Top 20 Handmade Soap and Shampoo Bars from Apple Valley

When I found out Apple Valley Natural Soaps online shop while doing research about natural soaps, I immediately fell in love with it! I was like a kid entering a candy shop! Oh my God, so many handmade soaps, and all so good-looking… and natural!! To such point that this list turned out to be a top 20 list!! Enjoy this top 20 handmade soap and shampoo bars from Apple Valley.

I was sad when I found out they don’t ship outside USA…

They have an insane variety of natural products: 


SHAMPOO BARS
Of ALL kinds, even for pets 

HAIR RINSES
To go along with
the shampoo bars
BODY SOAP BARS
Of all the scents you can imagine

SALT SOAP BARS
They take around 6 months to cure, but at the end, it’s worth it!!
ORGANIC COCONUT SOAP BARS
If you really like the feeling of no-oil on your skin and love loads of lather
ORGANIC CASTILE BARS
Made with organic olive oil: the best for sensitive skin.
CANDLES
They have beeswax and soy wax scented candles
PRODUCT LINE FOR MEN
Soap, shampoo, beard products and skin care 
VEGAN SOAPS
If all you want is a good vegan bar of soap

You can also purchase these special treats:

  • seconds, not-so-good-looking soap bars that are still good to sell, with good discounts
  • sample bar sets so that you can try a load of them before choosing you favorite 

And they have an unscented version pretty much everywhere, if you’re worried about skin irritation with essential oils.

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On a more serious note, I reviewed this handmade soap brand, using three criteria: information online, pricing and customer reviews. 

Information online

They do have good information online with a full ingredients list for all products. Like all natural manufacturers I’ve come across, they are almost proud to show their ingredients list. They also have a couple of organic certificates but of great relevance.

If you want to know more about soap ingredients, please see my post Commercial Soap Ingredients – What Are They?. I have a small explanation about natural soap ingredients as well.

Pricing

Pricing seems to be ok: they are not cheap but considering they are 5-9 ounce of soap bar, they are very comparable to a 125 ml or 250 ml of common shower gel ($5 to $10) regarding price. And these soap bars are uncomparably better to your skin and health.

Some commercial soaps go as up as $0,19/g -, which makes $21,4 for a 5-ounce soap bar or $43 for a 8-ounce soap bar. In this store, I didn’t find a soap bar more expensive than $10 (8-ounce). So we can say, price is fair enough.

Customer Reviews

As for customers reviews, Apple Valley Natural Soap website has a dedicated customer reviews page . It’s filled with dozens of love spreading reviews about natural soaps: how good they feel, how good they smell, how they are helping about these and that skin condition… 

About customer reviews per product I’ve actually had some issues to understand what kind of information were they putting on the “Customer Review” tab: they just show how many 5 star reviews they have. Well, it’s their website and they can show data as they want but this is misleading. A negative point in my opinion to this online store.

Still, most products have many 5 stars customer reviews. There are also some unhappy customers, which seems to show that they are not filtering reviews (or doing so very cleverly).

Here is another review of someone, just like you and me, this time in a full product review post, and independent from the Apple Valley website. It describes how the writer wanted to use more natural skincare and haircare products, but was afraid that they would feel weird, would not lather, would leave her hair “oily”, etc.

It was funny because my google search to find this post was “Apple Valley Natural Soap Bad Reviews” as I really wanted to know if someone had something bad or negative to say about them. But I’ve only got this post I mentioned. Lol.

Half Body Bars

Top 20 Handmade Soap and Shampoo Bars From Apple Valley Natural Soap

To compile this list, I relied on what people mostly like, taking into account the website customer reviews, as well as my knowledge of natural soaps. The soap descriptions are so delicious that sometimes you even feel like eating these soaps!

Without further delay, here is the list of the top 20 best handmade soaps and shampoo bars from Apple Valley, divided into 4 categories:

If you wish to know what soap bar to use for specific skin types, hair types, or applications (exfoliation, shaving, etc.) you can find a recommendation guide on their website.

Body and Facial Soap Bars

1 – Charcoal Detox Soap Bar

Rating: 5 stars
32 Reviews

Activated charcoal pulls impurities from the skin without drying it out and is perfect for acne prone skin from head to toe. You’ll love the herbal, minty, licorice scent – and the midnight black coloring is gorgeous.

