Duality Soaps, Rockford, IL (2026)

10/02/2026

Before the cure, it’s glossy stunner 😍

With the many stages soap goes through before it’s ready to use, this one is by far one of my favorites.

10/01/2026

Please enjoy 100 seconds of everything that goes into a little bar of soap. 🌿

Pouring, swirling, cutting, curing, labeling, packing - and finally making the drive out to Hidden Creek Estates.

These little 2 oz. bars were created especially for Hidden Creek, using honey from their beehives, and are now available in their retail shop!

There’s a whole lot of work tucked into 2 oz. of soap.

Hidden Creek Estates

09/11/2026

I made two of my favorite soaps for summer… and then completely forgot to tell you about them.

Cultured Roots is my yogurt and botanical vinegar bar, made with an apple c***r vinegar infusion of marshmallow root, willow bark, nettle and rose. 🌱🌹

And yes - yogurt and vinegar in soap. The yogurt brings extra fats and sugars that help create this really creamy, rich lather, while the vinegar contributes to a beautifully hard, long-lasting bar.

And then there’s Elixir Bar. ✨

This one has a little more of a story.

It’s inspired by the legendary Queen of Hungary’s Water - an old herbal preparation traditionally associated with rosemary and, in some versions, made as an infused vinegar.

And the lore is so good. The Queen was said to have regained her youth and beauty so remarkably that she caught the attention of a much younger prince, who wanted her for his wife.

The particular herbal vinegar recipe I used came from LearningHerbs , a husband-and-wife herbalists that have been near and dear to my heart for years.

I made it after learning that John Gallagher, herbalist and co-founder of LearningHerbs, had passed away. I think making something with their recipe was my own way of honoring someone who helped make herbalism feel accessible to so many of us.

So I infused the vinegar with lemon balm, chamomile, rose, calendula, comfrey, lemon peel, rosemary and sage… and eventually that elixir became soap.

Then summer kind of got away from me. Between the garden, getting homeschool started, and beginning my advanced herbal course, I apparently just never told you about them. 😅

So, here they are - Cultured Roots and Elixir Bar. Two soaps I really loved making and probably should have shown you a couple months ago.

Better late than never.

💜Natalie

08/27/2026

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been lately… mostly here. 😂🌿

This summer has been incredibly full. I’ve been tending the most abundant garden I’ve ever grown (55 new plants this year!), making soap, drying herbs, getting everything ready for homeschool and now officially starting our school year.

And because apparently I needed one more thing to do… I enrolled in the Advanced Herbal Course. 😂

I’ve wanted to deepen my herbal education for a long time, and I finally decided it was time. Right now I’m researching 15–20 herbs to create my own monographs and materia medica, which I’ll continue adding to as I work through the course.

It’s a lot. Like… look at my table. 😂 But I’m loving it.

I’m learning more of the science behind the plants I already grow, use and work with—plant anatomy, phytochemistry, herbal actions, preparations, safety, traditional uses and so much more.

And this is a pretty big one for me: I’m working toward becoming a Registered Herbalist. 🌿

It doesn’t really feel like I’m starting something new, though. It feels like I’m just going deeper into something I’ve been slowly building toward for years.

So that’s where I’ve been.

Growing things. Teaching my kids. Making things. Studying plants.

And apparently covering every available surface of my house with books. 😂

Consider yourself officially part of my journey.

✌️💜 Natalie

07/16/2026

I realized I don’t think I’ve ever shared this…

If you’re local, you have two options aside from shipping when placing an order:

• Local Pickup - usually from my home (unless we’ve arranged another meeting spot).

• $5 Local Delivery - I’ll bring your order right to your doorstep if you’re within my delivery area.

It’s made things a little easier for quite a few people over the years. The only thing I can’t control is a hot summer afternoon, so if your order includes body butter or other meltable goodies, try to grab it before the sun does. ☀️

If you’re wondering whether you’re in my delivery area, the next slide has all of the zip codes.

07/14/2026

Soap Spotlight 🌼🧡

Citrus Blossom

🍊 Sweet Orange
🍋 Bergamot
🌼 Litsea Cubeba (May Chang)
🪵 Cedarwood

One of my favorite parts of this work is the relationship I get to build with the plants themselves. I sow the seeds, watch them grow, harvest them at their peak, and carefully dry them before they begin their next chapter. Some become infused oils, others are steeped into vinegars, tinctures, or witch hazel. Every harvest eventually finds its purpose.

