Yevette Cobb sits serenely in her neat living room, surrounded by the fruits of her labors. Her skin glows, her voice is calm, her eyes bright. Blocks of soap, made by Yevette for her Creole Soul Handmade Soap Company, are arrayed on a table, different scents and compositions, all wrapped and labeled. Colors and smells are peaceful, soothing. 

The story she tells about how she got to this happy place is anything but peaceful. Her husband of 34 years, John, sits on the opposite end of the sofa, providing prompts and details from his vantage point.

The story involves a very ill little boy, their beloved grandbaby, Aven, a joyful little boy who was born with IPEX syndrome, a rare genetic immune disease which can cause among other things, eczema and diabetes. Aven lived only a short time, passing away four days before his fourth birthday. During that time, Yevette and John cared for him.

Yevette had begun research on soapmaking. John had eczema, and she searched for ways to soothe his condition, and when Aven came along, her study intensified. She was successful for a while, but the baby’s condition worsened and he succumbed to his disease.

After Aven died, Yevette was devastated. “She sat in the recliner, and cried her heart out for three years,” John said. Soon her own health began to decline, her blood pressure shot up and doctors put her on four different medications to try to regulate it. “The nurse told me I needed to find some way to process my grief,” Yevette said. “It’s true people die of a broken heart,” added John.

One day, she decided. She would practice soap therapy. She went to the parish, got her occupational license, studied up again on soap making, and began Creole Soul Handmade Soaps, a small batch soapery. “Every time I’d get sad, I’d get up and make a batch of soap,” she said. That was a year ago.

Now, she concentrates on making old fashioned lard soaps with a twist. Creole Soul Soap is moisturizing and nourishing, made with the highest quality ingredients, either hot or cold processed. She uses pure essential oils from plants, pure fragrance oils, lard, castille, olive and coconut oil. Some soaps include natural clays and mica. She features a chamomile tea bar, lemongrass soap, lavender, pine tar, even a coffee soap. There are unscented soaps for sensitive skin, lard for moisture, as well as vegan options like shea butter soap. Soaps usually take two to three weeks to cure, depending on the process and ingredients.

She makes three or four batches of soap at a time, in five-pound molds which she cuts one-inch thick, getting about thirteen bars per mold.

Creole Soul Soaps are pure, long-lasting and harder than grocery store soaps. They lather up nicely, and leave skin moisturized and soothes. Yevette has several customers who rely on her soaps to soothe their skin conditions. She sells from her website, creolesoulhandmadesoap.weeblysite.com and her Creole Soul soap Facebook page. She is considering selling at local farmers markets as well. “Now that COVID is easing, we can think about selling in other places,” she said.

“Creole Soul has really given me my life back, soap therapy has worked for me. It’s a great hobby, and I want my customers to be satisfied. I do take custom orders, with two weeks lead time for the soap to cure,” Yevette said.