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bluegrassbubblessoapandsund-blog · 4 years

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Just When You Think You Got It All Figured Out....

Boom! SMASH! Well crap... THAT didn’t go as planned.

Let me explain... Last June, I did my very first outdoor show. I have a wonderful friend of mine that has been doing shows for a while and invited me to go with her to a show she’s done for a while now. She said she’d show me the ropes and show me how she does a show. It was a ten day event, so spending the night was gonna be a must. She explained that she and her husband just sleep in the cement floor in their booth. With my back, that was not gonna happen... So we decided to take our camper.

Now, it’s not that I’m against “roughing it”. My back is though. It all started when I was 17. I worked in the floral department of a grocery store and I lifted a box wrong and hurt myself. It just went downhill from that very first Workman’s Comp claim.

Through the years, having kids, gaining weight, etc. the pain steadily increased. I ended up with a totally absorbed disc in the lower lumbar. It was gone. Zilch. Nothin’ there! It was a bone on top of another bone, pushing into my spinal nerves causing all kinds of fun things, like irreversible nerve damage. I ended up with a fusion and a “cage” in my back. Over the next few years, the pain wasn’t really helped a lot by the surgery (READ: all kinds of fun things). I started to see pain management and ended up getting a spinal cord stimulator that interrupts the pain receptors to my brain.

Back to the show in June. My husband and I ended up replacing the bed that was in our camper with one of those cheap-o memory foam numbers from wally world, because we’re not rich folk, by any means. But good ol’ David thought the situation would be better helped by also including an egg crate mattress topper. In his attempts to make me ever so comfortable, “Hey Babe! Come try this!” I laid down for ten seconds and said, “yep, that’ll do!” got up and walked out. This was probably a bad idea. I should have slept on it at least once before trekking off for ten days with it. But alas....

The first couple nights I was too tired to care. Setting up, learning, taking all kinds of notes both mental and written, sitting in a corner just being quiet. Watching. Learning how she interacted with people. OK, I can do this. I worked myself into being a good “sell yourself” salesperson. Afterall, they have to like ME to want to buy what I make, right?

But the third night. Oh. My. Gosh. I woke up a thousand times, easily. Tossing and turning. The pain was never ending. I thought it was because there was a storm coming in. I can usually “feel” weather changing before it happens anywhere from a week to two days before it’s going to change. It just depends on how big of a barometric change the storm is bringing with it, and this was doozie coming, if my back was right. Thus, I tossed and turned.....

One of the vendors next to us had a young child selling a rabbit too, about the second day of the show, if I remember correctly. It had all the nice things it needed; a cage, water, food, hay... this thing was a happy bunny. It brought in all kinds of kids who wanted to hold and pet it. Cute, really. Um.... I’m allergic to rabbits..... and hay🙄. This thing was right next to our giveaway table, bath bombs. Literally right next door. I ended up having to go to the camper and sleeping off the allergy attack and Benedryl I had to take. Maybe that’s why I was sleeping so bad that night. I dunno...

I get up the next day, don’t want to talk to anyone, just want my coffee. End. Of. Story. I get my coffee and can hardly move. I spend the rest of the day literally getting up and down and up and down from sitting in our booth, to pacing back and forth. I’m sure I looked like a caged lion. It just got worse from there. Yes, I complained, because, damnit it hurt!😥

There was a whole fiasco with the lady next door and her kid and their rabbitts... yes, they brought more😮.... a TON more😡. Especially after we kindly asked if we could just give them the money🤑 for the rabbit and not bring it back. But, I digress...

Then at the end of July I thought there had to be something wrong with my back, because no amount of resting it was helping. I talk to pain management. They monitor my pain right? They do some cursory tests and tell me to go to the PCP to order a CT Scan. Because, she’s had instances where people can herniate a disc, just rolling over in bed. Huh? That’s a thing? OK... so I do as she says the test is ordered with contrast, ‘cause they wanna make me ‘glow’ to see my nerves. I then have the test.

Have you ever had a test that required the “contrast”. Well, it’s uncomfortable as hell. I’ll just leave it at that. Pain Management gets the results and I have to ask for them. She says there’s a new bulging disc and a tear. Let’s try an epidural! OKaaayy...

Epidural for the FAIL! NO relief. No. Relief. So, I go back, another month later.. “you should see your PCP and ask for a referral to Ortho and see what they can do for you. Your knees and hip are hurting so bad, because...your gait in your walk has changed due to the damage in your back from the new disc that is bulging”. OK, so I’m walking different because my back is jacked and that’s why I can no longer lay on my left side or walk normally..... OK.... PCP here I come.

PCP actually agrees with pain management?!? Wait! STOP! Hold the presses! I have two doctors actually agreeing on a course of action in regards to my health and alleviating this pain I’ve been in for six months?!?! I think I might faint.