2 – Lavender & Chamomile Soap Bar

LAvender Chamomile NEW 82524.1467946929
Rating: 4,9 stars
42 Reviews

Organic, virgin olive oil is the main ingredient, infused with organic chamomile and lavender herbs. It also has a bit of organic coconut oil for lather, and a lot of rich, creamy, organic cocoa butter for extra moisturizing benefits.

3 – Honey Carrot & Tangerine Soap Bar

Honey Carrot NEW 61269.1590865292
Rating: 4,8 stars
48 Reviews

Raw honey acts as a humectant, trapping moisture in your skin cells, and rich, emollient oils and butters will leave your skin soft and silky. But one of the best things about this bar is the juicy carrot tangerine scent that makes you think you died and went to tangerine carrot honey heaven. 

4 – Grapefruit Peppermint Luffa Soap Bar

Grapefruit Peppermint Luffa NEW 75022.1467947191
Rating: 4,8 stars
20 Reviews

Known to get the circulation going, this rejuvenating, invigorating, scrubby loofah soap bar will exfoliate those dead skin cells while stimulating blood flow resulting in smoother, firmer skin.

5 – Cocoa Butter & Vanilla Bean Soap Bar

Cocoa Butter NEW 76597.1467947082
Rating: 4,6 stars
48 Reviews

You know you want to wash your face and body in organic, virgin cocoa butter and Madagascar vanilla beans. Here’s your chance.  

The Charcoal Detox Soap was my winner with 32 reviews and absolutely NO review below 5 stars. A clean score that goes along with a clean soap! Besides I love simple soaps, with few ingredients but amazing properties.

If you want a good exfoliant, go for the Luffa Soap . Luffa’s dried fruit can be used as a sponge and acts as a medium-hard mechanical exfoliant. Bear in mind that it might be agressive to sensitive skin, but it’s only mechanical.

Speaking of sensitive skin, the Lavender and Chamomile Soap is the one recommended for people with sensitive skin. For people with dry skin I recommend the Cocoa Butter Soap, as it is extremely moisturizing.

Shampoo Bars

1 – Peppermint Tea Tree Shampoo Bar

Peppermint Tea Tree NEW 47391.1467946593
Rating: 4.9 stars
66 Reviews

Even though this Peppermint Tea Tree shampoo bar feels great on scalp and skin, the main benefit of this bar is the health it can help restore to both hair and scalp. Nourishment and restorative properties from the specifically chosen carrier oils plus added healing from the essential oil blend. 

2 – Lavender Buttermilk Shampoo Bar

Lavender Buttermilk NEW 03978.1467946699
Rating: 4,8 stars
111 Reviews

Buttermilk, a natural pro-biotic full of lactic acid, is found in many beauty products and is fabulous for softening, brightening and exfoliating skin. Olive oil, organic jojoba oil, and mango butter, with their emollient properties, round out this beauty treatment for your hair and body 

3 – Man 2.0 Body, Shampoo & Shaving Bar

MAN 2.0 NEW 60907.1467945924
Rating: 4,8 stars
102 Reviews

Made with organic olive oil, organic shea nut butter, and organic jojoba oil for an ultra gentle, moisturizing treatment, as well as bentonite clay for slip and silk on your face when shaving, this deliciously scented shampoo bar lathers like crazy and will leave you looking, feeling, and smelling like a million bucks in a few short minutes.

4 – Simply Shea Shampoo Bar

Simply Shea NEW 28007.1584037404
Rating: 4,8 stars
60 Reviews

Moisture drenching, unrefined shea nut butter and olive oil make the shea moisture bar soap an excellent choice for dry, sensitive skin and damaged, blow-fried hair. If you’ve never tried one of our shampoo bars, our shower shea butter bar is a great place to start.

5 – Coconut Milk & Citrus Shampoo Bar

Coconut Milk and Citrus NEW 66764.1467946293
Rating: 4,6 stars
66 Reviews

Coconut milk is a natural beauty treatment used in many hair and skin products to hydrate and repair skin cells as well as to add shine, silkiness, and softness to hair and skin. You will fall in love with the sparkling, juicy, citrusy essential oil blend that also imparts anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, astringent, healing benefits for your skin.

