The Man With the Hand Mixer

The first thing people tell us about our liquid soap isn't that it smells nice, or that it lathers well. It's that it moisturises their skin.

That's what makes it different. It's why it suits dry and sensitive skin, and pretty much every skin type in between. And it didn't happen by accident.

When we started out, we made solid soap. But we knew pretty quickly that people love liquid too, and my husband Anthony was determined to make a good one.

Before we had automatic tanks, he'd stand there for hours mixing each batch in the tank with his own hand mixer. I'd like to say it was glamorous. It wasn't.

We Didn't Want to Make a Body Wash

We did a lot of research before we made a single bottle. We didn't want to make a standard body wash, with sulfates and foaming agents and a long list of things added to make it feel like it's working.

What we found is that you can make a true liquid soap from pure olive oil. It isn't the easy way. Olive oil makes a soft, gentle soap that's slow to lather, which is why most liquid soaps blend in other oils, or skip soap altogether and use detergent. We didn't want to do either.

So our liquid soap is olive oil, turned into soap with potash, the way liquid soap has always been made, then left to set for about six weeks. We make it in small batches, to order, in Dandenong. The scented ones add pure essential oils, and that's it.

Why It Moisturises

So why does it moisturise? There are three reasons.

When oil becomes soap, glycerin forms. Glycerin draws water into your skin and holds it there. We don't take any of it out, so all of it ends up in the bottle.

Olive oil is gentle. It cleans without stripping away the oils your skin makes itself.

And there's nothing in it to make it foam. No sulfates, no foaming agents, nothing to leave your skin tight.

It lathers less than you might be used to. That's the point.

The Bottle, the Tins, and Why Not Plastic

Plastic was never an option for us. Only 13% of plastic in Australia is actually recycled, and a bottle you use for a month and throw away didn't make sense for a soap that's meant to be good for you.

So you buy the bottle once, in glass or aluminium, and keep it. When it runs low, you refill it from a 2L or 5L steel tin. A 2L refill is $79.95, against $107.80 for the same amount in 500ml bottles, and there's a lot less packaging.

Why We're Asking You

Some of the best ideas we've ever had came from our customers. And lately you've been asking for other essential oils in our liquid soap. So we're not going to guess.

We're making a limited run, the Liquid Soap Edit, and you choose what goes in it. There are six single-oil liquid soaps on the ballot: citrus, cedarwood, peppermint, spearmint, tea tree and rosemary. Pick your favourites. The three with the most votes get made, one small batch of each, and go on sale on Tuesday 3 November.

Voting closes at 10am on Monday 2 November, and everyone who votes goes into a draw to win all three winning scents in 500ml glass (terms). One entry per email address.

If Anthony and his hand mixer taught us anything, it's that the good version takes longer. Thank you for helping us choose.