It's My Latest Foaming Soap; My Final Resting Place, I Hope!
Hope you enjoyed my title rhyme. It has been delightful getting to know Yoken Pure Castile Soap, especially considering the path I had to take to get here. Please bear with my Sunday Times human interest article length. Many moons ago (I have indigenous blood from two tribes, so do not harass me about cultural appropriation), I began my foaming-soap-making odyssey beginning with zero knowledge and, over the years, honed my craft so that I now make for my family and extended family four regular seasonal varieties and special one-offs. The journey has necessitated that I switch from my original brand to another, then another, and finally to this brand, all to seek better economics while maintaining or improving quality. As I made the four-stage journey, I transitioned from the decent brand I started with (Brand #1) to one (Brand #2) that was "cleaner" (in color and scent) while being more economical because it was favorably priced by the gallon. During the second stage, after computing costs, I began wondering whether I should consider productionizing and selling the soaps, if only to cover the costs of soap just for my family. But I could not find a way to make it pay unless I could rapidly hit thousands of units or more, which would also have required industrial manufacturing processes I don't have time to figure out. So, I plugged along merrily as the family foaming soap provider. Then COVID hit. Results -- by which I mean for foaming soap creation -- were delayed but consequential. Over time, the shipments of that Brand #2 soap became more bitter and rancid smelling but I stuck with the brand and vendor, reckoning that all would sort itself out. Before that happened, a price-gouging switcheroo manifested. On Amazon, I will sometimes look up my past order and click "Buy Again" to quickly buy another of the same product. This time it seemed unavailable so I clicked the product link and saw the product for near the same price, and it looked the same. Fortunately, just before completing the purchase I realized that the product was a 64-oz size (it just was made to look like the gallon size) yet the price was nearly the same. Per ounce, the price had nearly doubled! Clever ploy by Brand #2 to cover up their price gouging, eh? This led me after an arduous search to find Brand #3 which appeared to be a good combination of value and quality with the price point near where I used to buy Brand #2. I was not disappointed. The castile soap had very nice qualities, was fairly clean looking and smelling, took fragrant oils and colors reasonably well, held the mix well, rinsed well, many of the qualities one desires in the most important base for a foaming soap mix. I was ready to make this my permanent brand until... they raised the price 30% before I could even make my second purchase. At this point, as a regular guy with other responsibilities, I yielded to disgusted annoyance and abandoned that soap but had to make an unexpected emergency search for a replacement since my inventory levels were running low. Revisiting my previous scan for quality with value, I was about to throw up my hands and walk away from foaming soap alchemy when, quite by accident, I stumbled upon Yoken Pure Castile Soap. I had not seen it before and it was not in my prior scan, it just happened to show up on a related page. The pricing was perfect for my budget, reviews seemed in line; so I pounced! The outcome? Let me quote from my review update on the other product: "Thank you, [Brand #3]! I did enjoy your soap that one time but by up-pricing to force me out you enabled me to discover Yoken castile soap which costs 2/3 of yours but... has a feel just as good as yours; cleans as well as yours; is, like yours, not bitter or rancid; takes essential oils and colors actually better it seems; and is concentrated enough that I actually had to slightly dilute my recipes with the side effect that they will last longer than yours." So, there you have it. Yoken supplies a quality experience foaming soap makers can rely on, with a wide range of positive characteristics from mixability, to freshness, to transparency, to viscosity, to operational performance. AS LONG AS YOKEN IS SMART ENOUGH TO NOT JACK THEIR PRICES, they will likely have me as a permanent customer. Maybe that is the best endorsement, eh? (Note: I gain no benefit in any way, shape, manner, faction, or form consequent to sales / increases / decreases of any castile soap product. I'm just a regular guy ticked off at having to waste time finding yet another product.) Read more
