Thursday, June 30, 2011

Would your doctor pay for your wasted time?

What does your doctor give you when he/she's late?
I like CNN's take on this.  I especially love the moxie of a local Everett woman for sending her doc a bill (which he paid!). If you're kept waiting well past your appointment time then it's only fair to receive some measure of compensation for your time. After all if you value your time shouldn't your doctor?

Know a doctor that could use some of our amazing handmade soap to give away as tardy gifts? Let us know!
Just a small collection of Lather Unusual soaps

Monday, June 20, 2011

Preservative-free? Not always a good idea

Since delving into the sea of body product creation I've learned a lot! I still have more to learn I'll admit but so far so good. When I first started I wanted everything to be completely "All natural" with zero additives, chemicals, etc. Partly this is because most of us have been taught to believe that all chemicals are "bad". Even though, at it's most basic level we're all made out of chemical compounds and it's due to natural chemical compounds that we are all walking and breathing right now. Heck even water, H2O is a chemical compound because it has 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom.

Maybe it's time to rethink our views on "chemicals" and instead take a look at ingredient components and why they are needed, what use they serve and the benefits (if any) they bring to a product. Are some chemical compounds (naturally occuring and man-made) detrimental to our health? Yes indeed but the key again is education when figuring out just what's needed and why.

Here's a great example of when a preservative (man-made ideally) would have been a good addition to the product to the left. The container is of a fun, easy to purchase toy that acts like a "fart putty".  Since it's not a cosmetic product the manufacturers are not required to fortify the slimy stuff with a preservative; even though it's intended to be held in the hands and will most likely get used on the skin for various amounts of time. My little guy thought it was fun to lay the entire blob on his face and make a Darth Vader type mask out of it as he breathed rapidly through a makeshift mouth hole. Gross, I know..lol.. but this is what kids do, they get inventive with products and create their own uses for them. A clear example of a product being used outside of it's exact intended use; something manufacturers try to safeguard against.

After a few days of this he got bored and put the well-used slime back into it's container and forgot about it. We unearthed it a few weeks later. The perfect amount of time for the incubation of all manner of bacteria and molds to get freaky and procreate. It was a perfect storm for such an opportunity for overgrowth: moisture, excessive contact with human skin, warmth (container was sealed) and lack of a preservative). Too bad we didn't have access to a friend with a lab because I would have loved to have known exactly what we had growing in there. End result though? One unhappy kid with one seriously gross toy.

Now what's the correlation between this jar of slime and a bath product? Pretty simple really. Let's say you're in the shower where you take your favorite jar of XYZ product and we remove the .05-1.5% of preservative that's been added to keep you and it safe, then let you dip your wet, naturally bacteria-laden fingers into the jar and start using it on your skin. Once your wet fingers go into the jar the jig is up! Adding the lid back on, making a warm home for your new critters to grow, has now added to the problem. Dip back into it a day later with new goodies to add and this time you may be taking out more than just body polish or face scrub. You may not be able to see or smell the bacteria/yeast spores but there's a pretty high likelihood that they are there;  and their numbers are growing by the minute both in the container and on your skin. This could lead to a bacterial infection on your end of things..ouch!

So the next time you see ingredients like Phenoxyethanol and Caprylyl Glycolbe be very glad they are there because they are what keep the nasties from growing in your favorite products. Of ocurse if you make your own bath products, not intended for sale,  then you can go preservative-free but for those of us who sell retail we'd rather not take the risk.

Phenoxyethanol and Caprylyl Glycol are the main ingredients in a commonly used preservative system that is an excellent choice for formulations that require a paraben and formaldehyde-free preservative system. The combination of these ingredients provides optimized protection against microbial growth from bacteria and yeast. At Lather Unusual we use these two ingredients at the recommended strength of 0.5% - 1.5% in our lotion and scrub formulations.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

A mosaic table is born! The making of a live brand element

When customers visit Lather Unusual they can't help but encounter the large mosaic table that greets them when they first walk in. This was not an original part of the design when I was first envisioning what the store would look like back in Nov. of 2010. As a matter of fact it didn't become a concrete idea until the start of January, just a month before the scheduled opening date. But fate stepped in and it became obvious that something big had to happen.

Budget drove the first decision to transform part of a partition wall in the front of the shop into some kind of table/counter elements. Once we took that down (Pookus was a huge help) it seemed a shame not to re-purpose the frames which were still in good shape. After securing some clean backerboard, via freecyle, I went in search of tile and lucked out big time with a listing for free tile on Craigslist. What I didn't expect was that the tile was actually three big containers of new mosaic tiles (which I had never worked with); most of which was still glued to backing paper and easy to sort by color.

Thus started my journey into mosaic work! I researched designs online and found an amazing artist named Tiffany Miller whose work was a complete inspiration for the table design. I knew I wanted something that incorporated circles (like soap bubbles) and a few of her fine art pieces helped me see just how to make that happen.  My other bit of luck came from discovering an amazing product called No Days Mesh. It allowed me to create a 6'x4' sheet of mesh on which to build the design and fuse all of the tile down as I worked. When it came time for two of us to move the mesh and lay down the thinset cement I think we lost 4-5 tiles in total..which is stunning considering the size of the piece. There's no way I could have done this in 3 weeks w/out this product.

I also have to give thanks to my friend and experienced mosaic maker Angel for her help with the moving and grouting of this huge piece plus the loan of her tile cutters and endless advice. You saved me Angel! Plus Carrie at Streuter Technologies (makers of No Days Mesh) and Joe Moorman of Mosaic Art Supply for talking grout with me.

All in all not bad for a first time mosaic project. It has made for a wonderful brand element and conversation piece. I'm looking forward to using it to stage future classes and we're even considering adding wheels to the base to make it moveable for store events (buffet baby!). If you haven't been in yet, do stop by and see the table for yourself.

Cheers,
Logan,
Soap Siren 
Lather Unusual















Thursday, June 2, 2011

Today's Local Love: Jodee's Desserts (Guilt-free divinity in Green Lake)

When it comes to eating organic desserts there are usually two categories such fare falls into: granola-crunchy stuff devoid of true ecstasy and a whole lot of bland fiber and pastries that you can't believe are actually good for you. Friends Jodee and Butch Campo have created a stellar example of the later. Jodee's Desserts, whose namesake is responsible for the creation of the shops pies and other sweets, gives you eye candy, mouth joy and a contented (though not stuffed) belly experience full of flavor and silky texture.

With organic, gluten and dairy-free ingredients playing the leading notes you might wonder if you're really going to be satified? After all, can one actually enjoy a luscious slice of Banana Cream Pie devoid of whipped cream and butter? This former pastry chef says emphatically, "Yes!". Though they do have delicious smoothies, coffee, and other sweets the pies really steal the show here.

Be warned though, if you take a whole pie home expect that plates will be licked, lies may be told and uneven portions may be sliced. You may do battle with your spouse/roommate/boyfriend/friends/the dog..because chances are the last piece will be fought over, secretly hidden in the cold, dark recesses of the freezer and generally coveted. Their tag line is "All of the flavor and none of the guilt" and though you may feel guilty for taking more than you're fare share, that will quickly pass as you polish off the last crumb of nut crust from your fork....yes, it's really that good.


7214 Woodlawn Ave. NE 
Seattle, Wa 98115
Tel: (206) 525-2900
Mon-Sun 11am-8pm