20 products, 10 makers and five towns

Soap

Natural soap around Margaret River comes with good stories attached. Vasse Virgin began with Louis and Edwina Scherini making cold-process soap in their own kitchen, on an extra virgin olive oil base. Its spearmint and green tea bar is that method in miniature. Capricopia's goat's milk soap started with Smudge, Cath's best milker, whose surplus went into the first bars in 2014.

Hemp seed oil is the other local thread. Soap Suds & Oils makes a coconut, olive and hemp soap on a rope that hangs up between uses. Vasse Valley Hemp Farm and Margaret River Hemp Co both make shampoo bars, which need no bottle and are easy to pack. Olio Bello adds a eucalyptus and lemon bar from the farm's own skincare line.

Moon Haven, a four-generation family business in Busselton, names its soaps for places. Scent of Margaret River is lemon myrtle and eucalyptus, a blend meant to recall Boranup Forest, and Seagrass is scented to bring Geographe Bay to mind. Every batch is left to dry and harden before it goes out. There's more on Moon Haven in our things to do in Busselton guide. Our soap and skincare trail walks the makers from Origins Market to the Vasse Virgin factory. A bar of soap also makes an easy stocking filler or Secret Santa gift.

See the soap makers on the mapQuestions

On the shelf

No prices here, because we don't sell these. Tap a label for the story, or Visit to go straight to the maker's own shop.

Where to buy soap

Each maker's page tells their story and links straight to their own shop.

Visit in person 8 makers

Shops, tasting rooms, farm gates and market stalls. Days change, so check the maker's own site before you go.

Busselton

  • Capricopia

    Market stall, Origins MarketSoap, Natural skincare, Candles

    A working goat and bee farm making goat's milk soap, beeswax candles and plant-oil skincare in small batches, from its own milk and wax.

  • Elamoore Natural Soaps

    Market stall, Origins MarketSoap

    Busselton soap maker with a stall inside Origins Market, making cold-process soap bars scented with essential oils and cut by hand.

  • Vasse Valley Hemp Farm

    Market stall, Origins MarketPantry, Natural skincare, Soap

    A North Jindong hemp farm turning Australian-grown hemp seed into cold-pressed oil, hemp hearts and protein powder, plus soap and body care.

Cowaramup

  • Olio Bello

    Tasting roomOlive oil, Pantry, Soap

    A Margaret River olive farm harvesting since 1998, with single-variety and flavoured extra virgin olive oils, a pantry range and its own skincare.

Dunsborough

  • Corrynne's Natural Skincare

    ShopNatural skincare, Soap, Candles

    Family-run skincare and soap maker that began at Fremantle markets in 1995 and now makes most of its range in-house in Dunsborough.

Margaret River

  • Margaret River Hemp Co

    ShopNatural skincare, Soap, Pantry

    A family-owned Margaret River hemp business making hemp seed oil skincare, hair care and hemp flour, with a store on Bussell Highway.

  • Vasse Virgin

    ShopSoap, Natural skincare, Olive oil

    Cold-process olive oil soap that began in Louis and Edwina Scherini's kitchen and grew into skincare, perfume and a gourmet food range.

  • Vasse Virgin

    ShopSoap, Natural skincare, Olive oil

    Cold-process olive oil soap that began in Louis and Edwina Scherini's kitchen and grew into skincare, perfume and a gourmet food range.

Pemberton

  • Pemberton Honey Co

    Farm gateHoney, Soap

    Mikey and Allexa Cernotta's honey farm just outside Pemberton, packing single-flower WA honeys such as karri, wandoo and hakea, plus honey soap.

    Watch it made: Farm tours by appointment with the maker.

Online only 2 makers

No shop, stall or farm gate of their own that we can confirm. Order from their site; some also sell through local shops.

Free: the South West Maker Map 50+ makers in 15 towns, Bunbury to Pemberton. Keep it on your phone.

In the journal

Day trips and gift runs that call in on the soap makers.

All guides

  • Take the South West home with you

    The best gifts to bring home from the South West of WA are things made here: stone-ground chocolate, jarrah honey, local olive oil, loose-leaf tea, coffee roasted in Vasse and Margaret River, and soap made in Busselton.

  • Christmas gifts made in the South West of WA

    Christmas gifts from small makers between Busselton and Pemberton, sorted by who they're for.

  • The soap and skincare trail, from goat's milk to olive oil

    Hand-cut bars and goat's milk soap at a Busselton market, a Dunsborough maker whose first soaps set in milk cartons, an olive oil soap factory at the end of a tree-lined drive, and hemp on the main street.

Questions

Where can I buy handmade soap in Margaret River?

Vasse Virgin has a store in the Margaret River township, and Margaret River Hemp Co has a store on Bussell Highway. In Busselton, Capricopia has a craft co-op stall at Origins Market. Check hours before you go, or order from the makers' own sites.

Where can I buy handmade soap in Busselton?

In Busselton, go to Origins Market on West Street. You'll find Elamoore Natural Soaps there, with cold-process bars made in small batches, and Capricopia, with goat's milk soap from its farm. Moon Haven, the town's own soap maker, sells online only and posts within Australia from its own site, and Capricopia posts too.

Check the market's opening hours before you go.

Our Busselton town page has more on all three, and on what else is made in town.

What is cold-process soap?

Soap made by mixing oils with lye without cooking the batch, then leaving the bars for weeks to dry and harden before they're used. Vasse Virgin makes its soap this way on an extra virgin olive oil base.

What is a shampoo bar?

A solid shampoo in bar form, so there's no bottle. Vasse Valley Hemp Farm, Soap Suds & Oils and Margaret River Hemp Co all make one with hemp, and Margaret River Hemp Co's bar does conditioner too.