Year old bar

[Mistrael]

I made this Halloween night last year, and just put the last bar in my shower. The scent is Dragon Moon from NS, colors chosen by my eldest. I didn't have a sifter for my eco glitter at that time, so it's more than the dusting I wanted.

I've now been making soap for 2 years and am still playing around with testing recipes. The percentages I used for these isn't what I would do now, but it's been a good, hard soap for my family. Each bar lasts SO much longer than the Dove crap we used to use, and it's a nicer experience to boot. I've only made 24 batches, but that's because I calculate more & soap less. (It's a ME/CFS management technique AND saves me a lot of time, energy, and money!)

I need to remember to take pics more often so I have more references than just my notes.

 

[Cat&Oak]

Looks wonderful congratulations on your soapmaking journey! How was the lather?

 

[Mistrael]

Looks wonderful congratulations on your soapmaking journey! How was the lather?

Excellent! Also, not drying. What I learned from this soap and its "sister" - made with the same formula, on the same night, but with a fragrance my youngest liked - is that I have to go easy on FOs. Only 3% gave me a hell of a migraine. Thankfully it cured down to a tolerable level, and now I find 2% FO or 3% EO is plenty for my taste.

 

[Zing]

Great looking soap! And I dare say that any homemade soap beats Dove crap any day! Truly, I got into this for creativity -- but got pleasantly surprised how my and my family's skin responded. I like your color choices. I'm not good at the top part but I like your top with the bling. Lately I've been using my 2 year old soap and lovin' the lather! Some of my scents have faded, some have stuck, and it's nice to get reunited with old friends.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

Thats awesome' its a good sign you made a wonderful soap when it's aged over a year its better then when you first made it. Nice

 

[Mistrael]

Great looking soap! And I dare say that any homemade soap beats Dove crap any day! Truly, I got into this for creativity -- but got pleasantly surprised how my and my family's skin responded. I like your color choices. I'm not good at the top part but I like your top with the bling. Lately I've been using my 2 year old soap and lovin' the lather! Some of my scents have faded, some have stuck, and it's nice to get reunited with old friends.

I got hooked by all the pretty YT soap vids, but the quality is what sealed the deal for me. Also, being able to use minimal fragrance. My mother hates most fragrances, I like a lot of them but need much less than what's used in mass produced goods, and then the sensitive skin issue! Which has become far less of an issue! There's no down side here, and now my husband is casually taking bars to his coworkers. It's almost like he's trying to tell me it's okay to start bringing in money with at least one of my expensive hobbies!

 

[Zing]

Do you use fragrance oils or essential oils?

 

[TheGecko]

Note about the "Dove Crap"...it's not soap, that's why it's labeled as a 'beauty bar'.

I have a bar of Goat Milk Soap that is a good 10-15 years old. I found it hiding in the back of a drawer two years ago. It is incredibly gentle and while the scent isn't as stronger as when I bought it, you can still smell the Black Raspberry Vanilla.

I have several "Bare Naked" bars of Goat Milk and Regular Soap that I made a couple of years ago. It's a nice soap and it has a 'natural' smell that is nice.

 

[Mistrael]

Do you use fragrance oils or essential oils?

Yes.

 

[Mistrael]

Note about the "Dove Crap"...it's not soap, that's why it's labeled as a 'beauty bar'.

I have a bar of Goat Milk Soap that is a good 10-15 years old. I found it hiding in the back of a drawer two years ago. It is incredibly gentle and while the scent isn't as stronger as when I bought it, you can still smell the Black Raspberry Vanilla.

I have several "Bare Naked" bars of Goat Milk and Regular Soap that I made a couple of years ago. It's a nice soap and it has a 'natural' smell that is nice.

Last I checked, there's some soap in it, but yes! Exactly! Funny thing, my mother has been almost vegetarian for 20+ years and gets squicked out easily about meat stuff. She had been using Dove for years, but never read the label. When I told her there were animal fats in it she was horrified and immediately got on board with my soapmaking. I've since found that if I use a raw or undeodorized cocoa butter at 10%+ and don't add any other fragrance, the soap will retain some of that scent after cure. She loves chocolate and unscented products so it's kinda perfect.

 

[Bubble Agent]

I made this Halloween night last year, and just put the last bar in my shower. The scent is Dragon Moon from NS, colors chosen by my eldest. I didn't have a sifter for my eco glitter at that time, so it's more than the dusting I wanted.

I need to remember to take pics more often so I have more references than just my notes.

Great soap! And it is fun to try out older bars to see how they feel like after a long cure!

Oh, and that extra dusting of teh sprinkelz is just a great contrast to the darker soap.
And the picture take must remember thing you mentioned? Yes. Absolutely! You know, so you can have references... Yup.

 

[Megan]

Just wait until you can try some 2-3 year aged soap. So nice! It's like fine wine IMO, it just gets better and better (Although some fragrances will fade... but after working with fragrance for a couple of years, I'm actually okay using the lighter scented stuff). I have some of my "first" bars that I probably will never use because I'm too sentimental. They just sit in my collection! haha

As for the dusting of glitter, (I assume you have a sifter by now) but have you tried a makeup brush? It is a great way to get a nice dusting and so much easier for me than the sifter which still deposits too much for my liking.

 

[Mistrael]

Just wait until you can try some 2-3 year aged soap. So nice! It's like fine wine IMO, it just gets better and better (Although some fragrances will fade... but after working with fragrance for a couple of years, I'm actually okay using the lighter scented stuff). I have some of my "first" bars that I probably will never use because I'm too sentimental. They just sit in my collection! haha

As for the dusting of glitter, (I assume you have a sifter by now) but have you tried a makeup brush? It is a great way to get a nice dusting and so much easier for me than the sifter which still deposits too much for my liking.

