Aromatherapy

Tomorrow I'm going to visit the Aromatherapy Institute and purchase soap-making supplies, as well as inquire about enrolling in courses for their programs in holistic health care.

The start-up fee is only $200, which isn't bad, since the numbers show that amount could create over 300 bars of natural specialty soap.

And so far the process of writing down all my ideas for recipes has been exhilarating, to say the least.

It will also be fun to give out free samples to people and get their feedback before I consider selling them on a serious basis (it's been a few years since I've made soap, so I need to practice). But the soap I did make was sold through the Children's Aid Society, so I thought it might be worth it to try my hand at it again.

My friend is also going to be taking courses with me in the new year, and we hope to have a modest line of skin care items for sale in the summer. She wants to specialize in natural make-up, whereas I am big on soaps, creams, shampoos, and spa facial treatments.

We were even thinking of aiming for a merchant booth at Eclipse Festival or some other summer music fest that would get us some exposure.

And it seems the most logical next step is to add some charity influence to the sales. One charity I came across recently particularly moved me, and it was a fund that supports a girls' orphanage in Israel. Since beauty products are quite girly to begin with, it made perfect sense to me to empower disadvantaged Jewish women of tomorrow.

Also, since it's specialty soap that's eco-friendly, there are two reasons people can feel good when buying it.

Oh, and I'm glad I didn't throw out my flame retardant lab coat and goggles from my first year chemistry lab while cleaning recently. They will come in handy tomorrow!

I will post pictures of the work in progress.

Lyla tov.