Hi, I just did a craft fair this last weekend and one of my potential customers made a snide remark about the shrink wrap that my soap is wrapped in. She said the cellophane makes soap go rancid. Has anyone ever heard this before? So now, I am toying with unwrapping thousands of bars of cp soap and rewrapping them in parchment paper. What does everyone else do for packaging, because in parchment, my beautiful swirls will be lost. what has been the most successful packaging ideas for selling lots of soap? I have a couple more craft fairs coming up. I want to make sure I don’t hurt my sales by using parchment.
Packaging
- Thread starter bubblie
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Pennymac02
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- Sep 24, 2019
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I tried parchment. Even with a “sniff” bar out folks still put the wrapped bars to their nose. I don’t use shrink wrap, not because it makes my soap go rancid (WUT??) but because I like that restaurant grade cling wrap keeps the soaps clean and you can smell through it.
I think she’s mistaken. In 5 years of soaping I’ve never had a wrapped bar “go rancid”. I’ve had soap develop DOS, but usually it’s the unwrapped soap that does that for me.
I think she’s mistaken. In 5 years of soaping I’ve never had a wrapped bar “go rancid”. I’ve had soap develop DOS, but usually it’s the unwrapped soap that does that for me.
It's not that it will go rancid, but even well-cured bars will sweat at times.
What you can do is keep them on the curing racks until you have a show, and then shrink wrap them. When a customer says something about it, explain that you do keep them unwrapped, but wrapped it for the show to keep it "fresh" and "pretty" or something like that.
What you can do is keep them on the curing racks until you have a show, and then shrink wrap them. When a customer says something about it, explain that you do keep them unwrapped, but wrapped it for the show to keep it "fresh" and "pretty" or something like that.
I think your customer is incorrect. I've been using shrink wrap for over 5 years and haven't had a problem. If a soap is going to go rancid I think it's more due to the ingredients going in (and nothing lasts forever, especially if no preservatives are used) and the environment it's stored in and displayed in.
The way I wrap my soaps is to cut off the sealed side so that both sides of my soaps are open and shrink it around the bar. That way they have something to sniff and I'm not grossed out by a ton hands (with no way of knowing where they've been) touching something I might potentially end up using - yes, the wrapping is for me lol
The way I wrap my soaps is to cut off the sealed side so that both sides of my soaps are open and shrink it around the bar. That way they have something to sniff and I'm not grossed out by a ton hands (with no way of knowing where they've been) touching something I might potentially end up using - yes, the wrapping is for me lol
OK, I just scoured the internet and read all kinds of things about bad packaging (who knew there were so many!) and couldn't find one thing about cellophane shrink wrap making soap go rancid! I think she was in a bad mood and took it out on you! I'm sorry she put doubts in your head!
Rsapienza35
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- Nov 4, 2019
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I do not use shrink wrap, however; I do not believe that it has anything to do with DOS. Soooo..... many people do use shrink wrap. I am sure we would've heard of this before. I agree with LittleSis. Don't let some random make you doubt yourself. Keep making great soap and package however the heck you please :}
I have used shrink wrap for years without a problem. I put a small square in front of each soap row that's a sniff sample. Each sniff sample is sitting in a cupcake paper so it can be picked up without touching it. People seem to appreciate them. I wrap them completely to keep the scent from evaporating.
First, Shrink Wrap and Cellophane are two different beasts. Second, neither one will cause soap to go rancid. MP or CP or HP or a blend of CP with MP embeds. None of them will go rancid unless bad ingredients went in first.
My CP soaps after curing and cutting I put into ziploc bags so they stay in good shape in my workshop as they wait to sell.
As for wrapping - I use shrink wrap for a number of reasons. To keep MP from sweating you *have* to wrap or shrink wrap it. For my CP bars it keeps them from losing too much moisture and shrinking if they don't sell for several months after curing. My goat milk soaps will sometimes have some significant shrinkage if I don't wrap them soon after curing. I've also found it helps with keeping them from getting ashy too.
The final reason is because shrink wrap is cheaper than boxes and they can still see the soap. It makes the bars look shiny and pretty and clean to me.
Bonus, as a former graphic designer for years it gives me the freedom to play with the labels and or wrappers to make them more unique or different if I want to since finding blank boxes that fit my bars is a nightmare and custom printed ones can get way pricey. I can wrap the bars vertically, horizontally around the long or the short end making them each have a unique look for a certain line. Like goat milk I might do a long side horizontal wrapper where a masculine scent I might go with a narrow vertical wrapper and if the top isn't 'fancy' no swirls or things then a wrap around the center horizontal short way gives more 'face' area for the artwork on the label if I want to go a little crazy on the art for the bar. Also, if you want to use a soap stamp on the front and use a die cut wrapper to show off the stamp you can, if you have a crafting die cut machine. The options are greater for packaging with shrink wrap I've found.
I know some of the others answered all with good answers about soaps going rancid, but wanted to give you my reasons for why I use shrink wrap on my soaps. Technical, economic and aesthetic reasons.
My CP soaps after curing and cutting I put into ziploc bags so they stay in good shape in my workshop as they wait to sell.
As for wrapping - I use shrink wrap for a number of reasons. To keep MP from sweating you *have* to wrap or shrink wrap it. For my CP bars it keeps them from losing too much moisture and shrinking if they don't sell for several months after curing. My goat milk soaps will sometimes have some significant shrinkage if I don't wrap them soon after curing. I've also found it helps with keeping them from getting ashy too.
The final reason is because shrink wrap is cheaper than boxes and they can still see the soap. It makes the bars look shiny and pretty and clean to me.
Bonus, as a former graphic designer for years it gives me the freedom to play with the labels and or wrappers to make them more unique or different if I want to since finding blank boxes that fit my bars is a nightmare and custom printed ones can get way pricey. I can wrap the bars vertically, horizontally around the long or the short end making them each have a unique look for a certain line. Like goat milk I might do a long side horizontal wrapper where a masculine scent I might go with a narrow vertical wrapper and if the top isn't 'fancy' no swirls or things then a wrap around the center horizontal short way gives more 'face' area for the artwork on the label if I want to go a little crazy on the art for the bar. Also, if you want to use a soap stamp on the front and use a die cut wrapper to show off the stamp you can, if you have a crafting die cut machine. The options are greater for packaging with shrink wrap I've found.
I know some of the others answered all with good answers about soaps going rancid, but wanted to give you my reasons for why I use shrink wrap on my soaps. Technical, economic and aesthetic reasons.
WhiskeyCellarFarm
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- Oct 18, 2022
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If you like what you are using, do NOT go unwrapping 100's of bars and changing everything over 1 snide remark 
