Soap and Me: it was meant to be

As a soapmaker I get asked so many questions, from "Do you use lye?" to "What's a sugar scrub?". But what some people find hard to get their head around is "Why buy other people's soaps, when you make your own", or "Why are you so obsessed with watching people make soaps on internet?". 

If you LOVE cooking or baking and are passionate about it, you probably enjoy watching others cook too. You most likely enjoy watching cooking shows, MasterChef, My Kitchen Rules, The Great Bakeoff, and the like. I bet you even have a favourite chef (or even a few)! Even celebrity chefs have their idols too. And what about the reaction of contestants of cooking competition shows when a celebrity chef guest comes on the set to either judge or mentor them. They get so excited don't they? Imagine eating at the restaurant of your favourite chef? Wow!

Well that is a little bit what it is like for me and most other soapmakers when we see other soaps online, or videos on Youtube of our fave soapmakers at work, creating the things we love most. I am subscribed to quite a few Youtube channels of soapmakers, and I get such a thrill when I see a new video has been uploaded by any of them. I make myself a nice drink of coffee and sit down to watch.

Us soapmakers have our idols! Yes, in the soapmaking world there are "Celebrity Soapmakers". For me, I love "Edens Secret" from the UK, "Petals Bath Boutique" and "Royalty Soaps" from the US, and from Australia (where I live), we have "Platypus Dreams", "Beguile" and LOADS more!!! 

I do sometimes buy soap from other Soapmakers as well. Not all soap is the same, and each soapmaker has their own recipe and style, and is different to your own. You know that you are using something that has been made with love, and with something that will love your skin :-)

I love the dessert soaps, or the soaps that look like a big chunk of cheese. "But you can't eat soap?". That's what my Mum says to me. True, but I only get 5 minutes to have a shower (and in most cases there are small children coming in and out of the bathroom), but in that 5 minutes I have a gourmet soap to use and lather up and smell. It is great! And I can use as much as I want - they are calorie free!

Apparently I have loved soap since before I was born. I was meant to make it. My Mum has always told me about her one and only weird craving when she was pregnant with me. She used to lather up the sponge in the bath and eat the lather! And I remember as a child doing the same thing. I loved the creamy, silk texture. I can assure you I don't do that anymore, but I am thinking that it might have been the source of this soapy obsession.