Product Line 2012

We are in the midst of the holiday season and things have been picking up slowly but surely.  Last year about this time we were up until the wee hours of the morning filling orders and restocking products. This year is different, largely due to us being better prepared, but also due to folks not shopping like they have in the past.  Even though we are currently experiencing a 30% decrease in sales, we are still blessed and fortunate to have sales rolling in on a daily basis. So this gives us hope that things will eventually turn around for the good of ALL.

We wanted to make you aware of what our thoughts are for our product line in 2012.  We have been at this since 2005 and have offered a large array of products to see what our niche was. Thankfully, our favorite product, handmade soap, is the staple for our business. They are the reason we are able to stay afloat.  With that said, we will be expanding our soap line to include an additional 5 scents that will be part of our regular rotation.  We will continue to offer limited edition soaps that cater to the season and/or holiday. 

Moisturizers will remain the same, we think. We have really been contemplating on bringing back our Olive & Honey lotion. If we decide to bring it back it will come in the 3^rd quarter of 2012. 

Our Hair Care line will expand. We have been testing and tweaking formulas for a Leave in Conditioner/Hair Lotion and a Liquid Shampoo.  The shampoo has been tested forever and is ready to be made in larger batches.  Now the Leave in Conditioner/Hair Lotion is perfect the way it is as far as defining curls, adding sheen and conditioning.  The only problem that we have with it is it is too thin to go in spray bottles and squirt out instead of stream out and too thin for bottles with a pump where it comes out nice and creamy.  So we are still tweaking to get it just right. The most important thing is the combination of ingredients is PERFECT.  We have been thinking about a water-based hair butter too, but to me that is more so on the same lines as a hair lotion….still pondering. Not sure if we will do the hair butter or not, but the other products will be available the 2^nd quarter of the New Year.

Foot Care will expand also. We will be reintroducing our foot soak, foot scrub and nite-time repair cream, but with a twist. We plan to have these products available the first quarter of the New Year, which will be just in time to start getting your tootsies right for sandal season.

That is all for now, until next time

Be Blessed and Safe

Rochell

What We've Been Up To

Whew! It seems like it has been ages since I last blogged. Too much to do and not enough time in the day to get it all done.  I am sure many can relate to the act of putting priorities FIRST and everything else sort of falls in where they fit it - that is how it is for me with blogging. It is one of my least favorite tasks and often times I don’t have much to talk about. Well, let me say, not much that I think others would like to read about, but since it is my blog, I will babble about what I please. With that being said, I will share how things have been for Karess Krafters.

We are now in the Holiday Gift Giving season and things have really been busy for us. Our website has had more sales than it has ever had and I am so grateful for that.  Customers who have purchased from us on different online venues that we sell on are now purchasing directly from our site. Our Facebook fanpage has really seen much needed growth in the last 4 months. We have grown to 849 fans, which is a huge jump for us. So we thank everyone who has bee spreading the word.  Word-of-mouth has been key ingredient to the success of Karess Krafters. Thank you, Jesus!

Also, we’ve added our hair care favorites back to our catalog. Our Hemp Hairdressing, Babassu Shampoo Bar, Fruit Nectar hair and body oil and Honey-Hemp Conditioner are BACK and are here to STAY. We had so many requests for the shampoo bar and conditioner that we just had to bring it back and the line would not have been complete without the hairdressing and fruit nectar hair and body oil formerly known as Tropical Fusion. 

One more thing, we have picked up two more wholesale accounts, which is always a blessing.  We are hoping for a continued business relationship with the two new account holders and much success for their businesses.  

Finally, we will be adding more new products to our line in the first quarter of 2012.
Karess Krafters will soon be your one-stop shop for ALL things that pamper from head-to-toe.  Remember that ALL of our products are created by me, Rochell Selvey, NO BASES, NO KITS, just research, create, test, critique, research and test again – and if necessary the process starts all over. So know that you’re getting a quality, true handmade product that has gone through many stages before it is available to the public.

~

Rochell

Limited Edition Soaps are HERE

Just finished taking photos of our Limited Edition Soaps for the Fall 2011 season.  Our main soap line are ALL vegan friendly and some are even enhanced with Coconut Milk. Since we had received numerous request for some of our soaps that contained Goats Milk, we decided to do a limited edition line of soaps that are enhanced with Goats Milk. These soaps will only be around until they are GONE. We have a decent supply now but things can change quickly.  Our advice is to get your bars while they are still available.

