man, this bar...
whew, by now most of you know about soap needing a cure time... and that technically soap can be safely used with a 2 week cure, the reason for the 4 week cure is to allow the bar to harden up so that you arent flying through your soap bars. every once in a while ( i think its happened three times total) we have had problems with a crud shortage, usually its short lived and we have fresh crud available for purchase with the understanding that you should wait until its full cure date for it to fully harden up. fortunately, crud is also one of the few soaps that cure up really quickly thanks to the salt creating harder bar. ;)
well, worse has come to worse and we have sold out of cured crud bars that fit within any of our online sizes for sale-- we are however, making the currently curing bars available at a premature cure time and hope you will allow it those extra few days to cure at home. we will have clearly marked cure dates on the bag your crud arrives in.( its official cure date is august 1st) again, the bars are totally safe to use, we just hate to see you flying through your product. we will also be sending out one free mini cured bars ( while supplies last ) with your pre-purchase which should hold you over until your purchased bar is at its full cure date...... because guys, we get it. we know that feeling of mild panic as our crud bar get down to those tiny pieces with no back up bar in sight, we really do understand lol.... so we are making this available to save you from that feeling and you can secure your next bar of crud now. :D
so, how we got here? ugh, covid happened.
initially i thought we'd be ok with the crud situation, i had about 600 lbs made when it all started and i assumed surely id be able to restock as necessary. i had no idea at that time, that i wouldnt be able to get lavender for 3 months. i had no idea how much trouble id have getting things like mud, or patchouli. yowww. stressful to say the least.
at any given time, all year round, i try to keep about 600 lbs in stock. about 200 over on the retail side, and about 400 lbs curing on the racks in the production area. i rotate a fresh batch in as a cured batch sells out. this seems to be a pretty good amount -- one i can keep up with, and still meet the demands.
since crud is so popular, and its made in 200 lb batch sizes every time ( which equates to 10 molds) i usually take a little bit of freedom with cutting the batch into some random sizes since we normally sell things by weight on the scale in store. this gives people the opportunity to choose smaller bars ( if they are for children, or just prefer small bars on their soap dishes) etc. big flat bars just for something different or large bars if they are like me and just love that giant chunky soap cake. sometimes i even cut little 2-3 ounce bars so people who are looking for favors and such can just snag up a bunch of small bars when they are in. these are the free mini bars you will be receiving to hold you over.
as the curing racks were being taken over to the retail side to fill orders, i got a little nervous but still thought it'll be ok. lol ..ha..... the racks became less and less full, and then it was down to a few trays, once we had to actually dismantle the crud pile on the table to get any sizes out of there that would work, i knew we were in crud trouble, for sure. then, we had to offer crud in different sizes because our standard online size was no longer in stock.. period. ugh.
im pretty picky about what goes out in the boxes for online orders as they are purchased without being able to physically choose their own bars. however, in store i will throw any bar shape or size of crud on that crud bench as i know the people coming in to buy it are able to pick it out and see it for themselves before purchasing. but for the last month we have been down to every last little bar we've got left that is crud. im talking weird cuts, unsightly end pieces, strange shapes and sizes. but... at the end of the day, it. is. crud. so, thats what we have had to sell in order to still be able to get your crud to you. i really hope you understand.
i joke that if we ever actually sell out of crud, that i am going into hiding because my life will be at stake. lol but on the flip side, if someone kills me over it -- theyll never get crud again. :D so maybe crud is actually like life insurance for me lol
on one hand its my best friend and on the other its my nemesis. lol.... crud is hands down the most popular soap we make. crud is the name that is always written on my production schedule. i literally dont bother erasing it because i know its just going straight back on there. lol all of the other soaps get lines drawn through their names after i get them made and once they are all crossed off i erase them and re-write the next production line up. ( i do occasionally erase it if i change the color of my marker lol because im particular like that hahah)
ha!
so, the website is fully restocked with a new batch of crud, in all three sizes, just please keep in mind its full cure date is august 1st and we hope you can hold off on using it until that date by using the free mini bar that will arrive with your order. ( limit ONE mini bar *per order* ((not per bar )),you will receive one free bar with the purchase of any crud soap bar while supplies last!!)
thanks for reading this post and keeping up with whats going on over here!
until next.
-heidi