Fitness Soaps – Why Fitness Soaps

I get asked this question somewhat frequently at boutiques I exhibit. Today, I thought I’d take the time to explain the reason behind their development, how they perform, and their special unique blend of ingredients.

As many of you know, I was a professional athlete. Once an athlete always an athlete I say. While I’m not competing anymore, I’m still training five days a week, teach group fitness classes, and ski, hike and mountain bike. I was very hard on my skin, using abrasive cleansers, chemical laden creams, and excessive sun and tanning bed exposure. Ultimately, my skin has paid the price for those bad decisions I made when I was young. I see a dermatologist twice a year to ensure capturing any new skin risks or cancers that develop. I am at higher risk because of the risk I put my skin through at a young age. When we’re young, we don’t even think of these things, do we? We’re invincible.

The first soap I introduced in the Fitness Soaps line was Scrubby Bar. I was a competitive bodybuilder on the world stage and you won’t believe what bodybuilders do to get skin to be tanned. Build a base with sun exposure and tanning beds, then add a stain to the skin to make you look even more tan. Those stage lights are bright and hot and wash you out. Therefore the darker you tan, the leaner and bigger you look if all your training and diet was done correctly before finally arriving to that stage. Even people with color already to their skin used stains to even out skin tone. It’s all about the look.

After the shows, it would take about a week for all the stain to be removed. I would use a washcloth, loofah, and drying soap, to remove an already acetone based stain off my skin. This was a stain, not just a paint on product and I’d put 9-11 coats on over the course of four days. Of course, skin became itchy, flaky and drying and no amount of lotion (I didn’t understand that most lotions on the commercial market don’t even moisturize) was going to help. Sometimes I’d compete in four shows a year, preparing 16 weeks for that first show. Learning to make small adjustments in diet and training, to do the next show 2-4 weeks later, or even a week later.

Scrubby soap is made with a beautiful, non-drying, yet exfoliating ingredients to help remove stains and paint on stains after bodybuilding and fitness shows without making your skin pay a price. And it works beautifully! It’s ingredients are saponified oils (olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, shea butter, sunflower oil, and grapeseed oil), glycerin, aloe vera gel, and honey (natural humectants so doesn’t dry skin), ground oatmeal, ground blueberry seeds, and kaolin and Moroccan clay (for gently exfoliating the skin without scratching). Even though blueberry seeds are quite small, I started grinding them before adding to the soap. The essential oil blend is absolutely delightful! Sweet Orange and Bitter Almond. Wow! is what most people say when they smell it.

Now, if you know someone who gets grimmy a lot because of their work, or their hands are in grime and grease a lot, this bar would also be good for them. Even using several times a day, it won’t dry out hands or skin. Although I do have a Dirty Hands Delight Soap that is specifically designed for grit, grime, grease, dirt, and even gets the same out of spots on laundry. You can read more about it here. This one is not meant to be used on the body as it is scratchy.

The next soap to be introduced in the Fitness Soap line was Black Magic. My husband gets credit for coming up with such a great name. Black Magic really has two purposes. It was designed for those athletes that have multiple workouts a day and really work up a stinky sweat. They need something that can really draw the stink out, clean their skin without drying it out. I know of some athletes, weekend warriors, that literally put in three training a sessions a day. Or two training sessions and a hard play session. When you need to bathe that much, you’ve got to have something special in the shower, and that’s Black Magic.

Black Magic has a wonderful blend of ingredients. Saponified oils (olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter), glycerin, aloe vera gel, and honey for keeping skin from drying out with multiple use, and the might behind the bar–activated charcoal, french clay, and bentonite clay. This bar has incredible glide because of the two clays, and the activated charcoal will draw out stink and make you fresh and clean. And not only will you be fresh and clean, you will stay fresher longer. The essential oil blend is antimicrobial with Tea Tree and Peppermint. It’s truly an odor controlling soap. This soap makes a great shaving soap too because of its incredible glide.

Black Magic is dual purpose because the activated charcoal is so very good for acne prone or blemish prone skin. Because of its strong drawing ability, it can help pull impurities from the pores. I recommend rubbing a washcloth with Black Magic, and very gently in circular fashion, hit those target areas on the face for 30 seconds. Do this twice a day. Because of the antimicrobials of the essential oils and the glycerin, and the humectants added to the soap bar, your skin won’t feel skin tight or dry afterwards, but clean and refreshed.

The third soap in the Fitness Soaps line is Uinta Wind. (pronounced yoo-IN-ta). Growing up in Utah, I live at altitude. Because the mountains are so close, I grew up in the summers camping, hiking, fishing, and water skiing in the Uinta Mountain range regularly. My parents taught me the love of the outdoors. Just living at elevation is hard on skin, let alone seeking it out and playing in it often. There is less oxygen saturation in the air at elevation, less protection from the sun, and more raw exposure to the skin to its’ elements. Uinta Wind has a unique blend of ingredients. Saponified oils (olive oil, coconut oil, plam oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter, and castor oil), glycerin and aloe vera gel for natural humectants to pull water to the skin, kelp powder for its much needed protective minerals at altitude (particularly UVA rays), and a blend of essential oils that literally make you feel present under a pine tree looking up. The essential oil blend is Spruce, Fir Needle, Balsam Peru, and Lemongrass. It smells just like the mountain forests. It’s even colored to remind you of earth, varying greens in trees, and the lakes and rivers that speckle the area. There’s a story about the name of this soap on my website, if you care to take a look.

I hope you’re learning there is rarely anything I do that is not purposeful. Especially when it comes to developing products that will benefit you and your family.

Fitness Soaps are shaped differently, bigger bars, weigh more (6 ozs), and each bar has it’s own unique blend of special ingredients to meet the purpose it serves. While the label states ‘Formulated for Athletes’, the soap is certainly not exclusive to just athletes. Aside for your every day use, they make very unique gifts for people in your lives that fit the end user.

I know this has been helpful in understanding the meaning, development, and purpose behind these very special soap bars. It really is amazing what a great bar of soap can do for skin.

Show kindness and compassion to others, stay steadfast in who you are, and remember, you are always enough. Continue to rise, reach and become!

Forever Your Champion,

Samantha