Sometimes all it takes to banish the winter blues is a bit of pampering.
And Sandra Marr has the products available in her Jayne Girl line to make that possible.
Seven years of experience and experimentation have resulted in a wide line of natural products and Marr’s upcoming large-scale trade show debut.
“I started making soap when I was still making dog cookies and coats,” says Marr, noting she decided to add a pet shampoo to her line and fell in love with the soap-making. “My very first batch of soap smelled awful, I couldn’t even use it.”
That was then.
Over the years Marr, who does a lot of research and experimenting, says she has probably made more than 50 kinds of soap, some more successful than others.
“Dreams in Lavender is a best seller and Love Spice, with a lot of patchouli, is another favourite,” she says. “Wake Me Up So I Can Go Go has peppermint, rosemary and tea tree oil – and poppy seeds for a good scrub.”
At the moment, Marr has a product line that includes cream, lip balm, bath salts, body scrub and bath bombs, including one for scent-sensitive customers.
“It’s called Wholesome and is made with oats and honey,” says Marr, noting it has a hint of a natural scent, natural being the hallmark of her products. “The soaps are made in the old-fashioned, cold-press method, the way Grandma made soap.”
Marr uses olive, coconut and palm oils in her soap-making process, adds essential oils for fragrance and herbs, spices, dried flowers and clays for colouring. There are no synthetic colours.
“They are kind to your skin,” she says, pointing out her six varieties of lotions are also made from scratch and derive their fragrance from essential oils.
“They are the only products that are not 100 per cent natural because they contain one per cent preservative,” she says. “But they are totally parabens and formaldehyde-free.”
The Jayne Girl line also includes bath salts, a body scrub made with sea salt in a base of coconut, olive and sunflower oil.
Jayne Girl products are available at The Lake Effect on Hudson Avenue and Shuswap Health Foods in the Mall at Piccadilly.
And while she also enjoys marketing her products at the farmers’ market, Marr says to turn her passion into a full-time career, she has to take it to a wider audience.
And she is doing just that by taking part in a large trade show in Edmonton this month.
“It’s a big deal, I’m playing with the big dogs now,” she says. “It’s very exciting because it’s a wholesale trade show and 15,000 retailers visit every year.”