For Citrus Blossom, calendula is steeped into a nourishing tea, while annatto, turmeric, and paprika are slowly infused into oil to create the warm, golden hues you see in each bar.

There’s something incredibly rewarding about watching a season’s harvest become part of a daily ritual.

🌿

06/09/2026

The yarrow is flourishing, the garden is growing, and apparently we’re getting another week of rain.

Seems like the perfect time to introduce Spring Rain.

Made with yarrow and mint tea and scented with eucalyptus, peppermint, rosemary, and patchouli.

One of my favorite things about making herbal soap is seeing the plants growing outside my door, and then bringing them into the products I create.

What is blooming in your garden right now?

06/07/2026

For six years, I’ve had a bit of a complicated relationship with essential oils.

As an herbalist, I deeply love working with whole plants—the leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, and the slow process of infusing them into oils, teas, vinegars, salves, and skincare. Essential oils are fascinating. They’re powerful, aromatic, and can absolutely have a place in botanical skincare. But they’re also highly concentrated. Sometimes I find myself reaching for them, and sometimes I find myself questioning them.

It’s been a constant push and pull between appreciating what they offer while also honoring the gentler wisdom of the whole plant. That tension has shaped Duality from the beginning.

While many of my products contain thoughtfully selected essential oils, I also believe there should always be options for those who prefer something simpler, gentler, or completely unscented. If you’re looking for products without essential oils, these are currently part of the collection.

The more I work with plants, the more I find myself drawn back to their whole form—their leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, and all the quiet complexity they carry. Not because essential oils are inherently good or bad, but because I believe there is room for both concentrated plant extracts and the slower, gentler wisdom of the whole plant.

I’m curious—where do you land? Do you love essential oils, avoid them entirely, or find yourself somewhere in the middle like I do?

05/14/2026

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what this work is really becoming for me.

I started making soap because I loved herbs, slow craft, and the feeling of creating something nourishing with my hands. Over time, it grew into something bigger than I ever expected — markets, collections, shelves full of products, conversations with strangers that somehow didn’t feel like stranger conversations at all. And after my market this weekend, I came home feeling grateful… but also reflective.
Not in a bad way.
Just honest.

The deeper I go into herbalism, the more I find myself thinking beyond products alone.
About reciprocity.
About slowing down.
About what it means to create in a way that gives back as much as it takes.

I’ve realized the moments that stay with me most aren’t always the selling moments. They’re the moments where someone pauses long enough to smell an herb. Asks a question. Tells me a scent reminded them of childhood. Opens up about stress, burnout, grief, or wanting to reconnect with themselves again. That’s the part that feels most alive to me lately.

The ritual.
The learning.
The sensory experience.
The connection to the earth beneath all of it.

I still love creating botanical goods deeply, and I don’t see that disappearing. But I think this space may be slowly evolving into something wider too.
More rooted.
More intentional.
More connected to education, gathering, seasonal living, and shared experience.

Maybe workshops.
Maybe herbal ritual evenings.
Maybe spaces where people can slow down together for a little while.

I don’t have a perfectly polished answer yet.

I’m just allowing myself to listen more carefully to what feels meaningful — and trusting that the next chapter doesn’t have to look exactly like the last one to still belong.

💜Natalie

04/28/2026

This is how every bar gets cut.
One at a time, every batch.

I’ll be bringing these spring soaps to Bloom Fest:

🌿Herbal Garden (not pictured) — herbaceous, clean, rooted —
made with nettle and plantain tea, an earthy bar inspired by the resilience of spring herbs

☔️ Spring Rain — refreshing, crisp, slightly earthy —
made with yarrow and mint tea, swirled with hues of blue indigo and kaolin clay

🪻Wildflower Meadow — soft, floral, grounding —
a swirled beauty in shades of pink, purple, and golden yellow-naturally colored with clays and annatto-infused oil

🍊 Citrus Blossom — bright, juicy, softly woodsy —
made with calendula tea, with swirls of light orange and a pop of cream, naturally tinted with annatto and paprika-infused oils and kaolin clay

If you’ve been needing a restock or just want to smell everything in person, I’ll be there 🌿

See you May 9th!!

Duality Soaps

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