Ellie’s soap luxurious gift from nature
STUDIES of different herbs
and their beneficial effects
while training to be a natur-
opath were put to good use by
Injune grazier’s wife Ellie
Jackson when she decided to
start making natural soap four
years ago.
For Ellie, it was a case of
looking for extra income after
long-lasting drought was rav-
aging cash flow on the 5500-
acre (2227-hectare) Maintop
property she and her husband
Russell own on the crest of the
great dividing range, 35km
north-west of Injune.
While not wishing to go on
to a naturopath career, Ellie
decided to transfer some of the
things she had learnt into the
new and mysterious craft of
soap making.
An age-old art, soap making
involves mixing highly toxic
caustic soda with an oil-based
material – either pressed oil
or animal fat – to create a
firm solid material
from
which all traces of corrosive
caustic soda eventually disap-
pear.
For reasons not yet fully
explained by science, the final
soap product, although non-
injurious to human skin, will
kill or neutralise most germs,
hence the necessity to wash
hands with soap for cleansing
purposes.
With her strong interest in
natural products and herbs,
Ellie opted for specialised soap
blends, using as her basic fat
material oils, palm nuts,
coconuts, olives, rice bran,
avocados, macadamia nuts,
castor plant and the African
imported shea butter.
To start the process, Ellie
mixes caustic soda with goats’
milk, combining the two very
gently to avoid overheating
and creating a ‘fried orange
lump’.
When that mix is at the right
temperature, Ellie adds care-
fully measured quantities of
the various oils, plus selected
herbs and other additives.
Making her soap mix in the
morning, she pours it into
moulds to stand overnight.
The following day she turns
large lumps of the product out
of the moulds to stand on
shelves in a shed with plenty of
air circulation.
The soap blocks are cut into
conventional bath-size pieces
and smoothed and trimmed so
that no sharp edges remain to
scratch sensitive skin.
Ellie marke