“So who did your original back surgery...?” asks the PCP. I tell him and he says he’s referring me back to the original doctor. “Do you remember his name?” OK, first off, why is the pronoun always “his” or “him”? Just sayin’. 🤔🤣, Um, nope doc, it’s been like 9 years. That’s totally out of league of memory time span. I don’t feel bad because David doesn’t remember either. So, the PCP says they’ll figure it out once they see my chart. The office with call with the appointment.

I get the call the week before Christmas, when my kids are here. They give me the date, the time, and the address. I see the address and ask if it’s a new thing. Yes, I guess it is. Well, I usually see the doctor downtown, but OK. Thanks! That’s the only call I get about this. There’s no confirmation call for the appointment or anything.

Off to the appointment! It’s an early 8:30AM appointment, and with traffic in Louisville area, you gotta leave at least 45 min to an hour to get to wherever you’re going from my little outskirts town. We get there right at 8:00! Whew!

“Name?” I give my name and start pulling out the films of my CT scan, which I had gotten copies of the day before.

“Birthdate?” I answer, handing the report on said films to David.

“Ma’am, your appointment is out at the downtown office. He’s not even at this office on these days. You came to the wrong address.” I literally start screaming in my head, “OK, let me get this straight, I’ve waited almost a month for this appointment and someone gave me the wrong address, and now I may have to re-schedule???” Then I hear the voice of reason standing behind me say, “This is the address they gave us, or we would have gone to the Gray street address. We didn’t even know this one existed. Is there a way she can still be seen, because this was obviously an error on someone else’s part.” God I love that husband of mine.

“I’ll go ahead and call the office, but it’s up to the doctor. Start your way over and get through traffic.” I’m ready to cry. We get in the car and David starts showing me exactly how well in knows how to get somewhere with his internally built compass. Meanwhile I would have been listening to the GPS and cussin’ it out.

We get there 15 minutes later, I start filling out paperwork, getting the necessary things done and my name is called. We get in the exam room, I’m asked to put on paper shorts so they can take a picture of my back. Literally, the xray machine sounded like a camera taking a picture. That’s new. Then a doctor I’ve never seen comes in and explains something about some study she’s doing to answer the question on everyone’s mind...”does your hardware set off the machines at the airport?” Sure, I’ll fill out your little questionnaire. Then a student doctor comes and starts asking questions, making it blatantly clear she’s not even taken a cursory look over my chart.

By this time, I’ve waited in a hard uncomfortable chair for about an hour. I’ve had a nail-biting trip from one office to another and the regular “oh gosh I hope we’re on time” trip from the house. My back is all kinds of one big muscle spasm. The student doctor does some neurological tests... “I want you to”, followed by “Step on the gas pedal”, “brake”. OK, I’m not driving a car here, but damn, that left foot is harder to move than it was just this morning! What the hell!? Now my toes wanna curl. Thanks muscles. So, she’s not bothered with the chart at all, and I tell her why I’m there. She has me walk so she can watch. Up... ok ass, UP....out the chair ass... get. up. out. of. the..chair! Damn.... that hurt. So, I walk and feel myself leaning left and catching myself on the wall. Great... now I look drunk.

She leaves the room and I notice this guy that was with her that she walked in with because, he’s leaving too. He was pushing a cart around, and all you could hear from him was “tap tap tap tap” on the keyboard, never looking up. Just like a robot. Wow... I guess he was talking notes.

a few minutes later My Doctor comes in with is entourage: The student doctor, the robot dude, a nurse and someone who, I assume, is another student nurse, but at this point I don’t care, just fix my back!

“Long time no see!” my doctor says, “whew” I think to myself, he remembers me. He says, “what brings you in? Must be pretty rotten if you’re coming back here.” So I tell him. “OK, let’s look at the films.” The best thing about this guy is he just doesn’t bother with the report that a Radiologist makes. He knows what he’s looking at and makes a plan on how to treat the issue. He does this because he’s the Spine Specialist and the Radiologist...isn’t.

He’s looking at the screen and says, “This was done with contrast? Yep, it says so right here on the screen.” Awkward silence....”there’s no contrast”. I think he’s a little miffed off now. So, he’s showing the student doctor what he would be looking for in my case, because, believe it or not, the man remembers me from 9 years ago. He’s showing the cage “looks good” and he shows the fusion ”hey that took really well”, and as he’s going further up the vertebra, he starts to get a little softer and talks “shop” with the student. I hear the words, “We’re gonna have to fuse that” and “there’s definitely serious stenosis, but I won’t know for sure until we get an xray with the contrast.” He then turns to me and says “you see, this is why I have a problem with places like Shelbyville, Simpsonville, Bardstown, smaller towns, you know, doing this test, because, yes, they can do them, they just don’t do them well. It’s a waste of your time and money and mine. I need that test to see the extent of the nerve damage. It’s not a matter of IF you have surgery, just went and how invasive it will be.” Brain.....click......off. Literally, I heard nothing else after this. You see, in my life, I’ve already had 35 surgeries. I really, REALLY don’t want another one.

