Handmade soap, skincare company making a ‘Splash’ in Eagle River

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

March 3, 2025

EAGLE RIVER – A handmade, all-natural soap and skincare company continues to make a splash for itself in Wisconsin’s Northwoods.

Yola Kryska – founder and owner of Splash Soap Company in Eagle River – said in 2010, she struggled with skin problems that led her to pursue “natural sources of skincare, specifically soap.”

“(I wanted) something that would work great with my face and my skin, and couldn’t really find anything out there back then, contrary to what it is now,” she said. “(Now), there’s a lot of great brands, but back then, there really wasn’t much out there.”

Kryska said when she would purchase skincare products from the grocery or drug store, she found the available products were “filled with a lot of chemicals and detergents.”

“It kind of inspired me to make my own bar, and that’s kind of how we got started,” she said. “It was my husband and I. We wanted to make an old-fashioned bar (like) how people used to make their soaps.”

At the time, Kryska said she and her husband, Art, were living in Florida – where the business initially began operation in 2012 – and that it took roughly two years of experimentation before they perfected their formula.

“We perfected something that we really enjoyed, we really liked and that worked on our skin – specifically my skin, because of all the issues that I had,” she said. “We started sharing it with friends and family, and everyone wanted to buy a bar. So, we decided to do some farmers’ markets and see if other people had an interest in it.”

From there, Kryska said the business “took off” and since then, Splash Soap has significantly expanded its product offerings.

“We (wanted) to stick to, mainly, the soaps and skincare – like lotions and butters and stuff,” she said. “But, over the years, we kept getting more and more (product) inquiries.”

Those requests, Kryska said, have led her to add other products, like shampoo, conditioner and facial cleansers, as well as home products like pet shampoo, detergent and even candles.

“Candles were really just a fluke,” she said. “We really enjoy pouring them just because you get to create different fragrances and whatnot, and (they) make your house smell really nice.”

Splash’s product expansion, Kryska said, didn’t happen overnight, as the inquiries she received were from customers she served over the 13 years she has been in business.

“Every year, we listen to our customers, we write it down and when there’s enough requests for a specific product or for a specific scent, we actually bring that into production,” she said.

Southern beaches to northern woods

While operating Splash Soap Company in Florida, Kryska said she and her husband decided to move to Wisconsin – where Art’s family is from – in 2020.

“Florida summers are very hard,” she said. “So in the summertime, we would always come (up) to Wisconsin. We would visit my husband’s family, and we would stay here for a month or two, sometimes even three.”

Kryska said in time, her family’s extended stays in the Badger State led to their permanent residence in the Northwoods.

“We love the area,” she said. “We always kind of talked about moving back here. We love the winter, as crazy as it sounds. We love the season.”

Once they were settled, Kryska said she started making and selling Splash Soap’s products again – eventually graduating from farmers’ markets into a brick-and-mortar location at 212 E. Wall St. in Eagle River.

Kryska said she doesn’t have any formal education in soap making – rather a degree in fashion merchandising marketing – but said over the last decade she has worked with “a lot of estheticians and holistic doctors” to perfect her practice.

“A lot of research went into everything (we sell),” she said. “I would say we’re self-taught (using) a lot of different knowledge from everybody else as well. We are definitely blessed to have a lot of people who supported us throughout the year with a lot of their knowledge.”

A majority of Splash Soap’s products, Kryska said, are still handmade by her and her husband.

“Most of our products are still handmade by us, which I’m so proud to say,” she said. “There are certain products that we still will make because they’re like my babies, and it’s hard to kind of give it up.”

However, as her customers showed continued interest in different products over the years, Kryska said she decided it was best to outsource some manufacturing.

“(For) a lot of the new products we are bringing in – because we have our hands full right now – we are outsourcing (to) a lot of manufacturers,” she said. “We’re very strict on who we work with. We prefer (to partner with) small, family businesses in helping us fulfill our products.”

Because they are now operating out of a permanent store-front, Kryska said she will also take on other businesses’ products and sell them at Splash Soap.

“There are certain brands we actually adore and we love, and we’re very happy to say we also carry those,” she said. “We work with three different brands, and it’s just some of the pet products, and then we have some sunscreen products. It’s just (a) few companies that we love and we appreciate, and we’re very happy to share (the space) with others.”

Kryska said all of Splash’s products can be shipped, and anyone outside of the Eagle River area is more than welcome to shop on the company’s website, splashsoapcompany.com.

“Everything that you see in our store is also available on our website,” she said.