Movin' on Up

Front half of the factory

Here's where we package and label all the items. Behind and to the right and left of me (out of frame) is where we make the items and cure the soap (soap takes 30~45 days from the date it is made until it is ready for use).

55 gallons of coconut oil

If you've ever wondered what 55 gallons of coconut oil looks like, this is it. We go through approximately one of these drums every month, sometimes more depending on the time of the year and demand.

A slab of soap about to be cut into bars

When a batch of soap is made, it is poured into scored molds, and 2-3 days after being poured it is flipped out of the mold, cut into bars, and placed on the curing racks for over a month. Then the bars are taken down and wrapped individually by hand in recycled paper.

Some freshly-poured deodorant

I started making deodorant a little over a year ago and since then it's become one of the most popular items. Here is a batch that was just poured, now to wait ~30 minutes for it to solidify so it can be capped and labeled.

Ready to go!

This is the same batch of deodorant approximately 30 minutes later. Now to cap each stick and label them up!

Deodorant all capped!

Now that it's solidified I'm able to cap up the batch of deodorant (as with everything here, it's all done individually by hand so it takes some time!). Now to label them up!

Some packaged inventory

I have about two shelves full of products, this is about half of one shelf. While it looks like a lot, since the soap has such a long delay to cure, I always try to play it safe and have a few extra boxes on hand, especially with the holidays coming up.

Lip balm waiting for labels

Here's a batch of peppermint lip balm that was just capped up. I think there's something like 800 tubes in this pile.

Making some moisturizer

Here I'm mixing up a few gallons of moisturizing cream. At this point the mixture has been heated for well over an hour and tempered for an equal amount of time. Then it is agitated for about another hour, at which point it will be ready to be put into the hopper and poured into jars.

Moisturizer poured, cooled, and labeled

Once poured into jars the moisturizer is still a very hot liquid, and if care is not taken to finish it off correctly, it can either crystalize or separate. So once filled the jars are quickly capped and then flash-cooled to create a creamy consistency.

Hair styling wax just poured

Similar to the deodorant, I added the hair styling wax a little over a year ago and since then it's become one of the most popular items.

Some more hair styling wax

This particular batch is for a distributor in New York. As you can see in the lower-left corner, it's already starting to solidify. Once hardened it will be capped, labeled, and shipped out!

The sign

After setting up the whole interior of the factory, putting the sign up was certainly one of the most rewarding tasks. It's official :)

Thanks for reading! I don't want to get too mushy and emotional, but I truly could not have done this without your support. From the bottom of my heart, thank you reddit!

Rob
WhollyHemp.com