![\"In](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/04.14-Archwood-Soapery-_-Filthy-Vegan-3-1-e1782928583545.jpg\")
In May, Archwood Soapery added its hair care, sea salt soap, and cream deodorant product lines to Kimberton Whole Foods in Wyomissing. Berks County and Uwchlan Township, Chester County.(Courtesy of Jennifer Witmyer)<\/p>\nFor a long time, doctors had no idea what was causing Jenny Witmyer\u2019s sickness.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the birth of my third child, I started to get really sick,\u201d Witmyer, of Sinking Spring, said. \u201cI would just pass out. I was in and out of emergency rooms for about a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2018, one doctor was able to pinpoint her issue: Thyroid cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy (thyroid hormone) levels were off the charts,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201cI could have just died at any point.\u201d<\/p>\n
A regimen of radiation therapy put Witmyer on the path to recovery, but it was a road riddled with caution signs \u2014 an ailing liver meant she had to be extremely careful about what she was ingesting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of things I had to avoid that I never realty thought of,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201cI started immediately paying attention to the ingredients (in everything).\u201d<\/p>\n
She soon realized that finding a \u201ctruly clean\u201d product free of contaminants that may pose a risk to someone recovering from cancer was a difficult task.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey rinse cocoa butter and shea butter in ammonia,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want that on my skin. So I started making my own stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
An educational background in dermatology and chemical science equipped Witmyer with the knowledge needed to make her own skincare and bathing products.<\/p>\n
\u201cShampoo, conditioner, soap, everything possibly that I knew how to make with my background,\u201d Witmyer said.<\/p>\n
At that point, Witmyer\u2019s products were strictly for personal use. Until one day in 2025, when she came across a TikTok video where an influencer was making soap using ingredients known to cause cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat just boiled my blood,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201cSo I texted my husband that I was starting a company. And I did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her company, Archwood Soapery, was founded \u201cfor anyone who\u2019s done with overcomplicated ingredient lists, harsh chemicals, and products that don\u2019t do what they promise,\u201d according to Archwood\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
Archwood sets itself apart by using beauty product standards set by the European Union. Far stricter than their U.S. counterparts, EU standards ban the use of various toxins, cheap fillers and artificial dyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t use formaldehyde-releasing cosmetic preservatives that have been banned in other countries,\u201d Archwood Soapery\u2019s website says. \u201cWe don\u2019t use titanium dioxide to make things look \u2018whiter.\u2019 If an ingredient doesn\u2019t serve a real, beneficial purpose for your skin or hair, it doesn\u2019t get in the door. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witmyer quickly found that the demand for Archwood\u2019s products was ravenous.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a wholesale order before I was a legal entity, I had to wait until my business license came in to drop it off,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201cWithin a year, I was in Whole Foods Kimberton, multiple locations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Archwood\u2019s products, as well as her associated Filthy Vegan skincare brand, are hand made by Witmyer.<\/p>\n
In May, Archwood and Filthy Vegan earned a spot on the shelves of Kimberton Whole Foods in Wyomissing, Berks County and Uwchlan Township, Chester County.<\/p>\n
\u201cKimberton picked up my hair care line, my sea salt soaps, my cream deodorant,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201cThe director of Kimberton said I changed her mind about solid hair care. So that was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
In May, Archwood Soapery added its hair care, sea salt soap, and cream deodorant product lines to Kimberton Whole Foods in Wyomissing. Berks County and Uwchlan Township, Chester County.(Courtesy of Jennifer Witmyer)<\/p>\n
Archwood Soapery\u2019s growth was also recognized by the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance.<\/p>\n
The company placed for the first time on the GRCA\u2019s 2026 list of Business Excellence Award winners \u2014 ranking eighth on the list of top 20 companies making over $250,000 in revenue for three consecutive years. The awards recognize local companies with standout annual revenue and growth rates.<\/p>\n
She said part of the reason for the spike in demand is her ability to back up every ingredient she uses with an analysis certificate showing they are free of unsafe contaminants.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t understand how these things affect us,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201cEspecially the preservatives that are in cosmetics. Formaldehyde preservatives are so widespread in cosmeceuticals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of Archwood Soapery\u2019s customer base was garnered via expos and product demonstrations, which have earned Archwood a loyal fan base.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of repeat customers and I love that. It makes me feel so good,\u201d Witmyer said.<\/p>\n
She noted that her own health has been on the mend since her diagnosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not had any thyroid issues since,\u201d Witmyer said.<\/p>\n
Witmyer said the company\u2019s success has enabled to her hire an assistant to help her manage the company.<\/p>\n
She said the intention of the recent hire is to eventually handle the business end of the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is going to know how to do every single thing that I do except for make my products,\u201d Witmyer said.<\/p>\n
Witmyer said she sources her fragrance oils from a supplier out of Georgia who avoids parabens and phthalates, which have been linked to endocrine disruption and hormone imbalance.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Parabens and phthalates) are notoriously bad for you,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201cI found a supplier that doesn\u2019t do that, made in the USA by a family-owned company.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also uses essential oils from NOW Foods, since they test their oils and certify the results with certificates of analysis.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took me a really long time to find certain suppliers that I liked their analysis certificate,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201cI try to go family-owned if I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Witmyer said her eventual goal for expansion is to reignite cosmetic manufacturing in Reading.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so many skincare products that used to be made in the USA but then get shipped (overseas) because the shareholders say they want more profit,\u201d Witmyer said. \u201c(The area) used to be the mecca for manufacturing jobs. I want to bring cosmetic manufacturing back to Berks County.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she aims to expand her e-commerce offerings, as well as bring on more people, especially with expertise in chemistry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a long time, doctors had no idea what was causing Jenny Witmyer\u2019s sickness. \u201cAfter the birth of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,60,1557,182,28,128,130,129,706,51222,133],"class_list":["post-243023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-business","tag-chester-county","tag-local-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg","tag-uwchlan-township","tag-wyomissing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}