My fellow travelers and myself reached the small town Anla in the Hautes-Pyréennées in ferbruary 2013. That's where we had the chance to meet Irene who created the association « Serpettes et Chaudrons ». Curled up by the fireplace with a warm cuppa tea, we listened to the history of her project.
 

Irene stems from Andalucia, she has been living there for about 3 years and she recently underwent a training as herbalist in Lyon's School for Medicinal Herbs and Natural Knowledge, in Aspet (ELPMSM). After taking that course, she has decided to specialize in the crafting of soaps, cosmetics and other kinds of elixirs out of plants reknowned for their benefits to the human body.

Furthermore, her other goal is to spread the knowledge of those know-hows, to promote the use of natural cosmetics as a simpler, more ecological and healthier alternative.

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What kind of soap will ease dry skin ? What shampoo will make my hair shinier ? Irene knows the benefits brought by flowers and plants in general, their essence and maceration. What happens when you combine those plants ? What amount should you use ? How how can you put the laurel growing in your garden to good use ? What about those essential oils i kept in my closet for years ? Our « beloved witch » teaches us how to craft our beauty products ourselves.

 

That's how the association « Serpettes et Chaudron » was born. Irene offers training courses, workshops, animations, strolls and educational tools based on an ethnobiological approach, with a focus on sustainability and local sourcing. This way she is able to share her knowledge and passion about plants.

           On the side, she has also created a small-scale business where she crafts and sells her soaps. She lies under the « auto-entrepreneur » juridic status for production and makes her cosmetics in a certified laboratory located in Saverdun. Eventually she wants to fuse her two main activities within the association so she has only one legal status to deal with.

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She explains us : « It is a real struggle today to be able to sell cosmetics. The crafting is hugely regulated and every step is a new opportunity for taxes to pile up. »

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Irene is passionate about botany and she is actively taking steps against industrial lobbies to reclaim the plants that surround us and spread the knowledge of their many virtues.

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Now that our curiosity was quenched, we were looking forward to get some hands-on experience and craft some soaps !

Our host has been kind enough to introduce us to soap-making with a workshop. Excited and cheerful, we worked the remaining hours of our stay.

 

 

« What an opportunity ! I didn't know anything about this field. I was able to go back home with my soap I learned that, in the end, it's far better for the body and hair to use a natural soap. Neither paraffin, nor paraben, nor any other shady ingredient ! And if you wait for a little while your hair becomes even greater and silkier ! »

 

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Side note on the legislation regarding plant-based crafting :

The current legislation allows non-doctors and non-pharmacists to sell or advice some medicinal herbs which on unrestricted sale (and their derivatives : essential oils, food supplements and so on), under the condition that you respect the pharmaceutical monopoly and not to illegally practice medicine (medical diagnosis is stricly restricted to doctors (source : ELPMSM)