Sheba Pallavi at work.

Enthusiastic and riding a powerful Bullet, she always wanted to explore the less-trodden paths of life. Not content with her day job as a hospitality trainer, 27-year-old Sheba Pallavi wanted a hobby to enrich her life. She tried different hobbies, but found her true calling in soap-making. Her first attempt was a disaster, but she was not the one to give up. One day her efforts resulted in a soap that received fabulous response from friends. Ultimately, she had found a hobby that suited her passion.

The moment you step into Sheba’s home in Secunderabad, the heavenly fragrance of herbs and ingredients draws you to check in what is it that’s cooking. You will see Sheba, measuring and stirring the ingredients, molding them and giving them a shape.

Sheba explains that the magic in soap is created by ingredients other than alkalies and fatty acids. The actual process of mixing takes only a couple of hours, but a lot of time and effort goes into research, sourcing the right ingredients, processing them etc.

“In Western countries where homemade soaps are common, most ingredients are available in the super markets. In India I have to scour the city to find the ingredients,” laments Sheba.

Creating a soap for its therapeutic uses and emollient properties is Sheba’s specialty. Chitra, a Bangalore-based corporate consultant is reaping the benefits of Sheba’s therapeutic soaps. On Chitra’s request for a soap that addresses the problems of dry, ageing skin and wrinkles, Sheba tailor-made a soap. “ The soap does not have any strong fragrance. But it has had such an effect on my skin, everyone keeps asking me what have I done for my skin!” exclaims Chitra, who is amazed by Sheba’s passion and dedication.

Sheba uses traditional hand stirred cold process for making soaps. It is very labour intensive and can take hours of stirring at a time. Once the soap is ready, it is left to ‘mature’ for an average of three weeks.

Shruthi, a clinical psychologist from Chennai, says that Sheba started this only a few months ago. Initially her soaps were plain, but Sheba got creative with the ingredients and now produces soaps of various styles, shapes and fragrance. Shruthi used the acne soap, and found it useful in reducing the acne.

Prices starting at `90 a piece, handmade soaps are costlier than machine-made soaps. Sheba says that commercial soaps are profit driven and use detergents and harmful substitutes like artificial dyes or synthetic fragrances, that rob the skin of its natural moisture, irritate skin and aggravate skin conditions. Mass producers extract the skin moisturising glycerine from the soap and make other cosmetics that are sold at higher prices. Handmade soaps are made with high quality food grade oils and skin-safe ingredients. The naturally produced glycerine remains intact, making them kinder to the skin.

Sheba has experimented with more than 30 varieties, with ingredients ranging from edibles like fruits, honey, coffee etc. to herbs to alcoholic beverages, all having unique medicinal properties of their own. She posts pictures of her soaps in various websites. (Itshandmade, Craftsvilla, Mirraw.com, and a Facebook page called Sekken House) through which she gets enquiries. She gets a good amount of word-of-mouth publicity too.

She earns a few thousands per month, and has started maintaining a profit-and-loss account. “It would be lovely to take this up as a full time business… I do see this growing in the future. I encourage others also to take up soap making as a profession,” says Pallavi, admitting that it is profitable.

Sheba has also dabbled with fiction writing and finally moved on to academics. When asked how does she juggle between all this, she quips: “Managing home, church, work and the soap hobby is tricky. But if one knows one’s priorities, it balances things out.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Shree / December 16th, 2012