What started as a hobby to cross off my 2024 homesteading vision board quickly became a business vision. A way to make money for and from our small scale homestead. An additional stream of income for our Johnson Home family economy. But I went full-steam ahead without a very good plan. I made quite a few mistakes in my first (almost) year of soap making. Here are 8 soap mistakes for you to NOT make:
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Learn from my soap mistakes
1. Not understanding ingredients or paying close enough attention
One of my “toxic traits” (I guess that’s what the cool kids call it nowadays) is that I skim read too fast, already assuming I know what to do. “This is easy! Grab the important parts and leave the details for later.”
Turns out the details, like exactly what kind of lye is needed in cold process soap BAR making, are pretty significant.
Sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are completely different lyes. One is for bar soap, the other is for liquid soap.
My very first batch of soap, I was so excited to finally make my own toxin and chemical free soap because I was spending a MINT with my favorite soaper and natural skincare girlie, Tonya of Wild Carrot Farmstead.
I couldn’t figure out why it would not set up. It just remained this glob of gel in a soap loaf mold for over a week. Searching the internet for trouble shooting didn’t help. I did all the things they suggested including hot processing. Nothing was helping.
Then I had the bright idea to read through the directions and ingredients list again while reading the actual bottles of ingredients at the same time. That’s when I realized I had purchased the wrong lye.
In an effort to get the best deal (read: the cheapest product), Amazon deemed it appropriate to show me other lyes than the one I specifically searched for: sodium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide was cheaper so without paying close enough attention to detail, I added to cart.
Check then double check your ingredients list with your shopping cart before purchasing ingredients.
2. Perfect one recipe before trying recipes
Unless the soap recipe just plain bombed, keep trying the recipe until you perfect it.
Do not be disillusioned by a successful first or second batches of soap, thinking I’ve got this! I mean, yes it’s great to be successful at a new hobby but if you want to turn it into a business, you’ll want to make sure this recipe you’re using is absolutely the one that yields a fantastic soap.
Test that soap on yourself.
- Is the lather how you like it?
- Does it condition the skin well? Doesn’t leave skin dry after washing.
- Does it smell great (if using scent at all)? Is the scent strong or weak?
- Do you have to lather your wash cloth more than once to get clean?
- Do you understand the soap qualities (conditioning, bubbly, cleansing, hardness, etc) of your soap recipe?
3. Follow and understand the recipe
Soaping is chemistry!
You are mixing chemicals. You’re creating chemical reactions. It isn’t something to carelessly play around with.
Read the recipe all the way through more than once before measuring out the first ingredient. Seriously!
Understanding the recipe is equally important.
The ingredients may go from ounces to ml and you’ll need to understand this change in measurements. Essential oil bottles are generally measured in ml but your soap recipe may call for fragrance measurements in ounces.
One ounce of fragrance for your soap loaf is approximately TWO 15 ml bottles of essential oils.
Don’t be like me where it took me 7 months of soaping and MANY bars of soap made and sold before realizing I was only using half of what the recipe called for fragrance.
Thus a weak scented bar of soap.
Also know that depending on the fragrance you use (fragrance oils or essential oils), two bottles of EO can increase the cost of your soap loaf significantly. Most soap customers are attracted to the scent and therefore, prefer a strong scented soap.
With that said, I’ve read in the skincare world that “unscented” or “fragrance free” is rising in popularity.
The most affordable, high quality, third party tested essential oils is from Simply Earth. As an affiliate, if you use my link and code JOHNSONHOMENCFREE you’ll receive a $45 gift card on your next order!
4. Trying to turn a hobby into a business without a plan
Soaping is fun and when you make a good soap loaf or two, you realize fairly quickly that your family of 4 doesn’t need that much soap.
So you decide to sell your soaping creations!
Questions to ask yourself (and write down the answers in your Business Plan):
- who are you going to sell to?
- how are you going to sell? (Social media, your own website, Etsy or a marketplace, vendor events, farmers markets, etc?)
- what kind of label paper will you use? (Regular paper, print your own, buy labels, weatherproof/waterproof print your own labels, etc?)
- how will you package your soap bars? (String/ribbon, cellophane, paper label, cloth or paper wrapping, etc.?)
- how will you market? (Social media, direct marketing, a hope and a prayer?)
- will you open an LLC to start your business?
- where will you design your logo? (Do it yourself, hire it out?)
