DROYT NATURAL GLYCERINE SOAP

At last.

I have nothing to declare except my relief.

This has taken months but at last the soaps are made, on sale and will soon be in some shops. More news as it comes in, but please let me know if there’s anywhere you shop that might be interested and I’ll be sure to contact them.

We’re very happy with the way they’ve turned out. We still have the eternal problem of the liquid soap drying a little on the end of the nozzle, but if anything, it’s a little better with the Organic for some reason.

Anyway, please try a bar or bottle next time you order. The floral perfume is very pleasant.

Alistair 

 

We’ve been talking about packaging with a business customer. Because our soap is cast into large blocks and is then handcut to suit, we have a great deal of flexibility in the sizes we can offer. So for example, if someone wants a 500g bar then we can work out some possible dimensions and then think about how to package it - wrapped in paper, clear film, wrapped by machine or by hand, labelled, printed paper….. And all that is without even looking at the design. What colour paper, what colour soap, what fragrance…..? As you can imagine there is a lot to think about. And don’t start talking about ingredients lists. I might write about that another time.

Thinking about big blocks reminds me of our family camping trip to Wiltshire last week. We were very lucky with the weather. I even had to use sunblock. It was a very nice campsite with small animals to entertain the various children, and campfires to entertain the adults after bedtime. We were in quite a rural location but Tesco’s was still only 10 minutes away. Never too far from a supermarket. I was inspired by the fields of wheat and ancient standing stones and am looking forward to the launch of our organic soap (getting very close now). Also, I must get on to English Heritage about our Stonehenge soap……..

Alistair

Just saw a picture of Jamie Murray and Jelena Jankovicz at the Wimbledon Champions’ Ball and I would like to congratulate him, on behalf of lanky Scottish blokes everywhere, on his stunning success in asking out a gorgeous (and wealthy) Serb girl. How cool is that? Fortune favours the brave etc., etc.. OK so maybe not ask her out but asking her to play mixed doubles must be the pro tennis circuit’s equivalent. Their combination of obvious fun and excellent tennis was a joy to watch and I think it was Sue Barker who said that, at the end of it all, Wimbledon 20007 will be remembered for this, and not the thing that I’m not talking about anymore. It was refreshing to see competitive sport played in such a spirit and contrasts to the somewhat dour business -like approach of a lot of professional sportspeople.

I’ve been desperately thinking of a link from this to the next item but for the life of me I can’t see one so I’ll just have to give up as I don’t have all day to think about it. This morning we received test results of our newly formulated anti-MRSA soap with Tea Tree and Rosemary Oils, which showed great results, so I hope we will have this available in due course. I quote, “The test sample was lethal to S aureus within one minute of exposure” If anyone is interested in this, please let me know and I can email you when we have a product ready.

And a final note from a customer who likes our liquid soap and says that her husband uses it the shower ‘like water’ and do we do a larger bottle? The answer is yes, and it is now up on the slowly growing site. Now that I think about it, there’s more of a link between this item and the first one. Maybe I should rethink this layout.

Maybe not.

Alistair

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This is never ending and is the last time I will talk about weather until the next time. I mean, after a while it just gets boring and that while was weeks ago, so I am officially bored by it. Although there are a lot of song titles featuring rain. Although not drizzle, interestingly enough

If you are reading this and haven’t ordered from us yet, please try our £15 offer of a selection of soaps. It’s fantastic value, includes postage so there’s nothing else to pay and would make a great present for a loved one (actually you would have to pay more for gift wrapping). We’ve tried to put together a package of soap which reflect our range and obviously play to our strengths so expect really nice fragrances and interesting shapes and sizes. As ever it is important to keep the soap dry when you’re not using it so a well drained soap dish is a must, or a magnetic holder, or patting each bar dry with a dry cloth after every use (my personal favourite and surprisingly time consuming). It all keeps the soaps looking great until the last little sliver of joy.

A customer has asked about the fragrance we use in our liquid soap and I’d like to make a little statement about that. When we were first developing the soap (believe it or not it’s taken 10 years!) We wanted a fragrance which was gender non-specific, unisex or liked by both men and women and children. In the end we chose one which we had made specially for us called Botanico, which as the name suggested, takes its inspiration for the world of Botanics (oh?). It’s sort of greeny, herbally, freshy and so on and well worth trying (there’s one in the trial pack, by the way).

