I wouldn't follow any recipe I find online, since you will be creating a chemical fusion ..
If there are classes at your local colleges about soap making or any workshops by someone, give it a try. There are some online classes from experienced soap makers.
I would strongly recommend NOT putting synthetically made colors and smells in your soaps.Use natural elements, flowers, oatmeal, fruit pieces etc. and essential oils.
There are some soap makers out there that don't care to use natural ingredients. They are more worried about visual qualities of soap.
But you don't do that. Separate yourself from the others.
What you are going to do is , keep your ingredients simple at first (if you are short on money), this means, make one or two kinds of soaps. Later when you earn money and invest in your business, buy more ingredients to create a bit more variety.
So, pick a recipe, produce some bars, , wrap them individually with a nice and natural paper. Or you could just take them as they are without paper. Totally fine. Maybe even more attractive. Put them in a big basket. Then you are going to knock on doors in your neighborhood. You are going to say, here I make these soaps at home, I bring it to your door. "How often do you want them to be delivered?" is the question you will ask them. This way you create a subscription system. After you got every family in your neighborhood, you go to the next neighborhood.
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| Image from Treefortnaturals @ Etsy |
You can tell them "when you buy liquid soaps, you are actually paying for "water+soap" instead of just soap. Not to mention, conventional brand of soaps have many harmful ingredients.
True though, isn't it?
At my co-op here, they have a section for natural soaps, they are not packaged. So many options, I couldn't decide which one to pick! You pick them like you would get bulk food (put them in a little brown bag and pay, they only have a little sticker with barcode on them).
If you don't have a co-op store or natural food store, conventional grocery stores might be interested in locally made natural soaps....
You can sell your soaps at farmers market as well.
If we summarize, your market is
1- Houses
2- Farmers Markets
3- Grocery and other stores
4-You can consider online stores (your own web site, Etsy, Amazon etc. but your soaps won't be as affordable to public because of shipping ).
Basically start from your neighborhood, then move beyond. Because you know people in your neighborhood need soaps and you are delivering them.
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| soapshed.com |
There are apparently two ways of making soap.
1- Cold-Process Soap : You use oils and Lye (Sodium Hydroxide)- historically Lye has been used in soap making. Make sure to pay close attention to the ratio of oil and lye.
2-Glycerin Soap (clear soap): With this you use glycerin, alcohol/sugar solution and more chemicals.
Read more on this here
I think Cold-Process Soap is simpler, If I were you, I would go with that . And I'm not. ; )
Here is a story I came across, read and be inspired. From huffintonpost.com
Dennis Anderson, Anderson Soap Company: Onetime Homeless Man Starts A Soap Business
When Dennis Anderson was living out of his car and unable to shower daily, it was hard to imagine he'd go on to start a upscale handmade soap business one day.....
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| http://www.naturopath.ca |
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| roguevalleysoap.com |
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| sgs-soap.com |
You could make package deals for your customers. A pack with 3 soaps, a pack with 6 soaps etc.
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| mirasolfarm @ Etsy |
This video says "hot process soap video" but it's actually cold process soap (Lye soap).
One more thing to add, you need to cure your soaps 6 to 8 weeks. So make them ahead of time!
Good productions!
