soap_making

Hey everyone, I'm a soaper newbie.  I made it once with my aunt a year ago and she has since passed away from breast cancer.  She photo copied me all of her notes before she passed, so sad! It's been almost a year now and I am ready to try to make it on my own with her notes but I have a few questions.  First, since I'm on a pretty tight budget, can I use one of the really cheap-o scales to begin with and then buy a nicer one later on? I see this guy using one here and I saw them at Target for $5 the other day:

waltonfeed.com/old/old/soap/soapno…

Also, does anyone have the "plans" written out for a DIY wooden mold? I really like the flat ones that make it easy for swirling.  Lastly, my aunt's basic recipe calls for vegetable shortening, coconut oil, olive oil, lye and rainwater.  Does this sound like a good combination to you more experienced soapers? I don't know how fond I am of the vegetable shortening!

Thanks for any help you can give!
Alisha

I'm familiar with making a variety of bath time accessories (ie bath salts, washes, scrubs, etc.) but I'm new to soap making. I'm looking at different ways to add scent to my soaps. I'm used to using essential oils in my other bath accessories, but, after doing a little online research, it looks like a lot of companies make scented oils specifically for soap making.

This is awesome on some levels - I'd love to be able to make up a package of pumpkin-scented goodies for my future sister-in-law for her birthday and I'd never be able to do that with just the essential oils available at my local health food store. On the other hand, I'm totally unfamiliar with how to navigate this new world of fragrance - how do I know what's high quality? (Are there any sellers that are very good, but don't cost an arm and a leg?) A lot of these scents come with names, but not a description. Can I mix scents in the same way that I mix essential oils now? I'm in Central Massachusetts - would I be able to find any of these things in a local shop where I could talk to a real live sales person or should I just order online?

I am considering making soap using soapwort, however, in all of the recipes I have found the end result is liquid soaps/shampoos. This is fina and dandy, of course, however, I would really like to make bar soaps in similar fashion. I was curious if it would be worthwhile to use some combination of beeswax and oatmeal to thicken the soap enough to make it into bars.

Would this work?

Alternately, has someone made bars of soap using soapwort (without using lye, hydroxides, or pieces of other soaps)? If so, would you mind terribly sharing your methods/recipes?

Thank you so much in advance!

Hello. I am new to soap making. I'm in the process of figuring out which oils, butters, etc. I want to use for making soaps and trying to learn as much as I can. So it seems that I will need a scale and some sort of double boiler. Does anyone have recommendations on where I can purchase a decent scale and double boiler or double boiler insert at a decent price? Online or offline is fine.

I am also trying to figure out how I can make a combined shampoo/conditioner bar similar to this: Hybrid Solid Shampoo from Lush.
I posted about this in naturalliving but was hoping I might get more suggestions here. I'm not crazy about the colors or scents used in this product I just want to understand which ingredients are necessary for cleansing and which are necessary for conditioning and what I need to do to make it all stick together.

I'm also trying to make a face wash similar to this: Lavender Seafoam Cleanser by 100% Pure. One of the ingredients is saponified coconut oil. Am I able to just saponify the coconut oil with lye without it becoming to hard and then add in the other ingredients?

I am also still trying to understand all the differences in natural preservatives. Which ones are best for different types of formulations, etc. I noticed that the above product contains Citric Acid, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Rosemary Oil Extract, Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), and Vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate). I'm assuming the main point of all of these is for their preserving qualities. I was wondering if it's necessary to have so many preservatives in one product and if I could get away with just using one or two of them, and also what the specific benefits of each one are. For example, would I be able to use powdered Calcium Ascorbate instead of the Ascorbyl Palmitate or just regular Vitamin E oil instead of 1-tocopherol?

What are some other natural preservatives and what types of forumlations do they work best in? I want to make several different skin and hair products and was hoping I could get away with buying maybe 2-3 different preservatives that I could use in all of them, and hopefully ones that would be okay and non-irritating for people with skin conditions like rosacea, excema, and psoriasis to use.

Thanks for any help.

