Why We Created Our Value Soap Collection
I'll cut to the chase and tell you that the Value Collection was created with affordability in mind, first and foremost.
I could try to toot a sustainability-in-the-beauty-industry horn or bolster my brand with low/zero-waste, show-boaty buzzwords, but that would be disingenuous, and I'm a craftsman, not a showman :-)
I created this collection because I want my soaps to be accessible no matter your budget, and the rest of the perks are just happy sprinkles on the already-iced cake.
I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say that the last couple of harrowing years in the US have caused significant inflation from every angle.
However, as an artisan and small business, I cannot absorb those higher material and shipping costs to suppress prices; it's just not possible. There are no layoffs or budget cuts I can make to safeguard things, prices have to go up, and this led to a significant increase in the price of my signature soaps.
Even though it had to happen, it made me feel ill, and I was determined to find a way to keep my soaps accessible while not sacrificing the quality of my formula or the aesthetic appeal, so I set out to cut costs within those parameters!
After much deliberation and number crunching, the solution was to create a collection of soap bars that followed these guidelines:
- no exterior packaging
- use inexpensive and potent essential oils that won't evaporate quickly
- no fancy designs that cost a lot of labor and time
- slightly smaller bar size
With the exception of occasional, fun seasonal creations, the Value Collection soaps are just one color, with a simple fragrance consisting of just one or two potent essential oils, and the bars weigh about 2.5 oz versus the 3.5 oz of the signature bars.
Each bar is hand-crafted and hand-stamped with the Fern Soapery name, and sold without any packaging whatsoever. Natural soap stripped back, just a little bit more.
I truly do believe in the power of a GOOD, humble bar of soap to improve your relationship with your skin. I don't think we realize all the crap we put on our bodies just to get clean until we STOP putting all that crap on our bodies. I sure didn't!
Anyway, I hope that if you do happen to be a baddy on a budget, you'll give these value soaps a try. There are a few to choose from, and I've got more on the way soon.
If you need tips on getting the most life out of your natural soaps, check out this blog post.
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I thoroughly enjoy communicating with y'all here without the binding claws of social media algorithms, HOWEVER I am still on Instagram, as I also enjoy sharing process videos there. Follow along if you wanna!
I'm so thankful that you're here, reading, buying, and supporting my craft in a world that prioritizes commercialization and big budget advertising. Remember that craftsmen thrive on word-of-mouth! You never know who may fall in love with a small business next. I appreciate every single one of you!
Talk soon,
Courtney