Our story begins in 2008, at an open-air green market in southern Florida.
I wandered into a stall where a woman was selling beautifully crafted soap incorporating natural essential oils. I remember looking at each one in great detail, seduced by the likes of real rosemary, lavender, and orange. I purchased three, packed them away, and headed for home.
These three little bars changed my path.
From then on, I sought out every book and article written about the art of natural soap making and essential oils. I tucked the idea of creating a true all-natural bath and body care business away into my dreams.
My mantras became: Creating, testing, seeking the finest ingredients available, and the desire to continuously improve.
Today, my dream is a reality. Wildwood Soapworks is an environmentally conscious, small company located on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We have a healthy obsession with using only the finest ingredients on the planet, no matter what the cost!
To us, "handmade" isn't just a word; it encompasses what we believe, what we do, and who we are. It is a labor of love.
It means sourcing the absolute finest quality, certified organic ingredients.
It means formulating those ingredients into unique recipes, born from over a decade of research, development, and refinement.
It means we make everything ourselves, in our own facility. We never buy pre-made bases, add a few things, and call it our own.
This dedication to process is what allows us to create products that our clients consistently refer to as “the best they have ever used.”
We believe your skin is the largest organ of your body, and it absorbs what you put on it.
Our motto is simple: What goes ON your body, goes IN your body. If you wouldn't eat it, DON'T put it on your skin.
This is why we hold ourselves, and our suppliers, to the highest standards on earth.
The term "organic" is often used as a marketing tool. Anyone can use one organic ingredient, mix it with synthetic chemicals, and call their product "organic." We find this unacceptable.
To us, "organic" means more than just the ingredients. It’s about how the product is handled, what is used to clean our equipment, and a myriad of other requirements that ensure your product never encounters synthetic or toxic chemicals. We use only food-grade ingredients—if it's not safe to eat, it's not in our products.
Essential oils are the actual extracts of a plant. "Fragrance oils" (or parfum) are synthetic chemical creations. There is no such thing as a "strawberry" or "coconut" essential oil! If a product smells like that, it's a chemical. We use only the purest, therapeutic-grade essential oils, which are chemically analyzed for purity before they ever enter our facility.
We never use cheap fillers like soy or pomace. Many soapmakers use "pomace" olive oil, which is the bottom-of-the-barrel, solvent-extracted product no longer fit for human consumption. We use Extra Virgin Olive Oil as our base, along with six other certified organic carrier oils in every bar of soap. Our Jojoba oil is pressed for quality, not quantity, so its natural benefits are realized to their full potential.
Our obsession with ingredients leads to products that truly work.
Our Solid Lotion Bars combine Shea Butter with Jojoba Oil. Jojoba mimics your skin's natural sebum, so it's absorbed quickly, drawing the long-lasting moisture of Shea in with it—leaving you protected, not greasy.
Our Lip Balms are formulated to absorb into the tissue layers of the lips, healing and sealing from the inside out, rather than just laying a coat of wax on top.
From those first three bars of soap, our dream has grown into a complete line of handmade, organic bath and body products. We're still here, on the Outer Banks, driven by that same initial passion. Our commitment to creating, testing, and improving is stronger than ever as we continue to research and add new products to our line.
We exist to give you the best of what nature has to offer, long before corporations decided there was "better living through chemistry."
Thank you for joining our family. Experience skincare as nature intended.
Experience Wild Hearted Luxury!
- Sally K. Cates
