would become what it is today! 

Where we are today

Little Soap Company started with me hand making soap on the Aga and selling it in subzero temperatures at farmer’s markets. I was producing 350 artisan bars a day, moving on to tens of thousands of natural and organic soap bars for the Everyday range. I produced the first organic, cruelty free soap bar to hit the supermarket shelves, launching on a small scale in Waitrose in 201, then regionally in Tesco in 2012, national in Waitrose in 2013, closely followed by Boots in the north. The range then rolled out to Sainsburys and Boots in 2014, plus other major supermarkets.

The business moved from my kitchen table to the buildings in Broadway and I now have an amazing team around me. I’ve been able to concentrate on product development to bring new bars and liquid soaps to the range you know and love today. From gran’s precious stash to Little Soap Company as it is today- I wouldn’t change a single second of this amazing journey!