I received the following products free for the sole purpose of review.  I am in no way paid by this company for my review.

About the company:

Virginia Soaps and Scents is owned by the Spargur's a homeschooling family located in Southeastern Virginia with 9 children.  They began their homeschooling adventure 23 years ago and now have 5 graduates with 4 children still being taught at home and a granddaughter just beginning her first year of homeschooling.

Three years ago Mrs. Richelle Spargur decided to do a unit study with her children on Colonial Life in Virginia, and included within that was a bit on soapmaking.  They entered the endeavor strictly as a one-time school project with a one pound batch of lavender soap, dyed with a melted purple crayon and molded in a piece of 3 inch PVC pipe.  But they made REAL SOAP. 

After that initial test project they continued to experiment,research,learn, design recipes and then 6 months later Virginia Soaps & Scents was born.  They are now more than soapmakers but business owners.  They launched their new business at their state homeschool convention in Richmond, Virgninia in June 2008.  They're an example of a homeschool project that has become an entrepreneurial adventure. 

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Crew, I received a wonderful Soap Sampler for review.

Included in the kit was a bar of the following soaps;

^ Handcrafted Olive Oil Soap in three scents, Fresh Orange, Oatmeal,Milk & Honey, Coconut-Lemongrass

^ Shampoo Bar,

^Laundry Soap kit.

About their products;

Handcrafted Olive Oil Soap-

This is real soap, not a detergent product.  They use all natural ingredients with no added chemicals for hardening or lathering properties.  Their soap is made by both cold process and in-the-mold hot processing.  The bars are extremely hard and long lasting due ot the recipe they have developed.  The big fluffy lather comes from a generous amount of coconut oil used in all of their soaps.  They take a great deal of pride in the testimonials from allergy suffering customers all over the country that are using their soaps without allergic reactions. 

These bars are 4. 75 ounces and come in the following scents:

Fresh Orange, Lavender, Oatmeal,milk & honey, Bay Rum, Sandalwood, Coconut Lemongrass, Violets & Lace, Victorian Rose, Baby Powder, Country Clothesline, Peppermint, Pumpkin, Badlands, Kiddiwink, Cookies & Cream, Walzing Matilda, Outback, Tropical Paradise, Full Moon, Black Tie, Unscented, Wild Bayberry.

Don't those all sound scrumptious! 

Cost:

Single bar $4.50

Buy three bars for $12.00

Or the best deal...

Buy four for $18 and get one free. 

My Thoughts:  I loved using these soaps.  The scents are fresh, but not overwhelming.  They clean your skin without drying them out or leaving any lasting soap residue.  I will be purchasing some for Christmas presents!

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Shampoo Bar-

The Shampoo Bar is also an olive oil based soap but also contains castor oil which acts as an extra "humectant", meaning, it holds moisture.  Simply wet your hair downa nd rub the shampoo bar over your hair a couple of times and you'll have lather clear to your toenails!  Their regualr sized shampoo bar is a whopping 5.5 ounces, which should easily give you the same number of shampoos as  a 32 ounce bottle if not more.  They recommned using the shampoo bar all over if you have very dry skin and feel free to shave with it too!

This comes in three scents-Ginger Lime, Coconut Lemongrass and Cherry Almond.

They also have an oil-clarifying shampoo bar that comes in Tangerine Grapefruit.

Cost for this bar is $5.50.

My Thoughts~ I tried using this soap on my fine, thin hair several times.  After several days of use, it would leave a coating on my hair that made my hair look greasy.  Others on the TOS crew loved it, also some used a vinegar rinse with it, I did not.

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Laundry Soap Kit-

This contains a grated bar of otheir lard cleaning soap and a pre-measured amount of borax and washing soda.  The recipe makes 2 1/2 gallons of a heavy gel.  Using this soap should 64-72 loads at about 7 cents per load.  The laundry soap works great in front laoders and high efficiency machines as well.  There are no cocnut oil in this product as suds don't actually wash the clothes, but they can be difficult to rinse out and the residue fromt he suds left in fabrics can cause many skin issues. 

Cost: $4.95 One order is enough to make two batches of soap.

Please visit their website: Virginia Soap and Scents to see their complete product line.  Their Gourmet Soap page gives an outlet for branching in to many different artistic techniques and is constnatly change as they experiment and broaden their skills.  They also have Shaving Soaps for both men and women as well as Total Body Bars which have become some of the best selling products they've ever created.  Their Bath and Body page contains their lotions, scrubs and powders. They also make a beeswax based Lip Balm in 5 flavors and a heavenly Lavender Linen Spray.

Shipping cost is not clearly listed on the website, but seem to max out at $10 when I had reached $25 worth of products.  To purchase the buy 4 get 1 bars of soap, shipping was $7. 

Please read other TOS Crew members reviews by clicking the image below.