I did try a makeup brush with my last batches, but my impatience got the best of me and it still wasn't what I wanted. Patience is hard when you're Aries.

 

[CreativeWeirdo]

I did try a makeup brush with my last batches, but my impatience got the best of me and it still wasn't what I wanted. Patience is hard when you're Aries.

I've actually used a salt shaker before! Definitely depends on the size and shape of the bio-glitter, but works like a dream!

 

[Bubble Agent]

If your glitter goes on a bit thick, and you don`t have a shaker/sprinkle thingie (tech-speak...) you can - after sprinkling the shimmerglimmer and sparkles - take out your trusted spraybottle of rubbing alcohol (if you have it) and spray the top generously.

That will make the glimmers and sparkles float more evenly over the surface and get thinned out, make it look like it is glazed with shimmer instead of blobs and clumps of it. I did that before I invested in a Glitter spray pump from Nurture (HERE) .

 

[cmzaha]

Word of advice if you start selling be prepared to up your fragrance load or be stuck with a lot of unsold soap. While some may disagree with me I sold for many years and believe me when I say smell sells, so if you cannot tolerate working with higher fragrance loads selling may not really be a viable option for making money.

 

[Mistrael]

Word of advice if you start selling be prepared to up your fragrance load or be stuck with a lot of unsold soap. While some may disagree with me I sold for many years and believe me when I say smell sells, so if you cannot tolerate working with higher fragrance loads selling may not really be a viable option for making money.

I'm mostly planning on selling a little bit to help offset the expense, not to create a source of income. I'm pretty well disabled by migraines & ME/CFS so more fragrance isn't an option, but selling to a small niche is definitely possible. There are a lot of migraineurs, super sniffers, and people with other chronic illnesses like me who love the pretty things but can't handle the high fragrance. If I can (eventually) start selling even 1/4 of my bars I would be thrilled and my husband would be relieved.

Bear in mind that I couldn't do a farmer's market or anything similar. I can't do anything that requires me to walk any real distance, stay standing for more than 15 minutes at a time, or reliably meet a schedule. Without the support, care, and assistance of my family (and especially my husband) I would be in serious trouble. So I'm not even considering a serious business, more like a cottage maker with a very small and specific customer base.

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Patience is hard when you're Aries.

Last time I looked, no zodiac sign has had the monopoly on impatience.

 

[Bubble Agent]

Word of advice if you start selling be prepared to up your fragrance load or be stuck with a lot of unsold soap. While some may disagree with me I sold for many years and believe me when I say smell sells, so if you cannot tolerate working with higher fragrance loads selling may not really be a viable option for making money.

I totally get what you are saying @cmzaha and reading about your experience I understand you know your stuff.

When it comes to someone like me I have to adhere to the EU regulations when it comes to the fragrance load, so I have to stick with maximum allowed 3% fragrance.

That would probably make you want to pull your hair out in pure frustration, lol. But at the same time - where your target market worked well with a strong fragrance load, here in Norway we tend to get easily overwhelmed by very strong fragrances in soaps. I don`t know if it has to do with the fact that we are a very outdoorsy people, living close to nature, we seem to prefer scents that are more mellow and natural.

I know my testers has been very happy with the fragrance load I am allowed to use. Actually, that was one of the reason I found it worth while to even get my soaps assessed - since the general consensus was that the fragrance load was more than good enough. If they had complained I would just continued making soaps for myself and family.

That being said - I have made a lot of fragrance testing over the years and have chosen the fragrances that are stickers at 3% and can be noticed, although they are not overwhelmingly strong, but definately noticable. I sometimes use 5-6% in personal soaps as I have some fragrances that are very soft and need a bit more. But those are not assessed and just for me and hubby.

So it it can also have its benefits to the likes of @Mistrael and myself - to have a smaller niche in a market that can offer something that others are not.

Like the saying goes; There is a pot for every lid.

 

[Mistrael]

I totally get what you are saying @cmzaha and reading about your experience I understand you know your stuff.

When it comes to someone like me I have to adhere to the EU regulations when it comes to the fragrance load, so I have to stick with maximum allowed 3% fragrance.

That would probably make you want to pull your hair out in pure frustration, lol. But at the same time - where your target market worked well with a strong fragrance load, here in Norway we tend to get easily overwhelmed by very strong fragrances in soaps. I don`t know if it has to do with the fact that we are a very outdoorsy people, living close to nature, we seem to prefer scents that are more mellow and natural.

I know my testers has been very happy with the fragrance load I am allowed to use. Actually, that was one of the reason I found it worth while to even get my soaps assessed - since the general consensus was that the fragrance load was more than good enough. If they had complained I would just continued making soaps for myself and family.

That being said - I have made a lot of fragrance testing over the years and have chosen the fragrances that are stickers at 3% and can be noticed, although they are not overwhelmingly strong, but definately noticable. I sometimes use 5-6% in personal soaps as I have some fragrances that are very soft and need a bit more. But those are not assessed and just for me and hubby.

So it it can also have its benefits to the likes of @Mistrael and myself - to have a smaller niche in a market that can offer something that others are not.

Like the saying goes; There is a pot for every lid.

I'm sure there are a lot of people in the UK & EU who would be horrified by the lack of soap regulations here in the US. Pre-pandemic I couldn't even pass a Bath & Body Works in a mall without wheezing and sneezing. The detergent aisle of a grocery store is impossible for me. My eyes will water & burn, it's so awful. I've been finding more and more people in various disability communities with similar issues and it's been nice to know it's not just me.