- have you looked into federal and/or state label requirements? (Net weight, disclaimers, production address, etc?)
- have you researched soap becoming a cosmetic by your wording? (Moisturizing, exfoliating, soothing- all buzz words that make your soap now a cosmetic which have different requirements and guidelines for selling.)
Having a well-thought out business plan is crucial to the success of your soap business and shouldn’t be planned until you’ve mastered a recipe or two in your soap making journey.
5. Getting discouraged when you get one bad review
In any business adventure, you want–nay, NEED, honest friends and family to give you constructive feedback or criticism.
CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK! Meaning it’s helpful and informative. To help YOU make any necessary changes.
When that friend or family member comes to you with a suggestion or just a review that isn’t so positive, you’re going to have to train yourself NOT to get defensive. And that is not easy! Trust me.
Being in a direct sales fragrance company for 11 years, I learned that everyone’s nose is different. Where I am a hound dog smeller, my husband’s sense of smell is not very heightened at all. Where I love sandalwood, a customer thinks it smells like cat pee.
Soap fragrance is no different. Some will love it, others will absolutely not like it. And if your customer is shopping online, they can’t smell it first hand. So they take your word for it, literally. By your worded description.
Being a business owner or a crafter/creator/artisan means you have to have thick skin and some extra funds. Keep reading…
6. My Number 1 Business Rule MUST stay front and center:
“Do the right thing even if it hurts”.
Do I want to refund a disappointed customer? Not really. This soaping hobby turned baby business is not profitable yet. I don’t have the extra funds to refund customers who aren’t happy.
Is it the right thing to do? Yes, it is. For me, anyway.
If the review (constructive feedback OR complaint) is something you can’t really fix, then replacing the soap or refunding what they paid is the next right thing. Even if the customer didn’t ask for a refund or replacement.
Just do it. Some call this integrity.
7. Stick to your values
If your business is started and marketed as “homemade ice cream”, then you can’t (or shouldn’t) go buying pre-made ice creams a few months into your new ice cream shop opening to help your business make a profit and keep up with demand. That’s false advertising, to me.
I wanted to make soap for my family that is toxin-free. Organic ingredients are an important value to us. What I craft soap with for my family is what I will craft soap with for my customers too.
If you are marketing your soap as all natural, organic ingredients, then you need to stick with that.
Example: Do not change your organic olive oil to regular olive oil to save a buck or keep expenses low when you’ve been marketing your homemade soaps as organic.
Pivot Option: if you find using all organic ingredients is causing your selling price of soap to be too expensive and people are not buying then you have two options:
- one– change your marketing to match your new ingredients. From “organic” to “all-natural”?
- two– keep the ingredients and marketing while continuing to search for your niche market of customers and for better pricing from other vendors for your ingredients. This will require research and diligence on your part as a business owner who has values and integrity.
I have honestly struggled with this one as I see a demand in homemade soaps and my business’ need for cheaper (in cost; not quality) ingredients. But I have to remind myself of number 6 and 7– doing the right thing and remembering my values.
8. Don’t keep up with your recipe and ingredients information
Not keeping up with each soap loaf’s recipe and ingredients information is not a good practice.
In the event a customer reports a soap went rancid or developed DOS (dreaded orange spots), you can reference your notes to see what ingredients you used, what brand of oils or fats, etc. in case you need to change vendors or make any other changes to ingredients or recipe.
A simple notebook will help you keep up with:
- date of soap loaf making
- all ingredients and brand names used (perhaps expiry dates of each too)
- the exact recipe used
- temperature at which you mixed lye water and oils/fats
- how long before soap loaf could be removed from mold to be cut
- how long soaps cured (date post-it notes and keep with soap bars while curing)
You can also find templates to print online from other soapers where you can easily write in this information to keep on hand.
Another option that is digital is creating Trello soap making board in the app on your phone.
Fail to plan and you plan to fail
I can speak of most of these soap mistakes from experience.
This blog post is not to say you won’t, too, make soap mistakes in your soaping journey but if you can glean any wisdom from my mistakes to hopefully avoid them yourself, then that’s why I’m writing this.
Make a plan or at the very least, keep a notebook of notes and ideas.
A goal is a dream written down.
Now go for that dream with all you’ve got! Happy soaping!
Follow Along for More Soaping Adventures
What other “soap mistakes” would you add to this list?
You can find more Johnson Home NC soaping adventures on the blog.
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