I went hoping to hear something was swollen and a pill would fix it, I guess. Anyway, He ordered 6-8 weeks of aqua therapy. YAY...Water time. Hmph. Sometime soon, I’ll get a call scheduling this test and have it done and it will take about an hour to do. Laying on this hard, flat table with all kinds of glow stick shit running through my veins for the 24 hours.

Oh...no work. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. The Big NOPE. All those plans in the new organizer, the reaching out to book new shows, the networking to get to know all the “right” people.... squashed. So, not a happy camper, am I.

I’ll still do stuff. I can’t just sit here. I’ll make labels and stuff. I have things like that to do anyway. I’ll edit videos and post them to YouTube (Yep I have a YouTube channel, click that link!). It will still be fun!

So.... Just when you think you got it all figured out....

#soap #homemade #handmadesoap #crafts #homespun #bathandbeauty

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bluegrassbubblessoapandsund-blog · 4 years

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How is SOAP made?

I had a question about how soap is actually made. The first question is what exactly IS soap? Soap is a process by which triglycerides are reacted with sodium or potassium hydroxide (lye) to produce glycerol and a fatty acid salt called "soap." But what does that mean? It means....

The process I use for making soap is called the “cold process of soap making”. I go through the inventory of hard oils and butters, these are oils and butters that are solid or hard at room temperature. I then go through and look at my liquid oils. I’ve got three recipes I use for the most part. I’ve perfected them and they’re awesome. I use a program that tells me the properties of the end result of soap I’m making. What kind of bubbles it will make, how cleansing or “harsh” the bar will be, how moisturising/conditioning the bar will be, how hard the bar will be, etc. I verify that I’m going to get exactly what I want. The program then tells me how much water I need to mix my Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) into. The lye and water together is called a “lye solution”. This is then mixed with the oils and butters which causes the chemical reaction known as “Saponification”, giving us that end result of a fantastic bar of soap. I’ll then go through my Fragrance Oils and Essential Oils and decide what I want this soap to smell like. Since soap is considered a “wash off” product, the scent isn’t meant to linger on the skin so much.

Now, this process (Cold Process) and the recipes I use, are very different from what is in the stores, because I’m not adding anything that doesn’t need to be in there and I’m not removing anything that needs to be in there either. That’s what commercial body washes/bars do.

When making soap it is imperative to follow safety practices! When making and selling bath and body products, you also have to follow certain health code procedures. So, before I measure or make, I put on safety goggles, to protect my eyes. After all, lye is caustic and we don’t want to lose our sight. I wear nitrile gloves (no burns from the lye solution here!) I put on my “soaping hat”. Others wear hair nets, but I like the reusable option of just washing my soap hats instead of adding to the waste out there. I put on an apron to protect my clothing (and this is made out of chemical resistant material), my long sleeve light sweatshirt (I’m not as diligent as I should be about this one. It’s for my safety, not that of the soap and end user. Let’s face it, I’m going through menopause and when those hot flashes hit, I’m not going to stop what I’m doing to take everything off to remove my long sleeved sweatshirt right now!). I also make sure I’ve got on closed toed shoes. I have three dogs and they are NEVER allowed in my studio. I have a baby gate that keeps them out.

The next thing I do is print my recipe, and get all my ingredients out. Using a digital scale, I measure out everything I’ll a need to make a loaf of soap. I use what’s called the “heat transfer method”. You’re thinking... “huh?”

I measure out all the hard butters and oils into one chemical resistant bowl. I measure out all the liquid oils into another. I’ll add the additives I plan on using which are things like milk powders, sodium lactate (to make the bar harder), granulated sugar (again, makes the bar harder and helps produce more bubbles!), and other items that add specific properties that will benefit the end user as well as the bar of soap.

When you add the sodium hydroxide to water, a chemical reaction starts. This heats up QUICKLY as the the sodium hydroxide dissolves. Once it’s completely dissolved, I pour it over the hard oils and butters to melt them. As they’re melting, I stir them until everything is completely dissolved. This takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how big the chunks of butters are that I’m using. Once it’s all completely dissolved, I’ll add the liquids/additives, and then I use a stick blender to bring that to an emulsion, where all the lye solution and butters and oils are brought together and there are no more little droplets of oils left on my stick blender when I lift it out of, what now is called “batter”.

