About //
a.k.a. what the heck is going on here
a.k.a. how it all started.
Why hello there. I’m Kandra, and I can’t wait to be your soapy friend! For real, a friend!
I made my first soapy friend on a Facebook group for soap makers. We giggled and laughed via chat for years before we actually met in person when she relocated to Denver (totally not related, just lucky for me!). My most enjoyable soapy memory is a soapy party we had together. Imagine two grown women (no wine involved) giggling like school girls decorating a cake at a slumber party… but the cake was soap! Yeah, soapy friends are SO MUCH FUN!
Over the years I’ve met new soapy friends online and in person. And I honestly can say that soap has filled my life with some of the most amazing people. It’s because of they joy they filled my soapy days with, and the joy they let me share with them that inspired Soapy Friends.
In 2020, I wrote a book to share my knowledge of blending natural colorants to create a full rainbow of soapy colors (sans the mica and labs). It was inspired by things I learned and discovered on my journey, with guidance from my OG soapy friends. To help answer questions from the book, I started a Facebook group and made thousands of new soapy friends. It’s AMAZING how awesome the soapmaking community is, and how we can make friends over a simple bar of soap!
One day, I realized that Facebook wasn’t quite enough. It’s great to post and share there, but sometimes we need more resources, more organization, and fewer distractions, for soapy friends to hang out together and make some great soap. So now we have SoapFriends.com, a space filled with resources for soap makers (with a friendly emphasis on natural botanical colorants, of course 😉). Don’t worry though, the Facebook group isn’t going anywhere, and you don’t need to pay anything to be a member of it… and we have freebies on the site for you too!
It’s my hope that through this site we’ll get to know each other a bit more and become closer soapy friends though:
- Live stream master classes where you’ll be able to ask questions in real time, and share your knowledge with other members of the class.
- Letting you decide what goes up on the site! You’ll also be able to request tutorials and recipes, and gosh, my plans are big.
- Seeing all of the lovely soaps and questions you might post in the Facebook group from the online tutorials and courses I’m crafting for you here.
Thank you for dropping in, and for letting me be your soapy friend! We’re going to have so much fun!
Kandra is a soapmaker’s soapmaker
Kandra literally wrote the book on natural colorants (seriously, it’s on Amazon, you’ll love it). She’s a soapmaker’s soapmaker – keeping the craft alive and vibrant with her passion, knowledge, a great esthetic and an excellent head for marketing. She is also willing to share those gifts and talents with others through teaching, books (seriously, see above) and building communities. Always excited to see what she has in store next!
Kandra’s life in bulleted format:
- Making soap since 2010 (or longer, it’s hard to remember)
- Raised and homeschooled 3 kids in Denver, CO
- Lives in Tucson, AZ with 2 cats, hubby, mom, and moms dog.
- Runs Alo Goods – natural and sustainable skin care, hair care and oral care with a mission to bring more joy into everyday things.
- BA in Graphic Design, Marketing, and Web Communications.
- Ran a branding firm for 20 years.
- Was a college professor for 5 years and never want’s to grade a final exam ever again.
- Dances in public as much as possible.
- Rides a bike to the grocery store (and pretty much every errand that’s less than 15 miles away).
- Knows when to use “fewer” vs “less”, and loves the oxford comma.
- Notorious for hilarious typos (because you have to laugh through life, and typos happen)
- Paints, knits, gardens, and plays with her sister every week.
- Want’s to re-learn how to jump rope double-dutch one of these days.
Verified Soapy Friend
