There is a time to say good-bye and move on. Whether it be a job, relationship, your current home–anything in life big or small. In this particular instance it was small but something that had been in my life for many years. It was my liquid soap. But trust me, I fought and I fought hard.
After I learned how to make natural soap, I kept up my trial and error process from batch to batch. How could I not? When I bought the supplies to start making the soap I bought 50# containers of the oils. We won’t go into my line of thinking on these slightly large choices. With over 200# of oils sitting in my basement I either started crafting or deep frying. My supply of Perch in the freezer was kind of low, so I started making soap. And boy did I make soap.
Everywhere I looked I had soap bars laying around curing and drying. It looked good. It looked like I knew what I was doing. Every time people came over to visit I would give them a few bars. ‘Here, try this. It is all natural and great for your skin.’ It was my favorite tag line and I used it so much that I think people started avoiding me. I imagined that people were saying, ‘Oh look, there’s Tina. Hurry, go the other way before she tries to push more soap on to us.’
What was a girl to do? I was making the soap for the pure fact that I could. Now, what to do with it? I kept giving it away and finally, for the first time, someone asked me if I use it. I stood there and stared at them.
‘Of course I use the soap I make. I have a bar sitting by my kitchen sink,’ I replied.
‘Well, do you use it for bathing? Washing your face?’ she asked.
Wow. I didn’t know how to answer so I just kept looking at her. My uncomfortable non-answer was saved by her phone ringing. Whew!
But I wasn’t really saved. Her question was legit and I was afraid to tell her the truth: ‘no, I do not use the soap I make unless for hand washing’. The reason why is pretty pathetic. The mess! I don’t want the mess.
I like the cute soap bottle with the cucumber pear smell—it even has little blue action beads in it to help scrub my hands. And the shower? A bottle of gel that does the same. There are no soap holders, no soap mess. Just a nice and neat soap bottle sitting there waiting for use.
What an absolute lame excuse why I don’t use my own soap.
The next day I brought my soaps with me into the shower. And I used them daily. I replaced the soap by all the sinks with my bars. Damn it, I make soap! This will be the only soap that I use.
The shower gel was still sitting there waiting patiently though. I was no longer using it but I was hesitant to throw it away.
A few noticeable things happened after I started using my own soap. For one, I noticed that the soap mess I was concerned about was not all that big. This was in my head. And my skin was doing amazing things! The mysterious red dry blotches on my face disappeared and overall, my whole body was noticeably less dry! I started using less lotion as my skin did not need it.
It was a few months after I started using my soaps that I walked into the bathroom and stopped dead in my tracks. There was an odd uncomfortable smell in there–and not the kind you are thinking. I slowly walked further into the room, sniffing as I went. Ahh, there it is. The culprit. Someone put a bar of regular store bought soap in the shower.
I find it amazing that I picked up on the smell about 6 feet from the shower. It was a smell that was familiar but now made me uneasy. After not being exposed to soaps with fragrance and various other chemicals for a few months, my senses were now offended by them. It now absolutely stunk and made me feel as though I was sniffing in fumes. Which in an essence, I was.
I did not have to think twice. It was at this moment that I said good-bye to my liquid shower gel, toxic action beads and all. And I have not looked back since that day.
I now Walk the Talk.
