Start a Soap Making Business
Soap-making is an ancient art. In fact, the first recipes consisted of nothing more than animal fat, ashes, and water. Things have improved significantly over time and, today, soap is available in just about every conceivable size, color, shape, and scent you can imagine.
Many soap makers have taken their craft to a new level by adding such ingredients as herbs, dried flowers, oatmeal, exfoliants, fruit extracts, floral water, and more. You will also see items like goat’s milk, conditioners, and citrus added to produce an even greater selection, including moisturizing, aromatherapy, and certified organic.
Many of these specialty soap makers are entrepreneurs like yourself that have set up a small commercial location or are working out of their homes.
Today’s soap-making ingredients have changed slightly. For example, they have replaced animal fat with vegetable oil, coconut oil, and olive oil, to name a few. Also, pure lye has replaced the lye produced by the traditional ashes method.
If you are considering starting your own soap empire, things have never looked brighter. There is a very strong demand for small-batch, specialty soaps. Much of this demand is due to the fact that these unique brands cannot be purchased in the larger stores. People will pay top dollar for a unique product that can’t be found anywhere else.
As a soap-making entrepreneur, you have two choices when it comes to manufacturing your product:
The melt and pour method
If you’re just getting started and you want to get a feel for how the business operates, you can use the melt and poor method and have a very respectable looking product ready for sale overnight. Essentially, you will be buying bulk soap, melting it, adding color, scent, and any additives – then pouring it into molds and letting it harden. Voilà, your soap is ready for packaging and sale.
Cold process
If you opt to use the cold process method of soap making, you will be making your soap entirely from scratch. This involves a much more detailed process than the melt and pour method.
You will be using an oil base, lye and water. The lye is added to oil that is heated in a pot. These two ingredients will create the chemical reaction needed to make the soap. Water is the third (inert) ingredient. You can then add any extra additives you like to give your soap a unique look or smell.
Next, you’ll pour your soap into molds. The raw soap is removed after 24 hours and then stored for three to four weeks to allow the product to cure properly. The soap is ready to be used when the lye is completely neutralized, leaving only glycerin and soap.
Starting a retail soap business is fairly straightforward and doesn’t necessarily require a huge amount of overhead. Once you’ve got a decent sized inventory together, you can rent a booth at your local flea market and display your unique product to hundreds of potential buyers instantly. A flea market is the perfect venue for this one-of- a-kind product. Just a word of warning though: If you are selling your product around Christmas time, you’d better make sure that you have a good-sized inventory at home. This kind of thing can sell out very quickly before the holidays.
If you’re not ready for the volume of sales that a flea market can produce, you can try approaching gift shops and asking them if they will display your soap and sell on consignment. Make sure your product is attractively packaged and don’t lose track of your inventory. Sales should trickle in on a fairly consistent basis. If you want to sell more soap, get your product in more shops.
You might also want to try selling online. You can try eBay just to get a feel for what your product will sell for. Don’t be surprised if there is stiff competition and the prices have been driven down to unacceptable levels. Of course, you’ll never know if you don’t try.
Next steps
The best way to get into the soap manufacturing business is to educate yourself in the proper methods. This isn’t a business where you can just wing it – you will need to learn the proper procedures and recipes for making your own soap. Spend a few dollars and buy a detailed manual that will guide you through the process.
If you’ve never made soap before (or if you’ve tried and failed), the following sites offer all the information you will need to get up to speed. You’ll be making high quality soap in no time!
What you learn here will prevent you from making huge mistakes that will cost you much more in the long run. They cover every aspect of soap making including materials, recipes, methods, instruments, equipment, and safety.
And speaking of safety: If you are making soap using the cold method, you will always want to use extreme caution because you are working with lye. Always make sure you wear goggles, gloves, and long-sleeved shirts.
