Teach Soap

Hi everybody,
I just got my very first BB order in which included the 5 OOPS molds, several other misc molds, a 3D frog mold, soap on a rope, brown & green chrome colored pigments, tangerine wow colorant, Fir Needle EO, 10X Orange, palm oil, shea and cocoa butter, 1 lb hemp melt & pour soap and 1 lb honey MP soap All for just over a hundred bucks delivered to my door!! So anyway today I made a 50 ounce loaf of Green Fir Needle scented soap and although it is still in the mold for now, it looks and smells so very awesome!!! It's gonna be a great Christmas soap..... hopefully I'll start posting some pics up here soon of my soap work. I'm new and only been doing this a month or so. I used to work in a chemistry lab up until 2008 and then decided to become self employed so I try to put in just enough work to keep the bills paid and after that it is all family and hobby time. I've gotten too old for gymnastics because i keep getting injuries so first I got a keyboard last year and learned to play that (I cheated and used Scott Houstons' lead sheet method, which is super easy). That being done, I was missing chemistry and started teaching my 7 year old god-daughter Selena in my home lab and somehow we ended up reading an old chemistry book that showed how to render fat and make your own soap, including making your own lye...... SO HERE WE ARE !!! Of course Selena is not allowed to be around any operations involving lye for obvious safety reasons. Being a chemist doesn't always mean you're smart, I had not done a whole lot of Organic before other than lead testing of kids toys and a few other things, so saponification was a new learning experience for me. And the best part is, it's easy and fun at the same time ! Hoping to learn alot from the people here. In fact, I've already started a cosmetics business and selling like hotcakes to people i know so far. Note to Anne-Marie: I did not find 2 inch round slip cover tins on BB so i ordered them from a wholesaler but i think there are alot of people wanting only 10 or so meaning you could buy them as low as .32 each from the wholesaler there in Washington and sell them in packs of 10 for $10 i'm sure..... anyway everyone have a happy upcoming holiday season
Kevin

and the reason i needed the 2 inch round slipcover tins is for hard lotion beeswax bars that i now make. I used the 5 bee mold i bought right here from Brambleberry so the 1 ounce bars will be a perfect fit in the 2 inch round tins, both width and height-wise. The lotion bars are just beautiful with the bee design and you can remove them from the tin and rub them all over your hands and replace in the tin when you are done....anyway i talk wayyyy too much

Welcome!
What kind of a cosmetic business do you have?

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Hey again Irena !!

Well i'm not sure what type of business i have yet In my 20's i worked as a carpet cleaner, then went to school and went into chemistry doing investigative analyses and Rohs testing, lead testing, etc.... In 2008 i went back to having my own business cleaning carpets so that i could have some freedom and be my own boss. I try to work only about 20 hours a week cleaning carpets because i no longer want to do hard labor 40 hours per week. I stumbled onto soap making with my 7 y/o god daughter a few months ago and now we make CP and MP soaps, lip balms, beeswax hard lotion bars and coming soon are bath bars, sugar scrubs, and eventually liquid shampoo and soaps. We are selling to people when they see our stuff as word gets around. Have several customers from my old chem lab as well. We are wanting to be in small craft shows by next year. We're just hoping to have some fun and at the same time pay for our 2 vacations per year to Pensacola Beach, Florida. Not needing the money to live on makes it much easier and fun. I am very picky though and i am in the process of building a versatile soap cutter and looking to buy the soap beveler/planer from sop making resources because BB does not have it. It is 100 percent acrylic and it is 39 bucks plus s/h but you can get 5 bucks off apparently when you sign up for their free newsletter. So for now I'm just mainly gonna keep learning and asking you lots of questions (if i become a pest just let me know)
Kevin

Oh I see. I thought when you said "I've already started a cosmetics business", that you were making and selling something like mineral make-up or similar, since you are new to the world of soapmaking. Soap is not considered a cosmetic in the US.
In your post above you said that you started to make soap only a few months ago. If that's the case, I would not be selling it at that time since you don't know how the soap, the fragrance or any discoloration will be some months down the road. Selling or giving to family is one thing; selling to the general public is something entirely different. I hope you know where I'm coming from.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!