Wednesday, November 29, 2017 • NEW HAMPSHIRE UNION LEADER • Page C5Holiday Planner

JJBlack Maple Glen: All-natural ingredients are used to make homemade soap, lotion bars and lip balm.

By EMILY REILYSpecial to the Union Leader

Before Christen Herod sells any Black Maple Glen homemade soap, lotion bar or lip balm, it must pass the “smell test.”

Herod said Black Maple Glen’s scent combinations

are the cream of the crop: Their vegan, cocoa-butter-based lotion bars can create a delicious skin-care regi-men.

“The Cocoa-Mint sort of smells like a peppermint patty; the Cocoa-Orange smells like a chocolate orange. We have one that’s a cocoa, so it’s just the aroma of the cocoa butter; there’s no additional fragrance in there. And then we have a Cocoa-Rose that’s scented with rose uranium,” she said.

The lotion bars are similar

to bottled lotion, but come in a bar that melts as you apply it.

“They have a nice aroma of the cocoa butter and all the benefits of that. They’re great as a hand cream, es-pecially in the cold weather. That’s what most people I think use them for. (They) can be used for body lotion, too,” she said.

Herod, who co-owns Black Maple Glen with her mom, Debra Herod, said when creating new soaps and lotions, seeking opin-ions from her friends, family

and coworkers has always been crucial to making a good product.

“They were pretty honest with me, which was pretty helpful. Of course, I have to like it, too,” she said.

The Manchester-based business started about two years ago, and with the website going live in 2016, Herod said things are pick-ing up. Black Maple Glen’s all-natural products contain nourishing additives as di-verse as maple syrup, cocoa butter, coffee extract and peppermint.

Herod also makes sure to use scents that are compat-ible across product lines, since they can be used liberally on the skin and should blend with other items.

And when it comes to keeping dry lips moistur-ized, Herod has come up with four varieties of balm: peppermint, orange, coffee and unscented, all safe for delicate lips.

“I make sure that what-ever I use is safe to begin with,” she said.

As always, the scents are ones she would use herself and which can be compat-ible across her product line for some fruity combina-tions.

“The orange matches some of our other offerings, so you can do an orange spice soap with a cocoa or-ange lotion bar and orange lip balm if you wanted to make a little arrangement. And the coffee just smells awesome. I always love pep-permint. I find it refreshing, so I had to have that,” she added.

She uses essential oil extracted from coffee beans, which are cold-pressed.

“There’s no artificial any-thing,” Herod pointed out.

But she also makes un-scented products for those with sensitivities.

For gift-giving season,

Back Maple Glen normally offers different shapes of soap for a personal touch. Besides the traditional rect-angle shapes are specialty molds, which Herod said she loves to do.

“We have a lot of fun, fancy things that are harder to find, especially if you’re looking for something all-natural. I think that’s probably what makes us dif-ferent,” she said.

And one mold stands out from the pack.

“I think the favorite has been the sheep. We have sheep soaps, and we’ve got a few ‘Alice in Wonderland’ themes and different plant and animal themes,” she said.

Herod’s hand-milled soaps are made differently from lotion bars and lip balms in that the soap is ground down, melted, then reshaped. But she says that allows for more creativity.

“You can do neat cool things, like the soap balls that I have. So (for) the hand-milled soap, we’ll add some natural herbs into the soap. And it also helps the lather a little bit once it’s remilled like that.”

All-natural dried herbs like peppermint and rose lend a pretty look to the soaps.

“We have a peppermint one where I add actual peppermint leaves. We also have the regular oatmeal soap that has that as well. And we have the Rose Garden that has rose petals added to it,” she said.

Herod said she’s dedi-cated to the shop through December, and new things are planned for next year, but she plans to take some time off in January to get married.

“It’s been kind of a whirl-wind, but right now the focus is being responsive to customers and processing orders through the holiday season, making sure every-thing is sent out as promptly as possible,” she said.

Herod said Debra helps out with Black Maple Glen’s bath and body products, and also crochets wash-cloths that can be paired with the soaps. Other home décor items will be coming in the future.

Visitwww.blackmaple-glen.com or call 845-7276 for more information.

Soap maker specializes in scent combinations

Owner Christen Herod said Black Maple Glen’s sheep-shaped soap, above, is very popular with her customers. She also has fun adding designs to her soap and lotion bars, at left.COUrteSy/BLACk MApLe GLeN

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