5 Ideas To Save You Time In Your Soap and Skincare Business

Five Time Saving Tips for Soap and Skincare Business Owners
Today's blog has been inspired by the lovely Vicki from The Soap Mine in North Wales. Vicki recently spoke to my Soap Suite members about how she juggles her busy life with the business and it got me thinking, most of us in the soap and skincare world are one person bands. We’ve all got other responsibilities, children, pets, ageing parents, or even a second job and saving time is crucial if we want to keep everything ticking along.
So, I’ve put together five time saving tips that can help you streamline your soap or skincare business. These are things I’ve used in my own business, and they’ve made a world of difference. This is a condensed version of a YouTube video - if you prefer to watch or would like more detail you can find it here.
1. Batch Prep Like a Pro
Think of batch prepping as the business equivalent of batch cooking, it’s all about getting the most out of your time. For soap makers, this means prepping your oils, butters, and raw materials in advance.
For example, I mainly worked with coconut oil which came in 12.5kg blocks. I would chop and weigh these into 2.2kg blocks (ready-to-use portions) ahead of time. You can store your prepared ingredients in reusable containers with airtight lids to keep them fresh. Sodium hydroxide (lye) can also be mixed and stored at room temperature for future use, as long as it’s sealed securely.
The same applies to essential oils. If you use certain blends regularly, mix them in larger quantities so they’re ready to go when you need them. Not only does this save you time on production days, but it also reduces cleaning and paperwork. Batch prepping is a total game changer when you’re making multiple batches in one session.
2. Plan Your Production Days
Planning your making days in advance is a simple but effective habit. Instead of thinking, "I’ll just make some soap today," take the time to decide exactly what you’ll be producing in advance.
For example, dedicate a day to one specific scent or product. This means fewer interruptions for cleaning and fewer batch records to complete. If you’re working on multiple products, use "empty pockets" of time wisely. While you’re waiting for oils to cool or for soap to set, label products, check stock levels, or answer emails.
3. Simplify Your Product Range
I find this easy but I know not every one does. The truth in most cases is you don’t need a huge or complicated product range to be successful. Keeping things simple will save you time and help you scale more effectively.
Focus on one base recipe, changing only the fragrance and consider skipping colours altogether, especially in products such as body butters that are not always on show like soap bars. Fancy designs or fiddly packaging can slow you down and make it harder to produce in larger quantities later on.
If you want to experiment with new products, consider offering them as seasonal or limited editions. This way, you can produce a big batch, sell it, and be done, no need to keep restocking or sourcing extra ingredients.
Whenever you are thinking about a new product or design do give some thought to the future, can this be made in bulk? If you had been planning a fancy drop swirl design could you change it to an in the pot swirl?
4. Invest in the Right Equipment
This one’s a biggie. The right tools can transform how much you can produce in a day. For me, investing in slab moulds was a turning point. I went from making single loaves to using slab moulds that could produce the equivalent of four loaves at once and I had 6 of them so I was never limited to how much I could make by my moulds.
Think about where you’re losing time and whether equipment could help. For example
- A larger microwave or stovetop pot to melt bigger quantities.
- A piston funnel for filling balms or bottles quickly.
- A decent guillotine for cutting labels.
- A press for speeding up making bath bombs or shampoo bars.
Even small things like tape dispensers or extra stick blender attachments can make a huge difference. It’s an investment, but one that will pay off in the time and energy you save.
5. Automate and Streamline Your Processes
Lastly, let’s talk about processes and automation. Yes, it might involve some tech, but it’s worth it in the long run. Here are a few easy wins.
- Automate reviews Use apps like Yotpo to send automatic emails requesting reviews after a purchase.
- Email popups Love them or hate them, popups offering a discount code in exchange for an email sign up are highly effective.
- Templates for recurring tasks Create standard email templates for responding to customer enquiries or approaching stockists. Save them to Google Drive or something like Trello so you can cut and paste them,
- Social media content Use tools like Canva to design reusable graphics. Save all your text and images so you can reuse them next year with minimal tweaks.
You can also create workflows for tasks you don’t do often, like adding new products to your website. Write the steps down once and refer back to your list whenever needed.
Bonus Tip Delegate or Outsource
If you’re struggling to find time in your business, think about where else in your life you could save time. Could you batch cook meals or get a cleaner? Maybe you could delegate some tasks to a partner or older children. Do your shopping online instead of going to the supermarket.
It’s also worth considering outsourcing certain business tasks. For instance, I’ve hired a designer to help with some projects I simply don’t have the skills for. It’s saved me hours of frustration and freed up my time for things only I can do.
Final Thoughts
Running a soap or skincare business as a one person team isn’t easy, but by streamlining your processes, investing in the right tools, and keeping your product range simple, you can save time and reduce stress.
If you found this useful, I’d love to hear from you—what are your top tips for saving time in your business? Drop me a message or share your thoughts in the comments!
Leave a comment