Lawrence resident Sharon Maralit, owner of O’Savon soap company, displays her wares at her soap stand in the Trenton Farmers Market, (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
By Meagan Douches
As handmade soap stores like U.K. based Lush Cosmetics are popping up across the state, more and more people are beginning to reconsider the commercial soap products lying around their houses.
Several years ago, Lawrence resident and owner of O’Savon soap company Sharon Maralit discovered the benefits of natural soap when she was looking for a cure for her son’s severe eczema. Maralit’s 13-year-old son, Neo, experienced flare-ups all his life, which left him covered in infection. Maralit and her husband, Rex, brought their son to various doctors, allergists and specialists who prescribed him both oral and topical medications, but nothing took away the skin problems.
“The medication was making his skin more sensitive and he was just so uncomfortable,” Maralit said. “So I decided maybe there’s another way we can go about this- a change of lifestyle. That’s how I stumbled upon natural soaps.”
Maralit began researching natural home remedies for her son’s problem and was inspired to start making her own soap products. Hoping it might bring some relief, she purchased natural ingredients — shea butter, palm oil, coconut oil and olive oil — and made her first batch of soap.
“Almost immediately after using the soaps, the eczema started to clear up,” Maralit said.
Switching to the natural soap helped the rest of the family too. Maralit said that she no longer experienced dry, cracked hands or brittle nails. Her daughter Sidney, a senior at Notre Dame High School, said that the products made her hair healthier and more moisturized and Maralit’s husband said that his skin irritation had subsided.
“Not only has [Sharon] helped our son with his skin condition,” Rex Maralit said, “her soaps actually helped me with my scalp issues as well.”
Maralit and her family decided to move to Lawrence from New Brunswick 10 years ago when her father became ill. Sharon and Rex Maralit were both born in the Philippines where Rex also attended college. In 1991, they decided to relocate along with Maralit’s parents who came to work in the pharmaceutical industry.
While the Maralits never planned to start their own business, the family felt the need to share their newfound healing soaps with friends and family. Everyone had extremely positive reactions to the products and encouraged the Maralit’s to develop a local business.
“I was giving away soaps left and right,” Maralit said. “A lot of the friends that I used as my test subjects, they said this is really awesome, you should put this out in the market!”
“I knew my wife had tremendous talent,” Rex Maralit said, “but to bring it to life through her artistic soaps blew our friends and family away.”
So, after working for many years as an investment accountant, Maralit decided to concentrate her efforts on her own business where she could put her creativity and originality to use. It was Maralit’s close friend Rose Devillier, originally from France, who suggested the name O’Savon, a play on the French word for soap.
“She’s the one who really pushed me to get it out there and start the business,” Maralit said. “She was my inspiration and I give her credit for that.”
With all of the positive feedback and a mission to help others improve their skin and their lives, the Maralit family went to work creating different types of soap, body cream and hair conditioner. They set up a website and an online Etsy store and began sharing their products with the community at the Lawrenceville Jubilee in May of 2014. Soon after, the Maralits set up shop in the Trenton Farmers Market where they began selling their products five days a week.
“We had a lot of repeat customers [from the Jubilee],” Maralit said. “The people of Lawrence have been really fantastic, I have to say.”
Maralit puts a great deal of thought and time into creating her vegan soaps. O’Savon’s farmers market stand showcases soap in the form of chocolate cake slices, cupcakes, flowers, hearts and even the Dr. Who tardis. Of course, there’s also a large selection of bar soaps in different colors, scents and designs.
“It’s not just soap, it’s artistically made,” Maralit said.
To form her artisanal designs, Maralit uses cupcake pans, whips the butters and oils just like real icing and pipes it onto the soap to create a sweet concoction. The result is a soap that looks good enough to eat.
Fellow merchant at the Trenton Farmers Market, Halo Farm, also donates milk cartons to the O’Savon crew who use them to mold their traditional-style bar soaps.
“Sharon’s attractive combination of designs and fragrance always make everyone walk away with a smile,” Rex Maralit, who also helps manage the O’Savon farmers market table, said.
Some of Maralit’s more recent designs include a beach-themed bar with kelp and solety marnier fragrance oil ($7), a sky blue and teal ocean rain bar with sea clay (on sale for $5) and skin-brightening papaya soap scented with raspberries, peaches, lilies and magnolia ($7).
“Her creations never cease to amaze me,” Rex Maralit said.
O’Savon’s soap is made using ‘the cold process’ method which takes approximately 4 to 6 weeks to cure. Lye, or sodium hydroxide, is mixed with water, 30 percent shea butter, natural oils and fragrances to form the solid soap. The curing process causes the lye to evaporate resulting in a bar of just the natural oils and scents.
“You’re lessening the chemicals that you use on your body especially the detergents that commercial products have,” Maralit said. “Also, it’s highly nourishing as compared to the commercial soaps because of the natural oils that are being used. The commercial brands just use glycerin which is a humectant for your skin.”
O’Savon’s business has been steadily increasing over the past year. Maralit has expanded her products to also include vegan aloe vera shampoo bars, charcoal and rose clay face bars and benonite clay shaving soaps.
“I do feel that people are becoming more conscious of what they put in their bodies and use on their skin so there is a growing market out there for these kinds of products,” Maralit said.
Maralit hopes to one day expand the business to other farmers markets around the state. She wishes to educate more consumers of the benefits of natural handmade soap and improve their overall well-being.
“I’m just glad to say that I feel like I’m taking care of myself and hopefully our soaps can take care of other people as well,” she said.
O’Savon is open each week at Trenton’s Wednesdays on Warren from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Capital City Market Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and at the Trenton Farmers Market in Lawrence Wednesday through Saturdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Products are also available for purchase online at etsy.com/shop/OSavon.
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