Hi! Some help please!

Where can i buy soapmaking supplies in manhattan or brooklyn, new york? Real stores i mean, not the online ones.
Been looking for one for the whole night with no results.((

i want to smell and touch the stuff before i buy it.

thank you.)

Hope this is allowed, if not, please feel free to delete:

I just moved Bath Cake into its new space ... its just in my kitchen still, but my Dh built me a cabinet so now Bath Cake has its very own dedicated space! Yay. While moving and doing inventory I came across a couple of things I bought but won't ever use. I'd rather not throw them away so for the cost of shipping they're yours if you have use for them:

approx 8 oz shampoo pearls, Mable's (says 1-5% to hot water or liquid)
8oz conditioner pearls, Mable's (same ratio) - this is unopened
approx 12 oz sodium lauryl sulfate (from before I learned the difference between sulfate and sulfoacetate), BB's

Hi All,

1. I would really like some info on telling if an oil has gone rancid. I have mostly only been able to find people saying "You'll know" and that isn't very helpful. I really do need some characteristics... how will it smell will it be a slightly off smell, or like over powering and knock you over.

The problem is I have some Sweet almond oil that I had lost and just found I've had it for probably 3 years, it's been closed and in the dark but has been through temperature fluctuations has it was in a cupboard in my carport. It smells slightly... I don't really know how to describe it... it could be a nutty sorta of smell or maybe musky would be a better description, but I haven't used sweet almond in so long I haven't the faintest idea if that is how it is supposed to smell or if it's too far gone to use for soaps.

Please help I really wanna start on some crock pot HP ASAP.

2. I have had to stop using my homemade soaps because my skin gets horribly dry and itchy in the winter. This makes em really sad. But even the super conditioning soaps with a 10-15% super fat (I am afraid to go any higher for fear of dreaded orange spots) in the best conditions... summer high humidity and so on... leave my skin with a squeaky tight feeling in the winter it gets simply awful with itchy, flaky skin. Mostly the soaps I've been making are 1/3rd lard, olive, and coconut. I also tried reducing the coconut and adding shea with still no luck. I even tried using lotions, aloe, and oils as after products but it still wasn't enough finally I just had to go get some super moisture body wash and quit using my homemade soaps in the winter.

Any suggestions? Would taking the coconut out completely help? Would a totally different formula? What about using KOH instead of NaOH?

If anyone wants to help me figure out a good formulation here are the oils I have at home. If I don't have them currently The only other oils I have quick enough access to are found at grocery stores.

Have on hand:
liquid lanolin
Castor oil
Olive oil
Shea butter
Coconut oil
Lard
and if it's not rancid the sweet almond

Thanks so much for your help
x-posted to craftgrrl, and craftygoths

To add to my prior post, tonight I played a bit with clear M&P base and olive oil. I did about 30% olive oil, using a whisk, it incorporated flawlessly. The soap did soften but I wouldn't say that's a bad thing, BUT it will not layer! The layers slip off each other when hardened. Adding normal M&P "icing" didn't help either.

I'm not sure if whipping the olive oil in will do anything vastly different, but I'm not willing to sacrifice my blender to soap only just yet.

Gosh this is so addicting!

Has anyone tried making these hybrid lotion bars? I've seen recipes that include up to 25% almond oil and 75% M&P base, but my normal go to oil is olive oil. Anyone have any input?

Also I've seen that people have a dedicated blender for these, but I'm a cheapskate. Since its only M&P base, is there a reason a food use blender is a bad idea?

Hello everyone, I'm new to the comm, new to soap making though I've been reading up and researching on it for a long while, I feel that I'm ready to start and was wondering as to where I would find the materials? It appears as though most of the ingredients needed to make soap, bathbombs, bath salts and so on are for the most part available only online in the quantities that I'm looking for (enough to make 10 of each at least). Does anyone have suggestions as to where to find the materials at a decent price, locally? I'm in the Toronto area. If no such place exists, is there a good site anyone recommends?

Thank you kindly,

x-posted to soapmakers