How did you get into making soap?

 It does seem like an unusual living doesn't it?  I sure didn't plan on going down this road.  But life takes some strange and interesting turns at times and sometimes we come across something that speaks to us.  Thirteen years ago, it was an actual road trip that lead me into soap making.  We were outside of San Diego at a campground when I found a flyer advertising an herb farm complete with a gift shop and a coffee shop and a soap shop.  Really?  Who in their right mind would pass that up?  It sounded like a little bit of heaven on earth to me.  So my husband humored me and we searched it out.  And my visit to ye olde soap shoppe was quite interesting and rewarding.  Inside were rows and rows of soap.  And they had an area for soap classes but no class was in process on that day.  I was thrilled to find kits that included everything you needed to make a small batch of soap, including a video with instructions.  It turned out to be the peaceful process I was hoping for and before long all of my friends had a bar of handmade soap and I was still cranking out soap.  I joined every soap making forum and bought every book.  The science was not too captivating but I learned it too.

After many years of making soap I find that it is never boring.  It is still unpredictable - especially when one gets bored and gets into new scents and ways of coloring soap.  Who knows what will happen?  Who knows if it will turn out?  I still get nervous when trying something for the first time.  And I still get the occasional failed batch after 13 years of soap making.  And it can be like any other job - hard work.  But I don't regret it.  It has been good for me.  And if you try a nice bar of handmade soap - most any - you will find out that it is very good for you too!

Trisha