It's Just Too Pretty To Use!

Everyone who makes soap hears this from time to time; "It's too pretty to use!". That's when the smile freezes on our faces, and this little tic starts at an eye, or the corner of our mouths. We're frustrated and wondering if we're supposed to make ugly soaps or plain soaps, or what. Not to sound ungrateful, but it's really not that much of a compliment.

Yes, I work hard on my products. Sometimes, I absolutely revel in the artistry of creating something heady and beautiful for you, but first and foremost, this product I bring you is great for your skin. I want to hear how soft and smoothe your skin feels; I want to hear that when you get in the shower with that great bar I made just for you, the pleasure of the fragrance and the gentleness of the soap, and the luxury of the oils contained in it all blend into a great moment for you that helps take a bit of the edge off of your day. I love hearing about how wholly touchable your skin feels after that shower.

The soap can't do that if it's left in its wrapper, looking pretty, sitting on display. Chances are pretty good that I can make you another bar that you'll love just as much. And another, and another, and another. Yes, if that sounds like it's about sales, it partly is. But it's also about having every quality of the products I make being respected and enjoyed. You wouldn't buy a pretty picture, then cover it with brown wrapping paper to preserve it, and hang that on your wall, or stow it away in a cabinet for safe-keeping. You wouldn't buy great ingredients for a lovely meal, and keep them safe on the shelf, never using them. And you wouldn't buy a gorgeous new necklace or ring, then never wear them...would you?

It may smack of arrogance to compare a bar of soap to a picture, or jewelry, but if the products you buy aren't more than just something pretty, then what value is it to you?

Now to prove that I'm not completely insensitive to how you may feel, I have a bar that's wrapped up, set up, that's unique and pretty that I won't sell it, nor will I use it. Here...let me show you.

The top layer is hemp oil soap with a very tiny amount of black dioxide, to give it a translucent but smoky appearance. It also has gold mica swirled within it to give a bit of sparkle. Timing the white swirls within it was a challene, as you have to get the exact moment when the soaps will swirl without simply combining into a solid. Beneath that is a layer of solid white goat's milk soap, followed by a solid black layer of hemp oil soap to complete it. This was my first time utilizing this method, and I kept it. I still keep it. But I also have four open bars in my shower so I have choices of fragrance, and another two bars at my sink, and who knows...maybe someday I'll use this particular bar, but I still love taking it out when I'm designing other soaps, and looking at it. Because it's not the only soap like that I made. I made four others just as stunning. And the people to whom I sold them still haven't used them. Not a single one. And all that beautiful hemp oil and coconut oil and palm oil, the sunflower seed oil and the safflower oil, the goat's milk...all those things that leave your skin feeling amazing...they're trapped right there until someone breaks down and uses it...and they're wasted. So I keep mine to remind me that yes, I can have fun and make soaps that are incredible to look at, but when I do...they don't get used.

I've reconciled myself to pulling back a tiny bit on the artistry, and focusing on creating pretty soaps that smell amazing, and work even better. Soaps that people will use. I promise you that as pretty as a soap can be, the real beauty is in what it gives to your skin.

#beautiful #soap #hempoil #goatsmilk #tooprettytouse