What's up Wednesday: Soap

Oof, y'all. When was the last time I had time to write a Works-in-Progress Wednesday post? I mean, y'all follow me on social media, you know what I've been working on and the things this year that have put work on the back burner. So this post is more of a "ok, let's look at what's been happening and what's about to happen." Today I'm going to talk about soap.

What's going on with soap...

Ooof, y'all, soap is rough right now. I know I haven't had an update in a while. I do plan to make a full batch of everything to take to GLAM in December, and I'll make the same amount for the shop at the same time. But after that? Going into next year? The future looks bleak.

Back in 2020, at the start of the pandemic, a couple of my soap supply vendors switched to selling only to health facilities - they have since changed back, but their prices have gone up considerably. And more than one of them, since then, has closed down. One closed down just a few months ago that was (a) my favorite fragrance distributor (b) where I got 100% of my lip balm and hand lotion supplies (including tubes and bottles/jars) and (c) where I got things like soap-sized shrink-wrap bags.

I've been looking around at the three suppliers I have left (I'm sure there are more out there, but these are the ones I've been using), and have been trying to find some new ones, but... prices for supplies have really, really gone up. To the tune of $1-3 on fragrances, and upwards of $20 for actual base supplies. Doing the math on that, to make a profit (which, I love y'all, but I am a business), I'd have to raise my soap prices from $5/bar to at least $8/bar - at least. And while I think we'd all agree my soap is worth that, I'm unwilling to raise my prices that much. Especially when the price increases in supplies I've seen in the last four years infer that prices will keep increasing. $8 this year might turn into $9.50 next year, and so on. 

I thought I was going to have to raise them to almost $7 a few years ago (long time customers will remember) but instead, I went down to a smaller bar and was even able to lower my price just a bit. That's not an option any more. 

I definitely have enough to make what I want to make for December. I might have enough after that to make another full run of everything in around June or July of next year, or to not make everything, but instead as things start to sell out, make those soaps all made-to-order until I run out of supplies. 

If you are interested in a bulk custom order (more than four bars of a single fragrance), drop me a line. We can chat about it. 

Thanks, y'all!