Today we’d like to introduce you to Marianne Buck.
Hi Marianne, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
My journey into producing natural skin & hair care began in 2010 with the development of products to help heal and care for my children’s dry itchy skin, as well as my father’s irritated eczema-prone skin. Once I saw what natural ingredients did to help heal skin, my world expanded. These wonderful results soon lead me into soap making and then the opportunity presented itself to purchase AVNS in 2018. After much prayer and confirmation from numerous sources, we moved ahead with the purchase.
AVNS today is a wonderful combination of both businesses. We have a fantastic team who find joy in creating and delivering beautiful products with effective & rejuvenating ingredients.
At Apple Valley Natural Soap, we believe that using sustainable, nutrient-dense, simple ingredients in our hard-working products allows the quality and attention to detail to shine through. We believe less is more. To see and understand the ingredients in each natural product, in each natural shampoo bar and soap, to know what they will deliver to your hair, face & body is key. We believe joy is found in simple pleasures. We find joy in crafting & using natural products with life-giving ingredients, and we believe that you also will discover the joy of using natural skin & hair care known to deliver nourishment and rejuvenation from head to toe.
We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When we purchased the business in 2018, I was familiar with the products, how to make them, and how to also market natural hair and skin care, but on a small scale. I didn’t completely understand what it meant to run a larger business (yet still a small business) on a full-time basis. I went from dabbling with a hobby to being fully immersed. It was a learning curve! I’ve had to learn how to balance the creation of new products (which I love) with marketing and expanding the exposure of our already large product line.
Learning how to run the business from behind the scenes, website maintenance and updates, customer service, SEO, advertising, finances, etc. There’s a lot that I had to learn, things I didn’t know enough about. It’s been hard work, but it’s been good. We opened our small retail location last year, May 2022 and that was another learning curve, but it’s been fun. I love meeting our local customers and helping people find products that bring life back to their skin & hair, it’s rewarding!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Apple Valley Natural Soap?
Apple Valley Natural Soap creates a wide variety of natural and organic skin & hair care products that are known to deliver nourishment and rejuvenation from head to toe. We are also an eco-friendly, cruelty-free company crafting the largest selection of natural/organic soaps online.
Apple Valley Natural Soap is more than a business to me, it’s a mission. Our goal is to glorify God through this business and help our customers find the joy and beauty of using natural skin & hair care. We believe that through our customer’s sense of sight, touch, and smell, they’ll be reminded that it can be the simple pleasures that bring memorable moments.
AVNS is known and loved for our cold-processed, gourmet soaps. They are bio-degradable, rich in natural glycerin, good for you, and safe for the environment. Every single natural soap recipe is completely different and carefully formulated with a variety of luxurious ingredients. Our soaps help our customers smile again as their family’s cleansing needs are one less thing to worry about, they can rest assured that they’re using nourishing, healthier, wholesome natural products made with organic and natural ingredients, bringing life and health back to hair, face & body. We are also certified as cruelty-free by the Leaping Bunny organization, so have standards & regulations that we have to uphold and abide by for every ingredient.
In addition to our soaps, as mentioned we carry a wide variety of face & body care products. These products are made with the same integrity and quality of ingredients as our soaps, and we don’t compromise. One of the lines that I’m most proud of is our Signature Skin Collection. I have been crafting and using this line since 2010 and introduced it to AVNS in 2021. My favorite product is our Moisture Rich Face Lotion/Cream, it’s a one-stop shop for face lotion and I love what it does to naturally bring vitality back to facial skin. The Men’s lotion is the same base with a few tweaks and is one of my husband’s favorite products.
Last but not least, as previously mentioned, we opened our retail brick-and-mortar boutique called AVNS Market in Apple Valley in 2022, this was a huge step, but an amazing one. Currently AVNS Market is open on the 1st & 3rd weekends each month, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 am-5 pm. We do hope to have additional open days during the summer and around the holidays, so keep an eye on our website for updates. AVNS Market Boutique offers a wide selection of products beyond those available online. We have designed it as a boutique, offering a wonderful variety of Hair, Body & Facial products as well as Home Decor, Gifts, Jewelry & Much More!
Our core line of products will be available each time we are open, however, we will also aim to have new & unique home goods, decor & specialty items each month so there will always be something new to discover!
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I grew up over in the UK and one of my favorite memories is from that time. I remember wonderful carefree days spent at the beach, and looking back I now know I took them for granted.
We had a dear friend who owned a beach hut, many beaches on the south coast of England were lined with these little huts and they became a little “home” away from home when at the beach. We would spend all day down at the beach and use this little hut for meals, rest, and time off the sand. The south coast of England is a beautiful area and we were blessed to have a few years there.
Pricing:
- The average price for soap is $10
- Lotions $15 – $35
- Other body care products are $13 – $19
- Lip balms $3.65
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.applevalleynaturalsoap.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/applevalleynaturalsoap/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AppleValleyNaturalSoap/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/avnaturalsoap
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@applevalleynaturals