Like most of the commercial fragrances we use it is a blend of fragrance components and essential oils, but for those of you who prefer natural fragrances, our new Organic range will initially have one variety in liquid soap and soap bars which will contain a fantastic blend of three organic oils - geranium palmarosa and lavender, which is a really great addition to the Droyt Soap line. And we’re launching a new stripe soon which is black and white and which will be fragranced with organic peppermint and spearmint oils. Never start a sentence with ‘and’, kids. You never know where it might lead. I do but then I’m a grammatical rebel without a clause.

It’s Friday It’s 11.10 and play has started at Wimbledon (according to my pop up display scoreboard courtesy of the Wimbledon website. Here’s the link. http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/index.html and press the Live Scores button. Only three days to go. Never watch tennis for the rest of the year, but Wimbledon fills in the gap between the Test matches and the football/rugby season. I follow summer golf for the same reason, but I do not have Sky Sports because a) I’m not allowed and b) I’m not allowed.

Happy weekends all round.

Alistair

At last we have a new online shop which I hope will prove easier to use and more flexible than our last one. Our partners in the venture are Athernet Solutions based in Chorley and they have been working hard to make sure everything is operating as it should. Needless to say if you experience any problems, or have any comments to make about the new site, please email me and tell me your thoughts. We hope to keep the product range fresh and relevant to special days and seasons. So watch out for our Christmas themed gifts! Available from next month!

Just kidding. Isn’t it terrible when shops are full of Christmas stuff far to early in the year? We’ll hold off until August.

So have great weekend and don’t forget to logon and buy some soap.

Alistair

Just back from a week away in North west Scotland and see that the weather is suddenly looking better. I can’t complain though. We had a few good days when the rest of the country was under cloud. Did a couple of Munros and felt it for the next two days. I think what did it for me was the very steep descent, rather than the fact that I haven’t been hillwalking for years. That’s my story anyway. So topped up with shellfish and fresh air, it’s back to work to see what’s happening in the world of soap. Loads of new ingredients are becoming available, including bamboo oil. This is a very interesting product. It is quite acidic but has skin improving qualities and I don’t know how it would work in soap, but I’d like to get my hands on some to try it.

Looks like the website is nearly ready so hopefully I’ll have good news to report soon. 

Here’s hoping that those of us looking forward to a bank holiday weekend will get some sun.

Alistair 

 

 

 

Things are a bit quiet this month. We need to be selling more soap. I’ve just had an enquiry from an export customer for our 60g Advertising Soap (a product which is sadly underused in this country) and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we’ll get the business. If I price too low it means we’re doing a lot of work for little reward, but too high and we’re not doing the work at all! Biaxin is also prescribed to treat infections of the skin. Clarithromycin is available under several brand names, for example Biaxin, Klaricid, Klabax, Claripen, Claridar, Fromilid, Clacid and infex. Biaxin It is used to treat bacterial infections in manyThe oral drug clarithromycin (Brand Name: Biaxin) is an antibiotic used to treat infections caused by bacteria. This selection from the eMedTV Web library describes how Biaxin works and offers information on itsclarithromycin n trade name: Biaxin; drug class : macrolide antibiotic; action: binds to 50S ribosomal subunits of susceptible bacteria and suppressesHealth Home > Infectious Diseases > Clarithromycin Brand Names: Biaxin, Biaxin XL, Biaxin XL-Pak Clarithromycin extended-release tablets (Biaxin XL) should be taken with foodBiaxin - drugs for bacterial infections which affect the skin and respiratory system. It’s the Goldilocks Principle. It has to be just righ Learn about genital herpes symptoms, genital herpes treatment options, and how to manage your herpes simplex outbreaks. Buy famvir at savings of up to 80%. Famvir Buy famvir at savings of up to 80%. Find a lower price on FamvirLearn about genital herpes symptoms, genital herpes treatment options, and how to manage your herpes simplex outbreaks. t.

Talking of export, we’ve just sent some Droyt’s Original D151 to a customer in America and the postage is pretty expensive. It’s only really worthwhile to send at least 4 dozen soaps which means the package weighs 6kg and we can’t post it (you used to be able to send really heavy things by surface mail but now the limit is 2kg) so it has to go by DHL at vast expense. Still, it arrived the day after we sent it, which is pretty amaz 100% Lowest Price Guarantee. Lopresor - Low Prices Guaranteed. Lopressor Yes, 2 simple grocery items work. Choose a lawyer. ing. So you get what you pay for. It is a great testament to the quality of our soaps that people are prepared to go to so much trouble and expense in order to be able to continue using it.