From there, I split the “batter” into smaller portions to add colors. My colors are micas and pigments and sometimes they’re natural colors like oxides and indigo. I’ll mix these colors in using a silicone spatula or spoon.

To this point, I’ve not added any fragrance oil or essential oils. Unless I know exactly how a fragrance or essential oil “behaves” in the batter, I wait until this point. Some fragrance oils and essential oils, tend to make the “batter” thicken up very quickly. Something we call “trace”. Occasionally, one will thicken up so quickly you won’t be able to make a pretty design and if it’s really bad, you get “soap on a stick” where the fragrance literally hardens everything up the minute it touches the “batter”.

Sometimes you’ll get something called “ricing”. This is a reaction between the fragrance oil and the hard oils and butters in your “batter”. It causes them to harden up and look like little bits of rice in the “batter”. It doesn’t have a negative impact on the outcome of the soap at all. It’s just not as “pretty”. So you stick blend it a couple seconds and most of the the time, everything incorporates into your “batter” again. But now your “batter” is thickening up!

Now that the colors are added, the fragrance or essential oils are added, I start pouring the “batter” into my mold. There are several pouring techniques and I’m not going to go into them here. I’ll then put a design or botanicals, salts, embeds, etc. on the top, to make it even more pretty!

Once all the “batter” is in the mold, I go back and make sure I’ve used my silicone spatulas and spoons to get every last bit of “batter” out of the mixing containers they’re in and the top is done, (I don’t want to waste any of the oils or butters. Some of them are a little costly and the more I leave behind in the containers, the more money it will cost me in the end.) I’ll then take a microfiber towel and wipe out every single container (except the one I used to mix the water and lye). This makes washing them the next day pretty darn easy. I’ll then let that “batter” on the towel saponify, then throw it in the washing machine....heck it’s already got soap on it now, why add more? I then put the mold up and let the chemical reaction of Saponification take place.

In 24 hours, I’ll check on, what is now, SOAP. Sometimes, depending on the fragrance oil or essential oil, the soap will be “soft”. It will feel sticky and it won’t want to come out of the mold cleanly. So, I leave it another day. But, if it’s ready to come out, I’ll remove it. I then place it on the counter for a few hours to let it further harden and take some pretty picture of it before I cut it into bars. Once it’s cut into bars, it then goes on the curing rack for 4 to 6 weeks. This lets the excess water in the recipe evaporate and the bar gets harder over time. This makes it last longer in the shower/tub. (So long as the end user keeps it dry between uses!)

After about a week of curing, I’ll go back and clean up the edges by beveling them. This isn’t a necessary step, but I like it because it is a pleasing aesthetic and it helps to make the bar of soap feel comfortable in your hand when you’re first using it. After I bevel the bars, it’s back to the curing rack. Once they’re all done curing (weighing them every day until they no longer are “losing water weight”), I can package them, affix their labels and put them on the website or take them to a show.

And THAT my friends, is how my soap is made!

#soapmaking #soap #handmadesoap #smallbusiness #bathtime #bathandbodyproducts #saponification

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bluegrassbubblessoapandsund-blog · 4 years

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Organization

WHAT “Organization”?

Inventory is done. When you do inventory, you tend to literally take everything apart, make a mess of things and then try to reorganize it into something that is more functional. HA!

When I was thirty years old, my health was terrible. I had a “mini stroke”, among other surgeries and hospitalizations. That stroke hit the frontal lobe of the right side of my brain and was caused by birth control pills. It affects my short term memory something awful. (So that will explain if I repeat myself! HA!) After I “organized”, got rid of a huge amount of empty boxes I didn’t even realize I had that was taking up precious space that I needed desperately. I then took stock of the things I needed, and neatly found homes for what I had.

I then started making things that needed to be made. Easy things like Whipped Soap, Lotion Bars and I finally finished making that Beard Oil! Because I also make Candles and Wax Melts under “Anne & Lloyd Hand-Poured Candles and Wax Melts”, I also needed to look at that stuff, and test some wicks in some new containers I got. Enter “disorganized chaos”. On one of the counters is candle testing, and on the other end is lotion that needs labeling, and four loaves of soap to make!

Then of course, the orders I get that need to get packaged and shipped (Which I am SO very grateful for, Thank you!). In my little 10 X 10 room, I’m just left shaking my head.

Thus, I thought “Goodness I need a better way to this.” So, enter Amazon and an organizer. I spent TWO DAYS going through and organizing my organizer! Who does that? But, in the end I at least have a rough outline of when things HAVE to be done, when inventory HAS to be done and I’ve decided to only release new items once a month to make life easy on myself. I’ve been working on my editing skills for YouTube videos too. I also have a “marketing coach” and I’m learning about marketing too.