WASHED HAIR

Yesterday was a Hair Conditioner making day.  I got up extra early on Sunday morning to make my fabulous Honey-Hemp Hair Conditioner.  It had been a while since I made a batch as well as used it on my hair (been going to the beauty salon too much).

Instead of going to my regular hair appointment I decided to save my husband and I some cash.  So I washed, conditioned and styled my own hair.  I washed my hair with Organix Tea Tree Shampoo.  I just love this brand.  I am not particularly fond of their Tea Tree Shampoo.  It’s okay. I mean it gets my hair clean, but it doesn’t leave it conditioned like the Coconut Milk one.  Now the Coconut Milk one has my hair feeling cleaned, soft and silky with a little sheen.

After washing my hair I applied my Honey-Hemp Deep Conditioner and slapped on a plastic cap.  I wore this cap for at least two hours I am sure because I did my household chores while the conditioner did its work.  Running the water through my hair to wash away the conditioner felt great, it felt even better once it was completely out. It is soft and healthy looking. It even appeared to be a shade or two darker in color (my hair is black, but not jet black).

Let me add that prior to washing my hair some areas felt hard on the ends because of me abusing my hair with the flat iron. After the conditioning treatment if felt like salon finished hair. 

Anyways, using my hair conditioner just reminded me of hour great my hair care line products are (and getting emails from customers wanting more adds to it too :-) )

Hair Care

It has been a while since I’ve entertained the thought of making hair care products mainly because it has come almost impossible to find Mowrah Butter.  Mowrah Butter was the staple ingredient in my Hemp Hairdressing.  It did the hair some good.  It wasn’t too heavy, the consistency was just right and the sheen it imparted was outstanding all while nourishing the hair with essential vitamins.  I mean what more can you ask for in the triple whammy product. You got sheen, moisture and conditioning.

Well due to the many request for us to bring back our Hemp Hairdressing as well as Honey-Hemp hair conditioner we’ve decided to get our feet wet again with hair care products.  We are aiming for the first of the year with a small possibility of it happening sooner. Thankfully the recipes have been perfected and will only require a few minor changes for the good of the products and the availability of ingredients.

The Honey-Hemp conditioner will not change much ingredient wise. However, I do plan to introduce Broccoli Seed Oil into the mix. Now the Hemp Hairdressing will have a few changes.  Due to the shortage of Mowrah Butter and me not wanting to pull my hair care line again due to its availability, I will be replacing it with a comparable Amazonian Butter and adding some Jamaican Black Castor Oil (still thinking on this one). I have also been entertaining the fact of replacing Candellila Wax with some type of floral wax, but am not sure what as of yet. Don’t want to run into an availability issue with floral wax nor do I want to have labels printed with ingredients on them and have to switch up in the middle of the game.

I will be doing some formulating and testing in the coming weeks. I am too excited to be bringing the line back to my catalog. Also, I plan to change the labels as well.  Not a drastic change, but a look that is consistent with our green theme but different enough to distinguish the skincare from hair care line.

Hopefully my next post will be filled with the results from the re-tweaking.

Until next time, Be Blessed

Soap Bar Sample Cutter

Okay, it has been long time since I last blogged. I have been really busy with the new little one (Wynter), wife duties, the boys (EJ & Bubbas), son (EJ) getting ready to leave for college, full time work outside the home and running Karess Krafters. It has been a whirlwind at my home and some days (time wise) are better than others. But nevertheless I decided to blog today about my new bar to sample cutter.


I purchased this beautiful piece of craftsmanship from Darlene also known as Flash on the Soap Dish forum because I was tired of inconsistent sample bar sizes. Besides sales have picked up like crazy for us which means we had to step our game up. The cutter as I mentioned is beautiful. I had a small learning curve with it in the beginning. I was not placing my bars on the cutter to the point they line up with the groves, therefore I was getting a very odd shaped soap sample. But after talking with Darlene and getting a few tips, I am not getting beautiful and consistent sample bars. Sorry I don’t have any pix of my cut bars to show, however here is a picture of the cutter.

Soap Sampler - $7.50 : Karess Krafters, bath & body inspired by nature

Soap Sampler - $7.50 : Karess Krafters, bath & body inspired by nature