The Bibbed Wonder and I spent last night doing happy dances, ooohing and aaaaaaahing, pretending to be mad scientists, and imposing our desire to have our new foaming hand soap sampled by The Bean and our friend who helps us out on the weekends. We never test our products on animals. We only test our products on our child, our family, and good friends. Sorry, bad joke.
I was planning to undertake the dilution process of the liquid soap on Wednesday. However, much to our delighted surprise, our bottles arrived yesterday afternoon. The Bibbed Wonder didn’t take the time to open the package that had arrived. It sat atop the freezer in the studio for hours. When I took a break from cleaning, I went up to find a package waiting for me on the freezer. Being the immature one with the self-discipline of a toddler, I commenced opening the said package.
I was actually hoping The Bean’s new kitten heels had arrived for her dance on Saturday, and I was ready to be disappointed. However, when I realized it was our bottles for our liquid soap, I squealed, clapped, and pranced around a little bit. Steph, who is helping us out, said, “Ohhh, this must be good!” It was good indeed.
I spent all day Friday on the computer looking at packaging options. I fielded several phone calls and emails from a variety of companies trying to find exactly what I wanted. Alas, the heavy, black, square glass bottles I had envisioned were unavailable from any U.S. sourced company. I found them in China, and they were reasonably priced, but A: they’re from China, B: they would not arrive until April, and C: the shipping cost was $30,000. Sigh. I can’t tell you how many times I went back to the drawing board on Friday. It did not help that once I made up my mind about packaging, The Bibbed Wonder would play devil’s advocate and make me rethink my decision.
Finally, after eight hours, I had narrowed my choices down to two options. I knew what I wanted, but at this point, I was second-guessing my choices. Of course, The Bibbed Wonder wanted the opposite of what I chose. My hands hovered over the keyboard and the send button to place the order on his idea, but then I had an uh-ah moment. I decided to wait for The Bean to get home from school and ask her opinion. The Bean has a knack for what works, and she has a definitive opinion. There is no wavering undecidedness with my girl. Once she makes up her mind, that is simply how it will be, end of the story. I appreciate that quality.
As soon as The Bean came bursting through the door, I bombarded her with my ideas, her dad’s ideas, and the need for her opinion. She sat down at the computer, looked at our options, and decided that she agreed with me after a minute. Of course, The Bibbed Wonder was a sore loser and touted that she always agrees with me. As a final decider, Joni Simpson would arrive in minutes to pick up a soap order for Lone Oak. I decided to ask Joni’s opinion on the matter. She graciously agreed to look at our options and hear me out. She, too, sided with my choice. The Bibbed Wonder was outnumbered 3/1.
When Joni left, I hit complete order and was at peace with my decision until Eric started second-guessing my choice again. Sigh. Once he had some time to think, look around at other packaging on other sites, and process his loss, he approached me and said, “You were right to go with the black square bottles.” Of course, being the gracious winner I am, I made him repeat the first part several times. We then walked around in a cloud of excitement and anticipation for what we thought would be the middle of next week.
When I showed Eric our bottles, he too oooooh and ahhed over their appearance. Like an impulsive child, he asked if I wanted to dilute the soap gel and see how it turned out. I agreed wholeheartedly, like an impulsive child following her best friend into a poorly laid plan. I went running for the closet where the gel was being kept out of sight to control temptation. Eric got to work disinfecting all the vessels and utensils. We argued over who got to scoop the gel. We argued again over how much gel to use. We then raced each other to be the ones to take the first crack at stirring. He won, much to my chagrin. Then he commenced being a spatula hog for the next fifteen minutes. I have the patience of a gnat. After forty minutes or so, the gel was still lumpy. I went to get the little stick blender we use for small jobs. This is the stick blender I started out with, and it has definitely seen better days. However, it did the trick in whipping the concoction into a smooth sudsing foam, with an emphasis on suds.
We then put our creation into two bottles. We put a bit of liquid soap into one with a foaming nozzle and one with a regular pump nozzle. The pump nozzle produces a smooth, rich, thick soap. It was lovely. The foaming nozzle burped out splats of unfoamed bursts of soap. We were disappointed. We then diluted the soap just a bit more and returned it to the foaming bottle.
When The Bibbed Wonder hit the head of the foaming nozzle, one would have thought the heavens opened up and reigned gold down upon our heads. It was a thick, rich, glorious foam of silky smooth texture. We rubbed it all over our hands without water and marveled at the lather. We then added water to the froth and experienced a whole new level of awe. It was divine! We then attacked The Bean and Steph with our new heaven-sent product. They, too, were impressed and marveled along with us. Our hands felt so soft and smooth after using the liquid soap. I rubbed the backs of my hands all over The Bean’s face just to hear her yell. I wouldn’t stop until she said, “My mom is a soap genius!” I love being her mom.
The Bean brought the regular pump bottle down the house to use in her shower. After dinner, she showered and reported that the body wash was great. She said when the body wash was massaged into her shower poofy, the lather exploded. She also made us feel her arms and legs, not stopping until we had felt all four of her appendages, and said in funny voices that they feel smooth like a baby’s bottom. I have no idea where she gets her propensity for being annoying. Actually, it’s all from her dad. Insert wink here.
I am excited to report, dear reader, that our liquid soap adventure is on the right path. Now that I have the process down, my dilution ratios figured out and recorded, and packaging decided, I can tweak my product and decide on scents. Just an FYI, The Bibbed Wonder is a big fat party pooper when it comes to fragrances. He is limiting my inspiration to two or three scents, one of which insists is unscented to begin the launch. He’s back to being himself. Sigh.
We are walking on cloud nine when it comes to soap. Our bar soaps are on course and fully stocked on both the drying rack and the shelves. We are ahead of schedule with the liquid soap, and the process is going smoothly. Now, we just have to battle it out over labeling design, and we are well on our way to launching our new product. I hope, dear reader, you are as excited as we are. Okay, perhaps that’s asking a bit much. I don’t think any of you are as obsessed with soaping as we are, but we appreciate your support and enthusiasm.
As always, dear reader, stay safe, be smart, be patient if you’re looking forward to trying liquid soap, we’re almost there, and keep washing your hands. Very soon, you will have a foaming hand soap option! Insert clapping and prancing!