Now, something a lot of people don’t know is, I am diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. It’s a label and I hate labels, but there ya have it. I was diagnosed over twenty years when it wasn’t the “vogue” thing to do. That being said, being Bipolar can sometimes be a good thing, and sometimes it’s a bugger. Sometimes it helps me get hyper-focused to the point that I’m really booking in the studio and sometimes I can’t even walk in there. I just feel so overwhelmed. It sucks, but there you have it. So, hopefully this little organizer will kick me in the butt and yell at me to make me do something. LOL

I have an upcoming show at the end of February that I’m getting ready for. It’s an Auto Show and I don’t know how things will go, but I’m expecting at least some people to be interested in my wares. I guess we’ll see. Boy, this blog took a left turn didn’t it? Welcome to “the train of thought as derailed”!

Today’s agenda is to affix labels, measure out more oils and make some soap so it can start curing. Next blog I’ll explain what the “Saponification Process” is and how I actually make SOAP!

#soap handmade homedecor candles organize bipolar smallbusiness handcrafted

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bluegrassbubblessoapandsund-blog · 4 years

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So What Happened Next?

In our last blog, I told you about how I did my research and started to learn how to make soap. I explained my process a little and then the testing and eventually got my business started. Now... let’s go from there....

After I got my soap “mastered” the way I liked it, my medical background kicked in even more! My granddaughter’s eczema had flared on her head so bad, that she was refusing to brush or comb it, because it hurt. So, I did a bit more research and made her a “hair mask”. My older daughters had been putting coconut oil in their hair for years at this point, because it helped their color damaged hair. I noted the properties of other fantastic oils for the scalp (as well as the facial hair that men have!) and made this mask using just three oils. I added some essential oil to help her as well, and just one night with the hair mask, and a shower cap did the trick...

Her soon-to-be Step Dad then realized how it helped his dandruff and beard...Beard Oil was born (not in the shop yet, but it’s coming!). Then the hubby had a different problem for me to solve....

David had a problem with that equilibrium after having the Acoustic Neuroma removed with his working ear parts. Not only that, his feet have always been very calloused and dry. I started thinking about how I could help with that issue and made the realization that Hemp Butter/Oil is AWESOME!!! I made some notes and made a lotion bar for him. He loved it. He still uses it....

So there’s a little bit of how I do my research, make new products, and test them. I also have other family members and friends that test my products for me and give me honest reviews of the things they use. If I need to change something, I do. For me, there’s no “ego” in this. I truly just want to help people!

When I started making the Bath and Body products, I used my kitchen. My daughter and grandchildren then moved in and in a three bedroom house, there just wasn’t anywhere else I could make products. I followed my little “GMP” book I made (this book outlines everything to do for “Good Manufacturing Practices” from start to finish so I get the same outcome any time.) , and I made my products while my Grandchildren were at school and my daughters were at work. We were four adults and three kids in a small house, but I made it work!

After almost a year of this, my daughter and her girls moved back to the state she came from, and my husband decided I needed a “studio” because the business was growing and I needed SPACE for curing soaps, making other products and labeling and packing. So, that now empty third bedroom was MINE! He got kitchen cabinets, a sink and other necessities for me. We painted the room and cabinets and got more shelving and then....

Since I had been making bath bombs by hand when the weather permitted... You see bath bombs “activate” when the humidity is high and living in state where the humidity can be high, made it so the weather dicated when I could make bath bombs. It still does to a certain extent. Also, since I had been making them by hand, and I have arthritis in my back and hands, it literally would hurt to make them after a batch or two. So, my birthday present was a Bath Bomb Press and an air compressor two years ago! But that darn humidity....

Thus, a few months ago, he bought me a little dehumidifier and a digital read-out device for the Studio that told me the temp and the humidity in the room. You know, I’m still emptying that thing twice a day? That’s how humid it’s been and when it’s like that, bath bombs and I do NOT get along.

A few months ago as well, my middle one moved out too. Thus we both had an office again. I store all my mailing supplies and the laser printer in there that prints all the labels. David decided I needed more counter space and added another three feet of counter for me and more storage. I’m so grateful for him!

After the Holiday Season, my studio literally looks like a cyclone hit it. But, eventually in the next week it will get reorganized...again. Inventory of supplies will happen like it does every month and databases will be updated, again. Then the year starts all over as I look for local shows to attend, and get ready for the next year.

I’ve been doing some drawing of soap ideas in a notebook. I lay out scents, colors, etc. in it’s pages and plan seasonal things in it. I look at the upcoming shows I’m doing and think of things that would “fit” that show. Since I’m also trying to teach myself how to make, edit and upload videos to YouTube, I’ll share some of that stuff here too.

