Soap Fixx Co – Bucking Bronco

“Perce Howland”

This is a local (Milwaukee) soap maker and this soap is so pleasant and sane it brings up the big questions for me: first, why buy anything but local soap? Most likely there are several, if not a-very-lot of people making soap in your community, and if there isn't, it could be you. I was looking at this person's sites and pages, and it sounds like they make soap with a cold process, and which I believe is basically mixing lye and an oil, which undergoes a chemical reaction that makes soap—the cold process taking more time than one involving heat, which speeds things up. Is that right? I'll have to really read about it sometime. Then it's up to you, the soap maker, to decide the degree that you want to use ingredients that are vegan or not, organic, sustainable, and local. And then, what would be my favorite part, experimenting with fragrance. Anyway, you can find this (as well as other local soaps) at craft fairs and independent stores that sell locally made products. Isn't that where you want to shop, anyway? Yet, probably the majority of people buy the same uninspiring soap (made with heinous chemicals in overseas factories that bypass environmental regulations) (because they don't like changes and want to save a few cents) at stores that exploit labor, or worse, even, via Amazon—was there ever a more sadly ironic name for a company? I realize that, for my project, here, as impossible as it is to include everything, I'm checking out everything from Dial to the bathtub batch made one time on a whim by my next-door neighbor (Room 237) (that's entirely hypothetical, but I like the idea). Look, you can get by with no soap whatsoever. I like that idea, too. I'm a fan of fanatically austere—I've quit more things than makes sense to most people. Part of why I started trying all these soaps is so I could find my favorite of all time, and then maybe settle. But I see now that settling is not going to happen (until they settle my lifeless form into its grave), and this has been a case of the more you learn, the more you need to know, and the more you experience, the more hungry you are for more experience. I'm sure that eventually I'll have my favorites that I go back to (I already do), but I'm going to keep wanting to find more, and especially the local stuff. And who knows, this might eventually lead me to taking up making soap myself.

That said (at length over Saturday morning coffee), I don't have a lot to say about the fragrance side of this particular version of Soap Fixx Co bar soap called Bucking Bronco. The name might make me think of sports teams and automobiles (I'd rather not) or the movie The Misfits (1961)—which gives me a tremendous idea for my first line of soap (look, I've got to move to a bigger place before this gets started...) called “The Misfits,” named after the five main characters in this movie: Roslyn, Gay, Perce, Guido, and Isabelle—who are played by Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, and Thelma Ritter—and how I imagine them to smell, with their respective character's fragrances and sweat. If you have seen this movie, or care to watch it now, you'll see what I mean. This is such a good idea, I almost want to keep it to myself, but if someone reading this wants to steal it, please tell your friends that you got the idea here, and our love will be mutual. Anyway, this soap is fine and subtle, it's described as Citrus, Spice and Wood, and I can get that, but it doesn't hit you over the head. For those of you who want a gentle fragrance that is still outdoorsy, you might love this. They don't use palm oil. The ingredients listed, beside the sodium hydroxide and water, are olive, castor, and coconut oils, as well shea butter and fragrance oils. I'm going to try more from this company, by and by, but I've only got so many baths left on Earth, and I'm going to be thankful for every single one.

Soap Review No. 88