Bensmom saddle soap - the review thread (if that's okay with Bensmom)

[KaBoom]

Ok So I read the reviews and bought some. Prompt delivery even from diagonally across the US. thanks! Now the horrible part. are you ready?

I am a bonafied dyed in the wool never clean my tack kinda person. (horrors I know) I do buy expensive tack as the really good leather stands up well to my abuse. (another gasp from the pony clubbers, I know I know I’m a sick person)

Well I finally gritted my teeth and opened the jar. Loved the sent and decided to clean a bridle I needed to change a bit out of. Well I was shocked at how fast and how lovely the bridle looked.

Are you ready for the really really bad part? I cleaned all my tack in my horse trailer. saddles, bridles, breast collars, neck straps, lunge cavassons girths, extra stirrup leathers.

What do you put in this stuff??? I hate cleaning tack and I cleaned every piece of leather I own and I don’t have a recognized show in site. (that the only thing that gets me to clean tack) Must be something in the sent. Now the big problem is I still have a jar that is 90% full. I might be compelled to clean tack after every ride. sigh:eek:

Seriously amazing stuff and my tack looks incredible. Super amazed.

Thanks !!!

[Bensmom]

KaBoom – you made me laugh out loud for real!! That is hysterical – maybe I should claim that it has secret powers to make people want to clean tack and every pony club mom will buy truckloads of it!! :lol:

amzgallison – I am particularly interested in reviews on western saddles! Especially for the conditioner – my brother-in-law has a mobile tack business that goes to all the big qh shows, and I would like additional incentive for him to carry it for sale

Ok, what do you guys think about the conditioner as far as scents go? I have tried it scented with vanilla, and that makes it smell like buttercream icing Even unscented, it smells good, as it has cocoa butter in it, which has a lovely smell.

Thoughts?

I am leaning toward no additional scent or just something simple, as you don’t want to have to make sure you get the scent that matches your soap

Annnnnnndddd . . . .

The little jars are here! and I LOVE them!! Also like the square jars – those only come in the 4 oz size, but since people condition less than they clean, I think that will be a good thing.

Wheeeee!!!

[amzngallison]

Bensmom I’ll get my before and after photos loaded tomorrow. It cleaned up both of my western saddles super nice. One is mostly suede so didn’t have much to actually clean on that one but did have all of my other smaller pieces for that saddle and it did fabulously. The saddle that has a lot more tooling also cleaned up really well and the conditioner seems to be doing fabulously (this saddle is super old and normally needs a lot more product to properly condition it so thumbs up there) but the balm and soap did have a tendency to get stuck in the pattern and I had to spend some extra time removing it from the different ridges and valleys. Otherwise it was fabulous.

As for scents for the conditioner, I’m a vanilla junky so I would LOVE a conditioner that was vanilla scented.

[gypsymare]

I’m also a terrible tack cleaner… I often let things pile up until the 11th hour before the night before a hunt, and have been known to wipe things down right before I hop on. Now, I’m cleaning my tack after almost every ride. I got lavender vanilla and the scent is AMAZING. I love how clean my hands feel after using it. No gummy feeling or strange saddle soap smells. I’m a convert! I can’t wait to try the conditioner, too!

[Renn_aissance]

I think if it already smells like cocoa butter, leave it as cocoa butter. The soap with its different scents can be star of that particular show.

Or you could make a bunch of different scents and send them all to me to sample.

[ACMEeventing]

Ooh! I can’t wait to try the conditioner!! When can we get it?

I’m also of the opinion that if it already has a nice aroma I probably wouldn’t add a scent on top of that.

I haven’t checked on this thread in a few days, 27 pages! That’s some good soap :yes:

Btw, don’t forget about me when it’s time to test the people soap

[Bensmom]

Acme – did you ever think this thread would run to over 500 replies?! Y’all are the best! I’ve gotten more good information here than I could have gotten by hiring 10 marketing firms! And y’all have encouraged me to try things that I would NEVER have tried. It is hard work, but I’m having fun! I do have a mission in life apparently – making people WANT to clean their tack. Wheeeee!

The melt and pour people soap I made for my brother (who works at the Atlanta Botanical Garden) which was an Olive Oil/Rosemary gardeners soap with grits (yes, course ground grits!) added as an abrasive substance has been very popular! Which really surprised me. Maybe I will eventually get into people soap too! hundredacres very kindly sent me the instructions, but at this point, I’m still too terrified at the thought of real lye.

