My first attempt at making African Black Soap

I have the most amazing customers and I’m so grateful for them. They are always willing to help me when I have ideas for new products.  So when I decided to make African Black soap, I quickly realized I needed testers. I asked for help in my newsletter and in my Facebook group and within a few days I had plenty of volunteers.

African Black Soap

I’ve become obsessed with African Black soap. The soap is crumbly and earthy. It’s made from dried plants like plantain skins and cocoa pod ash.  There isn’t one recipe, each tribe has their own. They utilize the plants that are native to the area.  Each tribe’s recipe is guarded carefully.  I wanted to make this soap, but I felt it would be difficult to reproduce. Besides having no recipe, I don’t have access to plantain skins and cocoa pods.  In addition, since the soap is soft, it’s difficult to package. One of my suppliers imports African Black soap so I decided to purchase some and use it in my own soap recipe to make a hard bar of soap.

My First Attempt

Here is the result of my first attempt at making African Black soap. So far about 10 of my wonderful customers have tried it, and about 20 will be coming this week to pick up their sample. I appreciate the critique from my customers.  All comments, good and bad, help me. I’m especially grateful for the negative comments. I want to know what they don’t like about the soap so I can make it better. Of course, I know what I think about my first attempt and I’m happy I’ll be getting more feedback.

Unfortunately I don’t have any more samples of this batch to give out, they are all accounted for. If you’re interested in trying my second attempt at African Black soap, post in the comments below and I’ll let you know when it will be ready.

What are you grateful for this week?

Yours in Gratitude,

Angela