Naked Nanny

Using ingredients that are carefully selected and, where possible, local to provide a good variety of colour, fragrance, and skin nourishing benefits.

Batches are small, ensuring there’s always something fresh and different available to try. From Honey and botanicals from my own garden, Coffee from the fabulous Bell’s Beans to the gloriously original beer from the fantastic Dorking Brewery, I am always very keen to collaborate with other small businesses, believing that passion for ingredients along with shared knowledge is a great way to offer customers the very best produce.

Currently in the R + D phase is a recipe for some soaps that utilise the Whey from the cheesemaking process, usually a waste product, Michaela from Norbury Park Farm Cheese Company is keen to find a way to reap the many benefits from this liquid, so… watch this space!

Pure essential oils, luxurious plant-based oils, minerals, clays, and botanicals are included in the formulas for the soaps, each with a purpose in mind. While I make no claims of a medical nature, many of these ingredients can have a positive effect on our skin and senses. Lavender to soothe and calm, Sweet Orange to uplift and cleanse, Oatmeal to soften and calm, Activated Charcoal to purify and exfoliate are well known examples of this. But just because they’re practical doesn’t mean they should be boring (or only brown!) so I’ve made them beautiful to look at too; small, daily rituals that bring little moments of joy.

About me

A life-long Eczema fighter and slave to my very sensitive skin, I decided one day to have a go at making my own colour and fragrance free (Naked) Goat Milk (Nanny) soap. I pretty much became instantly hooked on the process, it’s creative and I get to play with chemicals, something that I’ve done for years in my darkroom (Wet Plate Collodion photography is my other love). The soap was pretty good too!

I then set out to produce a soap that would cleanse my hands, face and body without being overly drying or irritating to my skin. Having had a lifetime of plain white commercial soap or worse – liquid soap, I wasn’t looking forward to being my own test subject! Well, the difference is enormous; no more itchy skin and bone-dry hands, also the symptoms of Eczema have all but vanished now. Friends and family and my community of ‘Guinea Pigs’, all enjoyed the soap as much as I did so I thought I’d try and make a little business out of sharing my lovely product, so far – so good, I love making it, I love using it and I’m confident other people will love it too

Love of the Surrey Hills

Having lived in the Surrey Hills all of my life, I feel that my roots are firmly here. I often take for granted this place where I live but I am always aware of it’s special beauty and location. As a very new business, my attention and focus has been directed towards new areas of my community, with this in mind I have begun to gradually source some of the ingredients from local small businesses, collaborating where possible and with a goal of producing a truly Surrey Hills Soap one day.