Smooth Like Butr Savonnerie

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Toss aside that supermarket soap that’s melting in your soap dish in an ugly puddle. Get yourself or someone you love some gorgeous soap that is as carefully planned as a gourmet meal. The soaps and lotions made by Montreal savonnerie Butr smell exquisite and feel good. Yes, they get you clean too.

I spoke to Butr’s brains and soul, Giroflée Ash, about making these amazing soaps. Ash explains that she began making soap a long time ago after studying massage and essential oils. “I wanted to try to make soap,” she said. She has made nearly a hundred different types of soap designs of different smells and recipes before curating her current 21 different types that are identified by a number as well as a name.

“I’m a smell person,” she explains. “I love to smell and make perfumes and take care of others.”

The products that go into the soaps and beauty products are carefully chosen too. The soaps are made with natural base like shea butter and avocado oil. This is mixed with carefully sourced and high quality ingredients. Activated charcoal is used in soap #33, a detox bar that smells of rosemary and myrtle. #21 Salt Soap uses salt that comes from the Dead Sea and has a bright, citrusy scent of grapefruit, lime, and lemon. #47 Komboucha soap uses real komboucha and is scented with geranium. And, her most popular soap #96 Pale Ale Bear soap uses beer and smells of lavender and rosemary.

Ash worked on improving each soap and is hard pressed to pick a favourite. “I love them all,” she says.

She also explains that some of the soaps were challenging to make because their ingredients can be dangerous when making the soap itself. “I love challenges,” Ash says, so she continued to work at products like the apple cider vinegar soap and the beer soap.

Even so, she’s always stayed true to her product line in sticking with natural, high quality ingredients. “If you eat it, you can put it on your body,” she says.

Other products on offer include face lotions and a variety of products that are variations of soap, like shaving soap and soap shampoo.

I got to try a beer soap (#97 Shaving All in One Beer Soap) as well as a shampoo soap (#25 Apple Cider Vinegar Shampoo). Both are just gorgeous to smell. The Apple Cider Vinegar Shampoo smells of ylang ylang and mint (not apple cider vinegar!). I don’t usually use soap shampoo so I was a bit skeptical about how well it would work. Boy was I wrong. It lathers up pretty quickly and it cleanses the hair better than any other shampoo in my bathroom. I was surprised by how effective it was. I would recommend it for people with oily hair. I was worried that it would melt away pretty quickly in my shower, but I’ve had it for a good two weeks now and there’s still about 3/4 of it left.

As for the shaving soap, this one smells so good, I just want to wear it around my neck all day and sniff it. It smells like spruce and mint, so sort of woodsy, but also fresh. I love it dearly. It’s not too caustic, not too oily. For shaving, or anything, this soap is a winner and I can see why it is one of her most popular soaps.

With a love for her product and excellent products, I strongly recommend Butr soaps and lotions for gift giving or gifting yourself a treasure as well. You will smell and feel the difference.

Butr will be making an appearance at the Pop Up store Boutique Éphémère (Loft Dowd), and you can follow anything else going on via Butr’s facebook page. There’s also an etsy shop. If you can’t find Butr at a local crafts bazaar, you can pick up the soaps at Marché 4751 (4751 St. Catherine E) and Boutique Karibu (2475 Notre Dame W).