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jencarene

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Sep 8, 2017
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Just wanted to pop in and say hello!

After getting very dry hands from a store-brand soap I've started looking into making my own. A few days of browsing the internet has perked my interest in soap making, DIY natural skin care, and natural home products. I have yet to make my own but am very excited to start experimenting.

I've never been part of a forum. I'm interested to see how this goes.
 
Welcome welcome! It's a truly addictive hobby.

And this forum has a WEALTH of wonderful information and people are more than happy to help you formulate your own soap recipes when you're ready to take the plunge.

If you haven't already, I recommend watching the Soapmaking 101 videos on Youtube for a good crash course. Then you get to learn all about different oil properties, superfatting, the difference between NaOH and KOH, lye concentration, lye calculators, molds, colours, fragrances, and a whole lot more. It's a fun hobby but the more research you do, the better your soap will be.

Good luck!
 
Lots of wonderful information here, and some really knowledgeable brains to pick.

One word of caution- with any soap making video you watch, the presenter is likely to be using large glass mixing/measuring cups to mix the soap in. Please don't do this!! Lye can (and will) etch and break glassware (hot lye solution flooding your kitchen, anyone?). Borosilicate glass is the safest option if you really insist on glass. Most currently produced pyrex type glass is not borosilicate, though most decent quality labware is.

The better option is plastic. Plastic with a 2 or a 5 in the recycling triangle is safe to use with lye, and both sorts are easily and inexpensively available. Stainless steel is another good option.

I wash my hands sometimes 15 or 20 times in the span of a few hours, depending on what I'm working on. Commercial soaps and detergents start making the skin on my hands actually start to crack and bleed, generally when I hit about a dozen hand washes in a few hours. Ouch. So far, I've not had that happen with my homemade soaps that I'm trying out. Definitely a change for the better!
 
Hey Jencarene - without a doubt, you've come to the right place! Make yourself at home and ask all the questions you like. No question is a dumb question. Watch some Soaping 101 and Soap Queen TV videos on YouTube. They will give you a great baseline to begin making soap.

Don't be intimidated and most of all have fun!

Welcome :)
 
Howdy from Colorado, Jen!
Welcome.gif
Plastic with a 2 or a 5 in the recycling triangle is safe to use with lye,
FWIW, my #2 plastic crumpled under the heat of the lye last week and leached into the lye solution. Nasty. And definitely unusable. So I'm thinking plastic containers can get "etched" or wear down just as easily as glass. Altho my well etched 2-cup Pyrex has served me well over 13 years. The re-purposed #2 plastic lye container, not so much. :) To tell you the truth, I'm just one of those soapers who prefers Pyrex. I've never been comfortable with plastic.
 
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