Jared Simons describes himself as a humble soapmaker. After working as a chef and cooking professionally for over 20 years, he came to soap as an additional creative outlet. According to his website, years of experience sourcing ingredients in the kitchen led him to the finest natural and sustainable oils. Batch by batch he began to perfect his recipe.
It all culminated in Whitechapel Soap — a handcrafted soap brand based in Los Angeles, California. “I was fascinated by the movie Fight Club and I really wanted to make bar soap,” Simons further relayed in an interview with Matter of Hand. “I find it to be all-purpose.”
The soap is made by Simons himself in small batches using the cold process soap method. Each batch is hand-mixed, poured, and cut. The bars are then left to cure for four weeks. “I think there’s something unique about it, because for me everything is handmade, hand-cut, and hand-finished,” notes Simons. “I actually finish each bar with a boot brush to kind of knock off the rough edge and give it a tumbled look. So each bar has a little character.”
According to Simons, both cooking and soap making rely on science. “If you don’t understand what’s happening when you’re cooking, it’s never going to make sense,” he says. “With that, the cooking translates to the soapmaking. I wasn’t that interested in chemistry, I just needed to understand what was going on so I spent a lot of time just looking on the internet.”
His ingredients include water, sodium hydroxide, olive oil, coconut oil, and shea butter. Take a look at some of his collection:
