Why Soap? Because sleep.

People have asked me why/how I started making soap and other bath & body products. This is a totally legitimate question because 1) soap making isn't mainstream, although it is gaining in popularity, and 2) my background is in social work and public policy; not soap, not business.

The truth is complicated, so I often say that I got the idea from watching the Netflix series Orange Is The New Black. (The main character, Piper, has a soap making business with her bestie but has to put it on hold to serve time in prison for crimes committed in her youth.)

Soap making was not a predictable path for grown-up Kelly. In hindsight, I should have started making my own bath and body products as a teenager. I would use all the different bath products available to me, even if I didn't know what they were for; oils, bubble bath, splashes, salts, fizzies, loofas, pumice stones, back scrubbers - all in one bath. I cared not for protests of "excess" or "you'll scrub yourself raw" or "you stink - go wash all that stuff off."

It didn't occur to me to create my own products - my brain didn't work that way. I was a consumer and not very creative, at least not as defined by my ability to draw anything beyond stick figures. Also, take a look at the ingredient lists on bath bars and other products that you buy from large retailers...

I'm not picking on Dove - this was our preferred bar before I started making soap for my family. But that is an intimidating list of ingredients for someone who is not a chemist and is considering developing a craft, and I hadn't yet been enlightened about the difference between real soap versus "bath bars" or "beauty bars," which I now know are actually detergents, NOT soap. (Haughty sniff).

But I digress.

Flash forward 20 years and I have two diplomas of higher education and two beautiful and demanding children, ages five and two. I had always looked forward to devoting myself entirely to my family: breastfeeding, meal plans, daily walks, scheduled and supervised screen time, weekly mommy & me yoga classes, strictly-adhered to schedules for housekeeping (change sheets on Monday, clean bathrooms on Tuesday and so on). I had no idea how I would be affected by total and uncompromising submersion into domestic life, sleep deprivation, post postpartum hormones, and frankly no experience with meal planning and home economics. I am no stranger to depression, but the stakes seemed higher somehow knowing that I had two little mini-me's to look after and inspire.

But I was inspiring nobody, least of all myself. I played with hospital volunteerism, considered returning to work part time, thought about going into business with a friend. Nothing stuck.

And then I received the best gift I could have ever hoped for. My husband actually took me off the clock at night so I could finally sleep. At this point, my daughter was three and my son was eight months. Blessedly, the baby's nighttime needs were very little at this time; but my daughter still woke up multiple times at night.

Side note about sleep deprivation in new parents: It is debilitating and it can seem to last an eternity when you have not yet made it through to the other side at least once with a previous child. That is to say, had my daughter become a solid sleeper before my son was born, I may have had a different perspective on sleep by this time. One more along the lines with, "Treasure these nighttime cuddles...before you know it, she won't need you anymore." Also:

“Understanding that one can end a [sleep] study, and being certain of the temporal parameters of potential sleep deprivation, imbues the experience of sleep loss with a level of controllability that new parents seldom have. That is, (most) new parents realize they cannot opt out of the sleep disruption experience, and they have no certainty about when they may have an opportunity for sufficient sleep. The stress  literature has suggested that such uncontrollability could amplify the mood and physiological consequences of sleep deprivation.” (The Science of Parenting blog. http://scienceofmom.com/2013/05/14/sleep-deprivation-the-dark-side-of-parenting/)

The transformation was almost immediate and it.was.powerful.  I became more organized, more productive, more cheerful. I also became inspired.

And that's how it started.

1. First, I started sleeping. 
2. Second, I began searching for inspiration - something I could do for myself . 
3. Third, I had my "Aha!" moment while watching guilty-pleasure Netflix drama. 
4. Fourth, I got in touch with Lisa Chouinard of Feto Soap through an online ad for soap making classes and ended up as an apprentice. She taught me the basics about the art, science, and business of bath and body production. (Lisa is a wonderful teacher, eager to share her wealth of knowledge, passionate about her craft and forever thinking of ways to take her business to the next level. She is always looking for eager, hard-working apprentices to help her with holiday rush time.)

 Somewhere during this time period, (let's call it Operation Let Kelly Sleep, or "LKS", which also happens to be the acronym for Lucy Kat Soaps. Coincidence? I think not!), my husband and I were out on the back porch after the kids had gone to sleep and discussing life, plans for the future, etc. I don't really remember all the details of this talk, but I do remember telling him that I finally understood the expression "I am rediscovering myself", and that feeling of change and elevation continues to motivate me today.

I'm curious - what was your "Aha!" moment? Please share!