A four letter word problem

OK, I need to come clean. There is a four letter word that drives all soapmakers crazy. Sometimes they gasp when they hear it, other times they choke on their coffee. Of all the phone calls I receive this four letter word strikes more fear and anxiety into the lives of soapmakers than any other single thing. Ever.

Put down your spoon, put down your beverage and prepare to read what upsets more of us than any other thing.

Brace yourself. The word is…… MATH.

Math is more likely to stop you from making soap today than anything else going on in your life. Forget the kids, forget dinner, forget the mail counter is piled so high there could be an avalanche. Forget all the rest of your life – math is your biggest hurdle. I know this. I feel this. I hear this every single day. For those of you who think that women are afraid of math and men are math geniuses – I’m telling you right now that is wrong. People are afraid of math. All people. Fear of math is not restricted to certain races, religions, sexes, ages, or any other classifier. All people have fear of math. Some of us just don’t get it. Some of us need to hear the lesson 100 times before it sinks in. Some of us fear being on the list of math dummies. Every single one of us has had this fear at one time or another. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say there is no such thing as a math genius at birth. No. Such. Thing. There are those of us that practice more math and those of us that practice less math.

This week I want your math questions because I am going to cover every single math area that soap makers use. Yep, every single one. And I am going to explain these in real words with real life situations. No one is putting two trains on the same track and asking when they will meet as they race toward each other. Every one of us knows two trains racing toward each other on the same track means accident. We aren’t stupid! No math needed here. Whew! And I am not going to give you a word question with a math problem like: Suzy has a dog, 3 apples and is walking 2.4 miles to the park. What color is Suzy’s hair? No math needed here either. The real question to ask is what breed Suzy’s dog happens to be. My bet is the dog is a retriever or retriever mix. 😉 Retrievers love human food and apples are amazing.

This week you need to send in your questions (private or public comments) and find a calculator and ruler or tape measure. By the end of the week you will feel smarter because we are going to make math fun. Practice this mantra any time you are in wait mode (at the grocery store check out line, waiting for a red light to turn green, drying your hair, making dinner). If you are standing still or tethered to an action then repeat these words. “Math is only a 4 letter word. With practice I will tame this former beast and math will become my friend.”

My email is on and ready for your math problems.