# Plain Jane Soap



## Catscankim (Mar 15, 2021)

For those of you that sell, do you also make plain soap? (no designs etc)

I was out and about one day and brought in some of the newer soaps that I had, that I know ppl were oohing and aahing online about. What I am getting from people is that they are using my soaps for decorations lol. 

One girl in particular is a huge fan. And she keeps telling me to bring in my soaps to see. I brought in a bunch of them and comments "oh you out did yourself on this one" or "that smells amazing", but then doesn't buy because "I still have the other ones that I got from you in my bathroom".

I'm like "oh my gosh you still have the soap from christmas?" She tells me that it is on her vanity. Noooo...use it. She says it's too pretty to use.

So after gently polling all these people that bought soaps from me, I am getting that they have never even used my soap. That equates to me as no repeat customers...it is no longer a renewable product. I feel like I should just find out the color of everybody's bathroom and start making soap to match LOL.

The inspector came to my house and noticed that I have all this soap, and I gave him a bar. He actually asked if it can be used in the shower. I'm like "well, it is soap" lol. I find it hard to not talk about the soap other than 'it cleans', so I usually just go on about how bad store bought soap is LOL. My big selling point is how few ingredients are in the soap, and I stopped adding sodium lactate because people think it is a chemical additive. My soaps do not suffer, actually I think they do just fine without it.

But now I am realizing that all of these people are not using the soap at all. It's too pretty they keep telling me. It's a decoration.

So I was thinking that I should just make a line of "just soap". I could lower the price a little so that people buy quantities at a time (I guess), and actually USE them. Then maybe they will start using their pretty soaps too, knowing that I will make more LOL. Plus I could whip out a few batches in an hour session, instead of 4 hours of watching videos, planning, measuring colors, drawing out designs, and such. Which I THOROUGHLY enjoy doing. That's what really got me started: the artisan aspect of soapmaking.

I dunno. Am I thinking in the right direction?


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## soapmaker (Mar 15, 2021)

I have swirls, designs and solid colored soap. Most of my customers are repeat users of soap. I think if they are looking for good soap for their skin they will use it. If they just like pretty things they will display it.


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## Peachy Clean Soap (Mar 15, 2021)

OMGOSH. YES YES YES. I wish I didn't haft to say over & over' my soap isn't for your Bathroom vanity' You use it!!! And yes in the Shower!!! I'm like REALLY? they don't know to use it in the shower?. Now my other coustomers use my soap & love it! in so much the free samples I give them to give to friends' they admit to being greedy cause they dint want to share!! . One extreme to the other.. Actually its a complement that your soap is so nice they don't want to use it. My thought even if you made a plain jane soap' It would still smell great' another reason they like to put it on the Bathroom Vanity & not use it. Lol .

 I was thinking of putting an insert along w/ soap info "while storing soap before use' consider your "Dresser Drawer" Will make it smell fantastic.  .  Maybe this is good idea you may like?.


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## soapmaker (Mar 15, 2021)

Yes, I have customers who store soap in drawers or the linen closet.


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## Zing (Mar 15, 2021)

Just a hobbyist here, not a seller, but this "too pretty to use" thing is _nuts!!_  Just visited my beloved sister (per CDC COVID-19 safety guidelines).  She was excited to show me her new bathroom decoration of an antique washboard which displayed almost every single soap I've ever given her!!  One was 3 years old and rancid and I plopped it into the trash!  And she went on and on about the latest Pittsburg Steelers-themed soap I gave her and she said, "Yeah, we will definitely never use that one, it's too nice."  WTH??!!
My wife and I have gotten to the point in our lives where we are trying to de-accumulate and de-stash "stuff."  What I like about giving soap as gifts is that it is consumable.


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## dibbles (Mar 15, 2021)

It can’t hurt to give the plain Jane a try and see how they sell. I think a plain white, or nearly plain white, soap has a certain elegance that is something special in its own way. I wouldn’t discount the price too much though so people can maybe see the more elaborate soaps are to be used too. Of course the fancy ones won’t be attractive and smell good forever, once the dust and pet hair gets to them and the fragrance eventually fades.


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## soapmaker (Mar 16, 2021)

I really wouldn't discount the plain soaps unless you charge a high price for your artistic ones. That makes them appear inferior.


