Easy recipe for very new soap maker

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Sexymess

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Hi, I made a batch lastnight. It is a disaster. It smells Gross and I made a hot process but didn't know I was doing it. It is in the molds and soft still. I just want to make a bar of soap that will make me feel like I can do this.
I have canoila oil, coconut oil, olive oil.
I have a phone app that I use, it does the same thing as the soap cal.
 
Hi! If you are not opposed to animal fats, go get some lard and castor oil. Both are at Walmart, the lard is down the baking aisle, and the castor oil is in the pharmacy by the laxatives.

Then make you a batch like this:

Lard 65%
Olive Oil 15%
Coconut Oil 15%
Castor Oil 5%
Superfat 5%

Use cold process. Don't use the crock pot.
 
Ok I will. Thank you. I'll let you know how it goes.

We have vegetable lard here?? Crisco?
 
If you are going to use a hard vegetable oil like Crisco I would up the olive oil to try and keep the fatty acid profile similar to the recipe Susie suggested. Make sure you are getting the all vegetable Crisco since it sounds like you do not want pig lard ( manteca).

There is a link to soapcalc in the beginners section. Please take the time to use it. It saves time and trouble in the long run.

Weigh everything carefully and separately and then combine. Wear PPE's ( gloves and goggles) when handling lye or raw soap batter.

Be extra careful combining your lye and water. Do not breath the fumes.

Welcome to the forum!

I want you to soap safely and successfully this time.
 
Soap queen on youtube have a good 4 part beginner tutorial on how to make cold process soap. Part 1 can be found here...

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR6ttCSrLJI&list=PLAADF6209996265D2[/ame]
 
Hi, I made a batch lastnight. It is a disaster. It smells Gross and I made a hot process but didn't know I was doing it. It is in the molds and soft still. I just want to make a bar of soap that will make me feel like I can do this.
I have canoila oil, coconut oil, olive oil.
I have a phone app that I use, it does the same thing as the soap cal.
Hiya Sexy! I think it would be most helpful to let the group analyze what went sideways on the batch you made. Where did you get your recipe? Can you post it here? You don't know yet whether you have a nice batch of soap or not. The fact that it is still soft, indicates a high % of liquid oils -- give it some time -- it may be just fine. Really! If it smells "gross", the fragrance may just need a chance to "bloom". You really don't know what you have at this point. Wait for a couple of weeks before you do anything, and by all means, don't trash it. We like saving disasters! :)
 
I didn't use a recipe. I just put the oils I had in my soap calculator until I got the levels up to the right lather and creaminess I wanted. What went side ways was I didn't know what I was doing. #4, dd, woke up and sorta left it to
"Cook"
 
Did you save the info from the calc? What you entered in it is your recipe. What oils did you use? And if you didn't save it, if you can guesstimate percentage for them, it would help. Based on your comment about the oils you have, I am assuming you used coconut, olive and canola. Unless you used a lot of coconut, it will be soft for quite a while.
 
The recipe Susie shared is very close to the first recipe I did! It is a beautiful soap I'm looking forward to trying once it cures.

Soaping 101 also has a great beginner's video to watch along with the Soap Queen videos Kamahido shared. Both do a good walk through.

https://youtu.be/qWnqXTqZTvU
 
Just be aware that you don't have to use BrambleBerry products to have a good soap.

Agreed! There are a lot of good ways to get your taste of soap making without breaking the bank up front. In the beginning it's probably easier to hit the grocery store or bulk food store to find out what you like. You can also infuse things like Tumeric, Nutmeg, Paprika and activated charcoal in oil, to play with using colorants instead of buying a bunch of micas. The colors are earthy, but it saves buying a bunch of products while learning.

Thanks to the tips people shared here, most of my soaping equipment came from the dollar store.

Fragrance oils recommended in cold process soaping are probably going to be the big splurge for me.. But I haven't gotten there yet.
 
I'm a beginning soaper too. I started with the recipes from Soap Queen, and paid a pretty penny for the oils and butters in the recipes from there. After joining the group, I tried using some of the 'simpler' recipes I found here, including Susie's above. When comparing the 'expensive' bars with the 'less expensive' bars (using coconut oil, lard, pure olive oil, castor oil and not much else) the bars with the less expensive ingredients were MUCH better. Seriously. I was surprised. Really, all of those fancy ingredients may impress potential buyers if the bars are being sold at a craft fair or something (I was one of those buyers in the past!) but for home use, the bars are great for cleaning the bod and will not strip. I give them to friends, and they LOVE THEM. I live in Colorado where it's dry as all heck sometimes and since I switched to using handmade soaps, my skin barely needs lotion anymore. Try Susie's recipe. You won't be sorry and neither will your wallet!
 
Yes- lard is made from pig fat, but you don't have to render it from the raw material yourself if you have a Walmart nearby. I buy my already-rendered-ready-to-use lard either from Walmart or my local grocery store. It's on the shelves of both places right next to where cooking oils are stocked. Some folks, depending on where they live, are not able to find it in their local grocery stores, but all the Walmarts across the country (USA) should stock it.


IrishLass :)
 
I have found lard in both the baking section, by the oils, and in the refrigerated meat section by the bacon and sausage - in the same store. I usually buy lard at Walmart as it is a lower price.
 
also check out places like Big Lots if you have one close. You can get oils and such at cheaper prices at times. Found Grapeseed and Sunflower oils in addition to the best prices I can find for Olive there.
 
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