Adopted Acres: A Story of Hope, Love, and Soap - An Interview with Doug Layne

Since its launch in 2024, Adopted Acres Soap Co. has made a big splash in the wet shaving community with its innovative products. We were lucky enough to catch up with one of the founders, Doug Layne, and hear some of his incredible story. Adopted Acres was started by Doug and his wife, Cara, who together have 6 children, all of which are adopted (hence the name of their farm), all of whom have disabilities. When not running the business, Cara is a Special Education Teacher, and Doug does custodial work, has a small sharpening business, and helps on the farm. Theirs is a beautiful story of hope, love, and of course, soap. Here's Doug....

On your Etsy store you tell a story about how after sharpening a straight razor for someone you started researching wet shaving and fell down the rabbit hole. Can you share with us the journey of your research? Where did it start and where did it take you?

So being asked to sharpen this first straight razor is what truly got me into traditional shaving. After teaching myself how to hone straight razors it was time to test the edge. There is only one way to do so if you don’t have a microscope to look at the edge. Which at the time I did not. In my research of learning how to hone razors I also discovered this thing called shaving soap. Which I had never heard of before. It Intrigued me. So, I bought a cheap brush and bowl from Amazon and tried to lather my Strike Gold Shave Honest Abe. This definitely got my attention. So much better than the goop and gel I was using before. I got the straight razor shave down fairly quickly and by the time I bought my second shave soap, Ariana & Evans Empyrean Bay Rum, down the rabbit hole I fell!!

As you did the research, what is it that piqued your interest about wet shaving? What made you fall in love with it?

Immediately for me it became the ritual of the shave. I’m a father of 6. All of our kids are adopted and 5 of them are still at home, all of whom have special needs. They range from ages 20-2. Getting time for yourself is next to impossible. I used to go on walks and do some woodworking in my garage. Now with the addition of the last few kiddos, that just isn’t possible anymore. When I discovered the traditional wet shave, that became my time. The other part that made me fall in love with it is the use of straight razors. If I’m using a DE razor or an SE razor I can pretty much go on auto pilot and still fill my brain with all the things going on around me. When I use a straight, it forces me to be in the moment. Right there with that razor. It’s all about the shave. There’s no outside noise taking my attention way. Just me and that razor. Paying attention to where the blade is at all times.

A lot of people joke about being in the wet shaving rabbit hole. What does being in the rabbit hole mean to you? Is it true that you have a whole closet dedicated to shaving gear?

Being in the rabbit hole to me means that this hobby consumes me. And it does. I’ve pretty much given up on knife collecting. I’ve actually sold a lot of them to pay for this new hobby. If I’m not researching making soap, then I’m looking at a razor. It’s all I do in my spare time. I also watch a ton of YouTube videos by some of the Wetshaving content creators. I’ve even collaborated on soap projects with a few of them. Yes, I have a whole closet that is my shave den. I’ve lost count of shave soaps. But I love to support all the artisans. I love trying new bases and seeing what scents are driving the market.

Can you share with us a bit about your own shave routine? What kind of razors, soap and splash do you use? Do you sometimes wear fragrances?

I typically shave after a shower. Before I get in I soak a brush. Doesn’t matter if it’s natural or synthetic. It’s just a habit. As far as soap, sometimes I scoop into a bowl, sometimes I load straight from the tub. As far as razors. I’d say most of the time I go for a mild razor like a Henson with a super sharp blade like a Kai or feather. There are the times though where an R41 is what I’m really wanting. It just depends on my mood. Most shaves on the weekend are with a straight razor. I know I can take my time and just be in the moment on these. As far as fragrances go, those were my first love. My favorite house is Zaharoff, but I have plenty of others. I always use a fragrance of some sort after I shave.

What made you decide to try your hand at making shave soaps and fragrances?

So making soaps kind of came out of a place of curiosity and a thought of something to do with my daughters. Here I was into this shave thing. This new hobby. I’d get soaps in and my daughters would love to smell them with me. I noticed one of my daughters had an excellent nose! She’s visibly impaired, so this made sense. She literally smells almost anything she gets her hands on. So, after some discussion we thought we would try making soap. We started off just doing melt and pour soaps. Pretty simple. Buy a chunk of premade soap designed for microwaving. You melt it, add colors, and fragrance and pour it into molds. We did this well over a year. Just having fun. At some point in the venture I tried making a shave soap out of these products. This wasn’t easy, as you are limited to how much other stuff you can put into this premade base. Eventually it just doesn’t function as soap anymore. I truly believe it was this part of all these mini successes and mostly failures that’s taught me so much about soap making. I learned what you could, and most important, what you could not add to soap.