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## jcandleattic (Mar 16, 2021)

Catscankim said:


> or those of you that sell, do you also make plain soap? (no designs etc)


I make plain one color soaps. 
I stopped making plain no color no scent soaps a few years ago, they just did not sell for me and when it took me 3 seasons to completely sell out of just one small batch that was it for me. No more unless it's ordered and paid for in advance.



Catscankim said:


> What I am getting from people is that they are using my soaps for decorations





Catscankim said:


> She says it's too pretty to use.


When at shows, I get this a lot as well. I started saying "buy 2, one to use, one for decoration" never thought it would work. Well, the more comfortable I got with saying it, the better it works, now it's just part of my sales pitch to people who say that, and more often than not they will make a double purchase. 


dibbles said:


> I wouldn’t discount the price too much


I don't discount my plain soaps at all. They are just as much work, use basically the same ingredients (unless it's unscented then no scent, but that is literally pennies per bar so no sense in discounting) so my soaps that are all roughly the same size, regardless or swirled/non swirled, are all the same price.


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## earlene (Mar 16, 2021)

Yes, my husband told me his friend I passed along a blacksmith soap to kept it out for the fragrance and didn't want to use the soap up because he loved the fragrance so much.  I get it; I love the smell of Dragon's Blood, too, but like it for bathing, where it ends up permeating the room when used for washing up.

Still, it is a compliment to learn that some folks say, it's too pretty or too fragrant to let it disappear down the drain when in use. But, since I give away soap, I just give them more and say, there's more where that came from, so use it and let me know when you need more.


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## Misschief (Mar 16, 2021)

I do have a few customers who will buy the plain soaps. I carry one uncoloured and unscented, one charcoal & lavender soap, and one OMH soap that has no added colour. I also have an uncoloured salt bar. All of them sell reasonably well. I have one customer (who is a fellow market vendor) who raves about my salt soap to any customer who happens to be nearby when she's at my table. I've had a few (not a lot) of customers who buy the "fancy soap" as a decor item but not as many as I had thought would. 

I did have one customer who purchased bubble scoops (solid bubble bath) from me as a decor item; she was very up front about it. She loved the colours, had a small dish that was perfect for 4 scoops so she bough them. Okay fine. She's the one who lost out as far as I'm concerned.


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## soapmaker (Mar 16, 2021)

Nobody loses if they get what they want!


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## TheGecko (Mar 16, 2021)

Catscankim said:


> For those of you that sell, do you also make plain soap?



All my GMS is 'plain' as I don't use colorants. As for my Regular Soap I do mostly single or two-color soaps (drop or ITP swirls). I do have three 'fancy' soaps...Chocolate Espresso (brown, cocoa line, white topping, cocoa sprinkle), Neapolitan (pink, white, brown), Barbershop (red, white, blue). 

I'm still working on my 'luxury' soap.  3.5 oz bars, cavity mold, four different single-color, traditional scents, some 'label appeal' ingredients, a nice box...a 'gift set' really, but still useable.


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## lucycat (Mar 16, 2021)

I sell one Plain and Simple goatmilk soap with no fragrances and no color.  It makes up about 1% of soap sold.   It is purchased by people with scent sensitivity or people who don't want to have scent in a facial bar.


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## soapmaker (Mar 16, 2021)

lucycat said:


> I sell one Plain and Simple goatmilk soap with no fragrances and no color.  It makes up about 1% of soap sold.   It is purchased by people with scent sensitivity or people who don't want to have scent in a facial bar.


Me too! And I have many sensitive people. I make a fragrance free of every product I make.


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## Catscankim (Mar 23, 2021)

@jcandleattic My friend just said the same thing to me...try to get them to buy two. Or maybe a deal for three soaps. One for the pretty bathroom soap, one to use. Literally just got off the phone with him and that is what his suggestion was LOL.

I guess it will be different once I get the website set up, and also markets. But now we are so short-staffed at the hospital, I think markets are going to take a back burner. AGAIN. Glad I didn't buy all the marketing stuff that I planned on buying this month. I even had that in mind when I did a lot of overtime at work...buy stuff for the market. I had someone to borrow the tent and tables from, I just needed a few prettifications and signs/biz cards etc. But now next schedule I am working 14 days straight, including the Saturdays that I wanted to do the market. I can say no to the schedule, but we just really have nobody to work it.

