Lathering Up on the other Side of the Globe

I love to find stories from other countries that talk about people find the same joy, entrepreneurial spirit and creativity in making soap and candles that we all do. This article, "Lather Up with Handmade Soap" is about a soap maker in Malaysia, but it could be the story of any soap maker on any continent. It starts, "After many years of having to put up with commercial soap products that left her skin irritated and itchy, Wong Hui Chin finally resorted to making her own soap." Isn't that the story of most of us? Just fill in your name. We wanted to make something more natural, more carefully crafted...so we started making our own soap. Then of course, we got hooked on it...and kept on creating new recipes and experimenting with new techniques. If we get really hooked, we start our own businesses, like Wong Hui Chin did with er her company Soapy. On her site, the money may be exchanged in Malaysian ringgits, but the soap (natural lavender, natural goat's milk, tea-tree & lemongrass) looks as familiar as anything on our shelf. Soap really is a universal product...and soap making, a universal craft.