I'm Lovin' a Soap Saver!

On the right, my well-used soap saver!

We've been testing out our soaps the very first minute we can.  No long curing has been going on here!  Anytime I've made something new....we wait the minimum time, test it with a pH strip to make sure it's safe and then into the shower it goes!  We're loving all the carefully chosen recipes, and we're certainly luxuriating in fresh, handmade soap, creamy with loads of fresh goat milk, full of natural glycerin and skin-loving butters and oils.  No dry, detergent-stripped skin around here!

We have noticed that our soaps can get a little soft sitting in the shower.  And I've become aware that that can be a 'thing' with handmade soap.  Glycerin is a natural by-product of soap making; commercial makers often remove it to sell and use elsewhere, leaving a harder bar of soap.  Many commercial soaps are actually just detergent whereas our soap is fats, oils and fresh milk, saponified with lye.  Then, when we don't let them cure for very long before trying them.....well, we have soft soap.  I've been reading, for a while, about soap bags or soap savers or scrubby bags....whatever you want to call them!  On the Web, there are mentions of them on soaping sites, crafty sites and frugal-living sites.  And I'm loving mine!  Highly recommend it!

A soap saver or soap bag serves a couple of purposes.  It is a crocheted bag (preferably handcrafted locally with natural fibres), your bar of soap goes in the bag, then between baths or showers you can hang the bag up.  Thus, you avoid leaving your soap sitting in a puddle and the soap dries out fully.  You can put your smaller pieces of soap into a bag and use them to the last little bit - which is the frugal part.  They are also excellent for exfoliation - like a wash cloth but way more sudsy and easy to handle!  I got mine from local Etsy seller Ritzys All Naturals, who sold her crocheted wares at The Global Market this summer.  (I also got awesome cotton dish clothes from her, which I've used all summer for cleaning up the goats!)  I enquired with some crafty friends, and our CSA friend Sharon made some up for me to sell with our soaps - in some beautiful pastel, multi-coloured cottons!  If you do crochet, apparently a quite easy #DIY project - Sharon whipped up a bunch just watching TV over a couple of nights!  Here's a link to a bunch of free patterns here!

We're so excited to be bringing all our wares to the Art Gallery of South Western Manitoba's 'Gala of Gifts' on December 1st.  Stay tuned for more details!  And, if you're not in the area, watch for our announcement about online shopping...soonish.......