BILLINGS – It started as a hobby in Rachael Bower’s Billings kitchen, making soap for her family.
Now Bower owns Rock Creek Soap Company, where she does what she loves for a living: making soaps, bubble bath and lip balm.
“In a normal workday, we will do four to 13 slabs of soap,” Brower said. “There are 90 bars in each batch, and we take a thin wire in the back that we tune to cut the soap, so that it has to be nice and tight.”
The soaps are made with an all-vegan oil blend and are made with locally sourced organic safflower oil from The Oil Barn in Big Sandy.
“Each oil has it’s own fatty acid compositions. So each one is going to have something it does better than others. For example, coconut oil is better for bubbles but it’s not high in moisturization believe it or not,” Brower said.
Those oils are combined and melted around 110 degrees, then the color and scents are added. The base is the final touch to help thicken the soap and, it’s then poured into a slab mold. After setting for about 24 hours, it’s ready to be cut.
Bower and her business partner finish the soap by using a debossing stamp to impress a shape into the soap.
Bower says the most popular scent is huckleberry.
Reporting by Zoe Zandora for MTN News