With best customer review, my first choice goes for the Peppermint and Tea Tree Shampoo, with a blend of coconut and olive oil, jojoba oil and shea butter (See Oil Properties for Soap Making and Natural Oils For Your Skin). The site recommends this soap for damaged, thin hair, but the choice of essential oils makes it a good soap for oily scalp as well. Simply Shea Shampoo bar in this list is also suitable for damaged hair.

Coconut and Citrus Shampoo bar is suitable for oily hair, while Lavender Buttermilk Shampoo is better for dry hair, with very conditioning oils like oilve oil, jojoba oil and mango butter.

Men, now you can have your soap, shampoo, and shaving cream too: Man 2.0 Soap Bar.

Salt Bars

1 – Lime Spa Salt Bar

Lime Spa Salt NEW 96945.1593572894
Rating: 4,9 stars
62 Reviews

This mega salt bar, weighing 8-9 ounces, is made with European spa salt which is solar evaporated and harvested from the pristine waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Rich in trace minerals that help soothe pain, reduce inflammation, improve circulation and cell regeneration and hydrate tissue, European spa salt is one of the purest salts in the world.

2 – Pink Hymalayan
Salt Bar

Pink Salt NEW 00579.1591065478
Rating: 4,9 stars
42 Reviews

Featuring loads of pink Himalayan salt, one of the purest salts on the earth and rich in minerals from the Himalayan foothills, this mega, 8-9 ounce bar will leave your skin soft and remineralized.  It makes a natural antibacterial soap due to the nature of the salt as well as the essential oil combination that includes eucalyptus. 

3 – Kitchen Salt & Spice
Bar

Kitchen Spice NEW 86725.1576552912
Rating: 4,7 stars
50 Reviews

This bar is an excellent choice for cleaning odors from hands with its rich, spicy, fabulous scent. It has two odor-killing ingredients: coffee and anise essential oil. Need exfoliation? Ground coffee beans and salt will do the trick to get off stubborn dirt.

4 – Lavender Lemon
Salt Bar

Lavender Lemon Salt NEW 21584.1583172319
Rating: 5 stars
6 Reviews

Have you ever wondered if you can use a salt bar for a shampoo?
Well, the answer is yes you can!
This salt bar makes a wonderful shampoo for those with itchy scalps who have tried everything under the sun (including a wide range of our products) to alleviate the itch. With lavender and lemon, a match made in heaven.

5 – Rose Geranium
Salt Bar

red salt 72819.1493580655
Rating: 5 stars
4 Reviews

Made with Australian red reef clay, this beautiful deep rose colored salt bar smells like a tropical rose garden.

My first choice goes for the Lime Spa Salt bar, made with European spa salt, kaolin clay and spirulina. It’s slightly more expensive than the other bars, but it has almost the double of soap (8 oz – 225g). This bar lasts a VERY LONG time!

All these bars are very good for a deep cleansing/exfoliation, as salt is a good natural exfoliant, antisseptic and anti-inflamatory, along with other ingredients like refreshing essential oils. Lavender and Lemon Salt bar can also be used as a shampoo for itchy scalp.

I am yet to try a salt bar recipe and use them myself, but from all I’ve read about them, they are absolutely fantastic, a true luxurious skin treatment. This is because most salts are detoxing, exfoliating and possess essential minerals for skin health. With added moisturizing oils, they become a true spa treatment in one bar.

Organic Soap Bars

1 – Unscented Calendula Castile Soap Bar

Calendula Castile NEW 69681.1589764783
Rating: 5 stars
48 Reviews

A true Castile soap is the most gentle and mild of soaps, safe even for babies and those with ultra-delicate skin. This is the bar of choice if anyone in your family has eczema. True Castile soaps made with only olive oil are a gentle and effective option for even the most sensitive of skin.

2 – Spearmint Coconut Soap Bar

Coconut Bars NEW 93378.1503774365
Rating: 5 stars
6 Reviews

Enjoy our hard, long-lasting, super sudsy, uber moisturizing organic coconut oil body bars made with 100% organic coconut oil and nothing else. With crisp, refreshing, stimulating spearmint essential oil.

3 – Wildflowers Coconut Soap Bar

Coconut Bars NEW 02400.1503774462
Rating: 5 stars
5 Reviews

Enjoy our hard, long-lasting, super sudsy, uber moisturizing organic coconut oil body bars made with 100% organic coconut oil and nothing else. With an organic fragrance of wildflowers: softly sweet, floral, and feminine.

