Our beginnings, Southern Handmade Essentials was just an idea in late 2016 and took shape and became an official company on April 15, 2017. The company name and logo were designed as a representation of who we are. Although we’re not originally from the south, this is where we call home and this is where our heart is at.  Your daily skincare essentials are formulated in small batches by hand in our kitchen. We use this method for a healthier existence and a personal touch. Hence the name: Southern Handmade Essentials. 

Our logo design was created to represent the tree of life. The bark is our hands we use to give life to a product we create and distribute to the world. The leaves represent our creations with you the consumer in mind and the red outlined leaf represents the love we have for creating quality products. 

This all started for me as I watched my mother “go natural” meaning she no longer wanted to apply chemicals in her hair. I could remember saying to her I could never leave my “creamy crack”. I was addicted!  I wanted to have straight long hair and perms were the only option for me to achieve this look no matter what the studies showed how damaging these chemicals where to our bodies and the environment. 

I remember the day I realized that I wanted to be natural and free of chemicals especially the ones I put in my hair. I was obsessed with watching documentary after documentary on this subject, which shortly lead me to believe it was time for me to take my health into consideration. Now you would think, after all this research, that haircare would be the start of my obsession for natural products, but it wasn’t.

My journey into natural products started with skincare. I started reading the labels of the everyday product I used daily and it never dawned on me how most of the ingredients that were on the labels of these products I could barely pronounce nor did I have any idea what they were. So, I researched and researched these ingredients and their effects. The more I learned, the more I became concerned not just for myself, but for others as well.  We do not realize or we don’t care how there are unnecessary ingredients in our everyday products we use that are not necessary for a quality product. 

This is where the story begins and handmade soap became my passion.  I started making Melt & Pour soap which is a soap base that you melt and poured into a soap mold and now you have a bar of soap. This didn’t last long! I just felt this was not really a true natural way of creating soap, but a premade base recipe made by someone else. This wasn’t enough for me, if I were going to make natural soap. I needed to go back to the basics and learn to make it from scratch. I’ve researched and researched and watched so many videos on how to make soap that I became obsessed. I watched from sun up to sundown! I just couldn’t get enough on how soap was made.  Of course, being able to create my own product and being in control of what ingredients I put on my body was also a plus.  I just wanted to create quality natural products for myself and others. This mission became an obsession!  I felt a need to make products that were good for the body as well as the environment. 

We choose our ingredients from vendors who take pride in making/selling quality ingredient products that are fair trade, ethically sourced and include natural and organic ingredients. There’re no short cuts here! We stand behind our ingredients and products we create. 

We have added a variety of everyday skincare essentials to our product line. Each recipe is formulated from scratch, handmade for a more personal touch and is quality tested before it leaves our home to yours. We want our consumers to be happy with their purchases and to become a part of our natural family for life. 

If you’re looking for natural skincare products with natural ingredients you can trust us, no need to look any further, our products are just a click away!

Know your worth! Outer Beauty Attracts, Inner Beauty Captivates! Love Your Skin!

-Kenya, CEO Southern Handmade Essentials