Amber Smith during a video showing how she creates a batch of soap for The Gentle Drop. Photos: Supplied.
When Amber Smith found herself with surplus breast milk after the birth of her daughter, she didn’t pour it down the drain — she transformed it into gentle, natural soaps.
Now, from her home in Warilla, Amber is building The Gentle Drop, a small business hoping to clean up in the world of all-natural skincare — one bar of soap at a time.
With motherhood sparking her creativity, she admitted starting the business was a “spontaneous” decision.
“I have a 19-month-old and when I was pumping extra milk I thought I might just start using this, because I can’t give it to her right now,” she said.
“I was also pregnant with my second, who is now five weeks old.
“I thought, I’m going to see if I can make soaps out of this milk, because I don’t want to just use it in a bath or something like that.
“I wanted to try and make it last a bit longer, because I know all of the benefits to breast milk – it’s safer, more natural and I’d rather that than store-bought chemical products.”
Amber’s experimental approach paid off.
Using herself as the tester, her first soaps yielded impressive results on her own skin.
“I thought, this is actually really nice,” she said.
“It made my skin really soft, it cleared up dermatitis I had when I was pregnant and I was like, ‘I wonder if people would actually be interested in buying this?’”
Encouraged, she shared her creations with friends, who saw improvements in their own skin.
She said she had always heard about the benefits of breast milk before having her own children, with many describing it as a “powerhouse product”.
“I guess I was never really open minded until I fell pregnant and started seeing all these things on social media about it, things you can do with it, what you can use it for and the benefits of it all,” she said.
“Now it’s really about letting people know the power of having that breast milk, and the benefits it can have for everyone, not just babies.”
Amber started researching the complexities of turning breast milk into a product others could purchase.
However, because of regulations, she must use each customer’s own breast milk for their soap orders, circumventing legal restrictions while ensuring a meaningful, personal touch.
Some of the soaps from The Gentle Drop.
“If you’re purchasing from me, you provide your own milk. If it’s mine, I can only gift it,” she said.
“At least each person knows it’s coming from their breast milk, and I think it’s got more meaning if it’s yours.”
Serving Kiama to Wollongong, Amber wants to start local to ensure freshness of the product and will look to expand outside that in the future.
So for those with breast milk going to waste, what’s the process?
“The easiest way is to provide frozen, stored milk,” she said.
“I’ve said between Kiama and Wollongong, which is probably between 15 to 20 minutes from where I am, so that’s not an issue if it’s frozen.
“If it’s defrosting, I’ll leave it defrosting in the fridge overnight and have it done the next day.”
She said otherwise, fresh milk that was stored in the fridge up to three to four days could be used.
Delivery is either via dropping it to Amber’s house free of charge or she can collect the milk and deliver the soap for a small fee.
Amber said typically a batch of four all-natural soap bars required 75-100 ml of breast milk, combined with skin-safe soap and essential oils such as lavender, bergamot, or ylang ylang.
She’s also experimenting with new scents and carefully researching each ingredient for safety.
While it’s still early days as she balances a new business with two children, interest in The Gentle Drop is growing from in-person mums’ groups and parenting Facebook groups, particularly new mothers eager for natural alternatives made from their own milk.
“Soap is where I’m starting but I do want to introduce moisturisers,” she said.
“I’ve almost got the recipes. I’m really excited about that.”
She said she wanted to exclusively focus on skin care products, including also possibly expanding into lotions and facial scrubs.
You can order The Gentle Drop soaps through her Instagram page.
