Heaven's Plant Medicine
Mechanic's Hands Bar
Grease-Cutting Work Soap
$10 per bar
The Story
Built for the hands that come home greasy. Mechanic's Hands Bar leans on coconut for the degrease, tallow for the hard, long-lasting bar, and castor for the lather, then adds pumice and cornmeal to scrub and sweet orange to cut the oil. A 15% superfat keeps it from eating your skin along with the grime. It is the shop-bar companion to Gardener's Soap, a little more aggressive for a little more grease.
The Ritual
End of the shift, end of the project. Wet hands warm, work the bar over the grease, scrub the knuckles and nails, rinse. Repeat on the bad spots. The orange does the lifting, the pumice does the scrubbing.
Meet the Ingredients — Story, History & Science
Coconut Oil (Cocos Nucifera)
The history: The cleansing fat of tropical soap, coconut oil is the degreaser of the work bar.
Traditional use: The high-lather oil of island soapmaking.
The science: Its cleansing fatty acids dissolve grease and oil; the 15% superfat keeps enough free oil in the bar to protect the hands.
Beef Tallow (Bovine Lard)
The history: Tallow is the original soap fat, the hard white bar of the old household, rendered from the kitchen and saponified with lye.
Traditional use: The farmstead soap fat, the bar that lasted the winter.
The science: Its fatty-acid profile is close to the skin's own sebum, which makes for a hard, long-lasting bar with a creamy, skin-kind lather.
Castor Oil (Ricinus Communis)
The history: Castor oil lit the lamps of ancient Egypt and anointed the pharaohs; in soap it is the lather oil.
Traditional use: The lather-builder of the old apothecary.
The science: Ricinoleic acid gives the bar fluffy, stable lather that clings to grease and carries it away.
Pumice (Volcanic Glass)
The history: Volcanic glass, the original scrub stone for callused, grimy hands.
Traditional use: The volcano's gift to the working hand.
The science: Its fine grit cuts through grease, oil, and ground-in shop dirt.
Cornmeal (Zea Mays)
The history: Cornmeal is the farm-kitchen scrub, stirred into soap wherever corn was grown.
Traditional use: The pantry scrub of the American kitchen.
The science: Its coarse grain lifts grease and grime without scratching.
Sweet Orange (Citrus Aurantium Dulcis)
The history: Orange peel has been pressed for its oil since the groves of the Mediterranean.
Traditional use: The brightening, degreasing citrus of the soapmaker.
The science: Its d-limonene is a natural grease cutter, the reason the bar lifts oil where a plain soap struggles.
How to Use
Wet hands warm, work the bar over grease and grime, scrub, rinse. Keep the bar dry between uses.
The Details
Hand-cut cold-process bar, cured 4 weeks or longer. Net weight about 3.5 oz (final weights confirmed at cure). Wrapped in unbleached parchment with a belly band; Batch and Best By written by hand on the band. Availability: poured Oct 14 and curing now — ready mid-November.
Good to Know
Exfoliating work bar, not for the face. For external use only. Discontinue if irritation occurs. Keep the bar dry between uses on a draining dish.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Order Yours
$10.00
Preorder — ships mid-November
3.5 oz
Reviews
No reviews yet — be the first to share your experience!