The holidays are quickly approaching and I am starting to feel the pinch. Wholesale orders and inquiries are coming out of the woodwork and its been busy! Last night I was up till 3 am writing out a new mini business plan, trying to figure out the things that I could do differently this upcoming year. From the beginning my business has always been about cold processed soap. Yet with each day that passes, I see a lot of melt and pour soap sellers selling pages and pages of soap, while cold processed soap makers might make a page in sales, if that. So what’s the secret? Is it because melt and pour is so quick and easy and therefore melt and pourers can crank out more soap batches a day and put them right online within hours of making?
Or is it the versatility in colors and shapes and sizes? Quite frankly I prefer my soaps to be a bit more uniform in shape. I feel it looks more professional. I like to take cues from big names like The Body Shop, Lush, Bath and Body Works, L’Occitane, Fresh, and what I see if a consistency in shape and size. Not 1 square bar here, rectangle bar there, wedge here, triangle there, uneven cut here. That drives me nuts, lol. I would like to see my items on a major store shelf one day and having 8 differently shaped soap bars is not going to cut it.
There have been many times that I have been tempted to add a melt and pour soap line, but I always abandon the idea. I research a good natural base, and just as I am about to click on submit order, I close the browser. Reason being that I really like knowing what I put in my soap, and the only way for me to be able to do that is if I make it myself from scratch. And I thought that buyers like that, versus buying something made from a base. But I don’t know, some of the top sellers on Etsy are the melt and pour guys. So it seems most buyers do not care much, as long as its pretty and they smell good.
I bought a book on transparent soap making a few months ago, and have dabbled with a few recipes. The book is be Catherine Failor and it has taught me a lot about making my own transparent soap. So maybe I can ap into that clear soap market after all, without having to abandon my preferences of being able to make things myself from scratch. And if it is deemed too dificult, well, perhaps there is a good melt and pour base out there with my name on it that I will be able to tweek and mold to fit my needs.
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This entry was posted on October 12, 2009, 3:30 pm and is filed under Daily Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.
don’t do melt and pour
I loove your soaps just the way they are and the fact that they are consistent!!
What I find priceless about homemade soaps is that we know exactly what is inside whereas MP, the FDA doesn’t require to give precisions about the base.
I did my first batch of soap over the summer and it was priceless to know exactly how many grams of xyz I included. I can’t even look at soaps at the supermarket anymore.
I also have eczema and psoriasis and for me your soaps help me to be cleaned and never ever leaves me with ashy dry irritated skin.
I especially love the oatmeal colloidal and shea soap because it is so soothing!!!
Thanks Amina, I have to make some of that colloidal soap so it can be ready for the holiday season. One customer of Amazon wiped out the entire stock.
Do post a picture of the soap! I would love to see your creations!
Don’t knock MP soap! You can get very creative with it and add just about anything to it. I too, like knowing what’s in my soap, and I only use bases from SFIC Corp. It’s pure soap-no sulfates, surfactants, alcohols, sugar solutions. My heart though, is with cold processed. I’m going to try hot processed one day though…
I know, I know. I will check out SFIC and perhaps request a sample. Hot process is not too bad, I however prefer the way cold processed soap looks. So smooth. The only time I do hot process is when I have a soap gone wrong day and into the double boiler the soap goes.