About Petala Soaps

Welcome To Petala Soaps

A beautiful British range of soaps made in the heart of the Cotswold countryside.

Petala Soaps, Pure and Pampering

Small batch and hand-crafted are terms regularly attributed to the booming business in artisan gins, though the words have – for far longer – epitomised traditional soap-making: where botanical ingredients including flowers, fruits and herbs are blended with natural oils in a highly sustainable, cold process.

Together these ingredients, and the care involved in crafting a product that is very different from commercial, often petroleum based soaps, combine to present a personal care experience which not only cleanses, but nourishes the skin. The aromatic and textural sensations offer the capacity to calm and pamper the spirit, turning bathing and showering, or simple hand hygiene, into a luxurious experience.

Past and Present

Anne Campbell was born and brought up in the heart of the Cotswolds, where she established her Petala soap making business in 2010 from her current home in the beautiful village of Bourton-on-the-Water.  What was very much a kitchen table-top start up, grew gradually through selling at local craft markets – in idyllic settings such as Cheltenham, Burford, Broadway, Cirencester and her home village of Bourton-on-the-Water – as well as through personal recommendation.

Small independent shops and other outlets, along with postal sales via social media, have further increased demand, while gift boxes have proved popular for the Christmas season and year round present-giving ideas.

Now having decided to dedicate more time to what originally began as a hobby, Anne is stepping up her output to keep Petala’s customer base supplied, developing this new look website while maintaining the traditions of the hand-crafted process, and the integrity of her sustainably sourced ingredients.

The Petala Soaps Process

Belonging to the Guild of Craft Soap & Toiletry Makers, and believing in minimising the environmental impact of her products, Anne purchases the majority of her raw materials through 0 & 3; an accredited supplier of oils and other materials.  Crucially this includes the purchase of RSPO certified palm oil which comes from Columbia.

The zero energy cold process also consumes quantities of Spanish olive oil, Indonesian coconut oil, and Jojoba Oil which is mainly made in the Middle East; while the perfume and aromatic properties derive from adding essential oils like lavender.

Rather than using potentially harmful chemicals and then heating them, in the traditional cold process method of soap making, the fatty acids in oils are broken down by mixing them with sodium hydroxide – known as lye – and water in a process called saponification.  Importantly, the cold process keeps the goodness and aroma-therapeutic properties of the essential oils intact, while the natural glycerine is left untouched so that it can moisturise and nourish the skin.  Many over-the-counter, commercial soaps have the glycerine removed to manufacture other beauty products.

Some 24 hours later the saponification reaction makes the soap firm enough for it to be turned out of the moulds, after which it is cut up into individual bars and then allowed to cure and harden for a further four weeks. This pause ensures Petala Soaps are ready to use immediately they are unwrapped; where past generations often left bars of new soap in a drawer to harden before putting them in the bathroom.

The result then is a selection of high quality, pure soaps which are free from any toxic chemicals or artificial fragrances, which will nourish the skin and feed your inner hedonist – without harming the environment.