There’s you little continuation. Now we’ll get to the meat and potatoes of what I do and give you a behind the scenes blog on what a day in the life of Bluegrass Bubbles is like in our next installment! I hope you’re liking this so far. Let me know!

#handmade #soap #unique gifts #giftshop #bathandbodyproducts #howitsdone #smallbusiness #homedecor #waxmelts #candles

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bluegrassbubblessoapandsund-blog · 4 years

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I’m a LOUSY Blogger!

But Let’s Get To Improving That!

Well, obviously, I forgot for a while that I even had a Blog! Shame on Me! That being said, let’s start by Re-Introducing who I am, what I do and what we’re all doing here in the first place!

I am Melisa. I’m 51 years of age and I have been married to my high school sweetie since 1988 and his name is David. We’ve been together for 33 years in 2020. David and I share three beautiful grown daughters, Brittany, Kymberly and Krystina. We have six grandchildren: Jessica is 11, Rebecca is 10, Katherine is 7, Joshua is 7, Annalyna is almost 3 and our newest is Zanora, born October 18th of this year. We also have four “Fur-Babies”. A Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix named Peanut (She’s almost 9 years old), a Papillon named Popcorn (She’s almost 5 I think!), her full blooded sister Caramel (If Popcorn is 5, Caramel is 4!) and our most recent addition is Bella (she’s about 5 too, I think) Bella was my Mom’s baby. My Mom passed away a few months after she got Bella. At the time of my Mom’s passing, we didn’t want to give Bella away, and Krystina adopted her and loves her to death. However, with the recent new addition of Zanora to the household and Annalyna being a normal 2 year old, Bella inevitably “nipped” at Annalyna. So, we took Bella….for now. Who knows, she might go back to Krystina’s house, only time will tell.

What do I do? Well, I’m actually a trained Medical Assistant and Phlebotomist. I worked for a handful of doctor’s in my native state of California after graduating from school. One of my favorites was working at an Urgent Care facility where I got to see all kinds of illness and injury. But the job I enjoyed the most, was working for the Chief FAA Medical Examiner of Los Angeles County. I was in charge of the lab, ran all kinds of tests, took X-Rays as well as a myriad of other things. I loved the patient interaction and helping people get and maintain the ability to fly, through their Federally Mandated Physicals. However, David works in the Aircraft Industry, which at times, can have a high turn over rate, so you go where the jobs are (The main reason we’ve lived in 6 states throughout our marriage!) and we ended up moving to the state of Arizona from our home state of California. After graduating school and working in my field in those offices, I eventually found work with the local school district my daughter attended as a substitute Health Office Technician. After a couple more moves, and a couple health issues on my part, as well as the death of my Dad from throat cancer, we moved back to California to be closer to my Mom and Sister, Annette. Because of my love of cooking, during this time in California, I also attended Culinary Arts School. However, my husband David was working in the aircraft industry and after 9/11 happened, unfortunately the jobs in that industry dried up and he had to find “side hustles” to make ends meet as he looked for other employment within the industry. Then one day, one of the job applications he put in, panned out! The Federal Aviation Administration called and offered a job, and he took it, which facilitated our move to the state of Kentucky where we had lived before when David was serving in the U.S. Army during Operation Desert Shield/Storm. We had always said we loved Kentucky and had talked about retiring there, so THAT worked out well!

After moving to Kentucky, our two youngest daughters finished high school and our oldest daughter’s then husband, had joined the military and she came to live with us while he was doing some training. She brought with her our Granddaughter Jessi and her pregnant tummy! As my birthday approached, so did her due date, and on my Birthday (November 19), I took her to the doctor and they announced she was going to have a baby that day! So, Rebecca (Nicknamed Reba!) was my Birthday Present that year!

During Brittany’s stay I ultimately had my first back surgery where I had a titanium cage installed and a fusion done. At this point, I was no longer physically able to stand for 8 to 10 hours a day meeting the physical demands of the job I enjoyed. So, I threw myself into my hobbies of counted cross-stitch, crocheting, reading, cooking and scrapbooking.

After living in the suburbs of Louisville for a couple years, we bought a house 30 miles away in the little town of Shelbyville. By this time, Kymberly had moved back to California after graduating high school, and Krystina had just graduated. Brittany had moved back with her then husband, out of state again. (😥)

Krystina moved out eventually and it was just David and I our dogs Rotunda (another Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix who was 12 years old), and our puppy, Peanut. Kids and grandkids grew, families grew and, as most “empty nesters” David and I began to enjoy our time together as “just us”.

