Can washing improve our mood?

My girlfriend Karen gave me this article out of the January/February issue of Health magazine.  She thought it was interesting and wanted me to read it. The article quotes Spike W.S. Lee, a doctoral student at the university of Michigan.  According to a study he did for the department of psychology, Mr. Lee claims "When people wash their hands-or even take a shower-they feel they're washing away their concerns about a given situation".  Can something as simple as washing my hands make me feel better?  I know my mood improves after taking a bath. I feel calmer and very relaxed. After a shower I usually feel energized. But can washing my hands make me forget my worries? I don't worry about spreading germs once I've washed my hands. I spent many days working in different medical labs and believe me, you have good reasons to wash your hands often there. What do you think? The next time I wash my hands, I going to imagine washing all my troubles down the drain. Sort of a meditative hand wash.  And I will be sure to wash with a handcrafted soap so I don't have to worry about getting dry, chapped hands!

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

Friends

Let me introduce you to some of my Indie friends.From left to right we have Francis Grillo, Roslyn Johnson of Mayaindia, Eva Stuglovics of Soapistication (soapistication.com/), Melissa Rivera of Naturally Good Soaps (naturallygoodsoaps.com), Kim Allen, me, Patricia Robbins of Sea Blossoms Soaps (seablossom.com) Sue Nadel of You Scent Me (youscentme.com)  Stephanie Bismuth of Skin Caring Soaps, and Delores Harris of Daisy May Natural Soap (daisymaynaturalsoap.com/). Aren't we a great looking bunch?? We are all members of Indie Beauty (indiebeauty.com/) and we try to get together once a month to eat, laugh and talk soap. 

Now for the questions. Why am I friends with other soap makers? I love talking soap with others who share my passion. I learn so much from them.  Aren't we competitors?  Yes and not really.  What do we do when we see each other?  Besides the usual girl talk, we chat about classes we are taking, fairs we are attending, products we are making, and problems we are having. And here is the big one. Why do I talk and share with my "competitors"?   Shouldn't I keep all my information to myself?  Why do I want to help any of them? Well, if I thought like that I would not have found the sense of community I have with these women.  We help each other out by sharing our resources and supporting one another. If I run out of cocoa butter, I know I can call Roslyn and buy some from her until my order comes in.  When I got my first wholesale order, I called Pat to give me some pointers and a pep talk. Sue was the one I wanted to smell the natural perfumes I created, since she has a great "nose".  And best of all, we can place orders for ingredients together, saving all of us (and our customers) money. Isn't this an unusual way to run a business?  Maybe, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  Thanks Ladies!!

Yours in Gratitude,
Angela

Why Soap?

When I meet someone for the first time, I am usually asked "How did you get interested in making soap?"  It's a hard question to answer. I've always been interested in "things" science, and making soap is science. I was intrigued by the idea that you can take two totally different things, oil and a base, and make a completely different substance, soap.  But there wasn't a lot of extra time in my life with a full time job and a family, to explore soap making. In 1998, I was working in a Physician Office Lab as a Medical Technologist.  I loved my job, the staff and the patients.  But changes in the health care system made it too expensive for the doctors I worked for to keep the lab open. When they shut down the lab I was out of work.  I found a job in a school system as a Science Materials Coordinator, and followed a school schedule.  For the first time since I was a student, I had the summer off.  I wanted to do something productive with it. I went to the library took out a book on soap making. I went to the butcher and got some beef fat, rendered it into tallow (and ran my family out of the house with the stink!), and made soap.  I quickly realized I could use different oils instead of beef fat, and made soap the whole summer. I still have a few of those bars of that batch of soap left (see above). I continued to made soap whenever I could the next few years for my family and friends.  My husband liked the way his skin seemed to clear up when he used it.  And friends always wanted more. 

While I'm making soap, life goes on.  My children graduate from high school, and then college and move out of the house.  So now I have even more time to make soap.  My daughter comes home one day and tells me I have enough soap in the house to clean the state of New York and maybe I should start selling.  My son is designing web sites and wants to put one up for me.  My husband thinks if my soap helped his skin, maybe it will help someone else's.  So I start playing around with different recipes, ingredients, colors and designs.  Since fragrance oils give me headaches, I start using different essential oils to scent the soaps.  I realize I Love to blend scents, and my house now smells amazing! My dad is a carpenter and he makes me my soap boxes and drying racks.  I join the Handcrafted Soap Guild (http://www.soapguild.org/) and Indie Beauty (http://www.indiebeauty.com/).  I make so many friends and meet so many people who also have a passion for soap and other handcrafted items.  I start selling and meet even more people who love handcrafted soap, customers who have become new friends.

So "Why make soap?"  I guess I still can't really answer, except to say I'm very glad I do. I'm grateful for all the wonderful people soap making has brought into my life.  I'm happy to be learning something new every day, even if it is learning to deal with QuickBooks (ugh!) or trying to figure out what Twitter is all about. I'm excited (and exhausted) to have to stay up most of the night to wrap an order, or (even better) to try out a new batch of soap. And I'm looking forward to what new soap adventures 2012 will bring.

Yours in Gratitude,

Angela