MySoapyHeart
Bee Happy
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2015
- Messages
- 1,002
- Reaction score
- 1,335
This will be perhaps a bit of a long read, and I understand if you can`t be bothered. But I just want to give you the background of why I felt so happy about this experience! And please understand, this is not a post to pat myself on the back, but I really wanted to add to what the above title imply;
Curing makes a huge difference in soaps, we know that. But, what`s more - it actually gets noticed by non-soapers too. That is a big deal.
The back story:
I visited a friend of mine last week. This is a friend I don`t get to se that often because she lives so far from me. I should perhaps mention that she is a single mom, taking care of two teenagers by herself. They use my soaps a lot (showering and hands) so I make sure she has got enough soap so she doesn`t have to spend money on that at least (or cheap detergent "soap"). Growing kids drain a tight budget, so I get to have more guineapigs around to critique my soaps, and she feels blessed with something I especially make for her with her favourite additives and fragrances. Win-win!
So, at one point during the visit I had to go to the ladies room, and a few of my soaps were as usual stacked neatly on the shelf, still wrapped in the silk tissue I use for protecting them from dust, but alowing them to breathe.
Anyway, one of my bars were in the soapdish on the sink, and I could see it was used regularly. I used it too, and was happy to see it was still a good piece of soap that held up well and that my hands felt great after using it. It was 6 months old, no sign of dos, the fragrance was pleasant and still present, soap firm and not gooey and bla-bla-bla. You guys know the drill!
Moving on... I finished up and we continued chatting about whatever. Then she started to bring up the subject of my soaps. She told me she was puzzled about something she have been noticing over a long period of time. (She has some experience in using other handmade soaps before)
At first I thought "uh-oh..." But then she pointed out that it seemed that my soaps lasted so long. She said they were foaming and giving up a lot of suds every time, but never the less, they seemed to last absolutely forever. Other soaps she has gotten elsewhere in the past has always melted so fast and wasn`t even half as longlasting, even making sure they was sitting in a soapdish that drained water out. They also made her hands feel a bit tight, but mine never did that. Why was that?
I explained to her that what she was experiencing now was not anything special, and that it was not a testament to my skills either, but simply something she should expect from any good soap with a good recipe that is made using CP & HP method. It is simply how a good piece of soap should perform at any time, if it is made properly and cured properly.
FYI - I cure my soaps 3 months at a minimum before I give them away. That way I get to test the batch out before sending them away from home.
I also reminded her of what I have been talking about in the past about the importance of well cured soaps, which was to let them get enough time to form a hard internal structure invisible to the naked eye, but that would alow the soap to melt slower but still release lots of suds and bubbles when used. I told her a new soap may bubble and foam ok after 2 weeks of curing, sure! But it will melt a lot faster, get used up way before it really should have, not bubble up as well as it could have, and would not be as mild as a well cured soap. Which is why I had her wait for a specific soap that was curing, because it needed more time.
You know those times when you see people get a real lightbulb moment? Where they stare out into thin air and you can formerly hear something fall into place, and they suddenly understand the actual effect of what you had previously claimed? Well, she got a moment like that right in front of me where she understood what it actually meant for a bar of soap to be cured properly. It may feel silly to some that I am so happy over such a thing. But it made me really happy, because I felt I was moving in the right direction and that I got my message accross that soaps are not made equal, and that it matters a lot how you go about it.
At the moment I am experiencing a flood of overwhelming feedback from people I gift my soaps to, with similar feedback as my friends, but also other things that are positive. I have people hinting all over the place if they can`t become guineapigs too, which of course makes me very happy. But it also takes time to sort it all out so I can keep doing things right without getting "high" on whatever some would call succsess, or whatever.
It also makes me feel real responsibility to keep on doing this process right, and not bite over more than I can chew.
"Slow and steady wins the race". Which is something I feel is so very appropriate when it comes to soap(ing).
End of ramble!
And if you made it this far, thank you for reading. Now go and make yourself a nice cup of tea. You have earned it <3
Curing makes a huge difference in soaps, we know that. But, what`s more - it actually gets noticed by non-soapers too. That is a big deal.
The back story:
I visited a friend of mine last week. This is a friend I don`t get to se that often because she lives so far from me. I should perhaps mention that she is a single mom, taking care of two teenagers by herself. They use my soaps a lot (showering and hands) so I make sure she has got enough soap so she doesn`t have to spend money on that at least (or cheap detergent "soap"). Growing kids drain a tight budget, so I get to have more guineapigs around to critique my soaps, and she feels blessed with something I especially make for her with her favourite additives and fragrances. Win-win!
So, at one point during the visit I had to go to the ladies room, and a few of my soaps were as usual stacked neatly on the shelf, still wrapped in the silk tissue I use for protecting them from dust, but alowing them to breathe.
Anyway, one of my bars were in the soapdish on the sink, and I could see it was used regularly. I used it too, and was happy to see it was still a good piece of soap that held up well and that my hands felt great after using it. It was 6 months old, no sign of dos, the fragrance was pleasant and still present, soap firm and not gooey and bla-bla-bla. You guys know the drill!
Moving on... I finished up and we continued chatting about whatever. Then she started to bring up the subject of my soaps. She told me she was puzzled about something she have been noticing over a long period of time. (She has some experience in using other handmade soaps before)
At first I thought "uh-oh..." But then she pointed out that it seemed that my soaps lasted so long. She said they were foaming and giving up a lot of suds every time, but never the less, they seemed to last absolutely forever. Other soaps she has gotten elsewhere in the past has always melted so fast and wasn`t even half as longlasting, even making sure they was sitting in a soapdish that drained water out. They also made her hands feel a bit tight, but mine never did that. Why was that?
I explained to her that what she was experiencing now was not anything special, and that it was not a testament to my skills either, but simply something she should expect from any good soap with a good recipe that is made using CP & HP method. It is simply how a good piece of soap should perform at any time, if it is made properly and cured properly.
FYI - I cure my soaps 3 months at a minimum before I give them away. That way I get to test the batch out before sending them away from home.
I also reminded her of what I have been talking about in the past about the importance of well cured soaps, which was to let them get enough time to form a hard internal structure invisible to the naked eye, but that would alow the soap to melt slower but still release lots of suds and bubbles when used. I told her a new soap may bubble and foam ok after 2 weeks of curing, sure! But it will melt a lot faster, get used up way before it really should have, not bubble up as well as it could have, and would not be as mild as a well cured soap. Which is why I had her wait for a specific soap that was curing, because it needed more time.
You know those times when you see people get a real lightbulb moment? Where they stare out into thin air and you can formerly hear something fall into place, and they suddenly understand the actual effect of what you had previously claimed? Well, she got a moment like that right in front of me where she understood what it actually meant for a bar of soap to be cured properly. It may feel silly to some that I am so happy over such a thing. But it made me really happy, because I felt I was moving in the right direction and that I got my message accross that soaps are not made equal, and that it matters a lot how you go about it.
At the moment I am experiencing a flood of overwhelming feedback from people I gift my soaps to, with similar feedback as my friends, but also other things that are positive. I have people hinting all over the place if they can`t become guineapigs too, which of course makes me very happy. But it also takes time to sort it all out so I can keep doing things right without getting "high" on whatever some would call succsess, or whatever.
It also makes me feel real responsibility to keep on doing this process right, and not bite over more than I can chew.
"Slow and steady wins the race". Which is something I feel is so very appropriate when it comes to soap(ing).
End of ramble!
And if you made it this far, thank you for reading. Now go and make yourself a nice cup of tea. You have earned it <3
