I didn’t plan for a home-based business when I
expressed concern for natural-based baby-care products for my newborn;
I was still trying to wrap my head around becoming a mother in my
mid-thirties and how much the tiny person we brought home was going to
change my life. Having ended employment with the public school system
only weeks before and taking time off of freelance writing, I turned
my focus upon finding skin-care products that were people and
eco-friendly. I wasn’t satisfied with the products on the market, as
I found myself confused with the ingredients listed on
labels; scientific names containing ten-plus letters to each
ingredient left me feeling confused and not trusting what that
ingredient really was. A college friend of mine was experimenting
with soap making at the time and suggested I look into making my own
products, starting with soap; she expressed the simplicity of the
process and encouraged me that I could do the same for my own
household as she was for hers.
Four months into my research for creating my
own products, I settled into motherhood and returned to freelance
writing. I was also working part-time as a personal assistant
for a toddler with Autism. Motherhood and my part-time schedule
took more time than I had to offer to my writing, so I once again put
my writer’s cap on the hook to refocus where my energies needed to go,
creating skin care products for my little one when he was sleeping.
I secured a copy of “The Soap Maker’s
Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques, and
Know-how" (Cavitch, S) from my local library and found online
companies selling melt-and-pour bases (the baseline of the work is
complete, all one has to do is re-melt, add any additional ingredients
[oils, essential oils, herbs], pour into a mold tray - a cardboard box
lined with parchment or wax paper - and wait for soap to set up), I
decided to go with learning the melt-and-pour process.
This
was easy for me at the time, especially being at home with an infant
and being unsure about handling sodium hydroxide (lye). So there I
was, trying my hand at soap making, unsure if this was something I
would want to do or enjoy after my first attempt. My first thought
was that if I were to invest money into a project that I didn’t like
after trying it, what would I do with the materials left over after I
had thrown in the towel? What money I was bringing into the household
was very limited, and I wanted to make sure every penny counted when
it came to spending - and I’ve not had the best luck with saving or
investing wisely most of my life.
