They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Sapna Girdhar must have thought about this when she started her Punjab based business HERBOTICA is dedicated to the creation of gentle all natural handmade soaps.

Sapna was a housewife after getting laid off from her household chores & responsibilities she got ample time. This was when she decided to follow her entrepreneurship call & start a home based small business with a purpose to make a difference.

Her passion for natural products led her to do research & make her own soap free from harsh chemicals & animal products.

She started out making soap in her own kitchen in small scale. The initial investment available was just enough for buying a stainless steel mixing kettle, few plastic jars & two basic ingredients needed for soapmaking. Oils & sodium hydroxide.

With this she created her own product line & she herself designed her products & their packaging. The low initial startup investment was counter balanced by immense amount of time , labor & love that went into creating three years testing soap recipes, the formula for the soap with right consistency & quality design & packaging.

She wanted to create a soap that was gentle, pure & free from chemicals & animal products. These chemicals leach into our body through skin & over a long term can cause immense harm.

The glycerin in the oils gives the soap its moisturizing properties while fresh herbs & natural essential oils are used for medicinal values & fragnances. Nature's botanica boasts that most of the ingredients they use are of edible quality & natural. This obsession with quality has resulted Nature's botanica having hundreds of loyal customers who swear by its products.

We have numerous examples of customers reporting significant decrease in skin ailments & other curative benefits even though soaps are not meant to be medicinal in nature, but just a natural & pure alternative to the chemical laced commercial products.

This further reinforces our belief in the value of natural soap & Nature's botanica is excited about the future & sees an immense opportunities to cater the segment of the market which is looking for a pure & natural option for handmade soaps.

Many of the branded soaps we use might actually be doing us more harm than good.Read full post to know What is in your soap?

Do you know that one of the ways your body acquires nutrients, other than eating, is through the skin. Your skin is your largest organ—and 65 percent of the substances you put on it are eventually absorbed into the bloodstream. This semipermeable membrane allows us to absorb vitamins and minerals and UV rays from the sun, but, unfortunately, it also absorbs harmful chemicals we put on it.

Chemicals in common soaps are not benign. They can disrupt our hormones, promote allergies, lead to reproductive issues and increase risk of some cancers. With serious side effects like these, we need to be particular about what we put on our skin. Safe and effective organic cleaning products from house hold items.

Here are the chemicals you should watch out for when buying bathing soap which comes in contact with your skin.

Parabens: These ingredients are estrogen mimickers—meaning that once applied to the skin, they enter the bloodstream, and the body mistakes them for estrogen. When the body thinks there is an abnormally high amount of estrogen present in the bloodstream due to the presence of these hormone disrupters, it reacts in various ways: decreasing muscle mass, increasing fat deposits, causing early onset of puberty and spurring reproductive difficulties in both men and women.

Sulfates: These chemicals are used to produce lather and bubbles in soap. Some common sulfates are SLS (sodium lauryl sulfate) and SLES (sodium laureth sulfate). Sulfates strip the skin of its natural oils and increase penetration of the skin’s surface. They are also irritants for people with sensitive skin or eczema.

Triclosan: This chemical is most often found in antibacterial soap. Recent studies have found that triclosan actually promotes the emergence and growth of bacteria resistant to antibiotic cleansers. It also creates dioxin, a carcinogen that has been found in high levels in human breast milk.

Dioxins have disruptive effects on the endocrine system and negatively affect thyroid functions.

Think about it. If we are washing our bodies with soap that contains harmful ingredients every single day, this adds up over a lifetime to wreak havoc on our health.

It is the responsibility of us- consumers, to make informed decisions as to what does and doesn’t go on our skin and to educate ourselves on the ingredients constituting any product which is applied on our skin or ingested by us. Be aware and be safe.

Choose high-quality herbotica's handmade soaps free of these hormone-disrupting toxic additives. In other words always use herbotica's handmade soaps made from pure and natural ingredients, and improve the health and safety of your family members.