That reminds me that if any of our customers happen to be in the North of England over Easter, or any time in fact, two soaps, Droyt’s Original D151 and Lavender Square D6513, are on sale in Booths Supermarkets. Locations at  http://www.booths-supermarkets.co.uk/ 

Happy Easter and here’s hoping that the nice weather continues.

Alistair

 

 

 

Just back from a trip to the US to see some members of my family in Massachusetts. It was very cold. One morning the outside temperature gauge said -14 deg C which I thought could not be right, but it was, and we even went out in it. I think I got frostbite on my ears. I am reminded of that as it was pretty chilly this morning on my way in to work, but the great thing at this time of year is that the days really are getting longer and I am commuting in daylight, which make me feel a whole lot better.

So back to work and my desk is looking untidy. Actually it was looking untidy before I went away, so maybe I will try to tidy it. Soon. The thing is, there is always something more important to do, like replying instantly to email, when really no instant response is required.

Having had our organic soap approved by the Soil Association, fragranced with Organic Lavender Oil, we are now looking at future varieties. I will now make the shock announcement that Sandalwood will not be featuring the near future as prices are approaching £2000 per kilogram. That is per kilogram, not per tonne. If we were to fragrance a liquid soap at 0.5% with pure Sandalwood oil, that would add £2.50 to the trade price of the one bottle, so as you can imagine, buy the time it gets to the shelf, you’d be handing over the best part of 50 quid. Just kidding, of course. Droyt Organic Liquid soap with glycerine and fragranced with organic lavender oil will retail at around £6, so with Sandalwood oil that could easily be £10. It would smell nice though. One of the (many) enjoyable aspects of working at Droyt’s is that I can make up my own blends. At home we have Sandalwood in the bathroom and Tea tree and Lavender in the kitchen. I once made a mint one with so much mint oil in that you could feel it on your skin. I liked it but it got vetoed by a higher court. I thought briefly about going to Appeal, but then I realised that while that might make me feel better in the short term, the long term disadvantages of such an action so enormously outweighed the short term benefit that it made even the mere thought of it a lesson in pointlessness.

My colleague Chris has just informed me that the batch coder on the overwrapper is not functioning properly. I suppose that rather than typing about it, I should be leaping up the stairs to fix it, so bye ’til next time.

Coder repair man

I have had a really horrible bout of flu and am not feeling at all well even though I’ve been back at work for a week. We’ve got two small children and the number and virulence of the diseases they bring to the house never ceases to amaze me. Quite apart from the fact that they cry incessantly for a few days and then seem perfectly OK, whereas I feel terrible for a few days, and then slightly less terrible for a couple of weeks more. It is all very unfair.

But it is work of which I write, and the big push in the last few days has been filling refill pouches with liquid soap. This is for customers to use instead of buying full bottles with pumps. A refill pouch costs less and is less wasteful in terms of packaging. A bottle with pump will last for years and thousands of dispenses, so we think this will be a popular addition to our range. So far we are only producing then for our contract customers as we need quite large orders to make it economic, but one day we will bite the bullet and make some Droyt Liquid Soap refill packs. Hopefully our online shop will be up and running next month so perhaps they’ll be ready for then. I think it is always important to be optimistic even when flying in the face of experience.

Cough cough

Alistair

A Happy New Year to all our customers and I hope that 2007 will see a huge improvement in our service to you, starting with a easy-to-use and secure on-line shop. Don’t forget to email us on website@droyt.com

if you want to be kept up to date on developments.

We were welcomed back into the factory by a problem with our steam boiler. Not a great start and especially unfortunate as the factory has been unheated for 10 days and is therefore very chilly indeed. My colleague Chris fixed it by changing a fuse in a plug! You might think that a massive great oil fired steam boiler would need a team of engneers to solve breakdown problems, but no, as if it were an electric kettle or toaster, merely changing a fuse means steam heating and soap making. Today it is Avocado, which is green and which in the spirit of all great art, is made by mixing yellow and blue. I have just made the yellow, but it so cold in the lab, I’ve come into the office to write this before I go back and make the blue.

Good luck to you all in 2007 and I’ll write soon.