Soap Making 101

[FarmerChick]

I tried a website but never got it going...no time. had so much farm stuff to deal with that the website never happened.

I sell at 3 farmers markets in summer, then down to one big one in winter.
My markets mean I sell TONS of soap....then word of mouth.

Then I sent samples to all the health food stores I could in NC, TN. VI, SC

I found a state by state health food store listing. Cold call mailings and got about 8 stores doing that for stocking soaps. And yup, once the customers tried them they fell in love and I sell the hound out of wholesale to these stores.

Now I get tons of emails from WA, OR, CA --all over from my soap just being shipped around the country..LOL....I just sent a $175 order to Washington cause her son mailed her some bars from NC and she loved it and ordered a bunch for her friends presents. Emails and word of mouth keeps me hopping..LOL



Remember though, I have been doing this over 10 years easy so now I am up to my butt in work..LOL



Pricing--remember one thing. Be fair and be proud of your product. I charge "just over" for my pork etc. what others might charge. I KNOW I have a great product. And do not go low and raise prices. Come in at a fair price NOW in the beginning. DO NOT WORRY what others sell for. Heck next to us at the market someone sold their eggs for $2 per doz. WHAT? Around here $4 is normal. But funny thing is customers didn't buy. We sell out ours at $3.75 doz. If too cheap, customers wonder what is wrong with the product, if too high above normal market value for the area they get ticked. So find that happy medium. We raise prices only in Jan. each year...if needed. We have not raised our sausage or eggs or soap last year because of the hard times while others did and we got more customers that way.

Think like a business...truly.

 

[okiegirl1]

Just an fyi, here in Oklahoma, handmade soaps usually go for between $1.00 an ounce to $1.25 too. It's not unheard of to pay in excess of $5 for a bar. I've seen them as high as $7.

also, look at the ingredients. any soap maker worth their salt can make a "pretty" bar out of lard and lye. But when you're using olive, almond, avacado & palm, and cocoabutter & shea butter, they might not look as pretty, but they are WAY better for your skin.

... and she steps off her soap box.....

 

[me&thegals]

Just an fyi, here in Oklahoma, handmade soaps usually go for between $1.00 an ounce to $1.25 too. It's not unheard of to pay in excess of $5 for a bar. I've seen them as high as $7.

also, look at the ingredients. any soap maker worth their salt can make a "pretty" bar out of lard and lye. But when you're using olive, almond, avacado & palm, and cocoabutter & shea butter, they might not look as pretty, but they are WAY better for your skin.

... and she steps off her soap box.....

Hah! Nice last line

I'm thinking "lard" on the list of ingredients would pretty much be a sales killer. I'm hoping it would be okay, though, for my "farmer" EIEIO soap, which also includes goat's milk, beeswax, corn oil and sunflower oil.

But makes total sense that people pay more for soaps made from much more expensive ingredients. That's why I was surprised that unscented and uncolored sells for the same price as the others since their cost would be significantly lower.



BTW, does anybody have a nicer word than "lard?" Maybe porcine oil or something?

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Sodium lardate is saponified pig fat
Back when we first started talking about doing soaps, my BFF did some research on it (a lot more than me) she didn't want to put lard on the labels either. So that is what we were going to use.

 

[okiegirl1]

just another fyi,
I learned most of my soapin' knowledge on yahoo groups boards. There are lots of soap making, soap receipes, soap supplies boards. if you haven't check them out, I highly encourage you to do so. very nice people and very knowledgeable.

 

[me&thegals]

Now I get tons of emails from WA, OR, CA --all over from my soap just being shipped around the country..LOL....I just sent a $175 order to Washington cause her son mailed her some bars from NC and she loved it and ordered a bunch for her friends presents.

That is really incredible! It speaks quite well of your soap

Pricing--remember one thing. Be fair and be proud of your product. I charge "just over" for my pork etc. what others might charge. I KNOW I have a great product. And do not go low and raise prices. Come in at a fair price NOW in the beginning. DO NOT WORRY what others sell for. Heck next to us at the market someone sold their eggs for $2 per doz. WHAT? Around here $4 is normal. But funny thing is customers didn't buy. We sell out ours at $3.75 doz. If too cheap, customers wonder what is wrong with the product, if too high above normal market value for the area they get ticked. So find that happy medium. We raise prices only in Jan. each year...if needed. We have not raised our sausage or eggs or soap last year because of the hard times while others did and we got more customers that way.

I like your thinking. I fought myself all the time in my first farmer's markets to keep my prices up. I was the newbie and they were higher than my co-marketers. But, they were quite reasonable and I had quality product. I will have to apply the same logic to soapmaking. I think the problem is that I KNOW what quality food looks and tastes like, having consumed it for 35 years. But quality soap? I know I'm proud of mine, and I've bought handmade soap over the years, but I'm still not really sure what exactly a good bar looks like that makes it worth the extra money. Obviously, a warped bar or one that is too soft would be low quality. Do I simply rely on my knowledge that the ingredients are superior?

 

[me&thegals]

Sodium lardate is saponified pig fat
Back when we first started talking about doing soaps, my BFF did some research on it (a lot more than me) she didn't want to put lard on the labels either. So that is what we were going to use.

At first I laughed, thinking you were kidding. Now I think you're serious! Hmmm... this is a tough decision...

 

[me&thegals]

just another fyi,
I learned most of my soapin' knowledge on yahoo groups boards. There are lots of soap making, soap receipes, soap supplies boards. if you haven't check them out, I highly encourage you to do so. very nice people and very knowledgeable.

Great idea! There's nothing like up-to-date info from people actually doing the skill. I'm on "The Dish." Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks, everyone. You're awesome!! Now, should we do some recipes? I have a couple I would be glad to share, but as a complete newb I'm not sure anyone is interested...

I'm also not sure about the "manners" in requesting recipes from others. At first I thought it was just like giving/receiving food recipes, but my time on a soaping forum makes me think people are a little reserved about sharing specific soap recipes...

 

[valmom]

I did it! My first batch of soap! Well, I hope it is soap. Just to learn h ow to do it, I used olive oil and crisco because I had them both on hand. Ran it through the soapcalc lye calcualtor, and jumped in. I think the only thing I forgot was to grease the molds before I poured the soap in. It may be challenging to get the bars out. :/

Now I have ordered scented oils in a sampler size to try. I can't imagine you need a lot of scented oil- do you calculate it in? The samples come in 1 ounce size- wt or fluid ounce I don't know. Is that enough to scent a small batch (1 pound total fat is what I am using to try and learn with.)?

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Sodium lardate is saponified pig fat
Back when we first started talking about doing soaps, my BFF did some research on it (a lot more than me) she didn't want to put lard on the labels either. So that is what we were going to use.

At first I laughed, thinking you were kidding. Now I think you're serious! Hmmm... this is a tough decision...

I really am serious! Just google it, you'll see. Tallow is Sodium Tallowate.Here's a link to a bunch of techie terms.

I'm circling around my oils & lye, still trying to work up the nerve to just try it, dang it! I've read until I think my eyes are going to fall out, I have several basic recipes, I have a good book, a stick blender, molds. Just do it, girl!