Craft soap makers need to get creative with their marketing strategies to reach the most potential customers. Before starting a marketing campaign, you should look into the operating countries laws and regulations, as some marketing tactics may be deemed illegal. Once you’ve done that, you need to become an expert on your product, and the industry you are serving. Being knowledgable will help people purchase your product. Finally, you should consider the needs of the consumer in order to better connect with them and form long-lasting customer relationships.
Key Takeaways:
Make sure that you understand all the rules and regulations that are present in your country before you start marketing.
Always think about your clients and your audience and figure out how to tailor your content to their wants and needs.
You can always be creative in marketing as long as you are willing to take risks and step outside your comfort zone.
“Engage customers with creativity but stick to cosmetic terms and remain within legal guideline.”
Making soaps at home is gaining in popularity, although the activity is only a return to traditional ways of soap making. The current trend is making the soap without lye and there are plants rich in saponin that can help you in that regard. Many soap makers are not familiar with this option, and sharing information between the makers can help make this better method more widespread. The process you need to implement is to melt and pour, and you add color and scent in the form of oils. Once complete, you can pour the mixture into molds to cool and harden.
Key Takeaways:
Soap has a way of pulling oil and grime away from hard surfaces and then water washes that oil and grime away.
To extract saponin from plants all you have to do is boil the plant in hot water and the saponin will be removed.
Some saponin rich plants include English ivy, California soaproot and Buffaloberry. These plants can all be boiled.
“Soap isn’t the only surfactant out there though, and some plants produce another in such high amounts that we can use it as soap.”
Soap making supplies can get expensive if you’re making it bulk. Here we have a list of many great suppliers so you can bring your bottom line down. In our chart we list companies by region and list all the supplies that are available from each company. Websites like TheSage.com has molds and fragrants. Rainbow Meadow is a site that specializes only in essential oils. There is a website for every soap maker for any occasion.
Key Takeaways:
Companies like BeScented and Arizona Soap Supply offers a wide variety of both raw materials and soap making kits for sale.
Companies like Bulk Natural Oils and Cibaria Soap Supply offer a variety of base oils, waxes and fragrances.
Monterey Bay Spice and Mountain Rose Herbs are examples of companies that sell botanical soap making supplies.
“You can sort the table by state or category to make it easier to find what you’re looking for.”
Making avocado soap is not something a beginner should try and even advanced makers should go for a trial run first. It is made in the cold soap making process and uses some advanced methods like water discounting. The process takes around one hour, not counting curing time. Avocado oil is full of ingredients improving our health. Best choices for essential oils are peppermint or lemongrass, and for the most benefit you should consider using a blend of the two. You should allow a couple of days for curing before you cut the soap into bars.
Key Takeaways:
Purée a ripe, though not overripe, avocado using a stick blender.
Sodium lactate is added to the lye to make the soap harder.
The recipe uses lemongrass and peppermint essential oils for a great pick-me-up.
“Adding avocado to your soap, either as an oil or freshly pureed, will add creaminess to your soap and increase the conditioning properties, resulting in a rich, silky, creamy bar, which is great for all skin types, especially sensitive skins.”
Shampoo bars are long lasting and allow hair to get shinier. They have a lot of attractive features, but they can also be reinvigorated as well. To do this, one will need castor oil and coconut oil or palm oil. These create a rich foamy lather. A recipe to create this lovely shampoo includes various oils that can be bought relatively cheaply. Making it from scratch is a fun project with lots of learning and fun involved.
Key Takeaways:
Alongside palm, coconut and olive oil, castor oil is used to improve lather.
Tea tree oil has a minty, earthy aroma and is also an antiseptic.
Cold process soap requires working with lye and a 4-6 week curing stage.
“The lather is incredible, the bar is long lasting, I have shinier hair with zero buildup, and it’s all natural!”
Packaging and packing soap for sale to set a product apart is a very effective strategy when attempting to make the product look attractive. Wrapping up soap in a creative way will attract customers and lure them to the product. For example, having handmade decorations for a holiday is a great way to do this. You could use a bow tie on top of a custom drawing wrapped bar of soap and create the right vibe for the season.
Key Takeaways:
Print the ingredient list on card stock and attach it to the soap using baker’s twine.
Boxes don’t have to be square shaped, and bags can be burlap or cotton muslin.
For round soaps, wrap washi tape around the diameter of the bar.
“If you’re looking for creative ways to package your cold process soap bars, then try thinking outside the box.”
Amethyst soap gems have one of the most unique looks of any custom soap. They basically look like real Amethyst gems and make for great presents to people. The sheer creativity makes them seem more valuable than they are. It’s advised to get a double boiler which is much easier than using a microwave. This is a melt and pour recipe that means you don’t have to worry about the saponification process. This means you don’t have to work with lye and so forth.
Key Takeaways:
If you have one, use a double-boiler, as it will make things easier than a microwave.
Begin by dicing and melting melt-and-pour soap base, then adding essential oil.
Small pinches of purple mica and silver mica are added to melted soap base.
“While this project can be a tad time consuming, the method is surprisingly easy, and very forgiving!”
Making rock soap is an interesting way to enjoy soap. The process and recipe should only take an hour. This is a simple way to make soap look like rocks. One of the processes that gives the soap the color, texture and rock like appearance is the activated charcoal. The mixture when it has been mixed needs to be chilled in a freezer. After the freezer the soaps will be ready to use. The soaps can add a decorative touch to the bathroom.
Key Takeaways:
Adding sodium lactate to the lye solution is beneficial when using partially enclosed moulds.
Olive, coconut, castor and sunflower oils are used along with Shea butter.
The curing stage will take about six to eight weeks before the soap can be used.
“Soap stones, rock soaps, soap pebbles, whatever you want call them, are so much fun to make and they look AMAZING!”
There are a lot of health benefits from bananas which also apply to skin. For making soap, using real bananas benefits our skin because of the Zinc and other nutrients. In this recipe we use real bananas which means the soap has a lot of natural sugars. If you’re not careful then your soap will overheat because of these natural sugars. You can learn from my mistakes and use my recipe so that you can have beautiful banana soap for smooth skin.
Key Takeaways:
Bananas contain beneficial nutrients like zinc, lectin and amino acids, plus potassium and Vitamin C.
The abundant natural sugar in bananas may cause the soap to overheat.
Using fresh banana will turn the soap tan to light brown in color.
“Bananas are an affordable to way to add additional, natural skin care benefits to your soaps without significantly increasing your per bar.”
There are many different mistakes that people make when they are making soap. It is extremely important to follow recipes exactly, asif you substitute a different oil or butter it can completely ruin the soap. It is also important to make sure you don’t forget anything in the recipe. Sometimes without thinking you will forget an ingredient to put into your soap recipe and you won’t realize it until something feels and looks off with your finished soap product.
Key Takeaways:
Each oil and butter has its own saponification value and thus cannot be substituted freely.
Distractions cause mistakes, so it’s best to set aside dedicated time for soap making.
It’s best to start with simple recipes and not try to get too fancy too fast.
“Making your own handmade soap is fun, relaxing, creative, and allows you to make something good for your family!”