Pamper Yourself, one Natural Bar at a Time

Looking for a way to pamper yourself or your loved ones this holiday season? Michelle Gilbert [pictured here in her Cleveland Heights soap studio], the soapmaker behind Sarva Natural Artisans Soap has handcrafted more than 30 heavenly varieties of all-natural, 100% biodegradable, vegan and vegetarian soap. And, we have to give you fair warning, Sarva Soaps is having a busy holiday season and are beginning to sell out of some varieties – so get it while you can! Not only is the soap crafted to be a true work of art, it's also created with compassionate and sustainable choices by a local artist who is devoted to green business, it's also a local product that directly supports the Cleveland economy.

But wait, there’s more to this soap than meets the eye. The real story here is the soapmaker and artist behind the soap. Michelle Gilbert is a transplant to Cleveland. “I ran a business in Chicago for years before I moved to Cleveland, near family, to rebuild my life after some serious life transitions,” she says. "I was warned that Cleveland would induce culture shock, but I have been mystified by the warning because what I’ve found is a cohesive and welcoming community, very affordable cost of living and a town where there is ample opportunity to establish yourself, connect meaningfully and make a difference."

Michelle had a successful career in medical transcription and yoga therapy for many years and began soapmaking as a hobby business in 2005. “About 12 years ago, I was in a bookstore and found myself drawn to a book on soapmaking,” she explains. “The book itself was beautiful, the soaps were nothing I’d ever seen and I thought, ‘I have to do that!’” Being a creative pragmatist, soapmaking fit her personality; it’s a beautiful, but utterly necessary product that she has re-imagined into an impermanent art form. “I’m also an aroma-therapist in private practice, and the fact that I’m able to create a 100% natural, biodegradable detergent bar is very important to me,” she says. “Nature nourishes us and gives us what we need, and it is our utmost responsibility to work in harmony with what we are given.”

Soon, however, soapmaking became more than just a hobby for Michelle. Michelle has overactive dysautonomia, a condition where her nervous system releases too much adrenaline or is oversensitive to it (doctors aren’t sure which). She also has severe carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands and cartilage issues in multiple joints. These serious health issues cut her yoga therapy career short and because she needs to be able to rest frequently throughout the day, make it very difficult for her to work a full-time job. Michelle had to close her medical transcription business and look for a way to both support herself, and continue her work in a way that would enable her to feed her soul and take time to rest when she needed to.

“My Phoenix Rising yoga therapy career was cut short by these issues, so I took training in aromatherapy and transformed my soapmaking hobby into a profession,” she says. “Now I am a soapmaker and see private aromatherapy clients, who also receive holistic wellness tips such as yoga breathing exercises or yoga personal growth coaching.” Michelle has also become a Reiki practitioner and is training as an herbalist. She named her soap company “Sarva” after the Sanskrit word meaning “all” or “whole,” because that’s what she strives to handcraft into each bar: a wholeness and unity of mind, body and spirit. She wants to bring people the same sense of wellness with her soap that she was able to help them find through yoga therapy. This wholeness is especially important for her clients who cannot use synthetic fragrances because they cause migraines, rashes and other discomforts. “I have a customer who is a cancer survivor who is also concerned about using synthetic fragrance, since so much of it contains phthalates, which are known carcinogens.” Though there are phthalate-free fragrances, Michelle chooses to use all natural ingredients to create her scent blends.

So, what’s so special about Sarva Natural Artisan Soaps? First, as a vegetarian and believer in a natural way of life, Michelle decided to make her soaps all-natural. “I used to get a bit irritated when reading labels of ‘natural’ soap when I would see things that I knew weren’t natural like oxide pigments,” says Michelle. “I quickly learned that it’s a huge challenge to create a 100% natural soap. Synthetic scents and pigments are very stable and colorfast (not to mention inexpensive), and it’s literally taken me years of research and effort to perfect my all-natural color and scent palette.” Another challenge Michelle faces in creating and marketing her all-natural soaps is the FDA which will not allow her to make any claims about how her soaps work, lest it be deemed a cosmetic or drug, subject to heavy regulation that would shut down a small business. “I’m not permitted to call these aromatherapy soaps or to say that some of them are exfoliating,” she says. With customers often expecting to hear these claims based on what they see in the supermarket aisles, it can make things difficult. Michelle can’t even post the glowing testimonials from her clients who love the soap for fear of being fined by the FDA.

But, Michelle has risen above these challenges to provide beautiful soaps that are an affordable luxury for her customers. “I have a customer who had been unemployed for over a year when I met them,” says Michelle. “They were feeling quite depressed about their personal situation. I was moved to tears when I heard that simply treating themselves to one bar of very special soap allowed this person to feel pampered and motivated enough to begin to let other beautiful things into their life.” She smiles, “I’m not saying a bar of Sarva soap is going to be a life-changing experience for everyone, but sometimes inviting one very small, beautiful item into your world will brighten it in ways you would never expect. Wouldn’t you say that meets the definition of art?"

Michelle custom formulates the essential oil blends for each and every bar of soap she sells, and each bar has a story. Ocean Mist, one of her all-time best selling bars, started at Lake Erie! “I am very strongly attracted to water,” says Michelle. “I feel soothed by it. I wanted to bring that experience into my home, and was frustrated by what I felt was a glut of very fake-smelling ‘watery’ scents.” Michelle went to the lake and focused on the scents of the water. The blend came together as she enjoyed the true scents of the water. “What I created has elements that are conventionally pretty, but also elements that are less conventional but undeniably real; powdered kelp gives a very distinctive oceanic scent.” Michelle jokingly calls her soaps a scent painting, but Ocean Mist is so much more. The bar is infused with real sea salt and green kaolin clay to give customers an authentic spa experience, right in their own shower.

There isn’t enough room to discuss each of Michelle’s beautiful custom blended scents. To learn more about her 30+ varieties, visit her website at http://www.sarvasoap.com. Her soaps can also be found at the Cleveland Heights Atma Center, The Cleveland Botanical Garden, Puma Yoga in Lakewood, Dermatology Specialists in Willoughby and Beachwood and at Room Service in the Gordon Square Arts District. Her “Great Lakes Brewing Company” beer soap is also available in the iconic restaurant’s gift shop. Michelle has one message for Cool Clevelander’s about the green city on a blue lake: “Clevelanders, be proud of your city, it has so much to offer!”

Find out more about Michelle Gilbert and Sarva Natural Artisan Soaps at http://www.sarvasoaps.com. To learn more about all-natural soap and the process of making soap, visit Michelle’s “about the soap” page here: http://www.sarvasoap.com/aboutoursoap.php The Soaps are also being featured at the Room Service Made in the 216 holiday event. Room Service Cleveland is located at 6505 Detroit Avenue in Cleveland and is currently hosting the "Made in the 216 Holiday Show" open Thu & Fri from 4 – 9PM and Sat & Sun from 11AM – 9PM, through Thu 12/24. For more info visit http://www.RoomServiceCleveland.com.

Julie Cajigas is a Cleveland girl who grew up on the East & West Side and now lives near Akron – she’s got the whole town covered! Cajigas holds degrees in Communication & Music from Cleveland State University and is currently pursuing her Masters in Communication at CSU.

She is a professional freelance writer who occasionally writes in her blog in between gigs at http://www.inspiredfreelancer.com. Cajigas is also an avid musician and can be seen performing with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and as a violinist in the Allison Bencar band, http://www.myspace.com/allisonbencar.