Hello I'm Imactuallymute

[Imactuallymute]

I'm really new to making soap. I got into this from a one off conversation with my girlfriend about how I'd keep myself busy when visiting her in the Philippines and I said I could make some soap since I remembered the chemistry for it from when I was in high school. I did some reading over a few weeks and made my first batch of soap. It turned out horrible. It's gritty, covered in ash from what I imagine is too much lye, and it stinks like lye because I thought 3 drops of fragrance for a pound of soap was enough. However, I shower with it every day and it does great. At the very least I can use this hobby to give myself cheap soap. I like to approach soap making from the angle of being as frugal as possible. I want to make my own NaOH through electrolysis and KOH from ashes (I already have a bucket of liquid to boil down into purer KOH). Until I get to that point I want to get better at making soap from used oils and cheap oils, whether to use on myself or give away to friends and family.

Also a little bit about me I used to stream on twitch and I occasionally make videos on YouTube. If I'm not making soap or studying for making soap I'm either editing videos or playing games like old school rune scape or monster hunter.

 

[AliOop]

Welcome! As a fellow frugal soaper, I like rendering lard and tallow from fats provided by the local butchers, and cleaning used cooking fats generated from large batch cooking (e.g., 20lb pork roast). I've also saved a lot of $$ by finding local destashes from those who are moving, quitting their bath and body business, etc.

However, in all honesty, I'm no longer as frugal anymore when it comes to soaping tools, molds, ingredients for other bath and body products, etc.. For that, I blame all the enablers really nice, helpful people on this forum!

 

[Elise]

Welcome !
I'm looking forward to read about your experiment with home made NaOH and KOH. I've always wondered how one's could make soap with something they don't know the exact concentration and purity. Would be interesting to know about your testings !
I never notices my unfragranced soaps have a lye smell. What is it like ?
I'm also a beginner frugal soaper myself. Haven't soaped in a while actually due to lack of funds xD. But I have been gifted raw materials for Christmas and I will actually be able to experiment with a bit more luxury ingredients as soon as I have the time !

 

[Booker]

Hello and welcome! I too am cost conscious when it comes to soap making. I try to look for recipes with as few oils as possible, and preferably ones that I can buy locally.

I like to game as well. I have an old (1989?) Nintendo. Nothing beats the graphics and fine details of today's games, but I love the simplicity of the old school games like Dr. Mario and Tetris!

 

[dmcgee5034]

Hi and welcome. I look forward to seeing more of what you make. I don’t want to assume, so I’ll recommend you use a lye calculator and fragrance calculator to be sure you make safe soap - even if it’s just for you. . The first ones I used were on Brambleberry, which are very simple and easy to use. Happy Soaping.

 

[LizzardBlizzard]

I wish I'd learned about soap making in highschool chemistry, it would've made that class feel useful and less like torture. (The other chemistry class at the same time got to use the school lab so we literally just memorized chemistry facts and formulations, and had 0 experiments. 0 fun.) I'm always on the lookout for creative frugal ways to make good soap too! Welcome to the forum!