Soap Cures

Pomegranate Soap freshly poured and swirled.

I don't mean that soap cures diseases.  I do mean that soap has to cure, or age, before it's good to use.  When we make a batch of Blissology soap, we can't just sell it the next day or even the next week.  How long soap cures depends on a few factors.

 
When soap is poured into molds, it's a thick liquid consistency - ideally.  Sometimes particular fragrances will speed up the process and make it get thicker faster so sometimes we're glopping in soap that looks more like mashed potatoes.  Even though it would still be okay to use, soap that moves too quickly sometimes ends up being cosmetically challenged or downright ugly. 

Large block of Angel of Shavano soap.

In either case, we wait for about 12 hours before we try to unmold the soap.  If we're using particular molds, we can often pop the whole thing in a warm (not hot) oven to make sure the saponification (making of soap) reaches the "gel" stage.  We prefer to do it this way because the soap seems to become usable faster.  We can shave off several days of cure time and get soaps back in stock sooner. 

Sometimes soap is still too soft after 12 hours to get it out of the mold or cut it without risking damage to the bars so we'll give it another day before trying again.  What is best is after the first twelve hours, the soap is firm but not so hard that cutting is difficult.  Once soap is out of the mold, it gets put into a tray to cure.

Beautiful Life soap cut and ready to cure.

Blissology soap ages for about four weeks before it's ready to use.  Some soap cures longer and some soap, like our Beautiful Life Spa bars, are ready much sooner.  As the bars cure, they get harder and more mild.  Very fresh soap hasn't completely finished saponifying so it can be harsh to skin.  The longer soap ages, the more gentle it becomes. 

We wait as long as possible before packaging Blissology soap because it loses water as it cures and shrinks.  If we wrap them too soon, the paper slides right off the bar.  For this reason, we generally package days before a market or show and as orders come in.  That in itself is a whole 'nother process!

Flying to the Market Solo

Time sure does fly when you're busy sharing bliss!

We attended our local annual Holistic Fair last weekend and it was really nice. We had gone last year, but did even better this year. The best thing about these sorts of events is really the networking and meeting new people. We made some great connections, got our aura's photographed, and had a great time.

I do recall June being a slightly crazy month last year, but I'm not sure if it was ever this chaotic! In a few days Pam heads off to conferences for her "real" job (she's a middle school teacher!) and will be gone for almost two whole weeks. In the meantime, I'll be at home making lots of lotions, muscle balms, and footsie bars. We're drastically low on all those items and as I sit here I keep thinking of more things to add to the "to do list." (wrap soaps, make massage oils, salt scrubs.....)

And a week from today I'll be setting up for our first Farmer's Market of the season! By myself! Thankfully I think both my sisters will be around to help keep my two-year-old entertained but it's still going to be a big job and I'm definitely going to be missing mom! She'll probably be playing with cool new computer technologies while I try to figure out how to set up the tent alone. Oh woe is me.

Regardless, the farmer's market is going to be awesome! We've had people telling us how excited they are for it since March. Here's more information on it:

Where: Alpine Park, downtown F-Street, Salida, CO
When: Every Saturday starting June 20th until October 17th, 9 am - 12:30 pm
What: Lots of fresh, local produce, coffee and drinks, ice cream, hand baked goods, local art and crafts, cheeses, meat, breads, live music, and Blissology!

It's going to be a great summer, but this next week before the market starts is going to be hectic! This will be the last day I have Pam to help me out so we're going to make a few batches of soap. On the agenda: Pomegranate, Plumeria, and a new summer essential oil blend featuring Ginger, Lime, and Orange.

Shea Goodbye to Dry Skin

I finally managed to take some pictures of our new shea butters. We have four different scents now and all of them are really divine.

African Rose -
Smells like fresh, romantic roses with just a little bit of the shea butter smell coming through. It's pretty, floral, and feminine and is sure to make anyone that wears it feel just like that too.

Pomegranate -
Bright and fruity pomegranate has been a customer favorite in all our products so of course we had to include it in our shea butter too. It's one of the few fruity scents that is great year-round.

Amber Allure -
Enchanting, exotic, and sensual. Amber Allure is earthy and musky and smells so delicious. It compliments the natural scent of the shea butter perfectly.

Lavender Lemongrass -
This is our essential oil choice for the shea. It's very lemony, fresh, and exciting. But the lavender adds a softness with a gentle sweet floral undertone. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but this one is actually my favorite. I'm wearing it now and because it's so bright, it's going to help me get through the rest of winter just fine.

Shea butter is the Queen of skincare. We've always put it in our other products, including soaps and lotions. It's such a wonderful addition to any skin care regiment though, we knew we needed to include it in it's pure, 100% shea butter form.

Shea Butter comes from the karite tree nuts in Africa and has been used for at least hundreds of years by people there to help with a variety of skin conditions including eczema, minor cuts and lesions, sunburn, stretch marks, blemishes, scarring, and of course very dry or cracked skin. It's also wonderful for the scalp and hair. Shea Butter has been shown to increase the skin's elasticity and the thinning of skin that is inevitable in aging skin.

With such a long list of touted benefits, it's easy to see why so many people love shea butter. It's super moisturizing, absorbs into the skin quickly, and leaves it feeling soft, smooth, and supple.

$15 for 4 oz. is a great price for something that honestly, no one should be without.

Etsy-bitsy Celebration

I'd been working several days on this "blogging every day" stuff. And I was visiting forums and plugging our products everywhere I could possibly think of. And our sales were really not showing any improvement. Last night I was pretty bummed about it all. When you work all day long at something you expect to have something to show for it.

Then finally, something happened. I was prowling around etsy like normal, and stopped into a chat room again. I was there for about 30 seconds when someone out of the blue asked "Does anyone here make soap?" I just happened to be the only soapmaker in the room, which I think is rare. She looked at my products and loved what she saw! She ordered a gift basket full of stress-be-gone stuff for her husband and plans on buying a few bars for herself as well. Score!

A few minutes after those details were worked out, another person joined the fray. Etsy's chat is pretty cool because you can post pictures up in a sidebar of products that you like from people in the room. Someone had posted our pomegranate soap and this person messaged me very excitedly. She has been wanting to make cold-process soap and almost has all the ingredients she needs. But, she said, she got excited and bought a bar of our pomegranate.

So finally! It seems like I did *something* to pay off a little! Not only the sales, but both of these people seem like genuinely good people. I know I'll be talking to them both again soon. Go Etsy!