Count the safety issues

I was waiting for someone to mention the fact she was pouring towards herself.

And always wear safety goggles through the whole process. I hate to, but do it anyway because one simple act such as pulling a spatula out the bowl or moving an emptied container can send a drop flying toward your eye.

And if you've making videos; do it in an enclosed room and have someone else watch that napping toddler! Your attention is too divided - soaping, videoing, and now a toddler who can stealthily grab your leg before you know she's out of bed! I love toddlers - but never assume anything with them!

Jen's videos have always drawn this kind of attention. She doesn't care.

I really didn't think it was that bad, besides no gloves and the bucket being a bit too full. I won't comment on the kids since I don't know how close they actually were. The could have been in the next room over behind a gate as far as I know.

What is the point of this thread? To tear apart and make fun/ridicule a person?

Yes, there are obvious safety and good manufacturing practice issues in these videos. But this thread and the question posed in the OP makes the assumption the people reading this thread are experienced soapers with the knowledge of good manufacturing processes and safety. It is not intended to be an educational thread. There has been no debate on techniques and practices, no question posed other than “point out the flaws and problems”. If it is intended to make newbies aware of the safety concerns in these videos, it would be more appropriate to post comments on the youtube page where the “newbies” would see the comments and be educated. A new soaper might stumble on this thread by accident and curiosity only. If it is to educate the maker of the video aware of the safety issues, it would be more appropriate to contact her privately and discuss your concerns with her directly instead of in a public forum.

As one member pointed out: glass houses. I can say with almost certainty that we all have made mistakes while soaping, including safety issues.

These forums are a gathering of like minded people who enjoy making soap and bath and body care products as a hobby or as a business. It is a positive place where we can post questions, provide answers or our own insight, share ideas, thoughts and the joy and heartache of of our passion: soap making. IF someone has concern about a comment, the community corrects it in a positive manner.

TLR This thread is beneath these forums and this community

I have been soaping for about 8 months, and, until this thread, I had never even thought about the dangers of pouring towards yourself. So, this thread has brought up some safety issues I had not considered before.

Traumabrew said:

What is the point of this thread? To tear apart and make fun/ridicule a person?

Yes, there are obvious safety and good manufacturing practice issues in these videos. But this thread and the question posed in the OP makes the assumption the people reading this thread are experienced soapers with the knowledge of good manufacturing processes and safety. It is not intended to be an educational thread. There has been no debate on techniques and practices, no question posed other than “point out the flaws and problems”. If it is intended to make newbies aware of the safety concerns in these videos, it would be more appropriate to post comments on the youtube page where the “newbies” would see the comments and be educated. A new soaper might stumble on this thread by accident and curiosity only. If it is to educate the maker of the video aware of the safety issues, it would be more appropriate to contact her privately and discuss your concerns with her directly instead of in a public forum.

As one member pointed out: glass houses. I can say with almost certainty that we all have made mistakes while soaping, including safety issues.

These forums are a gathering of like minded people who enjoy making soap and bath and body care products as a hobby or as a business. It is a positive place where we can post questions, provide answers or our own insight, share ideas, thoughts and the joy and heartache of of our passion: soap making. IF someone has concern about a comment, the community corrects it in a positive manner.

TLR This thread is beneath these forums and this community

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It is most definitely intended to be an educational post. We haven't identified all the problems yet, so discussion of them is premature. When all of them are noted, I'll summarize them and we can discuss them. Developing the ability to spot problems is very valuable tool which everyone should have in their kit bag and its importance should not be minimized. The purpose of the exercise at this juncture is to develop that skill.

If that is the intent of this thread, then it can be a positive learning tool. However, the way the thread is presented plus many of the comments are negative in nature. I like how Morpheus made this an educational thread/topic. I have said my piece and hope that this does turn out to be a positive experience.

Traumabrew said:

If that is the intent of this thread, then it can be a positive learning tool. However, the way the thread is presented plus many of the comments are negative in nature. I like how Morpheus made this an educational thread/topic. I have said my piece and hope that this does turn out to be a positive experience.

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I agree, this is a rehash by people who haven't been around long. Soaping safety police....

I agree with what Brewer George, Obsidian, Traumabrew and Reinbeau said. Threads like these, even though they may have been started with the best of intentions, nearly always go southward because they tempt the worst in us to come out.....i.e., that part of our human natures that tends to enjoy nitpicking at whatever perceived flaws of others while turning a blind eye to our own (let's be real- none of us are immune to it). There are much better ways to educate newcomers about issues regarding safety without resorting to tearing someone else down in the process. That's not the type of education this forum is about or likes to promote.