Every time I bring the computer with me to work on the website or pictures and stuff, we get busy. Its like a bad luck charm...bring your computer in and you get killed at work LOL. I'm like "sorry, this is all my fault. I brought my computer to work."


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## hlee (Mar 23, 2021)

Catscankim said:


> For those of you that sell, do you also make plain soap? (no designs etc)
> 
> I was out and about one day and brought in some of the newer soaps that I had, that I know ppl were oohing and aahing online about. What I am getting from people is that they are using my soaps for decorations lol.
> 
> ...


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## hlee (Mar 23, 2021)

I don't sell but you said the artistic part of soap making is what you enjoy so I think you should make sure you keep some of those.


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## KimW (Mar 23, 2021)

Zing said:


> Just a hobbyist here, not a seller, but this "too pretty to use" thing is _nuts!!_  Just visited my beloved sister (per CDC COVID-19 safety guidelines).  She was excited to show me her new bathroom decoration of an antique washboard which displayed almost every single soap I've ever given her!!  One was 3 years old and rancid and I plopped it into the trash!  And she went on and on about the latest Pittsburg Steelers-themed soap I gave her and she said, "Yeah, we will definitely never use that one, it's too nice."  WTH??!!
> My wife and I have gotten to the point in our lives where we are trying to de-accumulate and de-stash "stuff."  What I like about giving soap as gifts is that it is consumable.


Ugh - Noooooo.  That soap was wasted.  Poor soap.  I'm sorry, Zing.


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## Peachy Clean Soap (Mar 23, 2021)

dibbles said:


> It can’t hurt to give the plain Jane a try and see how they sell. I think a plain white, or nearly plain white, soap has a certain elegance that is something special in its own way. I wouldn’t discount the price too much though so people can maybe see the more elaborate soaps are to be used too. Of course the fancy ones won’t be attractive and smell good forever, once the dust and pet hair gets to them and the fragrance eventually fades.


I agree' Something about a White Bar Soap Is Simply Elegant Looking.


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## amd (Mar 25, 2021)

Catscankim said:


> For those of you that sell, do you also make plain soap? (no designs etc)


I have done both - a plain white soap with no fragrance, and a single color soap with fragrance. I stopped offering the unscented soap a few years ago - the peeps who like my soap and can't do scents know that they can (and do) order a custom batch from me. I ran the single color scented soaps for a year and then cleared them out of my lineup - people didn't want them, they wanted the pretty soaps. 

My two cents: the people who are using them for decoration are not your target market. Don't change what you're doing for them, go out and find the people who will use the pretty soap and come back for more. You're not everyone's cup of tea. This was a hard line for me to draw, but when I started doing it two years ago I saw my business actually increase - to the point that 3 months in 2020 I made more selling soap than I did at my FT job.



Peachy Clean Soap said:


> And yes in the Shower!!! I'm like REALLY? they don't know to use it in the shower?


Right?! It was absolutely crazy to me when I first started selling soap how many people told me "Oh, I can't use this, I don't take baths." I had to explain to them "Hey that shower poofy that you squirt the store bought stuff on works with soap bars too and I highly recommend it."


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## Catscankim (Mar 27, 2021)

amd said:


> I have done both - a plain white soap with no fragrance, and a single color soap with fragrance. I stopped offering the unscented soap a few years ago - the peeps who like my soap and can't do scents know that they can (and do) order a custom batch from me. I ran the single color scented soaps for a year and then cleared them out of my lineup - people didn't want them, they wanted the pretty soaps.
> 
> My two cents: the people who are using them for decoration are not your target market. Don't change what you're doing for them, go out and find the people who will use the pretty soap and come back for more. You're not everyone's cup of tea. This was a hard line for me to draw, but when I started doing it two years ago I saw my business actually increase - to the point that 3 months in 2020 I made more selling soap than I did at my FT job.



Ok, YES. I have a girl that bought a loaf of soaps, mostly for xmas gifts, but the "extra bar" that was included in her purchase is sitting in her bathroom. I recreated this soap, mainly because it was so pretty, and she bought the whole loaf so I had no more to offer to other customers.