DH does not like the square jars for the conditioner, but I do, so I probably need to put some in the square jars and get it to someone that runs a huge barn and would go through it quickly to tell me whether getting it out of the corners would be too difficult. I have a few people testing it now – mostly my sponsored riders, and it has gotten good reviews, but now I need to find a way to package it that will be distinct and somehow the same.

Thank you all for all your help!!

[JER]

Bensmom, I saw your soap today because Glenbaer brought it along to the Jimmy Wofford clinic. Her tack looked very clean. I also heard something about a certain septuagenarian Olympian absconding with the coveted conditioner.

The soap looked and smelled lovely. However, I’m not supposed to clean tack because it aggravates my skin allergies (even with gloves) and results in sores and cuts all over my hands.

So, now that you’ve launched your soap and conditioner, do you think you could invent a Roomba-type thing that roams around the tack room at night and cleans tack?

Thanks in advance.

[Bensmom]

I’ve heard the same rumours about the conditioner going walkabout! :lol:

Don’t we have a rocket scientist around these parts that could get started on the Roomba concept?! I really could quit my day job if I could come up with that!

Back in the lab tomorrow, fiddling with the conditioner just a bit . . .

[Frizzle]

Ok, I am down on my knees BEGGING for the buttercream frosting/vanilla-scented conditioner! sob Ppplllleeeeeeeaaaase?!

All drama aside, I am a vanilla lush and I actually love buttercream frosting-scented stuff even more than I love All Things Vanilla (if that’s possible), so I would be a huge fan of the conditioner. I’m sure I’ll be a fan regardless, but that would definitely push things over the edge.

Let me know when the samples are ready! If I can swing the cost, I definitely want to buy a whole bunch so I can include one w/every sale (and get even more people in the Higher Standards fan club!).

[Bensmom]

I’ll be testing the sample jars later today!! Then to figure out cost, labeling, etc. This stuff is so much more complicated than I would have expected.

Perhaps we can work a trade – I think the Princess NEEDS one of your browbands!

[Debbie]

There you go! Just pack the soap with some minions instead of mints. I’m sure this won’t affect your margins at all! :o

[Frizzle]

I know, right?! This whole business thing is uber complicated and stuff. I thought I would be up and running MONTHS ago–but figuring out all the right tools/techniques, packaging, business cards, logo, pricing, shipping, marketing, etc. is like climbing Mt. Everest!

I’m sure we can work something out, Libby!

[quietann]

I would like to further report that I used the soap to clean my wearing-out Mountain Horse tall boots today. I am very fond of these boots as they are one of the few that fit me off the rack; they’re not sleek and beautiful but they are the real deal!

Anyway, took the soap to them today and they look better than they have in ages!

[Bensmom]

I LOVE my Mountain Horse boots! Mine were lucky last night after my ride in the rain – I came inside and finished up the last batch of conditioner I was working on and scraped the bowl clean, rubbing all the last bits into my boots They clean up pretty well!

Ok, not so thrilled with the square jars – several reasons, but my consultants seem to be voting them down. Would a different colored jar be enough to distinguish between soap and conditioner? Perhaps a white jar, rather than the blue? I wish the company made the right size lids in blue – then I would do a white jar/blue lid, but that isn’t available.

Thoughts?

[amastrike]

A different color jar would be fine too.

I vote for a brown sugar/vanilla scent!

I want to be a conditioner tester!!

[pattnic]

Ordered my limited-edition “Confidence” late last week - holding out on cleaning my boots and half chaps until it arrives!

Eagerly awaiting the launch of the conditioner!

[cottonXCblondie]

[QUOTE=amastrike;7026235]

I vote for a brown sugar/vanilla scent!

I want to be a conditioner tester!![/QUOTE]
these sentiments x83578347859783458973

[bornfreenowexpensive]

Different color would be fine. Although to be honest…pretty easy to tell them appart when you open the jar.

Still, either a different color jar or different color lable would work well. I would think square would be hard to get all of the conditioner out.

[Event4Life]

I’d do same jars, different label for the conditioner. Keep it as streamlined as possible :-D.