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WAPAKONETA — Lexie Kline began making homemade soap because of her own sensitive skin.
“I had a hard time finding soap with a scent I liked that didn’t also irritate my skin,” she said. “I was buying organic soap but it was really expensive, like $6 a bar. So, when I was whining about the price, my husband asked me why I didn’t just make my own.”
Kline, who enjoys cooking and crafting, did some research into the soap-making process, and the rest, as she says, is history.
Kline sells her soaps for $3 a bar both on her Facebook page, Little White Barn, and in her hometown of Wapakoneta. Her chiropractor, Kantner & West Chiropractic, and a local shop in downtown Wapakoneta, Fernhill Farmhouse, both carry her soaps. She also has done several craft shows and is excited about the upcoming Wapakoneta Summer Moon Festival and Street Market. The Street Market will take place in downtown Wapakoneta from 4 to 8 p.m. July 17 and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. July 18.
“The Wapak festival is the first show I’ve done in Wapak, so that is cool to be doing it in my hometown,” she said.
1. Did it take you a while to find the right recipe for your soap?
My first three batches were total flops. The first batch was too hard and didn’t lather at all. The next two batches I couldn’t get the scent right. The consistency was better, but the scent just wasn’t right. After a lot of research, reading soap-making blogs and reading a few books, I finally have a recipe that fits for me. I still feel it changes and gets better with each batch though.
2. What kind of equipment do you use?
I do what is called a hot process. Cold process is where you get your fats and ingredients into a liquid form, pour it into the molds and then let it cure for two weeks. I’m impatient, and I want to use my soap right away. The hot process involves cooking the ingredients in a double boiler or a crock pot. The curing takes place while you cook it at a low temperature at about 200 degrees. So, my main tools are a Crock-Pot, a stick blender and my molds. Oh and lots of plastic containers. It takes about an hour plus one night for cooling. It is a little bit softer than soap made using the cold process but I get to use it right away.
3. What are your biggest challenges?
I have a toddler, so a big challenge is that I use lye. The powder and even the water solution is very corrosive. I’ve burned myself a couple of times and have scars on my forearms. I have to make sure my toddler is in a completely different area of the house or he is asleep before I’ll make the soap. I just don’t want to take any chances that he’ll come in contact with the lye. That is a challenge I have as a mom. I’d say as a soap maker, the challenge is getting the scent just right and getting the scent so other people will like it, too. I use essential oils and herbs in my soaps. I absolutely refuse to use any kind of chemicals, but to get the scent strong enough, you have to use a lot of essential oils. That takes up a lot of your overhead. So, getting the scent strong enough — people are used to chemically enhances scents, which are stronger — but not so much that it’s not cost-effective.
4. What do you enjoy most about making soap?
I think I enjoyed the moment I discovered how big a difference the all-naturals soaps make in my own skin. For a person with skin problems like psoriasis or eczema, that is such a relief. I want to share that with others. There are more chemicals in so many of the body products we use than we realize. I can provide organic soaps without those chemicals, with a scent people enjoy at a good price. I get excited to be able to provide that and I am confident it is good for people’s skin and health.
5. How much do you sell in a month?
Right now I’m really new. I just started this process in the winter, spring, so I haven’t aggressively marketed. Right now I’d say on average I’m selling 35 to 40 bars of soap a month.
6. What kind of scents do you have?
It depends on my mood and what is in season. Right now, for summer, I have lemon lavender, pine tar, rosemary spearmint, spicy citrus, which is an orange ginger scent, strawberry mango, coconut lime, lemon poppy seed, and outdoorsmen, which is a bug repellent soap. I am working on beer soap, which will use summer ale.
7. What would surprise people about making soap?
I would say the thing that surprises most people is that anyone who can cook can make soap with the right safety precautions. It does take some practice and you have to have a few tools, but anyone can do it. At craft shows, I’m not upset when I see other soap makers. I think it is fantastic.
