The fast pour, the ingredients and the farmers behind the workshop
Who makes Sea Salt Soap Antigua by hand?
Xavi was hurrying a grapefruit soap batch into its moulds while I was still asking questions.
At Antilles Stillhouse, I asked his age. “I’m just twenty two years old,” he told me during the interview. “You’re a baby?” I said. “Yes. I’m an infant.”
“I mean, like, I feel like there are times for everything.”
“But there’s so much potential we all have within ourselves. Like, if I’m not gonna unlock that, then shame on me.”
Why does Xavi pour the Antigua soap so quickly?
The Antigua soap thickened quickly as Xavi poured.
“It’s gonna move really quickly. So I’m gonna add the sodium hydroxide to the coconut oil, blend it up. I’m gonna add my scent and then quickly just pour it into the soap.”
“I’m trying to work as quickly as possible because it will literally change texture right in front of our eyes.”
“As you can see, it’s a different texture already than when we just started. Now it’s kind of staying in one spot.”
I watched him tap air bubbles out of the mould.
Does Xavi make soap alone at Antilles Stillhouse?
Xavi often works alone at the Antilles workshop.
“When I’m here alone, I do. By myself. When David’s here alone, he handles it by himself. He has handled it by himself for many years. But of course, when we’re here together, it does make things much faster.”
“No, no, no, it’s pretty much you’re here now, and whatever’s happening in the world stops.”
What goes into the grapefruit soap Xavi made in Antigua?
Xavi kept one coconut soap base.
“But then we add our, you know, flavorings. Then you get, you know, different ones. So it all starts off with the same base.”
“I like for it to be around forty forty ish. Just because coconut oil, you know, it gets cold. It starts to contract and solidify. So heating it up really gives us that head start on that soap making process.”
“I actually don’t know why we add the salt, because that’s a lot. I think it just. I should measure it, but I just eyeball it because I’ve been doing it so many times. But I think the salt really helps with the, the kind of texture you get instead of just raw bubbles, like suds, you get more of a creamy foam.”
The current face and body product page also lists olive oil and salt water.
Where do Sea Salt Soap Antigua’s ingredients come from?
The coconut oil in the Antigua soap batch I watched was not made locally. “No, not locally made,” Xavi said when I asked. “I would love to get some locally local stuff.”
How did a farmer’s peppers become Antilles hot sauce?
A farmer’s unsold peppers started Antilles’ pepper sauce, Xavi says.
“I think a lot of products evolve with with just us partnering with farmers. Like I know our hot sauce is that there was a farmer who was at one of the markets and he had a bunch of hot peppers, and no one was buying the stuff from him. And he was crying. He was like, oh, you know, I have nowhere to sell them. And like, David was like, oh, I could help you out. Give him to me. And that’s how our pepper sauce, you know, began.”
Why does Xavi want farmers to keep growing in Antigua?
Xavi wants the farmers behind Antilles’ products to keep growing.
“We’re supporting one another. We are so dependent on tourism that I thought we would have learned that after Covid, that we can’t depend on tourism alone, but things such as agriculture. And when it comes to food, that it’s so important that you can’t rely on imports because as soon as a war breaks out, as soon as, you know, taxes or tariffs or whatever happened, then your whole world is upside down. And I don’t know about you, but I need food to live.”
“So supporting farmers and allowing them to grow and for them to keep growing their stuff and to, you know, survive essentially. It’s very important.”
How do the seasons shape Antilles’ botanical products?
Antilles grows many ingredients in its garden; Xavi follows the seasons.
“Our duty is to shine a spotlight on what’s happening at that particular time in Antigua. So if it’s drier weather, then okay. You see, you feel how the bay leaves are changing in aroma. So it’s just our way to show what’s going on at the farm. Like, okay, it’s a dry year. So the citrus and more sour or the kind of smaller, more punchy. That’s just what’s happening. There’s nothing we can do about that but embrace it.”
What should you check before buying Sea Salt Soap Antigua?
Read the bar’s ingredients.
What happens to the lye in properly made soap?
Xavi explained the reaction while the batch was setting.
“So lye is sodium hydroxide. So it’s a very high alkali. So just to make soap all you need is a fat some kind of fat or oil and an alkali. And you mix those two together and you make soap. So instead of coconut oil, some people use beef tallow. Some people make beef tallow soap. So that’s how soap is. So you just need that lie that aggressive alkali and fat.”
“So saponification is when the fat, the fat or the oil and the alkaline react with each other.”
“So as they’re reacting now because they’re still reacting, even though we’ve technically finished making, you know, doing our step off the soap. There’s still a chemical reaction that’s happening right now. And so as it reacts and the oil cools down, it will solidify.”
The FDA explains that properly made soap has no lye remaining. That describes the chemistry, not a test of the batch I watched. This interview is not a measured recipe to copy.
How long did Xavi leave his soap before cutting it?
Xavi described two or three days before cutting his coconut soap.
“I would, but the space where we store our soap needs, there’s only one space and soap needs about two to three days to cure. Only then can we process it, cut it, then, you know, bag it and all of that.”
“Because it’s still warm. Because it will still hold on to much of the heat. So pretty much it’s not possible at this moment. So what I mean set not pourable, but you want when you use a bar of soap, it’s, you know, pretty sturdy, pretty hard. And it’s time just to cure and for that chemical reaction to finish.”
“I think of this like my little Picasso every time I do this.”
“And I would see these guys in a few days. Today’s what? Friday. So Monday, just be cutting them off into bars and off they go.”
Xavi’s timing differs from the four to six weeks Amanda recommends for her salt bars at Lovin Soap. The Open University’s recipe also specifies four to six weeks. Neither source tests his batch; setting quickly does not settle the question of when a bar is ready to use.
Where can you buy Sea Salt Soap Antigua?
Sea Salt Soap Antigua lists English Harbour and airport stockists. Some varieties contain beeswax. Check the actual bar before paying.
“Something about a bar in my bar of soap in my hand is supreme.”
Antilles also offers a foaming liquid soap.
Our Bay Gardens story follows more of Antigua’s makers.
Antilles does not ship outside Antigua, its FAQ says.
Ask who makes your soap, my loves. Find more makers in My Ideal World.