A Story of Healing, Resilience & Care

Care has always been our calling.

Long before Hammock Bay Soap existed, our journey was dedicated to helping people heal. Today that same purpose lives in every handcrafted bar we make.

A Lifetime of Caring

For 32 years, Anita served as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA), delivering over 77,000 general anesthetics in some of the most demanding environments imaginable. From trauma and neurosurgery to organ transplants and severe burn cases, she operated at the highest level of critical care—often in moments where no one else could step in. Beyond the operating room, her lifelong dream was to become a military aviation photo journalist—a goal she pursued for seven years, culminating in a rare, once-in-a-lifetime experience flying in an F-15 fighter jet. Whether in the OR or in the cockpit, her life has always been defined by calm hands, unwavering precision, and an extraordinary dedication to living fully.

When Life Changed Everything

The grief had started long before the pandemic. She had already lost her most beloved horse, then her parents, and then her brother—one loss after another, each one leaving her more unmoored than the last. The career she had dedicated her life to, the very thing that had once given her purpose, now felt like it was slipping away.

When the pandemic hit, the front lines became more overwhelming than anything she had faced before. The weight of it all—the trauma, the loss, the relentless pressure—finally broke through. She was diagnosed with PTSD, compounding the Generalized Anxiety she had already been living with.

Somewhere in the hardest of those days, soap-making called to her again—not as a business, but as something to hold onto when little else felt steady.

Finding Purpose Again

Soap-making had always been a quiet sanctuary—a craft she had put on hold to care for her parents. But during the long years of recovery, it became her anchor. Measuring oils, watching colors swirl, and waiting patiently for each bar to cure gave her a rhythm that asked nothing of her but presence. With the support of her husband, she began to share her soaps with the world at a local farmers market. What started as a small, tentative step into the sunlight quickly grew into something unexpected: a reminder that care could still be given—and that healing was possible.

Why This Matters

Hammock Bay Soap exists because we believe the same steady, calm-handed care that carried Anita through 77,000 of the hardest moments imaginable belongs in your life too—not as something extraordinary, but as something you give yourself quietly, every day. Every bar carries that same attention forward. This isn't just soap. It's a continuation of a lifetime spent caring for others, now offered to you.

Come find your sanctuary.

 Continue the Ritual

Thank you for being part of our story.

Continue the Ritual