By Sara Anne Donnelly
From our September 2021 issue
For a soak with floral fragrance, try rose-geranium soap from SoulShine Soap Company, a line of organic palm-oil soaps made by hand in Michelle Byram’s Hampden kitchen. To go fragrance-free, try activated-charcoal soap, which Byram bills as a detox for your pores.
Prefer a bar that exfoliates? Wake up your epidermis with peppermint loofah soap by Dr. Dandelion, a home-based company in Portland’s West End that blends loofah into its bars for a lathery, rough-cleansing twofer.
They might seem like a novelty, but Melanie Landi, of Rockland’s Home Brewed Soaps, says her beer-based bars have superior lather and are great for skin and hair. She makes soaps for washing and shaving with home-brewed IPAs, porters, Belgian wheats — even pumpkin-spice beer, in season. For more of a wake-up call, try the coffee soaps infused with organic beans from Topsham-based Wicked Joe.
Slip into a tub infused with Lux Floral Soak, a blend of lavender, rose, calendula, and Dead Sea salt from Unfiltered Skin Care, in Bath. Founder Brionne Beck blends the petals for a calming scent, perfect for bedtime, while the sea salt relaxes tense muscles.
Add flair to even a quick shower with an aromatic Shower Shot by Dulse and Rugosa. Mother-daughter partners Claire and Carly Weinberg, of Gotts Island, grow and wild-harvest the seaweeds and botanicals used in the shots, so named because they’re made by hand in Jell-O-shot molds. Try the shot called Clearing, a combo of fir, pine, and patchouli oils.
Smooth away lingering tension with luscious CBD body cream from South Portland’s Betoken. Try the Not This Month PMS cream, a blend of chamomile, ginger, and rose (and 500 milligrams of hemp CBD per bottle) that’s more versatile than its name suggests.
Clean your chompers with compostable floss in refillable containers from Cape Elizabeth startup Dental Lace. The zero-waste floss comes in mulberry silk and vegan varieties made of bamboo or corn.