Making shave soaps and fragrances isn't easy. How did you learn about the manufacturing process, the ingredients, and the different fragrance profiles?

Like most I learned soap making online and in some books I bought. The time spent with melt and pour soaps was also so valuable. To be honest, the whole part of messing with lye scared me a bit. Especially with my kids around. I actually ended up making a really good melt and pour soap. We almost brought it to the market. It’s an all vegan base and really only lacks protection and cushion. But it’s plenty of slick and has a great list shave. We live on a beef farm. My father in law and brother farm full time and raise angus cattle for beef. My sister came to me one day and asked if I could use any beef suet. This is the fat around all the organs, and the most nutrient rich part when making tallow. I of course said sure, I can use that. This is really when Adopted Acres soap co was born. I started to learn the ins and outs of using lye. This is where my shave soaps and all the Knowledge learned from melt and pour all came together.

When you were designing your soap base, did you have a specific goal in mind? How and why did you select the ingredients you used? Similarly, how did you decide on what ingredients to use in your splash?

I did! Since I had access to beef suet on the farm, all I had to do is render it down for fresh tallow. So, I know I wanted a tallow rich formula. I also wanted a more creamy consistency in the lather. So this where the lard comes in handy. Throw in a lot of Stearic Acid and you are off to a great start. The olive oil and avocado oil help with the post shave feel. So all in all I think we’ve come up with a well balanced and cushioning lather. As far as the splash this is not something we make in house. I have a supplier I get my splash from. We just add our fragrance to it. This is something we hope to make in house in the future though.

So far, I've only tried Homestead Barbershop, but one of the things that amazes me is its uniqueness. How did you come up with that fragrance?

Barbershop scents have always been my favorites in the shaving world. So, this has been a work in progress for a while. I’d try one and try to figure if this was a specific oil the artisan was using, or something that was built from the ground up. Over time you start to figure out where these oils are coming from. This one here is a specific combination blend of 2 popular barbershop scents in the shaving community, that to my knowledge have never been combined like we did. I think they blend together very well.

What do you think are the hallmarks of a good smelling fragrance? Where do you get your inspiration? Are there any soap or fragrance makers that have influenced you or that you admire?

For me a good fragrance needs to take you on a journey or bring back specific memories. That’s what I look for. The thing about scent (I would also put music in this category), is that a good scent, a good song , those can totally just change your mood. You can be having a terrible day, smell a good scent and all is well. At least for me. My Inspirations comes from multiple places. They’ve come from journeys I’ve traveled, friends I’ve chatted with, and even places I’d like to go. As far as influences? So many. When it comes to soap making I’ve always admired Ariana & Evans. Peter has some of the best soaps out there. As far as scents, I love Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements and Barrister & Mann because they are always thinking outside the box which is what I try to do as well. If we are talking perfumes then I take admiration in Zaharoff. I’ve never smelled anything George Zaharoff made that I did not like.

I read that your family plays a big role in the Adopted Acres Soap Company. How do you divide up work among everyone. Does everyone have a specific job?

All my kids are adopted (hence the name), and they all have disabilities. It has been a goal and dream of ours to make sure our children can have meaningful employment somewhere at some point in their adult lives. My wife, who is a special education teacher, has always said “I’ll get the kids through school, you’re in charge when they are done.” This of course is a joke, but I’ve always seen it as something to work towards as well. So this soap making adventure will hopefully be something we can employ them at and others who are disabled as well. Hannah and Mila, my two oldest girls love to help pack the boxes with the products. Eli does as well, but he grumbles a bit more than they do. Our 4 year old Donna is learning to write her name so her job is to just help fill out Thank You cards and sign her name. She assists me or my wife in packing things up. Mila also almost always controls the music while we work, a very important job. Eli’s favorite job is to run the vacuum sealer when we vacuum seal our shave splashes. He has that process down. I think at some point I can even get Hannah to help making the soap. She’s just not quite ready yet.

If your dream for Adopted Acres Soap Company were to come true, what would it look like?

Ultimately, this would be a store in our small town of Ashville, Ohio where we can make soap, and have a store front to sell our products and other artisan items. I’d love to not only employ our own children if they choose to, but others with disabilities. This is what I would love to see Adopted Acres Soap Co become someday.