I find myself in an interesting position.  I’m starting a new business.

More than a year ago I started looking into making my own hair gel and other hair care products.  I have semi-curly hair.  Not quite curly, but more than a little wavy and finding products that I liked that I could afford on a regular basis was not so easy.

Another consideration for me is smell.  I’m sensitive to scents.  The chemical scents of most cleaning products, including the ‘green’ selections, can knock me off my feet and trigger a migraine.  Many of the more affordable personal hygiene products are also very heavily scented.  I recall purchasing a ‘light scent’ deodorant one day when my local store was out of the unscented options.  That lightly scented deodorant was overpowering.  If that was light, what did that say about the normal version.

So, I started doing some internet research and set up a small chemist lab in the kitchen.  I can tell you with certainty that my husband has ceased to be amused when I answer his, “What’s for dinner?” with “Lotion”.  Soon after a few experiments – some great, others not so great, I learned that my local soap making supply shop was offering a class called “The Naturally Clean Kitchen”.  I took it and I loved it.

Then I thought, why not take the soap making class and learn to make my own shampoo?  So I did and I was hooked.  I have not achieved my goal of a great home-made shampoo, but we have enough luxury liquid hand soap to last us and eon.  I gave up on the liquid soap and have now focused a great deal of energy on some superb (if I may say so myself) bar soaps.

I knew that making just enough soap for my family and some friends wasn’t going to be enough for me.  There is just too much to try – swirls galore, confetti soap and other techniques that required my attention.  As a result, my family and I are swimming in soap.  Then I thought, “Why not sell it and make my new-found hobby/obsession pay for itself?”

So, here I am, neck deep in business plans, marketing, promoting, making soap and generally having a really good time.

Funny thing is, I’m already self employed and my new business is totally unrelated to my current business – engineering – and the engineering is really cutting into my soaping time right now.

Sigh – I now have 2 jobs and the same boss for each – me.  Here’s to maintaining my sanity.  I’ll keep you updated.