Summer Travels

As the summer kicked off, Adam and Kristina headed home to Laguna Beach with bars of soap in the trunk of the convertible, and promptly landed 2 more stores, including the semi-legendary Tuvalu.

Not to be outdone, Errol made his yearly pilgrimage to Portland last week, 684 miles by train, 10 by bicycle. "I was definitely thinking about my carbon footprint," he commented. His sustainable thoughts must have been on the same wavelength as David Chadwick, Zen Biographer, author, laughing Taoist, and webmaster of cuke.com. The two men's conversation lasted from Emeryville, CA to just outside of Portland, interrupted only by sleep, munchies, and Chadwick flirting up a sexy artist from Port Townsend. We could tell from the start the old man has game!

Portland was warm but not oppressively hot, and offered fruits and flowers perhaps best appreciated by a body on two wheels. Errol picked up a pre-loved bike rack and panniers, enjoyed cheap cocktails and cajun bar food, barbecued, and breakfasted at midnight. He also inspected a few gardens, negotiated a future lavender deal, and brought our wares to the Radish Underground, as per a recommendation from Estrella.

"The bicycle is not the ideal soap delivery vehicle," said Errol. "At least not without a trailer. It's best for a weekend camping trip up the coast, followed by a stop at a funky bed & breakfast. You can carry just about enough soap to convince the b&b to buy some, when you also factor in toothbrush, sleeping bag, flask, and clean socks." That said, several bike camping trips up the coast are in the works.

Another Successful Event!

This past Thursday the boys worked another retail party at the Mission Statement. The weather turned out perfectly sunny, and as a steady stream of people breezed past, more than a few heads turned to check out the merchandise. Our co-conspirators featured a table of various vegan goodies, while the Metaphor Organic table overflowed with soaps, hand salve, lib balm, and made-to-order margarita salt scrub. Yes, I typed that correctly. Made-to-order margarita salt scrub. Our proprietary blend of oils, a generous dose of locally obtained Pacific sea salt, a dash of wonderfully-astringent tequila blanco, and half a squeezed lime. "It was a lot like bartending," Errol commented. "Except instead of leaving the tip on the table, they stuffed it right into our shorts!"

Horrible Flood Leaves Soap Workshop Very Clean

On Tuesday a pipe broke at the Metaphor Organic soap-licious factory (aka our garage), spewing gray water and shorting out a fluorescent light. Adam discovered the scene and worked quickly to save hundreds of soap bars from the dangerous cascade. He later notified Errol, who was off-site at the time. "I thought he was shitting me," Errol commented. "Since when does a water pipe break at a soap production facility? When does that actually happen?" Fortunately, only a couple dozen bars were damaged, although the light made scary sparks and popping noises. The rest of the soap was moved to a safer spot, and the landlord plans to fix the light as soon as possible.

New Packaging

Well, as you can see from recent posts, our packaging has changed. Goodbye awkward cigar bands. Hello to the sleek brown boxes. I can think of at least 30 ways boxes are better, but here are 4. They lend a more professional image to the sort of company we are striving to become. They have their own rustic charm, a mix of eco-chic with a hint of 18th Century apothecary. They actually take less time to fill, while cost is comparable to previous packaging. And they won't leave soap residue inside your pocket or purse! Sales have already nearly doubled, which means you, gentle soap users, agree with us. But just in case you haven't heard, the soap boxes rock!

Two Truths and a Lie

1. I and a friend run a small soap company.

2. We give each overnight guest a complimentary hotel-sized bar of soap as a way of saying, "Thanks baby. It's not a walk of shame in this house."

3. We have an entourage of beautiful, hip ladies residing two blocks away who we consult on fashion-y subjects much in the same way one retains a lawyer or accountant.

If you thought number 3 was the lie, guess again. But it's more like we are members of THEIR entourage. And these svelte individuals, in their superhero daytime alter-egos, collectively make up the Mission Statement. A clothing store owned and operated by local designers would make a natural home for local handmade soap, right? Here are some random facts about the Mission Statement:

They are actually our second store, but we like to lie and say they were our first because it makes a better story.

