Over the past year, I have formulated very specific soaps after hours upon hours of research and testing. My soaps have come a long way since I started and I am very proud of how far I have come.
It is always a shot in the arm (a GOOD thing) when our products that I create get raved about. It's also amazing how hard I take a disparaging review or email from someone who hates my products. Why do I take it so personally? Because I work so hard to make them great and I am proud of my work, I guess.
A few months ago one of our soaps: Thai Sticky Rice Cocoa+ Shea Butter soap was scrutinized on a blog about how drying it was and the person who wrote it continued to say they didn't know what all the fuss was about it. (Ouch...) However, in the countless emails I receive regarding people's experiences with our products, I have only received incredible feedback regarding that soap. Drying? Just the opposite, according to all the other customers who brought it up.
So recently, we received an email from a disgruntled customer who bought Fat Boy Milk + Butter Bar. Hated it. That store-bought soap was better than that and what a waste of money it was. Then she left a 1 star review on our website.
Disappointed, more
like a glycerine soap than a milk soap. Really wanted to like this soap
but NOT! Did not leave with that smooth feeling I've always gotten from
other milk soaps-after shgowering I can scratch legs & see
marks(dry skin marks). I've felt better moisturizing qualities from Oily
of Oly or some other top retail soaps. I cant really even say its very
cleasing at least didnt feel so.I was not a fan will not repurchase; O I
will say it last longer than alot of milk soaps I've purchased it stays
firm when wet where most milk soaps will have a tendancy to dissolve
more quickly than some soaps.
Look, I know not everyone will like everything I make. I don't believe it's possible for every
one to like every
thing. As Joe Jackson said once (and these are in extra loose quotes), "You can either go to the people and give the masses what they want, or offer your craft to the masses and wait for them to come." I put this in quotes, but I am paraphrasing a memory of mine about something he said that has stuck.
People will come. That's what I got from it. All the stuff out there that scream "interesting" are unique, so as long as it's out there, people will seek it out.
As I grow in this business, I have realized that I can't compromise my style and give the masses what they want. Because guess what? So will everyone else. And what would make me stand out? So this is one of the reasons we have discontinued the multiple elixirs we used to make. It was staggering how disjointed it made me.
So now, I make what I know is good and it's what I love to do. And if people like it, they will come, and if they don't, than they can go, but I will stay true to what I believe. I believe in quality, not quantity. I'd rather make Soap + Crush than offer one hundred things in one hundred scents.
Having come to this conclusion, and months later, I get a wonderful review from Julia at
Cocobong Soaps blog. She really likes Fat Boy and this lovely lady is hard to please, especially in the moisturizing department.
I think
I'll take THAT review over the one on my website. :)
photo courtesy of Cocobong Soaps Blog
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