About The Blue Ridge Soap Shed

The Blue Ridge Soap Shed is a handcrafted soap business started in 1998, in a backyard shed located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina - and thus the name: The Blue Ridge Soap Shed.  

Now making more than 130 varieties, The Soap Shed offers one of the largest varieties of handcrafted soap available in the United States. A very special selection of soaps reflect the mountains of the Blue Ridge where we live, and are created and named with our geographic region in mind, such as 'Blue Ridge Mint', 'Fresh Mountain Air,' 'Carolina Kudzu' or 'Southern Belle'. The Soap Shed's 'Mountain Scents' handmade soaps are unusual aromatic souvenirs of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and can be found at many retail and tourist locations along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky.

We make our soap completely from scratch using the cold process method, with raw ingredients and recipes we created.  Every one of our soap bars are hand made, hand poured and hand cut.  We offer moisture levels and scents for every member of the family.  We make 40 vegetable oil soaps, 65 scents of goat milk soap, 30 scents of shea butter soap, four types of 100% Olive Oil 'Castile' Soap, Grandma's Lye Soap as well as Pine Tar Soap, and unscented versions of every moisture level we make.

We created ‘The Soap Shed’ 19 years ago when our careers as consultants were lost after US textile and furniture industries moved overseas.  Looking for a direction consistent with our values, we chose to develop a natural product for visitors to the Blue Ridge mountains. We reinvented ourselves, became small business owners, and are among the millions of Americans who are now working their ‘retirement’ years.

Tim Tyndall is a former science professor put back to work by his wife, Karen, a business and training consultant.  Fortunately, soapmaking came naturally to Tim!  

After graduating from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a major in botany and biology, and later with graduate degrees from North Carolina State University, 'Dr. T.' taught chemistry for many years at the high school and community college levels. His last academic position before relocating to the mountains was Director of Engineering and Science Programs at UNC-Charlotte.  We are proud to have such built-in quality assurance and creativity resident at the Soap Shed.  

Dr. Tyndall is a faculty member at the John C. Campbell Folk School, teaching handmade soapmaking there since 2002, and is a frequently requested demonstrator of handmade soapmaking at regional and state events.

After 16 years as a corporate training and development consultant, Dr. Wylie learned firsthand the very different needs of entrepreneurs, micro-businesses and rural businesses by creating The Soap Shed and managing its production & marketing since 1998. Karen now writes about small business topics and the need to reimagine your life and business after 50 at The Midlife Entrepreneur.

Visitors to The Soap Shed can view the entire 'process' of soap making, from mixing of oils and lye, to the molds used to make each batch, and the cutters used to prepare each bar they take home. Everyone is welcome to view whatever aspect of the handmade soapmaking operation is being conducted at the time of their visit. Soapmaking demonstrations are scheduled on various days and times throughout the summer season, weather permitting, so be sure to check out our schedule.  

The Soap Shed has been featured in many regional travel and tourism guides and magazines like Our State, Southern Living, and Blue Ridge Country.  Craft trade magazines like Watercolor, Artist, Vogue Knitting and Quilts have featured our hand repair soaps for artists and crafters, and our soap for men even made it to the pages of Penthouse Magazine!  

Who knows where our soap will show up next? :-) 

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