Roxanne Johnson began crafting handmade soaps for family and friends last year, and when they proved wildly popular, she realized a business had surfaced in all those suds.
It wasn't a huge step from personal to professional soapmaker, after all.
"Family and friends around here kind of turns into a big thing," laughs Johnson, who lives in the fundamentalist Mormon community of Hildale.
Today, Johnson has teamed up with Dianna Peine to launch Naturally Young Essentials -- and, yes, they admit the company's name plays on the youthful look ascribed to many women in the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Johnson and Peine are part of an entrepreneurial push in the twin towns of Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., where a handful of new or expanded ventures have taken root in the midst of a bad economy. In addition to Naturally Young Essentials, that boom includes Most Wanted Jeans, an Eddie Craft "Set-N-Up" furniture showroom and Finney Farm Home Dairy's artisan cheeses.
A soap smorgasbord - For Johnson and Peine, the hunt for skin-friendly soaps was an extension of their commitment to healthy eating.
"We wanted to do the natural thing," Johnson said.
The two learned about soap-making by reading books, searching the Internet and trying other products, including a fine soap they ordered from Australia.
