About Cindy
Hey, Cindy Dunn here.
Chief soap wrangler. I’m a good soapmaker, but I’d also call myself an expert soap user. Been using it all my life. I bet you’re an expert soap user, too (at least, I hope you are!).
I grew up on the outskirts of Chicago, and during a tour of duty in the Army, I met and married a fellow soldier. Three kids, two cats, and one Irish wolfhound later, we live near Fort Benning, in the Columbus, Georgia area.
I love making soap, but Utopia Soaps is not about me.
It’s about putting something beautiful and useful out in the world–for you.
It’s about telling someone else: you are worth this little everyday luxury.
I love the personal connection: the soap is made by my hands and goes into yours.
When I make a batch of goat’s milk soap, I think about what the designs will mean to the person who will use it. Will this dreamcatcher inspire someone? Will the lavender scent remind her of a special place or time in her life? Another thing I think about: why do goats have those weird-looking eyes? Seriously, their pupils freak me out just a little bit.
How This Soap Thing Started
My sister Linda had been mailing her homemade soaps to our family for Christmas and birthdays for a while. After the first couple of times we used it, my daughter and I told her, “Nothing else but your soap for gifts from now on, please!”. When I’d open a box of soaps from her, a beautiful scent would drift out into the room. The designs were so delicate and pretty.
I used them sparingly. I didn’t want to run out before the next shipment. But Linda mock-yelled at me (like older sisters do), and told me not to save them. These soaps don’t have any preservatives. They’re not meant to gather dust on a bathroom shelf. They are little bit of luxury you can use every day, with simple, natural ingredients to nourish your skin.
After a couple of years, Linda taught me how to make soap in her Kentucky farmhouse kitchen, and Utopia Soaps was born: a way for me to share a beautiful, useful little luxury with all of you…my fellow expert soap users.