For over twelve years SOLUM & HERBE has been combining harmonious blends of the finest natural and organic ingredients, creating one of the cleanest lines of health and beauty products available today. We use whole ingredients (see Ingredients) and avoid that which is synthetic, petroleum based or laboratory created. Our name, Solum and Herbe, reflects our use of the clays from the earth and the plants from the field to support the body's natural healing process. We package our products in glass to insure purity and to avoid plastic contamination. We thank our customers for their awareness of what we do and their continued support over the years.
Susan M. Parker, founder and creator of SOLUM & HERBE, has over fifteen years experience as an herbalist and many more years of experience keeping people nourished and healthy. She studied Herbalism with Pam Montgomery in upstate New York in 1992 and with David Hoffman in California in 1999. Her Fine Art background, BFA, CCAC ‘71 and MFA, Mills '75, helps support the graphic and artistic presentation of the company and the products.
Having grown up in Honolulu Susan was surrounded by the sweet scents of the tropical flowers and plants and the ocean air. Early memories include the particular scent of making ti leaf ‘grass’ skirts for school pageants and the sweet smells of flower lei making and wearing. The college years took her to California then moves to the East Coast, New York, and Sussex England helped her to broaden her ‘island’ perspective. Gardens at each stop gave her a wide range of growing conditions to work with and broadened the range of plants that she calls friends.
Her children’s birth in the early 80’s re-emphasized her interest in natural foods and products. And it was during this period that the making of herbal products began and flourished.
Body Creams & Oils
Body oils and creams help to condition the skin on hands, feet and the body to protect against dryness and damage from the elements. Our oils are rich in plant extracts and made from high quality organic vegetable oils scented with pure essential oils and fragrant waxes. They can be used for massage and for a light skin conditioning at the end of a bath or shower.
Our emollient body creams are made with twenty percent Fair Trade Shea Butter from Africa and is produced by the Ah Shayh & Dagomba Women’s Cooperatives in Ghana. The women of the Co-operative harvest and process the nuts of the Karite or Shea tree by hand in the traditional manner to make this pure, unrefined and biologically active creamy emollient butter. When Shea butter is refined it loses many of its native properties including the natural sun screening, skin healing, protective and nutritional properties with which it is naturally endowed. We only use this native unrefined version for its wholeness and healing potential.
The Bath
The Therapeutic Bath, also called Balneotherapy, is the basis of many European healing spas and retreats that use the healing properties of plants, minerals and naturally derived scents. These dispersing bath oils and handmade natural soaps will add a measure of aromatherapy and herbal healing to your bathing experience.
Soap is made from fats, oils and waxes, technically termed lipids, and when mixed with potash, the oils are converted to soap. Soap is one of the traditional domestic arts along with the making of beer, wine, cheese and candles. SOLUM&HERBE soaps are soothing, luscious and cleansing without being drying to the skin. We use only pure vegetable oils, healing essential oils, natural botanicals and purified clays. We never use synthetic or petroleum derived ingredients in our soaps. The beautiful paintings on our labels are by artist Deedra Ludwig – visit her site at www.deedraludwig.com.
LAVENDER PEARL SOAP
Our new LAVENDER PEARL soap bar is a calming scent from an herb that has been used for millennia. A touch of black Australian clay colors the soap a pale pearly gray and soothes the skin. Lavender and a bit of Rosemary essential oil add a divine fragrance to this bar.
SOLUM & HERBE Soaps are carefully formulated 100% natural 4 1/2 ounce bars.
Made primarily from organic vegetable oils and herbal infusions we only use pure essential oils for scent- never irritating fragrance oils. Kind to the skin these bars are formulated to moisturize and condition the body with additional high quality oils and additives. For fun and health we sometimes add organic herbs, grains, colorful clays, specialty oils and waxes to these bars that lather well and last a good long time.