4 – Unscented Organic Coconut Soap Bar

Coconut Bars NEW 86582.1503773891
Rating: 5 stars
4 Reviews

Enjoy our hard, long-lasting, super sudsy, uber moisturizing organic coconut oil body bars made with 100% organic coconut oil and nothing else. The simplest, purest bar of all.

5 – Lavender Orange Castile Soap Bar

Lavender Orange Castile 99890.1489679352
Rating: 5 stars
2 Reviews

Smooth, relaxing, dreamy. A 100% organic olive oil soap, a true Castile, beautifully scented with lavender and sweet orange essential oils.

My Number One soap, of the 20 soaps on this list, is this organic one: Unscented Calendula Castile Soap. It ONLY has 2 ingredients: organic virgin olive oil and calendula petals!! With no other ingredients, there is no potential skin irritants in this soap.

A true Castile soap is the most gentle and mild of soaps. You will not get a bubbly lather from a Castile bar, but rather a rich, thick, creamy, highly emollient lather that is perfect for shaving. It is also very conditioning, leaving a sensitive skin clean, hydrated and healthy. Calendula is purely decorative here, but it has very well known medicinal properties.

If you want to know more about Castile soap you can also check this post: Olive Oil Soap Recipe.

With Organic Coconut soap, you can enjoy a hard, long-lasting, super sudsy, uber moisturizing body bar made with 100% organic coconut oil and nothing else. If you’ve never tried one of these—well, you haven’t really lived.

If you want to know more about 100% coconut soap, check this out: How To Make Pure Coconut Oil Soap.

For those who are worried not only with what they put on their skin but also with environmental impact, their organic soaps are good for both. As a matter of fact, I do like 1-oil soap bars (check my Homemade Soap Recipes for Beginners), because they are simple to produce, avoiding the need to use 3 to 4 different oils. And they are all good!!

Takeaway

Do not miss the opportunity to try some of these natural soap bars. They look expensive, but that depends on how much value you put on your health and skin condition. Put like that, it’s a no brainer, right?

I make my own natural soaps at home and I use all of them. For one year now. I don’t see myself going back for bath gels or Dove soaps, ever again. I don’t have any skin conditions, so it’s 100% a personal option. Based on the fact that a natural soap treats my skin much better than anything I can purchase on the supermarket, a perfume store or even a pharmacy. 

Go to Apple Valley Online Store:

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4 thoughts on “Top 20 Handmade Soap and Shampoo Bars from Apple Valley”

  1. Hey there, as a kind of person that really takes care of myself an my skin also, I found this article very interesting to come across, I am definitely getting products from here but the only thing that hurt me that I would like to buy for my sister and she does not stay in North America and the company does not ship outside North America

    • Hello Collinsss and thanks for your comment.

      I so know that… I am also sad of not being able to purchase these soaps for myself as well. I will publish alternatives soon though 🙂 if you wish, sign up to HerbAlcochete mailing list and you will receive the latest posts firsthand. Then you will know about more natural soap and cosmetics stores around the world.

      Cheers,

      Sofia

  2. Hey there! I really enjoyed reading your post and can see how much effort you put into making this valuable for us readers. I’ve never used natural soap before but just the regular stuff that I see at the supermarket. However, looking at all of those soaps you listed makes me curious to try them out. Which bars would you recommend for thick hair? Thanks for the awesome post!

    • Hello Gabriel, thanks for your comment.

      For thick hair, I don’t have any special recommendations. Stick to a soap with your favorite scent. Bear in mind that if you use soap to wash your hair, you should also use a rinse to balance pH, or you will have an itchy scalp after a few days, and possibly hair chemical breakage after a long while… With a proper rinse, soap is safe to use.

      There’s a whole line of products (affiliate link) for men at Apple Valley Natural Soap, if you wish to try anything. Also, I do have a couple of recipes for hair:

      Homemade Rosemary Soap: this recipe have some ingredients good for hair, such as castor oil, rosemary infused oils and essential oil and d-panthenol. I don’t really advise this soap to wash your hair on a permanent basis (I still lack a proper hair rinse to balance pH), but it’s very handy for traveling.

      – Solid Shampoo Bar: this is a syndet bar, meaning that is not soap, but a solid bar made with one surfactant – SCI (very mild). I use this bar for oily hair every other day along with a hair conditioner and I am quite happy.

      Hope this helps!!

      Cheers,

      Sofia

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