They are located on 18th Street between Valencia and Mission.

When this soap racket really takes off in like two weeks I'm going to have all my clothes custom made by the Mission Statement.

The Mission Statement hosts wicked awesome parties every third Thursday night of the month, often also with free wine.

Estrella, one of the main stars of said establishment, loaned us a table for a soapy event at the Blue Macaw last night, a table that is, in fact, still sitting in our garage.

There may be another blog somewhat about the Mission Statement, you know, on our page somewhere.

I've been told I have various issues with my pants that perhaps local, organic clothing designers could help me solve, but I'm reluctant to ask because they might need to measure my inseam, not that having my inseam measured would feel necessarily unpleasant, or even that I have specific inadequacies regarding such a length of my anatomy, but more that I'm insecure about people noticing my unusually large torso-to-inseam ratio.

Everyone should shop at the Mission Statement all the time.

MO at Socha Cafe!

Thanks to popular demand, you can now find our fine products at Socha Cafe, which can be found at 3235 Mission Street.

Blogged from my iPhone.

New Photos!

Our products have come a long way since we started and to celebrate, we have updated the packaging and given ourselves a total makeover! I hope you enjoy our new products, they should be rolling out to your favorite store in the coming days.

A few words on the new recipe

I just saw a new soap at Rainbow made with buffalo tallow. Whoa. That might be a little too hipster, if you know what I mean.

I mean, I'll eat kangaroo with sardine sauce once and maybe even try the wild-caught escargot at ForageSF, but I like my soap made from veggies, please.

It's not easy getting exactly the qualities you want from only vegetable oil, but we don't shy away from challenges here at Metaphor Organic. I can't give away the exact recipe, but I can give a few hints. The main oils are: coconut, olive, and palm.

Coconut is a no-brainer. This unusual oil gives you a bar that is really hard and one that lathers A LOT. A bar made out of entirely coconut oil would lather even in saltwater. The trouble is it would also way dry out your skin and hair.

Enter olive oil. Olive is moisturizing with a creamy lather vs. cleansing with bubbly lather. Pure castille (olive oil) soap is gentle but doesn't really clean off the grime, and it might feel kind of slimy. Actually a lot of other oils can add a moisturizing component to the bar, but olive is special because although it is moisturizing, it does also contribute some hardness.

We could get a pretty good bar with just coconut and olive, but as perfectionists, we decided to go a step farther. By adding just the right amount of palm oil, we get a bar with all the characteristics of a coconut/olive blend, but one that is a bit harder. That's because palm oil makes a bar hard without making it more drying like coconut would. And as we all know, a harder bar will last longer in the shower. (That's what she said.)

And then there's a mystery oil that we add just a touch of. Okay, okay, it's castor bean oil. Did you know the mystic Edgar Cayce recommended rubbing castor oil onto your abdomen to loosen gallstones? Me neither. A little bit of castor adds lots and lots of lather!

Did I mention our primary three oils are all organic and all sustainably harvested?

Smooth smooth coconut lime

Lye? Check. Oil? Check. Rubber gloves? Pots? Essential oil? Check check check.

As soon as Errol got home from work this afternoon the boys hit the lab to mix up a new batch of coconut-lime soap. They both agreed it felt good to get back into the swing of things after a couple weeks off. Adam commented on how effortless this batch was. "We were both screwing around and doing other things while the various chemicals and slurries condensed." So far so good.

A whiff of this new concoction conjures a warm tropical breeze. "We've made bars you want to eat before, says Errol, "but this might be the first one you want to drink." (The new C-L boasts definite pina colada character.) Previously, the coconut lime scent has only been available in our shampoo bar. But with our recently-perfected oil ratio, all the bars lather enough to double as shampoo bars. (More on this to come.)