The Sweet Smell of Success

I am delighted with the latest 2 batches I made. All right, I will be honest, I cannot tell whether they are really great or not because I just made them yesterday, but they are cut and beautiful looking. The round bar on the left is a kelp/spirulina swirl. I think it will make some great face soap. The lighter blue bar is another round of salt soap.

I ordered some new fragrances from Brambleberry . My hubby loves my soaps so much and actually takes a bar to the gym. I have to tell you a few things about my hubby to understand why this is funny. First, I make my husband boxers. They are not your run of the mill solid colored or even plaid boxers. They have strange things on them like peanuts, flames, big lips, nails, and the best, Dick & Jane sayings. So here's a man in the gym shower carrying around his fruity, flowery smelling soap wearing boxers that say Look Jane Look and on the front and Run Dick Run on the back. Top that off with the fact that he is executive level at a major worldwide company and you can see why I just had to order him some manly smelling fragrance. He's tried a bunch of my soaps and he likes the salt bar the best. In fact every man I have given it to, likes the salt bar the best. I changed up the recipe of the last salt bars I made and hubby just didn't like it as much. I turned to my ever ready soaping notebook and realized it must have been the bentonite. The first bars had bentonite in them and less salt. The second round was more salt and no bentonite. They were a crumbly mess. I actually like the second round better but maybe because I have dry skin. They are so ugly I cannot possibly give them to anyone anyway.

My soaping has gotten so much more successful. I am producing beautiful bars that have my friends ooohing and aaahing. The process is finally familiar and relaxing rather than a stressful race to the finish line. I absolutely love taking a new bar into the shower to assess it's lather, feel, and finish. I've converted many friends and family members lately too. My mom teased me about making soap. "Why would you want to make soap? Can't you just buy a bar?". She said that until I sent her some and she tried it. She called me the next day and told me she had used it and just went on and on about how different it is than "regular" soap. A week later, half way through her moisture bar (I sent her about 6 different bars of soap), she complained that it was almost gone and didn't know what she would do if she ran out!

There really is nothing like homemade soap. I encourage everyone to try it.