Whimsy & Wash

🧼 USE. THE. SOAP.

I recently heard someone look at beautiful handmade bars and say, “Those are decorative soaps. They aren’t meant to be used.”

And as a soapmaker, that absolutely blew my mind. 😂

Because before I think about the swirl, the colors, the mica, the fragrance or what I’m putting on top, my first job is formulating a really good bar of soap.

Every Whimsy & Wash cold-process recipe starts with the oils and butters and the fatty-acid balance they bring to the finished bar. I’m thinking about cleansing, creamy versus bubbly lather, hardness, longevity and how the finished soap will feel when you actually take it into the shower.

Then I make it pretty.

Yes, I spend an unreasonable amount of time learning techniques and creating those swirls. 😂 Yes, I want it to look gorgeous sitting next to your sink. And yes, the skin-safe micas and fragrances make using it even more fun.

But these aren’t decorations disguised as soap.

They’re soap that happens to be beautiful.

So admire the bar. Take the picture. Match it to your bathroom if you want.

Then, for the love of soapmaking… USE THE SOAP. 🫧🖤

Have you ever bought a handmade bar that was so pretty you had a hard time getting it wet?

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🫧 GOOD SOAP NEEDS A LITTLE BREATHING ROOM.

One of the easiest ways to make a handmade bar last longer has nothing to do with the recipe. It’s what happens between showers.

Cold-process soap naturally absorbs water while you use it. If the bar is left sitting in a puddle or on a flat surface afterward, it stays wet and softens, which means more soap can wash away the next time you use it.

A well-draining soap dish or soap saver lets water escape and air circulate around the bar so it can dry and re-harden between uses. And if you have a few favorite bars, rotating them gives each one even more drying time. 🖤

Handmade soap takes weeks to cure before it reaches your shower. Giving it a dry little resting spot afterward helps you enjoy all that work for as long as possible.

Be honest: does your soap have a proper draining dish… or is it living dangerously on the edge of the tub? 😂

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🌿 NATURAL DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN “JUST TOSS IT IN THE SOAP.”

Botanicals are beautiful, but cold-process soap is a pretty unforgiving place. Between the high pH and the heat of saponification, delicate herbs and flowers can fade, brown, bleed or change completely.

That’s why something gorgeous in the garden may look very different inside a finished bar. Soapmakers often choose clays, infused oils, botanical powders or carefully selected dried ingredients depending on the effect we’re after.

And those pretty flowers on top? They’re often there for decoration, not because the soap needs them to do its job. 🌿

A little reminder that handmade soap is equal parts art, chemistry and experimentation.

What botanical would you love to see inspire a soap: rose, lavender, chamomile, rosemary… or something completely unexpected?

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🌿 SUNDAY SLOWDOWN

Sometimes the best part of making soap is finally getting to stop and look at what you made.

No pouring, no cutting, no trimming, no wondering if the fragrance is about to cause chaos. 😂 Just a finished batch sitting on the curing rack doing exactly what it needs to do.

And this one makes me happy. The red and creamy white swirl created the prettiest almost-feathered pattern, and that soft green top finished it off perfectly. Every cut gave me something a little different, which is one of my favorite things about handmade soap.

So today, we’re not changing anything. We’re just letting the soap cure, enjoying the slow part of the process, and appreciating a batch that turned out beautifully. 🖤

What’s something you’re giving yourself permission to slow down and enjoy today?

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Today, Whimsy & Wash pauses to remember.

We honor the lives that were lost, the brave men and women who served, and the families whose lives were forever changed. May we carry their memory with us, not only today, but always.

Never forget. 🤍

😍😍😍

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🧼 LET’S REBATCH SOME SOAP! Today we’re rescuing our infamous Wine & Rosebud soap! 🍷🌹 And don’t let this 10-minute video fool you… this took well over TWO HOURS. 😂 I grated everything down and put it into the crockpot on low with 2½ oz water, about 1 tsp glycerin and 2 tsp sodium lactate. Every 20 minutes or so, I checked it and gave everything a good mix as it slowly softened and came back together. Throughout the process, I worked in Merlot mica, purple mica and a little dark brown, adding a couple more teaspoons of water along the way to help disperse the additional mica. I kept adjusting the color as the soap melted because I was hoping for a really deep, moody burgundy. Did we get quite as dark as I imagined? Maybe not. But did we take our seized “ground beef” soap with fragrance pockets and turn it back into usable soap? YES. 😂🙌 And that was the goal! The texture didn’t give me much freedom with the top, but for my very first rebatch, this was such a cool experience. Now I definitely want to try making a true hot-process soap sometime. Another experiment, another lesson, and thankfully this one ended with soap. 🖤 Have you ever rebatch-saved a soap disaster, or would you have tossed this one? https://whimsyandwash.etsy.com #whimsyandwash #rebatchsoap #soapmaking #soapscience #coldprocesssoap