[unpaid/sample] Carlisle is a place I know very well – it’s the nearest station to my mum and dad’s house just over the border so I’ve been endless times. It’s also the place that my mum used to take us for the biggest treat – the Wimpy! For kids who lived in the middle of nowhere, Carlisle felt like a glorious metropolis – it had a Laura Ashley and a Top Shop and a big department store called Bulloughs. So, it’s probably for that reason, as well as featuring my own soaps that the algorithms on Instagram put two and tow together and served me The Carlisle Soap Co. I followed immediately!

The soaping world is competitive so any points of difference are key. I love the map wrapping – I’ve never seen that before for soap, and I love the logo that’s minimalistic but striking enough to make you look twice. The Carlisle Soap Co is a small business founded by photographer Josh Wyburn – it’s a classic Covid pivot. Unable to work in photography during the pandemic, he turned to soap making and did it properly, understanding and learning the chemical process while using his creative skills to bring about an original product.

When I felt the texture of The Naked One (shea butter and oatmeal, but you can choose from a number of varieties such as The Chef One with lime and basil, The Zesty One with oatmeal and orange or The Woody One which is a blend of shea, activated charcoal, black pepper and cedarwood), I knew straight away it was close to The Japanese Cleansing Cloud. It’s all you might want from a soap that you would dare to put on your face – creamy and soft – as well as being a good all rounder for the body.

There’s a subscription service – one soap a month for £5.50 – which makes complete sense in way that other beauty subscriptions do – I like the idea of The Lucky Dip where you’ll get a surprise each time. The Carlisle Soap Co is at its very beginning – I love to see new businesses thrive particularly in areas where they’re really needed. It’s a common story to hear of big brands pushing small ones out of business so the more we have in the beauty industry the stronger their voices can become. You can find the Carlisle Soap Co HERE.