Traumabrew said:

If it is intended to make newbies aware of the safety concerns in these videos, it would be more appropriate to post comments on the youtube page where the “newbies” would see the comments and be educated. A new soaper might stumble on this thread by accident and curiosity only. If it is to educate the maker of the video aware of the safety issues, it would be more appropriate to contact her privately and discuss your concerns with her directly instead of in a public forum.

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This, 100%^^^^. You took the words right out of my mouth.

Re: not wearing gloves- I personally never soap without them, but I know of a handful of experienced soapmakers on this forum who do not wear gloves on purpose due to slippery glove-clumsiness issues or because they are allergic to the material the gloves are made of. They know the risks, though, and proceed at their own caution by staying close to a source of running water.

Re: pouring towards you in the mold: I've done this on several occasions because I was better able to see what the heck I was doing or where exactly my batter was going. I wear an apron and am well-protected, and I soap right by a source of running water.

Re: guestimating how much clay to add in: if she were guestimating how much lye/water/oil to use, I'd definitely have a thing or two to say about that, but I sometimes do the same thing with my pumice or my colorants or with oatmeal as the gal in the video did with her clay. To me, it's no biggie because I keep mental notes of how much I used, which I always write down after soaping so I can compare it to how the soap comes out in the end. Who's to say she's not doing the same thing? Too many assumptions are being made here for her to be called out on it.

Re: the plastic containers she is using. Have any of you seen the bottoms of them to determine their recycle codes? If not, y'all are making assumptions here, too. For all we know, they may very well be the proper type, and she may have used them only that one time.

Re: her bucket being rather full. I may be the odd one out, but my soaping pot is pretty much about that full when I'm making the occasional 5lb batch (my usual batch is 2.8lbs), and it's actually very workable for me......just as workable as it was for her in her video.

Re; the sound of the child in the background. I can't speak to any other of her videos that some have mentioned because I can't recall if I have ever seen them, but to her credit in the video at hand, never once did I see the child. You only hear him or her in the distance, which to me (as Obsidian pointed out), could very well mean that she had a child-gate up blocking him/her from coming into the soaping area.

Re: moving the mold to bang it/level out the soap. I do it all the time because that's what works out best for me.

This hasn't been mentioned yet- but I suspect that her short-sleeves on your list? If so- I thought I should mention that I (and several others here on the forum ) purposely soap with short sleeves, and with very good reason. I won't mention the reason why right now, because I want to see if you can guess what it might be.


IrishLass

Traumabrew said:

If that is the intent of this thread, then it can be a positive learning tool. However, the way the thread is presented plus many of the comments are negative in nature. I like how Morpheus made this an educational thread/topic. I have said my piece and hope that this does turn out to be a positive experience.

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Morpheus has been a teacher, so Morpheus is quite used to translating "STOP THAT BEFORE YOU DIE!" into something a little more politic.

Still, there's a limit.

Inherent in our commentary is the fact that this person has posted this video to YouTube intended as an informative release to a beginner community. That's...not good when you're making a ton of safety errors.

Even the best do it; the Soap Queen does things in glass bowls that I would only do in plastic or stainless steel. She's doing it so you can watch what's happening more easily, and if the glass happens to be borosilicate, it's not much of an issue. But she never specifies, nor points out that glass shouldn't be used for any exothermic reaction...which soap is.

Why doesn't someone on here take notes of all the different safety issues and make a video that is 99% perfect to steer beginners towards. But... not go to overboard and terrify them. There is one good thing about the bad videos and that is that they show that soaping doesn't have to be scary.

I have a question; what is the "cream" she adds?

Primrose said:

I have a question; what is the "cream" she adds?

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Probably heavy cream.

Null

MorpheusPA said:

Morpheus has been a teacher, so Morpheus is quite used to translating "STOP THAT BEFORE YOU DIE!" into something a little more politic.

Still, there's a limit.

Inherent in our commentary is the fact that this person has posted this video to YouTube intended as an informative release to a beginner community. That's...not good when you're making a ton of safety errors.

Even the best do it; the Soap Queen does things in glass bowls that I would only do in plastic or stainless steel. She's doing it so you can watch what's happening more easily, and if the glass happens to be borosilicate, it's not much of an issue. But she never specifies, nor points out that glass shouldn't be used for any exothermic reaction...which soap is.

