On making a special-edition soap for the first time.

I usually pass on holiday tie-ins. They tend to feel like corporate flag-waving — invented to move product, gone by August. But 250 years is a bigger number than most. So we made one bar. Cherry-scented. Red, white, blue. Same olive-coconut-shea recipe we make every Tuesday — just dressed up for the occasion. Six hundred bars. When they're gone, they're gone. — Heather

Rinse Bath & Body Co. was born on July 3, 2003, in an apartment kitchen in Monroe, Georgia — one day before the fireworks. Every July since, our birthday and America's have shared a weekend, and every July we celebrate both with the Birthday Bash.

This year the math gets special: Rinse turns 23 the same weekend America turns 250. To mark it, we made the America the Beautiful soap — a limited-edition cherry-scented bar, made in a single small batch for the 250th anniversary. When it's gone, it's gone.

The rest of the Bash is built for July in Georgia: tropical soaps like Blue Hawaiian, Pina Colada, Rainbow Sherbet, and Coconut Mango; cooling Peppofoot foot care and refreshing sprays for the heat; aluminum-free DeOdor Sticks that work as hard as summer does; and lightweight squalane facial oils for skin that wants less in the humidity. Birthday Cake soaps, lip balms, and skin sticks round out the party.

Everything handmade in our Monroe, Georgia workshop, the same way Heather started making it twenty-three years ago. Looking for a gift instead? Our Birthday Gifts collection covers presents for someone else's big day.