The Last Blog
I actually started writing the final blog back in October when I knew this was coming. Now, I write the final blog. I erased everything I wrote when I decided to try the holiday season...get through that and make the decision in the new year. Here we are ending the first quarter, and it is indeed time to close up shop.
I can't say this has come as an easy decision, but the decision has been very clear and easy. I've been making soap more than 25 years, the last 10 years it's been my J-O-B. It has been a blessing to have my passion provide for my family. For my hobby to turn into something people found useful in their homes and lives. For what I know and do, to be a game changer for someone's skin AND be my job. I have been blessed. People ask what I do, my answer always gets a second look.
However as prices continue to rise for raw ingredients, and I see no near end to this, I cannot bring you a $15 bar of soap. That is not affordable for the average person, and as an average person I cannot sleep at night knowing I am out of budget for the average American family. I am in a unique niche, I make a product that folks need in their daily lives. I make something that at the same time, is a luxury version of that daily item. Handmade items are something that get cut out of budgets for families, groceries take precedent and I 100% understand this.
I simply no longer can provide for my family with my work. I will be shutting down soap in the next few days, and will find other work. I will no longer make soap, not even on a personal use basis. I will no longer have ingredients nor equipment to make it. People have asked "won't you make it for place A or still for friends or for yourself??" No, I won't. Shutting own means shutting down. I will not have racks, nor equipment anymore. I cannot downsize or cut production. The insurance doesn't cut in half for me, the cost of e-commerce doesn't cut down for me, the cost doesn't lower because sales are lower. It's just math....yay for math!
I look at this as an opportunity to support another soap maker who is trying to make it happen, and it's a chance to put food on the table for someone wanting the validation of being a maker. Unless you are a maker, you cannot understand the immense gratitude when you see a sale pop up in your email. Someone loves the product you make, so much so that they buy it, use it and come back for more. They find value in WHAT YOU DO. They believe in your creation, they trust you know your shit and bring you into their home (in a non-literal sense) but this is what people mean when they say using a bar of handmade soap feels like a hug. For more than two decades, I have made small rectangular hugs. I love this.
Thank you for your support over the years. I appreciate each and every person who has ever had a bar of Little Cabin Soaps in their shower, and before I was LCS I was Soap By Jana. For those of you who remember that far back, THANK YOU! I hope you will use this as an opportunity to support a local soap maker near you. Go to that farmers market, ask around, find a boutique to support and buy from them. Make someone's dream happen. Validate that shop, that maker, with that sale. Nothing speaks more to the maker's heart than someone putting their money where their mouth is, and buying that product. Put food on their table, provide for their family. It means more to them than you will ever know.
