The Soap Program
Beardsman™ soap is back, along with the program some of you will remember from the first time around. For every retail bar sold, we make an equal amount of soap for donation.
There wouldn't be a Soap Shop without the Soap Program. When I decided to make soap again, giving soap was part of that decision.
The way we package the donation soap came from something I learned on our first delivery.
The First 250
On September 8, 2016, I brought 250 full-size bars of Beardsman™ soap to Beverly Bootstraps in Beverly, Massachusetts. For a small company, it was a lot of soap, and I was proud we could do it.
I still have a picture from that day. Somewhere along the way it went through a truly terrible 2016-era photo filter. Fortunately, the delivery itself was more useful than the photograph.
Beverly Bootstraps knew how toiletries moved through their organization and what worked for the people they served. Smaller, individually wrapped bars were easier for them to distribute. I had arrived thinking about a substantial bar of soap because that was what I liked making and selling.
We changed the donation format to 1 oz bars, each wrapped separately. For every 4 oz retail bar sold, we make four of those smaller bars for donation. The amount of soap stayed the same; the new size made it more useful to the organization receiving it.
It was a useful correction. I knew how to make soap; they knew things about distributing it that I hadn't thought to ask. Listening changed what went into the next box.
The Second Box
By 2017, we had started making the smaller bars. One of the next donations went to Citizens Inn in Peabody, Massachusetts.
I don't have a photograph from that one. At the time, it didn't occur to me to take one. Every donation came from a purchase someone had already made, and I thought of the delivery as following through on that promise. Customers bought the retail soap; our part was to make the donation soap and get it where it needed to go.
What I do remember is how concerned they were about making sure I received a letter documenting the donation's value. They wanted me to have what I needed for the tax deduction.
I laughed because the deduction hadn't occurred to me. They were doing exactly what an organization should do. I had simply been thinking that we made something people needed and could make more of it, while organizations nearby already knew how to get it into people's hands.
Hygiene Shouldn't Be a Luxury
It is easy to think of homelessness as something far removed from your own life. Financial trouble is often much closer, although being short before payday and having nowhere to live are very different circumstances.
The Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances put the median credit-card balance among families carrying that debt at $2,700. In its separate 2024 household survey, 37% of adults said they would cover a hypothetical $400 expense through some combination other than cash or its equivalent, or could not cover it. Thirteen percent said they could not pay it by any means.
Those figures describe different measures of financial strain, not homelessness. They do give some context for how an unexpected bill can become a serious problem.
A car repair can get in the way of paying rent. An illness can interrupt work just when expenses increase. You don't have to lose your housing to know the experience of standing in a grocery aisle deciding what can go back on the shelf.
When money gets tight, things you enjoy are often among the first to go. That doesn't mean you stop enjoying them. You still know the difference between something pleasant to use and whatever happens to be cheapest.
What We Can Make
Soap is easy to take for granted when there is always a bar by the sink. It is a basic necessity, but it can also be something you enjoy using. A hot shower and a good-smelling bar of soap can feel pretty good when the rest of the day has been difficult.
I don't see a reason for the soap we donate to be something we wouldn't want to use ourselves. The smaller bars have a practical purpose. Their size makes them easier to distribute; the wrapping helps each one pass through an organization into someone's hands.
We aren't going to solve poverty with soap. We can, however, make the soap well and listen to the people who know where it is needed. That is work we're equipped to do.
The donation bars should feel good to use and smell like something someone took care in making. Having less money doesn't make that enjoyment less worthwhile.
Ten Years Later
That first box went to Beverly Bootstraps in 2016. Beardsman™ changed, eventually stopped operating, and now we're building it again. Making soap again meant resuming the donation program too.
There is no donation button at checkout or request to round up. The program is part of the purchase, and we are responsible for making and distributing the additional soap.
Buy the soap because you want the soap. We'll take care of the other half.
Financial Sources
Federal Reserve: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2019 to 2022 ↗
Federal Reserve: Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024, Savings and Investments ↗