A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable..
A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.
Reese holds a bowl of ground pine cones to go into her Fire and Grit soap.
Danielle Reese holds up samples of two of her handmade soaps.
Milk from Reese’s goats provide milk for some soaps.
Reese makes a variety of children’s soaps.
Reese holds a bowl of ground pine cones to go into her Fire and Grit soap.
Danielle Reese holds up samples of two of her handmade soaps.
Milk from Reese’s goats provide milk for some soaps.
Reese makes a variety of children’s soaps.
REEDSVILLE — Danielle Reese wasn’t thinking about going into business, but she said her family and friends encouraged her to take the plunge.
Reese is the owner of Thrive and Glow, a company that makes and sells 22 varieties of handmade soaps, beard oil, beard balm and mustache wax.
“My daughter Juniper was very premature. She was born at 28 weeks,” Reese said. “She came home at 36 ½ weeks. I wanted to stay home with her for at least a year to make sure she was healthy.”
Reese said Juniper’s birth was the reason she started making handmade soap.
“I started making soap for Juniper. Then I got into goat milk soap and started sharing it with my family and friends. They encouraged me to start a business. I was living in New York at the time,” Reese said.
Reese’s father passed away prior to her daughter’s birth and left her his house in Reedsville.
“This offered a good opportunity to stay at home with my baby,” she said.
Reese has two other children, a son Lucas, who is 12, and her older daughter Mallory, who is 14.
Juniper, who is now 5 years old, recently designed her own soap. It features a mermaid diving into the waves with starfish, a heart and a flower on the ocean floor. Reese said Lucas and Mallory, who is a budding artist, are also trying their hand at designing soap.
“I just started packaging it in cardboard packaging that can be composted,” she said. “I list all of the ingredients I use in my soap on the packaging.”
An example is her oat milk and honey soap for sensitive skin. It’s made from raw honey, goat’s milk and colloidal oatmeal.
Colloidal oatmeal is a natural product that is created by grinding oat grains (Avena sativa) into a very fine powder. By grinding the oats, they are capable of being evenly dispersed and completely mixed into a bath or into skin care products.
“I didn’t know I would have so many different projects when I first started out,” Reese said. “For now it helps us keep afloat and gives me the ability to be with my kids and work around the farm.”
Reese tries to buy the ingredients for her soap as locally and as natural as possible.
“One big thing is I make sure the scents I use in my soap are skin safe. When I purchase fragrances and oils, they have to be Phthalates free,” she said. “I make sure they are not listed on Prop 65. They have to be skin safe.”
Prop 65 is a California law passed in 1986. Its goals are to protect drinking water sources from toxic substances that cause cancer and birth defects and to reduce or eliminate exposures to those chemicals generally, such as in consumer products, by requiring warnings in advance of those exposures.
Reese also makes gift baskets for charitable events, weddings, baby showers and other events. She recently made a soap called Hope for Ukraine; 80% of the profit went to an organization by the same name at www.hopeforukraine.net. She also makes a vegan soap that is made with coconut oil instead of goat milk, tallow or lard.
Reese said she has one piece of advice for anyone who buys and uses handmade soap.
“Keep the soap dry between uses. Handmade soap has more glycerin in it so it draws more water. It’s good for your skin because it keeps the moisture in,” she said. “So keep it in a dish that will allow it to stay dry”
More information about Thrive and Glow and its products can be found on the company’s website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. For those interested in seeing how the soap is made and getting more information, join Thrive and Glow with Danielle Reese on Facebook
Staff Writer Jeniffer Graham can be reached at jgraham@prestonnj.com.
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