A Soapy Obsession

It's an addiction I just can't shake. I've made soap for two decades but hadn't made any since we moved to Savannah five years ago. Writing a book, raising two kids, and being a business and finance writer took up a lot of my time. So I thought it was safe to just try it one more time. I was wrong.

As I brought my first new batch to trace, the old urges took over. I was already thinking about scoring my next batch. And the one after that. Before I knew it, I was assessing every container in the house for its suitability as a soap mold. I had a steady parade of pigments, exotic butters and oils, and other soap supplies show up on my doorstep via UPS. I started buying enough lye from Ace Hardware to concern the staff. And my house began to fill with curing batches of soap.

Needless to say, hubs is not happy that I've chased the dragon again. He's quite content with his bars of Dove soap in the shower, and doesn't really want to hear about essential oils and the benefits of fair trade shea butter. After 25 years though, he has resigned himself to my kitchen addictions. Our son is off at university, sparing me his withering commentary about how soap is actually available in stores now.

I will be sharing soap recipes and methodologies in future posts. For now, I'm off to make one- just one- batch of soap. I can stop at one, really...

P.S. for those in the Savannah area, I will be running a soapmaking course this Sunday (October 28) from 11-2. You can register here.