Soap

I realised this morning that I have a relatively large amount of soap. Not only do I relatively have a lot of soap, it's rather good in quality. The nice thing about good quality soap is that, as long as you choose wisely, it smells really nice and lasts a very long time. These two qualities are what got me hooked on expensive soap in the first place. I reasoned that if it lasted practically forever then the higher upfront cost was offset by the lower long-run cost. Instead of having to remember to buy more soap every month, I would have the luxury of forgetting about it for months at a time. Furthermore, I would have the better scent and feel of an awesome bar of soap.

My mother introduced me to the joy of quality soap when we discovered that Winner's or Home Sense carry quality lines of soap at a cheaper price. There's something rather nice about deciding whether you prefer Rose to Lavender, or whether you like Mandarin Orange with or without Ginger, how you feel about Bluebells, Lillies,, countless other flowers and combinations of flowers, Linen, Oatmeal, Milk, baby powder, cocoa butter; if you would like freshly milled, if you wish it molded or in bars, the size of bar.... In fact you can spend quite a few minutes sniffing lots of bars of soap looking for the right combination of all the factors. Once you've made your decision, then you have a wonderful sense of expectation - the joy of a new bar of wonderful soap. It is critical to get it right however. For if you don't like it, you will be stuck with it for what will seem like an eternity.

Lush also has wonderful soaps. These tend to be less classical in texture and scent but rather appealing in their brightness of colour and fabulous scent combinations. I had never indulged as I always deemed it to be on the expensive side. Then they had a tremendous sale. Three for the price of one. It was too good to pass up. I choose three in a reasonable size. They recommended cutting a slice of the main block to prevent wastage from the soap sitting in a puddle. I happily cut off two slices from two separate types and put the rest away.

In the morning, I now have a wonderful choice. Do I wish to use my traditional and very girly rose soap, my perk-you-up-as-you-would-rather-still-be-in-bed citrus soap(which has had the added bonus of stinking up my bathroom, in a good way, ever since its arrival), or the spicey can't-remember-what-the-scent-is-supposed-to-be soap? I spent a couple weeks enjoying the array of choice.

However, this morning it struck me that none of these lumps of soap was in any way noticeably diminished. In fact, except for some bubble residue, they were pretty much the same size as before. I did a mental check of my stock of soap and suddenly realised I had a massive stock pile of soap and I only had a few bars.

It turns out that one aspect of nice soap is in fact one of its worst qualities. My small soap pile will last a very very long time. I haven't been able to precisely determine how long it will last. Right now, it seems that by showering twice daily and three times on the week-end, I might be able to justify buying more soap in a year or so. And that's an optimistic outlook. Perhaps, I'll justify it away by calling it a soap collection. Which would also enable me to buy more . . . . hmmm.