How Hannah Scaled Elstree Soaps From 25 Bars to 2,500

A neuroscience degree. A pole dancing school. Six months in Southeast Asia. And then, pregnant with her second daughter, a quiet obsession with what she was putting on her skin that became Elstree Soaps. Hannah Capocci-Hunt on scaling a product from 25 bars to 2,500, and nearly quitting on the way.

Hannah Capocci-Hunt has had several businesses, several careers, and several versions of herself and she'll be the first to tell you that none of it went to plan. A neuroscience degree she thought would lead to medicine. A pole dancing school that burned her out. Six months travelling Southeast Asia with her husband. And then, while pregnant with her second daughter, a quiet obsession with what she was putting on her skin that grew into Elstree Soaps.

Today it's a thriving UK skincare brand stocked at Borough Market and across the country, with a sister brand, a private label client, and a wholesale arm. She's also home-educating both daughters, launching a web design agency with a friend, and about to launch a children's party business called Wonderville.

We sat down to talk about scaling a product from 25 bars to 2,500, the admin nobody tells you about, and why you should never quit on a bad day.

Let's start at the beginning. How did you go from neuroscience to soapmaking?

HANNAH: I always wanted to be a doctor. I didn't get in the first time, so I studied neuroscience instead and then did a master's. By the end of it, I realised maybe this isn't what I want after all. There was an extra exam required to apply for medicine that was eight or nine hours long. It was just too intimidating and I thought, do I actually want this as badly as I thought?

So I pivoted. I started a pole dancing school. I was one of the first people in Nottingham to use Groupon for it, which seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. I ended up selling a huge number of classes and after Groupon took their cut (about 50% plus a pound per sale) I was earning £1 per person for an hour's teaching. I had five poles, maximum two people per class, and I was filling those classes all day. I completely burnt myself out. I was teaching so much that I had no time to actually do the thing I loved for myself anymore.

I sold the business in 2017 (one of my instructors bought it, which was lovely) and then my husband and I went travelling for six months around Southeast Asia. I needed it. And then we came back, I did web development for a couple of years, got pregnant with my second daughter, and that's when the soap thing started.

Where did the soap obsession come from?

HANNAH: I was really aware of what I was putting on my skin during pregnancy. I stumbled across some beautiful artisan soaps on Etsy and I was just amazed… the colours, the designs. I thought, I could try that myself. My science background made it genuinely fun. It's like chemistry. There's a soap calculator online where you can put in your oils and percentages and it spits out numbers — but what I quickly learned is that the numbers don't mean everything. You still have to make the soap and see what actually happens. I had loads of failed batches before I found a formula I loved.

My aim was a bubbly, gentle, palm oil-free bar that actually lasted. Palm oil makes hard bars really easily, so getting there without it (using cocoa, shea and mango butter instead) was genuinely tricky. But I got there. Eventually.

Tell me about the products. What do people love most?

HANNAH: One of my most popular is called In Bloom: rose geranium, lavender and patchouli, with purple, white and pink swirls and a gold swirly top. But one of the most exciting ones I've released recently is called Pride Not Prejudice. It's all the colours of the rainbow and the essential oils actually spell out LGBT: Litsea Cubeba, Ginger, Bergamot and Tea Tree. People love the smell and the colours and the whole idea behind it.

How did you scale from 25 bars to 2,500 for wholesale?

HANNAH: Honestly? It was rough. I nearly gave up.

I met my biggest stockist at a market… he just came up and asked if I did lavender soap. I said yes. He said he'd be in touch, and I assumed he wouldn't be. Then he got in touch and ordered 2,500 soaps for Christmas. I was used to making maybe 25 at a time. The number of batches I'd have needed was just insane.

I had to import bigger moulds from the US because I couldn't find what I needed in the UK, and my husband built me custom wooden mould holders so I could make 500 in a day. But my recipe uses a lot of hard butters and it's genuinely tricky to scale. I had so many failed batches. There were days I thought I can't do this. I nearly closed the whole business.

Eventually I figured out the right temperature controls, the right order of mixing. Now I make 100-bar batches. One day I'd love to go bigger, but I'm waiting for a quiet moment to experiment… the last time nearly broke me, so I'm cautious.

You mentioned the admin side of skincare. What do new founders need to know?

HANNAH: So much more goes into soap than people think. Every product needs to be safety tested, registered with the government cosmetics portal, and documented in a Product Information File (which means recording the batch number of every single ingredient in every single batch you make). Not just your soap batch number. Every ingredient.

Then there's labelling, packaging regulations, all of it. And honestly: you can be prosecuted if you get it wrong. People are putting this on their skin. If I'd fully understood what was involved from day one, I might have chosen a different business model. But I'm glad I stuck with it. I just wish someone had told me earlier.

Markets are a big part of your business. What have you learned?

HANNAH: Location matters more than size. Just because a stall costs £300 doesn't mean it'll be good. I once signed up to a load of markets because I'd done really well at one event and a friend recommended them. I was spending £300 to £400 a weekend, and I ended up being placed next to bargain bins and cheap products. It just didn't work.

Do your research. Visit the market before you sign up if you can. Know where you'll be placed and who'll be around you.

And interact. Some people just sit and wait for customers to come to them. I don't. I try to bring people over. I had one guy at a market who was just queuing for the cheese stall next door… he wasn't even looking at me. I asked him to smell a soap. He ended up spending £70. If I'd just sat quietly, that sale never would have happened.

Hannah Capocci-Hunt, Elstree Soaps

On the morning of your very first market — what happened?

HANNAH: My daughter had an ear infection. She was really ill, actually bleeding from her ear. I was on my knees thinking I might not even make it. My husband just said: go. It'll be fine. So I went. And it was brilliant. I had the best time.

It's funny looking back, because if I'd used her being ill as a sign not to go, that would have been it. But you just have to push through sometimes. And then when the good day comes, you think: what if I'd stopped on the bad one?

You've created a second brand. What's that about?

HANNAH: Epic Soaps is my sister brand… it's for the fun stuff. Rainbows, dragons, bright colours. Elstree Soaps is elegant and clean, but I needed creative space to play without confusing the brand. They actually sell on the same website, but having them separate just feels right.

What's next for Elstree Soaps?

HANNAH: Liquid soap. I've started developing a recipe and I think it'll be a better fit for wider stockists. Not everyone wants a bar, and liquid soaps are easier to scale — there's no four to six week curing time, which changes everything for production. I'd love to get into stores like John Lewis one day. That's the dream.

And what would you tell your younger self (or your daughters) about choosing a path?

HANNAH: Don't get stuck on one version of success. I thought being a doctor was the only impressive option. But success is doing something that fits you.

It's okay to change your mind. You can start over. Just don't quit on a bad day.