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No, she didn't, she posted it to sell fragrance oils. That's what she does. Sells soap supplies also. Her audience knows her well. That a beginner may stumbled on it had nothing to do with why she makes videos. This thread is just an excuse for officious comments, I really wish it would be closed and thought it would be.....

I wanna lightly touch base on the Nancy Today videos. She at least acknowledges that you should wear gloves and goggles when soaping. But people will do what they do and even I have some things that would make some cringe. unless I see someone pouring water into lye or something else that grave, I'm leaving well enough alone

IrishLass said:

Re: guestimating how much clay to add in: if she were guestimating how much lye/water/oil to use, I'd definitely have a thing or two to say about that, but I sometimes do the same thing with my pumice or my colorants or with oatmeal as the gal in the video did with her clay. To me, it's no biggie because I keep mental notes of how much I used, which I always write down after soaping so I can compare it to how the soap comes out in the end. Who's to say she's not doing the same thing? Too many assumptions are being made here for her to be called out on it.

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I assume that this was directed at me since I was the one who pointed it out. Let me respond--

I don't have an issue with guesstimating--so long as one understands what ingredients can safely be added in a willy-nilly sort of way. As you mentioned, there are issues with just dumping in lye, but you and I both know that. Does everyone watching these videos know and understand the science behind soapmaking? Probably not. So when an inexperienced person sees "an expert" just dumping in an ingredient (like clay) with NO explanation as to why they aren't accurately measuring it, there is an increase likelihood that the "newbie" might start adding extra lye, or a sensitizing FO, or who knows what else.

If someone is going to put together a video like this, they should really think about who their audience is, and identify issues that might arise from that audience's lack of experience. I agree--the clay is inconsequential. What's implied, however, is not.

reinbeau said:

That a beginner may stumbled on it had nothing to do with why she makes videos. This thread is just an excuse for officious comments, I really wish it would be closed and thought it would be.....

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I actually don't see much of anything in terms of officiousness. I could certainly indulge myself if I wished, and I'm quite certain that many of us are similarly able, but disinclined.

That she's selling EOs (presumably for use in soap) doesn't make things any better; she's using poor practices to show users how to use her EOs. Selling soap is a neutral thing. But "stumble" is a slightly weak word for what beginners will do--the video title, subject, and (consequently) commentary invites new soapers due to what's being presented.

I don't, personally, approve of videos like this being posted at all. On YouTube, that is, since they're not displaying best practices--not here, where we can, at least, tell people what not to do.

It's also a great way of renewing one's own familiarity with safety procedures, even if only in the negative. And to remind us why we don't necessarily follow all of them ourselves. However, if somebody is with me, I point out that I'm NOT doing something the right way...and why I'm not. I would expect no less on a video.

As far as closing the thread, that's an administrator decision. But I, personally, see no reason why it should be closed. We're not insulting this "Jen" person, if that's who it is. We're criticizing the practices she's choosing to show people on the Internet, and that is very fair game.

But what is the purpose of commenting and only negatively criticizing one persons youtube video? If the purpose is to make newbies aware of the issues in the video, posting here, on these forums is not going to obtain your goal. Comments of that nature need to be on the youtube page. If someone is that new to soaping, they are not going to know to come here to look for reviews and critiques of the video.

If it is to critique someones technique, lets be fair and make note of the positives and negatives and then we can debate and discuss the pro's and con's of videos posted to youtube regarding soaping and the impact these videos have on new comers to the soaping hobby and profession. If you want people to be aware and warned of the safety issues in the video, post your comments on the youtube page so the intended audience can read them.

But to post a OLD youtube video and the comment associated with it being "can you point out the mistakes" is very negative and honestly seems to be picking on one person.

I am not a bleeding heart nor do I even know who the person in the video is, but I like to think and feel that this site and forums as a positive environment of like minded people. This surely is not a positive thread.

Personally if you watch many YouTube videos, no matter the subject, you'll find safety issues. I think it's up to the person watching to do their own homework and research. Point being Royal appleberry master batches in mansion jars. A quick google search and you find out why glass and lye don't mix. Even newbies like myself usually can point out what's wrong with this picture. But saying that to each there own. Not wearing gloves that's her skin.

artemis said:

Probably heavy cream.

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Thank you. Any idea why?