Ancient Esthetics

Posts like this really infuriate me! 😡

As a soap maker with more than 11 years of experience, I want to address posts claiming you can make “40 bars of soap for $18.”

Claims like this need context. What does each finished, cured bar weigh? What quantities of ingredients were used? What exactly does that $18 include?

Forty bars is a count....not a standard amount of soap. Mold capacity, cutting thickness, and water lost during curing affect the finished size and weight. Forty small bars and forty full-size bath bars are very different quantities.

Even a plain, unscented coconut oil soap requires more than coconut oil. There’s sodium hydroxide (lye), water, and an accurately calculated formula. “100% coconut oil” means coconut oil is the only oil used; it does not mean you can skip the chemistry or use an arbitrary lye-water solution.

Then there’s the cost of actually making it: a suitable mold, an accurate scale, safety equipment, mixing tools, cleanup supplies, and shipping when ingredients must be ordered. Equipment can serve many batches, so its cost is spread over time—but someone still has to purchase it.

For those of us making soap professionally, labor, packaging, labels, utilities, and business overhead also belong in the calculation. Leaving your time out of the math doesn’t mean your time has no value.

Skipping fragrance and color can certainly lower ingredient costs. Someone may also spend very little out of pocket on a batch because they already have supplies. But that needs to be explained.

My frustration is with presenting an unexplained dollar amount as the whole story. It can leave customers with an inaccurate impression of what handmade soap costs to produce and why makers charge what they do.

If you’re sharing a cost claim, share the quantities, finished bar weights, and what you included. That gives people useful information—and gives the craft the respect it deserves.

~Aileen
Ancient Esthetics

Update: I'll be in the shop Tuesday 11 - 5.

There might be signs that it's time to book your next facial. 💀☠️

The labor of love never ends~and when your heart is in what you do, there’s always something worth pouring yourself into.

The soaps are curing.... The shelves are full! Wholesale paperwork is underway, and connections are being made.

Little by little, I’m building something here in New Mexico that means so much to me. Next year, I plan to pursue New Mexico True as another step in that journey.

And my book is in progress.... 🧐 Hours, days, and weeks of writing, reflecting, and bringing together the knowledge and experience I want to share with other soap makers.

There is so much love going into those pages.

There’s something powerful about finally making time for your passion and giving it room to grow. My days are busy, my work is ongoing, and my heart is full.

It’s a labor of love..... and I’m still creating, still learning, and still building. 🥰💞