Tsitsikamma is a Khoi word meaning “place of abundant or sparkling water”, it is one of those places that will linger in your mind for the rest of your life once you have visited it. Tsitsikamma is a foresty coastal area in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, it encorporates activities such as visits to the Storms river mouth (protected as part of the Garden Route national Park), the legendary Otter hiking trail, the Tsitsikamma canopy tour, the Bloukrans bungee (highest in the world at 216 meters) and the BIG TREE, a 1000 year old Yellow wood tree.
To me this place has fond memories of a single adventerous holiday I went on with a buddy, around 40 years ago, the images, sights, sounds and smells are still vivid in my mind, right to this very day. We stayed in the small seaside hideaway called Nature's valley, what a place folks...what a place!
Tsitsikamma National Park is a multi-dimensional destination with dramatic coastal scenery, reefs, river, lush forest and delicate fynbos, add to that a very rich and diverse selection of fauna and flora, and the result is smells that are fresh, sweet, a bit earthy, and all of it in abundance, so much so you may quite often try and identify a certain smell (or a combination of smells wafting through the trees) and simply have no idea what is or can possibly be. We could only try and duplicate this by cramming a whole lot of stuff into a single mix, although we did not even come close to the splendour of this haven, we'd love to think that we can offer a hint of what you may experience when you visit this place. I loved the freshness of the smells, loaded with aquatic notes from fog, dew and streams in the forest, and also the spray from the ocean, we sure hope you folks will enjoy this one. Top notes are Star anis, Artemisia (Wilde Als), and Bergamot, the heart notes are Lily of the valley, violet, lavender and sea spray. The heavy hitters at the bottom of the triangle are Amber, Musk, Vanilla and Cederwood, we have a whole nursery and a bush forest crammed in this one!
The 'Nickelslip' soap base utilize a natural black clay to give the soap a badass metal-and-ash appearance, it looks like a pile of burnt African hardwood in the tub, we used a bit less of the black clay and added some charcoal, and we may very well have improved on our existing tallow base, you be the judge!
This is a very soft a soap that likes to be worked with the brush; when you think it is ready, do yourself a favor and take another minute until you get a lather with a very high sheen. It is quite a thirsty soap which means it holds more water than many other soaps, and with that it presents great hydration properties with a beautiful glimmery sheen. a Great test to see if you are on track is to trickle a few drops of water on the side of your head and have it run down to the lather on your face, it should run over the lather rather than make a path through it. Take your time to get to know this soap and you will be well rewarded.
Ingredients: Beef tallow, Eish-two-O, Coconut oil, Castor oil, Sunflower oil, Black clay solids, Charcoal, Sodium Hydroxide, Potassium Hydroxide, Stearic acid, Essential and/or fragrance oils.
Tip: I love a long load from the tub with this base, it picks up only so much as the dark base is hidden under the white lather that is starting to thicken up in about 15 to 20 seconds, to get down to the soap again you actually have to press down very hard on the brush, but that is certainly not needed as your brush would be loaded sufficiently. I load/work the brush for about 45 seconds before going to the face, this will vary from person to person, brush used/amount of water in the brush and personal preferences, but do make sure you hit the sweet spot!
A 180 grams of soapy goodness in a 250 ml tub means you can load up that brush easily with no waste at all, drip your whip back into the tub when you are done...we love saving you money. We are offering the soft base shaving soap and a balm at this time, and will more than likely expand the range with other goodies in the same fragrance.