The Story of Farm Girl Soap Co.

Hi friend! I'm Angela Palmer—esthetician, soap maker, skin care formulator, and resident farm girl. I'm also an educator specializing in holistic and handcrafted skin care.

Through my small business, Farm Girl Soap Co., I've taught thousands of people just like you how to make their own handmade soap, lotions, facial treatments, bath and body products and more.

I’ve always been a DIY type of gal. Partly because I love the satisfaction of creating something useful with my own hands, and partly because I grew up poor. And I’m not talking about we-didn’t-have-money-for-the-coolest-sneakers type of poor. No, it was the-electricity-is-shut-off-and-we-don’t-know-where-our-next-meal-is-coming-from.

So I learned early on the value of a dollar and how to make do with what was on hand. As a teenager obsessed with beauty treatments I couldn’t afford, I turned to what was in the pantry.

Things like oatmeal, baking soda, and yogurt all could be bought with food stamps and I was lucky enough to have a mother who showed me how to make facial products with these kitchen ingredients.

This early experience piqued my interest in all-natural handcrafted skin care.

My first batch of handmade soap prompted me to turn skin care into a career.

Fast-forward to 1999, now a young mom of two little ones under the age of two, I branched out beyond kitchen remedies and made my first bar of soap. It was, as they say, love at first sight (or unmolding!) It was a sweet orange, sage, and milk soap, and it was magical to my eyes.

This success drove me to start seriously studying the skin, products and their formulations. I went back to school and became an esthetician (that’s a skin care professional). I undertook undergraduate and post-graduate studies at the International Dermal Institute, San Francisco.

Armed with a Milady’s cosmetic ingredient dictionary, I began delving into product formulation focusing on natural ingredients. I studied herbs, oils, butters, clays and their effects on the skin.

I also began experimenting with other product formulations—bath products, body scrubs, lotions, lip balms, mineral makeup and more. My goal was to create product recipes that were easy to make with unitimidating ingredients, as well as effective enough to create actual improvement of the skin.

Creating these products felt like home to me. I love the arts, but also am drawn to science. Handcrafting skin care products is the perfect blend of all those: crafting, chemistry, botany.

It also appeals to my practical side. Soap and skin care products are functional, and once they’re used up you get to create more!

I love teaching others how to handcraft their own natural & effective skin care products from scratch.

In December of 2000, excited to share this knowledge, I taught my first class and Farm Girl Soap Co. was born (although back then it was known as Angela Palmer's Natural Skin Care.)

As of today, I have taught thousands of students to create their own skin care products through hands-on classes and private workshops held throughout Northern California.

In 2017, I brought Farm Girl Soap Co. courses online so anyone, anywhere, can take a class and learn how to handcraft soap and skin care products.

Sometimes, I look around and think, “Wow! I can’t believe this is my job!” I’m immeasurably blessed for the opportunity to do what I love, and make a living from it. And I’m acutely aware that it is only because of you, and all my students, clients, and customers. So thank you!

I hope you have a blast learning, creating, and using your handcrafted products.

Love,

Angela

Yes, I am a Farm Girl

My family and I live on a small farm in Idaho's fertile Treasure Valley. We have horses, a mule, chickens, rabbits, a herd of miniature dairy goats, three country children, and the requisite farm dogs and barn cats.

Pop on over to my blog and I’ll give you the full tour.