By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

BLANCHESTER, Ohio — Bob McElwee of Blanchester fondly remembers the days of working on a dairy farm, tending to Guernsey cows and other animals on land in Warren County, Ohio. But, he wanted something much more.

In fact, he wanted to do something he could create, something he could even put his business name upon. He never dreamed it would be a bar of soap.

“I actually started selling soap when I lived in Loveland, Ohio,” said McElwee, creator of Loveland Brand Soap. “My wife and daughter had a gift shop in Loveland and during Christmas time one year they wanted something to sell that had the Loveland name on it. That’s when I decided to make soap.”

McElwee, 67, is retired and has more time to spend with his creations. He’s been in the soap-making business for three years and produces 1,000 bars each year.

“I don’t make a lot of money off this venture,” said McElwee, who has a strong background in chemistry. “It’s not my desire to make a lot of money. I want to stay small and have an outstanding product. I can’t justify investing money for expansion at 67 years of age.”

His kitchen resembles a computer lab. Expensive bottles of essence oils line one long cabinet. Resting nearby are three digital scales, accurate to 1/1,000th of an ounce.

“Everything is precisely measured,” he said. “That’s how I get my consistency from batch to batch. Slowly I began making soap, and there’s a learning curve with all this. My wife and I are perfectionists. It has to be perfect.

“I educated myself on soap and how the different oils have different properties. It took several years, but I came up with a great formula and there’s very little variation between the different kinds of soaps.”

He creates dozens of varieties and utilizes wooden molds to form the bars. A six-pound mold yields 18 four-ounce bars. His workplace is spotless.

“I use all laboratory glassware, stainless steel utensils and equipment,” he adds. “I don’t want anyone buying my soap and saying it has undissolved lye or other problems with it.
A key ingredient to any soap, he says, is lye. “Lye is used in food processing as well,” McElwee added.

“It’s a dangerous chemical because it doesn’t give you a second chance. It’ll burn you and blind you. All soap is made with it.
“What you buy in the stores nowadays is chemical detergent. Everything I put in my soap one could eat, all except the lye.”
He uses palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil and an assortment of essential oils in his soap. Some essential oils cost McElwee $900 per ounce, but most, he says, cost about $30 per ounce.
“You have to be careful with the essential oils because they’re highly concentrated,” he said. “I don’t use fragrance oils, just natural plant extracts or essential oils.

“Years ago essential oils were part of every household. They’ve been around for centuries.”

His top sellers include Lavender, Cedarwood Blend, Tea Tree, Olive Oil Plus, Shampure Blend and Chamomile Flower.

“The varieties of soap could be endless,” he said.

“I came up with my own blends, and believe me, it took a lot of work. It was a trial and error thing. Once I got it right, I didn’t ever change things.”

His wife, Jo Ellen, is a professional illustrator and creates his soap labels. “A lot of people who try to make soap are merely cooks,” he said. “They think it’s a pinch of this and a pinch of that. It’s not like that at all.”

His buyers include men and women, not children or teenagers.
“My typical customer is a woman over 35,” McElwee said.
“Younger girls have pretty skin and they think it’ll be like that forever. A 50-year-old attractive woman is worth her weight in gold.”
His busy time is from March to June. In June he’s in the kitchen every day.

“You just don’t want to become a slave to anything,” he said.
“If it wasn’t fun, I wouldn’t be doing this.”

Customers can find McElwee’s soap at Whole Foods in Landen, Ohio. He also sells them the second Saturday of each month at Artists on Main in Loveland.