Then, at a family get together (I actually don’t remember the date. One of those “health issues” I experienced was a mini stroke when I was 30 years old caused by birth control pills and my morbid obesity at the time, they concluded. Thus, the stroke obliterated my able to remember things as well as it use to!) I noticed that Reba was having, what I thought at the time was, dry skin issues. I began to take notice and pay attention to the things with other family members and their skin. ( I guess that was Medical Assistant in me!) I was trying to figure out what was causing the problem for her because she complained that the patches itched and sometimes hurt. Around the same time, David had to have major surgery. He was diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma. It had attached itself to the working parts of his ear, his facial nerves and his brain stem. Ultimately, they removed all but a very tiny piece of the Neuroma as well as all of the workings of his ear, so he became completely deaf in that ear, and had a second surgery to install a Cochlear Implant. As he was healing from that, he neglected to shave and I noticed that he, too, was getting these dry, flaky, itchy patches where his mustache would grow. And the research began in earnest!

Because I am a redhead (As is Kym, Reba, Annalyna and we haven’t figured out if Zanora is or not!), I have struggled with sensitive skin issues since I was a kid. I never got a “tan”, I got “pink”, “lobster red” or obtained more freckles. As I got/get older, I develop(ed) more and more sensitivities to things like laundry detergent and shampoos/conditioners. So, using my own experiences the first thing I looked at was laundry detergents. From there I looked at the shampoo/conditioner, and from there it lead me to the “soap” we used in the shower/tub.

The information I was gathering was quite interesting and little shocking, to say the least. Since I was a kid, I remember seeing commercials on TV about how actual “soap” was bad for the skin, that using XYZ Brand of this or that was more “moisturizing” and better for your skin. These commercials through my youth, told me that using “soap” was drying, contributed to wrinkles as you age, leaves a “film” on your skin, makes your tub/shower have excessive “soap scum”, etc., but as I was researching, what I found astonished me. Especially since the TV told me how bad actual SOAP was!

My first thought after going down this rabbit hole of research was, “Wow, maybe I need to change the stuff we’re washing with”. Why? Well, I learned that what I was using at the time, a liquid body wash distributed by a company who’s named after a small white bird (😉) could not legally be called “soap” even though that’s what we all call it. The process used to make this body wash literally removes the glycerin (something called a “surfactant” that does actually help to moisturize to an extent, but is defined as a compound that lowers the surface tension between two liquids, between a gas and a liquid, or between a liquid and a solid. Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents, emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants.), only to add it back in, and the additional additives they actually added to make it “better” for your skin, as was their “claim”, were actually not necessary and were detergents as well.

“DETERGENTS?!”, I thought to myself….”like, I’m actually washing my body with laundry detergent?” Um… yeah-you are (🤨)! So, I grabbed my bottle of body wash and started to actually read what I was putting on the biggest organ my body has. The organ that absorbs everything from environmental pollutants, to what you put on it, to what you ingest. (Medical training kicking in here again.)

The ingredient list was LONG, containing words I couldn’t even pronounce. (Can you?) Then I thought to look at the “soap” and “body wash” that Reba was using, and read the same ingredients; detergents, etc. The only difference was they added extra stuff to balance the pH to the eyes (making it “tear free”), rather than the body. What does the pH actually do? Let’s look at that…

pH stands for potential hydrogen with the “p” meaning potential and the “H” standing for hydrogen. The pH scale is a scale that is used to rank the relative basicity or acidity of substances to other substances, based on the amount of hydrogen ion activity in a substance. (sciencetrends.com)

Now, I could go into and define and describe all the ingredients I’m talking about, but that would be a science lesson in and of itself. Suffice to say, I didn’t like what I read and learned and thought there had to be something better that would help the dry, itchy skin my loved ones were experiencing. So, I looked into actual “soap”. As I was reading about soap I came upon the different FDA laws regarding the making of “soap” both in solid and liquid forms that we were all using. The FDA has a law that states that the items used to actually wash your body, that you buy at places like the grocery store, or big box stores, cannot legally be called a “soap”. Because of the additives and processes used to create what we were using, the law states that they have to be called something else. So, corporate America gave these items names like “Facial Cleansing Bar”, “Moisturizing Body Wash”, etc. Wait! What? You’re telling me that almost 99% of the stuff at the store I buy my family to wash with on a daily basis couldn’t legally be called soap because they’re “detergents” and corporate America is conning the populous at large? That would be a hard yes. Well, then… (Go look at the wrapper or container your current stuff comes in the from the store and see what it’s called… I’ll wait.)

What did washing with detergents do to the skin? It makes it dry, flaky, itchy and it can exacerbate skin issues that may be underlying such as eczema, psoriasis, allergic dermatitis, the weather, etc. Well darn! How do you fix THAT issue? Back to actual “soap”…

I started to google “soap” and all the sudden a new world opened up to me. I found all kinds of places that were selling the ingredients to make your own soap at home, videos that showed you from start to finish. The different ways to make it. The different ingredients and their benefits… the lists went on and on. I actually got quite overwhelmed. So, I just started making notes, and doing more research and watching more videos. I learned that you can’t make actual SOAP without Sodium Hydroxide (Lye). Even the “Body Washes” and “Beauty Bars” have Sodium Hydroxide in them. (Or it’s sibling Potassium Hydroxide, which is used to make a liquid “soap” or “wash”.) HOWEVER…..

