The Story Behind Soap & Suds: 85 Batches Later
When people ask how Fillaree got started, they're often surprised by my answer.
I wasn't trying to start a soap company.
I was trying to solve a problem in my own home.
For years, I had been refilling the same cleaning spray bottle over and over. I loved buying refill sizes because they created less waste than buying a brand-new bottle every time.
But eventually I realized...
Every refill still came in a disposable container.
I was recycling those containers, but I kept thinking,
"There has to be a better way."
That one thought eventually became Fillaree.
If people cared enough to refill...
Once I decided I wanted to start a refill company, I knew one thing right away.
If someone cared enough to refill their bottle, they probably cared just as much about what went inside it.
So the very first product had to be more than refillable.
It had to be a safe, effective soap I would proudly use in my own home.
A soap gentle enough for everyday hands, effective enough to earn a permanent spot by the sink, and made with thoughtfully chosen ingredients.
The only problem?
I'd never made soap before.
(Photo: Me y mi Etta, circa 2014.)
New Year's Eve
On New Year's Eve 2013, after my two little kids were finally asleep (a little later than usual because it was New Year's Eve), I poured myself a glass of sparkling cider, put on my gloves and mask, and attempted to make my very first batch of liquid soap.
I had spent weeks preparing.
I bought about $100 worth of ingredients.
A thrift-store crockpot.
Read everything I could get my hands on.
Watched the same YouTube video so many times I practically had it memorized.
I remember going to bed so excited & nervous.
The soap had to cook overnight, and I couldn't wait to see what I'd wake up to.
Unfortunately...
It didn't work.
Not even close.
So I made another batch.
That didn't work either.
Neither did the next one.
Or the next.
Instead of quitting, I started taking notes.
Every batch taught me something.
Some notes were technical.
Some were brutally honest.
One of my first notebook entries simply says:
Attempt #4
"Smelled burnt. Overcooked. No good."
(Photo: Original notebook page.)
There were plenty of late nights after the kids went to bed.
Early Saturday mornings.
A few chemical burns. (Fun fact: vinegar, not water, is what neutralizes lye.) 😅
More failed batches than I could count.
But little by little...
I got closer.
Batch #85
Three months later, it finally happened.
Batch #85.
The soap was clear.
It foamed beautifully.
It was gentle.
It worked exactly the way I had imagined.
That batch became Soap & Suds.
More than twelve years later, it's still our best-selling product.
Not because it was perfect the first time...
Because it wasn't.
It earned its place one batch at a time.
(Photo: Soap & Suds.)
The first refill
A few weeks later, I was accepted into the South Durham Farmers' Market.
The weekend before opening day, I nervously told people about this new idea I had for a refill company. One of those people was a woman named Linda.
The following Saturday—our very first market—Linda came back carrying a beautiful green glass bottle.
She handed it to me and asked me to refill it.
I weighed the bottle, filled it with Unscented Soap & Suds (I didn't have any scents yet!), and then came the part I had been dreading...
Telling her the price.
Because I was making such tiny batches, I had to charge $1.00 per ounce. I remember thinking, "There's no way she's going to pay that."
Linda & at Fillaree's first refillers
Instead, she smiled, happily paid, thanked me, and walked away with the very first refill.
Looking back, that moment probably lasted less than a minute.
But it changed everything.
Because suddenly this wasn't just my idea anymore.
Someone else believed in it, too.
A full-circle moment
The funny thing is...
As I was writing this story, Linda walked into our store.
More than a decade later...
She's still refilling.
We took another picture together, and I couldn't help but smile.
Between those two photos were thousands of batches of soap, a storefront, an amazing team, and more than a million bottles kept in circulation.
But somehow...
It all still comes back to one bottle.
One refill.
And one person willing to give a brand-new idea a chance.
(Photo: Me and Linda. June 2026)
Looking back...
If you had told me on New Year's Eve 2013 that the soap I was struggling to make would one day become part of thousands of homes, I never would have believed you.
Today, every time I see someone refill a bottle of Soap & Suds, I'm reminded why those 85 batches were worth it.
Thank you for making this story so much bigger than mine.
See you on the refill side,
💚