Seasonal Soap and Weather.

Seasons have powerful impacts on us.  Winter was a hard and long one this year.  We spent so much time bundled up against the elements, protecting our skin from the biting and stinging freezing winds, ensuring to stay warm, dry and safe.  If you were like me, at some point in late January you hoped there would be a sudden climate change that raised the daily temperature to the 70s, a gentle wind, light rain occassionally and generally pleasant conditions.  But that was not to be.  The winter grip held us for months.  And it affected us greatly.

We realized this when we began doing our art shows.  The first soaps to sell evoked spring, and all of its scented beautiful glory.  Soaps like sweet grass, honeysuckle and blooming tulips flew off the shelves.  Lilac, lily of the valley, rose bergamont.  Each of the floral soaps evoked spring… the gentle scent of flowers filling the air, the warming of the temperatures, and the coming hope of freedom from being bundled up tightly.  These seem to have been a common theme of the art fair patrons.  While other soap sold well, the floral spring ones were the big hit.

The pattern was noticeable to me and i wondered if others experience Seasonal Affective Disorder… the winter blues that come from less sunlight, and winter isolation.  Its a real condition, treated by doctors with light, vitamins, and in some cases the use of essential oils for aroma therapy.  Our noses are a powerful source of inspiration and imagination.  The best way to cure the winter blues is to begin hoping and thinking about spring.  My dad always got seed catalogues and began to plot and plan the garden of the year… which flowers to start from seed, which tomatoes to grow, etc.   The thought of the smell of the garden, brushing past marigolds, or pruning suckers from a tomato plant evoke memories of a warm summer day… take us away from the cold, bone chill of winter.

This is indeed what we think was happening.  Everyone has grown tired of the cold, longing for the fragrance of spring, the colors of nature bursting in slow but magnificent pops of color.  Motivated to do more research on this idea, we have put a plan in place to produce limited time only seasonal soaps…. when the season is done, theses flavors are retired until next year… Soaps include:

• Blooming Tulips
• Honeysuckle
• Lilly of the Valley
• Lilac
• Sweet Grass

And we have begun production of several for summer.  Once they are cured and ready to sell i will take photos and post something out there.  What do you think?  Do you feel the blues in winter?  Do you struggle with the lack of sunlight, or crave the warmth of the spring and summer months?  Love to hear from you.