While watching and reading about making SOAP, there were CONSTANT warnings about Lye Safety and how dangerous it is to work with Lye. The kinds of safety equipment that would be necessary to work with it, and honestly, I got intimidated and scared. But then I saw something called “Melt and Pour”. This is a Glycerin based soap that is already “made”, having gone through the processes necessary to make it SOAP. All you had to do, was melt it in a microwave, color it, add any fragrance or essential oils to it, and pour it in a mold. You simply let that cool and harden and BOOM, a handmade bar of soap that you’ve made at home.

It was a fun learning experience for sure. To this day, I still make some of the Melt and Pour soaps and add them to my other soaps and I let the grandkids work with it to make their own for gifts for family members. But I really wanted to be able to use those fantastic oils and butters that really benefit the skin! So, I took my Culinary Arts training, and bit the bullet. Because you’re following a recipe and a technique, it was quite similar to actual cooking! I watched a thousand more videos, including the ones about Lye Safety, over and over and over again, just to be sure I KNEW what I was doing and felt comfortable enough to work with it. In the Culinary world we have something called “Mise en Place”, which basically means “everything in it’s place”. You should get everything out that you plan to use, weigh, measure, the tools, etc. Everything should be ready before you start. So, I did that. Then, I set to work making my first bars of soap made with Sodium Hydroxide, in a design called a “Tiger Stripe”. I honestly can’t tell you what the scent was, or the colors that I used. But I remember it was fun! I was so very proud, looking at that wet soap in the mold… Now for the Saponification Process.

What is the Saponification Process? Saponification is a process by which triglycerides (fats) are reacted with sodium or potassium hydroxide (lye) to produce glycerol (emollient) and a fatty acid salt, called “soap.” The triglycerides are most often animal fats or vegetable oils. When sodium hydroxide is used, a hard soap is produced. (thoughtco.com) This process renders the Sodium Hydroxide (or Potassium Hydroxide) completely inert. It’s done it’s job of turning the oils, butters and water into a bar of soap. So, the Sodium/Potassium Hydroxide will in no way negatively affect your skin at all, whereas when soap hundreds of years ago was made, it was hard on the skin. In fact, my Grandma’s generation still viewed “lye soap” as something quite harsh. Basically because the lye that was used was made from wood ashes, wasn’t as pure and the science that we use today (computer programs that help to determine the proper amount of Lye, water, oils and butters that will make the best bar of soap, with proper hardness, moisturizing properties, cleansing abilities, bubbles and no harsh or adverse effects from the lye.) hadn’t been invented yet. They also didn’t have any of the additives that we use today like colloidal oatmeal, milk powders, etc.

So, 24 hours after I made that first loaf of soap, I cut it. It was the best bar of soap I’d ever seen! I cut it with a knife I bought specifically for soap. I cut it unevenly, and I didn’t care. Then I had to figure out where to let it “cure”. Curing is where you set the newly made soap aside for 4 to 6 weeks and allow all the excess water left in the soap, after the saponification process, to evaporate, leaving the bar as hard and as long lasting as possible. I found the perfect place, in my foyer. Then I immediately wanted to make more…and more… Pretty soon, my foyer was filled with newly made, curing soap! Anyone that came to the front door, or entered the house, always asked what smelled so good!

I tested the soap 5 weeks later, as did David, in the shower. It was bubbly and it was a different feeling on my skin than what I was use to, in a good way. I felt… cleaner? Was that the word I’d use? Yes, it was! I felt like there was just clean skin there, not something else. I don’t quite know how to explain it, other than I didn’t feel like I had a thin film of “slime” on my skin that the aforementioned body wash I had been using, left on me that was meant to make my mind think this was a “conditioning, moisturization” of my skin. It was “slime” to me, now that I had used my brand new bar of soap! Well, now I was hooked! David’s skin, after about a week, showed improvement as well! Holy Heck, what did I just find!?

For the next solid year, I played with different recipes, different oils and butters, different molds, different colors, different additives…. I found a recipe I seriously loved. I shared the bars with family and friends and finally was told so many times..”This stuff is great! You should sell it because I’d buy it”. So, I did. And Bluegrass Bubbles was born… We got a business license and became official, then started our website, bluegrassbubbles.com

In the next installment of the blog, I’ll continue some of the story! Please remember to share and invite your friends to the blog! Feel free to ask questions and interact!

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