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Eric Nevers, manager of Elkhart’s Buff City Soap, shows off the local soap lines reflective of Elkhart County.

Artisans craft each product made at Buff City Soap daily.

Buff City Soaps opened in Elkhart Thursday.

Eric Nevers, manager of Elkhart’s Buff City Soap, shows off the local soap lines reflective of Elkhart County.

Artisans craft each product made at Buff City Soap daily.

Buff City Soaps opened in Elkhart Thursday.

ELKHART — There’s a brand new way to stay clean in Elkhart.

This week, Buff City Soap opened its newest location at 205 C.R. 6, in the Shoppes on Six.

Founded in 2013, Buff City Soap began its ventures in soap franchising in 2018. Since then, they’ve opened more than 150 stores in more than 20 states, highlighting their unique national product.

“Everybody is health conscious nowadays, and we all worry about it,” said Kentucky-based district manager Judy Crumbaker. “We’ll watch what we eat, and now people are really learning to watch what they put on their skin as well.”

Buff City Soap produces plant-based soaps and other household supplies, made in-house every day, by skilled artisans who are specially trained in the soap-making process.

The Elkhart location’s manager Eric Nevers said while the soap-making process can be dangerous, the artistry of the process is what compelled him to take the job.

“The saponification process requires lye, which is a base, to interact with the fats that are in the plant-based oils that we use in all of our soaps,” Nevers explained. “Lye is a caustic material, however, we wear all the protective equipment that we need to and we make sure that it goes through the complete saponification process, renders the lye inert, before we put it on the sales floor. Honestly, we have it down to a science.”

A proprietary blend of oils, including sweet almond oil, hemp oil, coconut oil and olive oil are included in Buff City Soap products. The company also uses essential oils and essential oil blends for scents.

“The sky is the limit,” Nevers said. “We try to pack in as much fragrance as we can.”

Each Buff City Soap store offers at least 30 signature scents in their handcrafted soaps, hand soaps, body whips, shower oils, body scrubs, body butters, body lotions and more. Laundry soap is another product the company is proud to flaunt. Using soap from 100% coconut oil, washing powder, citric acid and fragrances, they make powdered laundry soaps.

“All the ingredients in it, we can tell you,” Crumbaker said. “There’s no hidden ingredients in there.”

Right below the laundry soaps, sit the wool dryer balls.

“They speed up drying time,” Nevers said, “and you’re going to cut down on wasted products — and it’s good for the air, not using those dryer sheets.”

A familiar product to some, Buff City Soap makes its product memorable by making it refillable.

“Because of the lanolin that is in the wool, often times, I’ve found personally, I don’t have to use dryer sheets anymore,” Nevers explained. “The benefit of using our dryer balls is that we scent ours, and you can also bring them back once they’ve started to lose their fragrance for just a few dollars a ball.”

Crumbaker added that she’s had one set since she started work with Buff City Soap a year ago. She brings them in for re-scenting every 30 days at $2 per ball, but they last.

With every single product in the store made by on-site artisans, absolutely every product is customizable, but it may take a few minutes.

“It depends on the product,” Nevers said. “Some of them are very quick and easy for us to do. Soapmaking is a little bit more of a time-consuming thing, but honestly, we set up early in the mornings and we’re done by 1 or 2 o’clock in the afternoon and we just have to wait for it to cool so we can cut it.”

Despite this, Michiana residents don’t have to look far to get a taste of home in their soap. Each store also pays homage to the region they service. In Elkhart County, Nevers was tasked with developing a special line of products just for this region. He came up with three fragrances and their soap designs: Beardsley’s Bubble Bath, Soap With A Heart, and RV With Me.

“Since we make all the products here, we can customize everything, so even if we don’t have it on the shelves, if someone says, ‘Hey, I’d love my laundry soap in Beardsley’s Bubble Bath,’ we could take it over and mix it up for them,” Nevers said. “Since we make it here, it’s very easy. It’s one of my favorite things.”

For opening weekend only, the store will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 7 p. m. Sunday.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.

Education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News

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