In 1996, we moved back to the Napa Valley in search of a better quality of life for our soon to be expanding family. Four years and three children later, we know we made the right decision. Being that all of our kids are boys, and we live in the country with our two dogs, it was no surprise that dirt was a big part of our lives. With all the washing going on, we became concerned with the ingredients in the typical array of mass-produced soap products on the market.
We found ourselves spending quite a bit of time trying to find safe gentle cleansers, with ingredients we could pronounce, to use on our little dirt devils. During this same time period, we were also developing our property, planting gardens and flower beds. I happen to have a particular affinity for lavender and as it turns out, our property seems to be an ideal environment for this lovely herb. Before long, we felt as if we were being taken over by all the lavender I planted.
On one particularly inspirational day (maybe it was the perfume of the lavender bushes going to my head), I decided I could turn these two problems into something positive: make all-natural soap from the lavender and other botanicals we planted, and wash our kids with it. Soon I had so much soap, I was giving it to everyone I knew to try. The positive feedback and frequent requests for more convinced me I was on to something, and Napa Soap Company was born. Now our kids are cleaner and our gardens are under control. And they say you can't have the best of both worlds...