When I found out that this bar was sitting in her bathroom, I told her that I made more, so "please use your soap". She won't use it!!

I did recently sell her a salt bar though. She promises to use it. I told her how special it is and how it took almost year to get into her hands. I particularly love this bar. It is what I use in the shower almost every day. I'm kinda using up my stock LOL.

The salt bars that are sitting in a shop that I sold to aren't selling (I check on them a lot lol). I think when I talk to ppl about them, that's when they sell better. The charcoal bars sell without my intervention though, I guess cause it's a "thing" with charcoal anything. But the pretty deco bars in the shops sell well.


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## amd (Mar 29, 2021)

Catscankim said:


> The salt bars that are sitting in a shop that I sold to aren't selling (I check on them a lot lol).


There's a local boutique here in my town that has a ridiculous following (I don't get it, most of her business is online, she's only physically open 6 days a month, and the clothes are fugly imo) but she makes enough money that she donates 3% of all her sales to a charity each month, and those donations rack upwards of $1500, so she makes a ton of money every month. Anyways, she offers random things like an unusual candy, scrubs, soaps, etc. each month. One month she had a salt bar offered, and said she had 300 bars in stock and then ranted and raved about how awesome it is... and the soaps were $15 each. By the time I saw the post and (out of curiousity) went to order it the next day, she was sold out. You need to get the shop owner talking about the product. It's crazy how people (women) will buy if someone they know and trust endorses something. I've seen it myself at shows. My scrubs sell ridiculously well at the peddlers market (where I am not present, it's basically rented booth space where I can stock product and once a month I get my sales check). Two weeks ago at a market event, a young lady (late teens very early 20's tops) saw my sign across the room, dragged her two friends with her and said "OMG I love your scrubs." Then turned to her friends and convinced them to each buy one. One of the young ladies came back the next day to get one for her mom. Because of one person endorsing the scrub, I was able to sell 3 more units. Now imagine how many people that shop owner knows - do they do a newsletter for their customers? Have they included your soap in their newsletter? Do your customers know they can get that soap there? I do wholesale soaps for two breweries and my customers know that's my soap, and when they buy from the breweries they're supporting me. [side note, I used to have 3 brewery wholesale accounts but one dropped me because the soap didn't sell. I told them it was their fault it didn't sell, I never saw it on their merch website, in any of their social media, or their newsletters. The two successful breweries selling my soap talk about it ALL.THE.TIME.] So my point... no matter how weird something is, it needs to be talked about in order to sell. That's why I don't work with accounts that don't support their products.


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## Zany_in_CO (Mar 31, 2021)

Catscankim said:


> For those of you that sell, do you also make plain soap? (no designs etc)


Yes. I'm retired now but I made plain soap for wholesale customers for 10 years. The only "colorful" soap I ever made was a layered rainbow for Gay Pride day.


Catscankim said:


> So after gently polling all these people that bought soaps from me, I am getting that they have never even used my soap. That equates to me as *no repeat customers*...it is no longer a renewable product.


Consider that a lightbulb moment. 


Catscankim said:


> My big selling point is how few ingredients are in the soap, and I stopped adding sodium lactate because people think it is a chemical additive. My soaps do not suffer, actually I think they do just fine without it.


Good thinking. In my experience, the best soaps have few ingredients and the best profit margin.


Catscankim said:


> But now I am realizing that all of these people are not using the soap at all. It's too pretty they keep telling me. It's a decoration.


So true! And a very common response to making pretty soap. They turn into "dust catchers". LOL I've been there, done that with my transparent soaps early in my career.


Catscankim said:


> That's what really got me started: the artisan aspect of soapmaking.


Think about offering one "artisan" soap along with your basic inventory just to feed your creative spirit. You could do that on a seasonal basis that customers look forward to.


Catscankim said:


> I dunno. Am I thinking in the right direction?


Absolutely spot on. My wholesale customers did a few different recipes and fragrances. There's a lot to be said for providing a product that is consistent from year to year. Customers depend on that. You not only do repeat business from year to year but you can't beat "word of mouth" advertising for building your customer base. Some of those customers may reach out to you after you retire. That's what happened to me. I now make soap by request for a few customers and sell it by the batch of 7- 8 bars. It keeps me involved in the process and it's fun!


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