Cleanliness is next to godliness, and there is no better way to display it than on a bar of soap. Impressed into a shea butter-based, oval-shaped bar of chocolate soap is Christ on the Cross. The soap is just one of the many organic beauty and bath products created by Cynthia Hill. It also may be a little nod to the Almighty, who she believes had a hand in her success. "I really feel blessed," she says.

Always close to her mother, who died after a protracted battle with diabetes, Ms. Hill needed an outlet for her grief. "I came across a book I had bought 10 years before on soap making," recalls Ms. Hill, a West Mifflin native. "I started making my own soaps and shampoos. It relaxed me." Ms. Hill took a leave of absence from the American Red Cross, where she was an executive volunteer co-ordinator during that time. As more and more friends and family were using her products, it was becoming expensive, so she started charging.

"They also encouraged me to start selling," she adds. Her venture became successful enough that she quit the Red Cross and her hobby became her livelihood.

That was nearly five years ago. Today her company, Third Day Luxury Soaps & Healing Garden, is growing as fast as the plants and herbs she uses in her products. "I use a variety of herbs, depending on the goal, like chamomile, which is calming and soothing to the skin, and yarrow, which is good for the liver, and lemongrass, which is a stimulator," she says.

Shea butter is the cornerstone of what she makes. "It's so good for your skin," she insists. Her Shea Oil Body Mist infused with lavender and peppermint is especially good for dry skin, helping with wrinkle prevention and even blocking the sun's UVA rays.

It's all organic from the gel-organic gift boxes to the biodegradable tissue paper she uses to package the soaps. "I grow all my own herbs, flowers and plants that are used in different soaps, shampoos and beauty and bath products," she explains. All her soaps are 87 percent plant based. Her goal is to add a line of environmentally safe cleaning products.

Her mother was an avid gardener and this is something she feels her mother left her. The name of the company ties in with both her faith and formula. "It comes from Genesis, chapter one, verses 12 and 13 in the Bible," she says. "It's about when God commanded vegetation to the Earth. I wanted the name of the business to mean something." She added, with a laugh, "I didn't want to call it Cynthia's Soaps because I thought that was a little vain."

"It's all as an inspiration from my mother," she says. Ms. Hill is certified by the Organic Trade Association.

Cynthia Hill can be found at local farmers markets. Here is her schedule:

Monday: East Liberty, Penn Circle West, 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday: Bellevue Farmers Market, at Hawley Avenue near business district, 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Friday: North Side Farmers Market (the park across from Allegheny General Hospital), 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Saturday: Twilight Farmers Market, Mexican War Streets (Jacksonia and Buena Vista streets), 4 to 8 p.m.

For more information or an event you would like her to attend, e-mail thirddayluxurysoaps@yahoo.com or call 412-628-1028.