When I was a junior in high school, my older brother gifted me a few bars of a natural soap from a popular brand you might know. I was pretty stoked about it- I saw the ads for it on YouTube and bought into the hype. When I used the soap, I was even more convinced that the soap my brother gave me was incredible. I used it up, I wanted more, but the price was $10 a bar.
Being a high school student with no real money (minimum wage from bussing tables at a local Asian fusion restaurant for 10 hours a week went straight into savings per my parents request), I could not afford to buy more $10 soap. My buddy told me that his history teacher made soap as a hobby, and that his soap was pretty good. I went to this teacher, Mr. D after school to learn the ways of cold process soap.
Naturally, Mr. D started with the history of soap- how the Babylonians discovered that mixing animal fat and wood ash created a product with cleansing abilities. He taught me about the process of saponification, how different fatty acids express different properties in soap (bar hardness, lather thickness, bubble size, etc.). Mr. D told me the materials I would need to make soap, how to make it safely, and finally gave me his formula. After a few more weeks of talking with him after school, I decided I was ready to make my first batch.
I went to Walmart, bought ingredients, and made the formula he provided me. Weighed out the ingredients, mixed them together, poured the soap into the molds, let it sit for 24 hours, came back and cut it with a meat cleaver, then let it sit in my closet for 4 weeks.
Words cannot describe how excited I was to try the soap I made, especially after having to resort back to chemical laden blue bodywash. When I tried the soap, I realized the night and day difference between the $10 soap my brother gave me and the soap I made. Mr. D’s formula yielded a thicker lather, it lasted longer in the shower, and my skin felt softer. It made me realize there are levels to soap making. Soaps can be objectively better than other soaps, and I wanted to know why.
I got online and did my research. I talked to other soap makers in my area- some larger businesses, some local makers, and of course Mr. D- and figured out that the determining factors for soap are the fatty acid ratios, the quality of the raw ingredients, alkali to acid ratio, and cure time. I spent the next two years researching, experimenting, and documenting everything.
In the meantime, I had a closet full of soap that was collecting dust. I decided I would sell it at my high school under the brand name “Nate’s Natural” (later nick-named Nate’s Natty by my peers), wandering from classroom to classroom, selling to students and teachers alike. I got real feedback from real customers which fueled my obsession and guided my formula design in the following years. I administered surveys and forms to customers comparing soaps and tweaked my formula accordingly.
Two years later I had done it. Thousands of experimental soap batches and countless hours of research later, and I had landed on a formula that balances minimal ingredients with incredible performance in every metric. The result is something I am immensely proud of. Something that keeps customers coming back for more- but it was never about the money. It was always for the love of the game, as corny as that sounds.
Today, Nate’s Natty is sold in dozens of stores across the United States. Our soap is still made by hand, by me (Nate, hi how are ya). The Nate’s Natty formula remains pretty much the same, but with much higher quality raw ingredients, longer curing times, and a bunch more scents to choose from.
If you want to try some Natty soap out, check out my website, www.natesnatty.com. All orders are hand picked, packed, and sent out by me, and I would greatly, HUGELY, appreciate it :)