3 best homemade soap boutiques in the Gorge

Naturally cleanse and nourish your skin with artisanal soap right here in the Gorge. Here’s where you can find the highest quality soap:

1. Wild Mountain Soap Company

Soap can impact your health! Wild Mountain Soap Co. will convince you it’s worth watching what you rub into your skin.

This company never uses chemicals, detergents and fillers in its lineup— a departure from what you’d find at the grocery store. Instead, it uses natural ingredients your grandma would recognize: olive oil, shea butter, coconut oil, soybean oil and palm oil.

As for glycerin— a natural substance most companies replace with chemicals— Wild Mountain keeps it in each bar, so your skin won’t get dry.

You’ll be tempted to buy all 50 varieties. Blissful bars like Banana Breeze, Milk & Honey, Bay Rum and Dead Sea Offerings have intense scents brand-name kinds can only imitate. Plus, each marbled slab is practically a work of art. Add one to your bathroom or kitchen for a decorative touch!

Get scrubbing! Visit Wild Mountain at Dove’s Outlet Village in Fayetteville, where you can find their complete lineup of bars, scrubs, deodorant, lip balm and muscle rub.

West Virginia State Park cabins and lodges use Wild Mountain soap, too. If you’re spending the night, give your hands a scrub and feel the homemade difference! Their gift shops also stock them, so pick up some Gorge souvenirs while you’re there.

2. Appalachian Milk Soap

Do you have sensitive skin? Appalachian Milk Soap uses mild ingredients like goat milk and shea butter for every made-from-scratch recipe.

Their scents aren’t harsh and artificial, either. Varieties like All Natural Fern, All Natural Rosemary and All Natural Oatmeal just use natural ingredients. AMS is so organic that its lineup for outdoorsmen— Hunter’s Earth— completely blocks odors with a special dirt-and-leaf blend.

Even pets can benefit from homemade soap. AMS’ Furry Friends bars use goat milk, cedarwood, eucalyptus and tea tree ingredients, which deter ticks and soothe hot spots.

Tamarack keeps their soap in stock, so keep your eyes peeled as you browse all the artisan works.

3. Stout Grove

Take essences of the Gorge with you, courtesy of this Fayetteville farmstead! Stout Grove’s thick, colorful soaps are chock-full of local character and home-grown ingredients.

Nuttall Sandstone comes with real Gorge grit, which acts as the perfect exfoliant. Choose from refreshing lavender-cedar or unscented versions! Maple Stout Beer soap gets its mellow aroma from the farm’s brewery. Pumpkin Swirl’s main ingredient also comes directly from the farm!

Each slab is artistic, too. Cosmic looks like an impressionist version of outer space, while Lemon Sun Drop has a cheerful design with rays. Almond Poppy Seed— which smells just like the soap maker’s favorite recipe— is half black, half white. Its tiny seeds make great exfoliants, too.

Get your own at Vandal’s Kitchen!

Which boutique soap are you going to try?