# Selling soap by weight



## claudijean (Jan 6, 2015)

I started soaping about a year ago, and this is my first post to SMF.  I have sold my soap at craft fairs and at local retail stores by the bar.  I recently read that some people sell their soap by cutting the bars "on the spot" and selling it by weight.  This sounds like a visually appealing idea to me, but from everything I've heard it becomes very difficult to cut soap after a few days out of the mold.  Does anyone have experience selling this way?  Do you use softer recipes or cut a special way to avoid crumbling?


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## froggybean37 (Jan 6, 2015)

I've seen soap this way as well. While soap does get hard after curing, I can't imagine them getting so hard that a knife couldn't still divvy them up


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## shunt2011 (Jan 6, 2015)

Hello and welcome from another Michigander.  I have no experience doing it this way but I do see some possible issues.  First, it will likely take longer for the loaf to cure therefore the center may remain softer for quite awhile.  I don't know this as fact but it seems like it would as the air can't get to the center to help with evaporation and everything else that goes on with a good cure to make it a harder and  longer lasting bar of soap.  There is also the possibility of it being more difficult to cut which could cause crumbling.  Also, when doing shows there's the time it would take to cut, measure and package the soap.  I think that it would be so time consuming you may lose sales unless you have others to help you.

 I know I do my shows and markets, I'm usually alone and it would be impossible for me to do that.  What you could do is make some smaller loafs as displays and have cut bars packaged, labeled and ready to go in the same scents.  

 You could always try it with a few loafs and see if it would work for you.  I would certainly test it before actually doing it at a show.


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## DeeAnna (Jan 6, 2015)

My local food coop was selling soap by the slice for a time. There were several loaves of soap in different colors and scents in a rack, a bench scraper to do the cutting, and a cutting board. They let customers do the slicing. Because the display wasn't in a well monitored area, there was a lot of potential for theft/loss, product contamination, and mess. I think it would be better for the staff to do the cutting, as you are thinking of doing. I didn't cut or handle any of this soap myself, but it didn't look like the soap was overly hard to cut judging from the cut surfaces that I looked at. It appeared to be CP soap, not HP, or possibly a melt and pour soap that had the look of CP soap -- the loaves had that opaque creamy look that CP soap has.

Once upon a time (before I learned to make soap), I was buying 3-pound loaves of HP soap from an online soap maker and cutting the bars myself. At the time I didn't know how old the loaves were, but I now suspect they were just a few days old, because they were soft and easy to cut like soft cheese. I tried a few bars right away just because any handmade soap is better than store-bought stuff, but I knew enough to lay most of them away to cure before use. Even though they were mild and skin safe, the freshly cut bars mushed up easily and did not last long in the shower. If I hadn't known the bars needed to cure, I would have been really unhappy with this soap.

At a show, if you're selling well, I agree with Shunt. It's going to be a challenge unless you have a helper to serve other customers while you're doing the cutting, or vice versa.


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## claudijean (Jan 7, 2015)

Thanks everyone! I'll probably keep selling soap the way I have been, but it is something to consider.  :smile:


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