Labeling your soap

Hello all!

Last week I went to a shop to load my shelves with oils for some recipes I had in mind. The shop owner had a stand with some handmade soaps he was reselling. The stand was made of wood and it looked custom made. It was wonderful. The soaps were also great. The type of label was cigar band.

Even though the presentation felt well thought there was dust all over the wooden stand and on the soaps as well. This ruined the whole "experience".

Certainly it was the shop owners fault for not taking care of the dust in his own shop but this affected the soap brand as well.

This made me think how one should package his/hers soaps. I felt that if you spend a considerable amount of time, love (and money) to create your perfect bars of soap, it would be a pity if all that effort was unappreciated due to some dust!

So I started looking for packaging/labeling methods and these are my thoughts.

Cigar bands are wonderful. You can see the color of the soap, you can smell it but the dust problem remains. The cigar band also allows the soap to continue curing and the band becomes loose. The result is poor presentation.

What if I use the cigar band type and then shrink wrap my soaps? Some would say that this prevents the end user to experience 100% the scent of the soap. Ok.. I got this one. I will shrink wrap my soap but I will leave the sides of the soap unwrapped! Now he can smell the soap! Great.. Yes, but shrink wrapping won't allow the water to evaporate. What about the unwrapped sides? Isn't this enough?

I could use a box. A box with a die cut cutout in it. I could wrap my soap with paper like a gift. I could put it in a small bag. So many choices..

What is your approach regarding the packaging of your soaps? What are the pros and cons of your choice? Do you only choose one type of packaging?

I strongly believe that making wonderful soap is not enough. One should also take in consideration all these small after sale factors that could negatively affect the brand of the soap. What do you think?

Personally, I am looking at something a little bit different from where I first was:

With my cigar bands, the back was always the same for my two brands, The Efficacious Gentleman and The Admirable Lady. The ingredients on the side and the product name on the front changed, but everything else stayed the same.

So I thought of getting paper cut to a diamond-esque shape and at a size where, when I put my soap in there and fold up the points, it forms a wee packet. I could print on to the paper, allowing me to make however many of whatever product I want. I can then seal the back, where all the points meet, with a sticker depending on the brand - as the backs are always the same, I can get a lot printed out and save some money there.

This wee packet would not be airtight, but would keep the dust out. Sure, people couldn't see it, but I could put open pieces on a display as "Display only" or make sure that the pictures included an open soap.

Lots of people use shrink wrap and leave the ends open. I did this for a long time and I don't think it stops evaporation since the wrap will get looser the longer the bar sits around. And you can smell it just fine through the open ends. Personally, I use a cardboard box with a cutout because I take soaps around to open air markets and this helps keep the sun from damaging the soap, plus it looks "neater" on the store shelves I'm on - but it's definitely more expensive than shrink wrap.

I no longer use shrink bands because as the soap continues to cure, the shrink bands become a bit loose and end up messy looking. I have tried clear pvc boxes which showcase the soap (especially important if it decorative) but then there are limitations to the size of the soap in order to fit into them properly. There are also ecological issues as these clear boxes are not easily recyclable. I now use filter paper for round soaps that are not decorative and compostable/biodegradable cello bags with a bit of raffia ribbon on top for all other soaps. The filter paper allows the soap to breath and the scent to still come through. For the cello bags - I punch a few 1/4" size holes in it first to allow for air flow and scent to come through, attach the ribbon and label. The label is either on a separate piece of cardstock attached to the ribbon are in the corner of the cello bag (back and front). This keeps the soap sanitary (I cannot stand the thought of multiple hands and noses touching bare soap) and protected while being as eco-friendly as I can be and still showcasing the decorative features of the soap.

Here is how I package my soaps. I like the cigar band, but I use the organza bags to help keep them clean. The scent is easily smelled through the bag, and they are opaque so the soap can still be seen.

I had a cigar band template someone had shared and I have lost it!!!! Do you happen to have one to share???
Kathie