Petra is the founder of 'Aroma Body & Bath'.She is a wife and mother to two young children. Her vision was to create natural based beauty products that not only were good for the skin, but were affordable for every day use. After receiving a lot of encouragement from family and friends, she decided to create the business. Petra's background is quite different to that of making natural products as she has a Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Major in Psychology and minors in Marketing and HR).

One of her goals was to work from home so that she could look after the children full-time.

"I didn't want to work in an office anymore because I wanted to be with my children but at the same time I became more and more passionate about creating my natural products that I decided to go ahead and start my own business so that I could also share the products with people that appreciated natural based beauty products"

Many people ask, How did you start making soap?

"I was pregnant with my second child in 2007 and I went to see my Naturopath. I was a little surprised when she asked me what products I was using on my skin as her suggestion was that the chemicals were coming up in my system. I went home and opened my bathroom cabinet and there sitting before me was my toxic combination of chemicals; from soap to moisturisers, body lotions and the list went on. I took a couple of products and looked at the ingredients list but I had no idea what was written as they were unfamiliar terms to me. I did some research on the internet and I was shocked at what I was putting on my skin and more so concerned because I was pregnant."

Aroma Body & Bath:

Q. How is natural soap made?
A. The soap is created by an old fashioned method called 'Cold Processed'. This suggests that soap is created from the natural heat between the oils/fats and caustic soda/water mixture. When oils/fats are mixed at the right temperature with the caustic soda/water mixture than a chemical reaction called Saponification takes place and this is what turns the mixture into soap.

Q. Why do you use Sodium Hydroxide?

A. Unfortunately soap cannot be made without this ingredient. Basically to make soap you need a strong Alkali (such as Sodium Hydroxide NaOH) and a weak fatty acid such as the fats/oils to achieve saponification. Saponification is the chemical reaction that occurs when the Alkali and fatty acids are mixed. You can imagine how oily the oils are in the soap and if you were to rub them onto your skin while you were in the shower, you would end up with a greasy mess. 

Some manufacturers of soap believe that they do not need to put Sodium Hydroxide onto the ingredients list because when the saponification process takes place, properly made soap does not contain any NaOH in the finished product, even though it was used to begin with. In Australia we have strict guidelines when labeling the ingredients of a product and if NaOH is used to begin with, than it SHOULD be included in the ingredients list.

Q. What is so good about using Natural Soaps?
A. Natural soaps contain high amounts of naturally occurring glycerin. Unfortunately in industrially made soaps, the glycerin is generally extracted and sold as a by product of the soap making process. Glycerin is important and the main reason why natural soaps are considered of a much higher standard because it helps attract moisture to the skin and this is the reason why the skin feels soft and supple and not dry and irritated. Our natural soaps do not contain petro-chemical derived ingredients.As mentioned on the home page, our soaps contain high amounts of Olive oil which conditions, protects and allows natural moisture to be left on the skin.

Q. What are the delivery/postage costs?A.$7.95 flat rate Australia wide. Wholesale and International delivery organised on a case by case basis.

Q. Do you supply handmade natural soap for wholesale purchases?
A. Yes we do.  All our products can be purchased in bulk or wholesale.  Please note that the special delivery postage rates do not apply to wholesale purchases.  Wholesale account would receive products at a wholesale rate but the purchaser would incur freight charges.

Q. How can I pay for my purchases online?
A. Payment can be made either by direct deposit, cheque or PAYPAL (for credit card payments). PLEASE NOTE that you do not have to have a PAYPAL account to purchase by credit card as we can send a payment request to your email for credit card payments and this is a secure option for online transactions.