Cold Process Soap is the opposite of instant gratification.

Most things in my life have taught me that instant gratification is either short-lived at best and a semi-convincing bandaid at worst. I have never really understood the obsession with convenience. Choosing convenience, to me, feels like driving as quickly as possible to your destination without looking out the windows– no pulling over, no weird roadside attractions like the Corn Palace, no absorbing the life happening around you. 

I’ve always been a window-looker-outer. An adventurer. A wanderer. Part of living this way – slow, intentional, a little messy– is not wanting more than my means, and working for what I have. That takes time. It takes practice and so much studying, both scientific and accidental. Sometimes it means learning something the hard way. 

That’s exactly why I like making soap. 

My favorite aspect of new skills and crafting quality items, isn’t the finished product (although those are pretty neat too), it’s the process itself: of learning, of trial and error, of honing my skills. Not to become perfect or check some list of imaginary boxes and then move on to the next thing immediately, but to make the little mistakes, to hone my craft, to be absolutely human in the process and let it evolve.

Cold process soap requires lye, or Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH), a highly caustic substance.  It seems quite counter-intuitive to include potentially harmful chemical compounds into soap, especially to soap that is focused on “natural” processes. I hear you. However, lye is crucial to the saponification process, turning oils and fats into soap and glycerin. Through this chemical process, all of the ‘dangerous’ lye is neutralized, producing safe and cleansing soap bars. So by the time these soap bars make it your shower, there is no active lye waiting to eat you. It’s also worth noting that many products sold as ‘soap’ are actually detergents, sometimes containing harsher surfactants or residual chemicals. True soap, like the kind that Wayward & Wild makes, is fully saponified. That’s why when shopping for a soap bar, the ingredient list should either list a variety of natural oils or read ‘saponified oils’. That matters.

Beyond chemistry, soap also requires patience.
Wayward & Wild soaps cure for a full four weeks. During that time, they might look like pretty paper-weights that make my studio smell divine, but a lot is going on beneath the surface. Excess moisture evaporates out, the bar hardens, and the soap becomes milder, longer-lasting, and better performing bars overall. That cure time finishes the saponification process and improves the structure of the soap to create a better skin feel, a better lather, and a bar that doesn’t disappear after two uses, isn’t like holding a stick of soft butter in your hand. 

I believe in using and supporting things that actually work, not just for your skin, but for the planet as whole. My shop is centered around cyclical living: seasonality, sustainability, ad staying close to the land. Like an oak tree growing, or a glacier shaping stone, this kind of work takes time.

Good gear isn’t rushed.

Neither are Wayward & Wild Soaps.