There is an element of waste in soap making. With each loaf we cut, two end pieces are irregular in size, not very pretty, and often lack decorative details. These end pieces are necessary to create nine beautiful, fully formed, well-shaped, and pretty bars. It's part of the process, and there is no way around it. The soap is still high-quality. It smells lovely, is colorful, and is the same quality as the more beautiful slices, but it isn't pretty.
What do we do with these end pieces, you may ask? Well, this is the soap I have to use. One bib overall-wearing dictator squawks like a chicken if he sees me walking to the drying rack with intention. "NO, NO, NO! You take the ends!" Yes, that is how I live. I am permitted to create pretty soap, but I'm not allowed to use it. My bathroom closet is filled with odds-and-end bits of soap bars of every scent, color, and creation. We also take the ends to Miller's Bulk Food Store in Smicksburg. The ladies who run the store put it out and sell it at a discount, and in exchange, we put that towards our cost for coconut oil and lard. It is a great system that works out well for all. A good product doesn't go to waste; the ladies earn a profit, and we put money toward staple ingredients.
With odds-and-ends being so popular at the bulk store, one bibbed, bald genius packaged an assortment of ends, weighed them, and placed a discounted price on them for our soap family to try. It's a great way to try many different scents, allowing one to sample a variety of soaps, and the cost is minimal. You see, dear reader, he isn't just the eye candy of the operation.
Today, those cute little sample packages are available on the website. The Bibbed Wonder packaged them in one-pound bags for your bathing pleasure. They are $15, and the mix is varied and comprises whatever soaps we have on the drying rack at the time. It is entirely random, which I feel is fun and exciting. It's like Christmas; you aren't sure what's inside the package. There may be soaps from our regular inventory, or you may get a sliver of soaps that have yet to be released. Surprise!
I proudly credit The Bibbed Wonder for this fun little endeavor. Check out the link below to explore this new option. On this grey, overcast last Thursday in February, stay safe, be smart, enjoy this new idea, and keep washing your hands.
It'll be perfect for me since I want to smell different scents quicker and it takes too long to finish a whole bar!