Teach Soap

There is no such thing. There is a company on the net that sells nature identicals or naturally derived aroma chemicals. People are asking for strawberry essential oil because the soaper down the streeet is selling soap with it and saying it's a natural essential oil. No wonder the general public is confused. What certifying, Licensed body did their vendor use? Where is the COE or the MSDS sheet? Everything on this earth has been naturally derived at some point, but that doesn't mean it's natural.

There is no essential oil of strawberry, or blueberry or raspberry. They are all aroma chemicals made in a lab. They haven't been anywhere near nature. They might have one or two natural constituents, but these constituents have been so refined and processed, they are far, far away from nature.

The problem I see is that the word "natural" has lost its meaning and the general public isn't willing to do their homework. It's too bad lots of people are gullible and will believe what someone will tell them.

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

I noticed in my business (I sell kids clothes), people are too quick to put their hands in that of the seller and let the seller decide for them. I used to get frustrated when people would ask me - online customers that is - 'What size do you recommend?' I don't recommend. I don't know your child, you do. I will provide you the measurements, but it's up to the parent/purchaser to decide what size would best fit.

My customers know I am learning soaps now. I've had one ask me to make them up some soaps... 'what ever you think is the best' was their request. What I think is best, and what is best for the customer is not always the same thing.

If someone sells soap claiming it has Strawberry Essential Oil in it, it's only those who actually KNOW about oils that would know any difference. Which I would dare say, would be about 1% of the sellers customer base. So 99% of people go 'Oh cool, buy it, then start asking other people for it'. I've noticed from all my reading on other forums, internet pages, other soap sellers pages etc, people seem to believe that if it's a natural substance (fruit, plant, etc), then it has an essential oil.

One of my MP soaps had the fragrance Mango Papaya scent. I had someone ask me if both the Mango and the Papaya "essential oils" were from the same location (QLD - a state in Australia) as they didn't want the Papaya essential oil to be "some cheap overseas crap." I explained it was a fragrance oil, not essential and they didn't understand the difference. When I told them this was a man made scent, they were shocked that I was putting 'chemicles' in my soap and trying to pass them off as better than the store bought stuff. They didn't understand why, when there were two perfectly good fruits out there, that I didn't just use the "natural essential oils" instead.

That said, I am currently moving away from my clothing business as the level of stupidity I've had to deal with over the past 6 months has been soul sucking. So perhaps I just don't have the brightest of the bunch.

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

I'm still trying to figure out how to answer this woman as she wants me to make her soap like the other soaper because she likes mine better. She wants it with a strawberry essential oil though. I tried to tell her the difference, but she just.doesn't.understand. It's very frustrating. I prefer not to put other soapers down because then it makes me look bad, but I absolutely hate it when a soaper lies about her ingredients or has no idea where her ingredients actually came from.

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

Oh yeah - that's bad form to lie. And even worse if they are selling soap but don't actually know enough about their ingredients!!

You could just tell her quite simply, there is no such thing as strawberry essential oil as you just can't get the aromatic components required from many fruits, strawberry being one of them. Just say "unfortunately you were misinformed by the other soap seller".

You could also say that while there is no essential oil for strawberry, you are happy to make her soap with the strawberry fragrance and she can compare the two scents herself.

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

I just googled 'strawberry essential oil' to see if I could find someone else's answer out there to give you to tell her, and it's quite scary how many pages out there are correcting people!

"Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as essential oil of such things as strawberry, peach, watermelon, kiwi, mango, fig, pomegranate or cucumber. "

'You won’t find Strawberry-Kiwi essential oil soap here, as there is no such thing!"

"Not to burst your bubble, but there is no such thing as strawberry or vanilla essential oil."

etc, etc, etc...

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

I did tell her there is no such thing as strawberry essential oil and tried to explain the difference between a fragrance and essential oil. Her comeback was that the other soaper at the market has it so it must be an essential oil and she wants one just like it from me. I give up. Let her buy it from the other soaper then.

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

LOL yeah, if she's not willing to listen to you, then there's not much you can do I'm afraid.

I wonder what would happen if the other soaper told her that jumping off a bridge wouldn't hurt? Just because someone SAYS something, doesn't make it true.

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

Or... just tell her to google it! Say "I'm sorry, but there is no strawberry essential oil, the other soaper is misinformed. If you would like to check google for yourself to make sure you are not being ripped off".

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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

Good idea. That way you don't have to badmouth the other soaper, and she can learn for herself (if she bothers) that you can't trust everything you're told.

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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

Linda!

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

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year too filled with aromatic bubbles and baths!



Hey!

Snake venom is natural.

The FDA has no definition of what constitutes natural, so it is at the mercy of individuals to do their homework, or soapers to give a helping hand!

Fragrance oils, chemicals built in a laboratory to imitate aromas

Essential oils distilled (evaporated) from actual flowers, woods, resins etc.

_________________

~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Linda! Smarty Pants!

_________________
The Soapinatrix! *whip-crack*
- Posting the trials and tribulations of my Soaping Journey!

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