New to the hobby

[Crazy8]

Well I put my intro up and now onto the text step. When I very first came across soap making, I thought, "I could lose my man card for this if I did this for a hobby." My wife gives me a hard time because of all the hobbies I have. Anyway, as soon as I saw that we were dealing with chemicals that can cause bodily harm I thought, "now my man card is going no where. This hobby just became dangerous." On a more serious note I think its HP that I want to get into.

When I get into a hobby I always try to find a great forum to read up and learn what I can from. I have done much online research on this and I think I have come up with an idea of what I would like to do, at least starting out. My focus is that I want to make man soap. Not stuff with pretty flowers and stuff but stuff with bacon, rust, nails, ok scratch the last two, but you get the idea. I want to do masculine scents. Soaps that lather great, smell wonderful, and leave us feeling great.

I have a few ideas too that if at all possible I would like to come up with some soap to fight mosquitoes (I live in MN where that is our state bird), perhaps even a deer hunting soap to kill/cover human scent. I guess I need to start at the basics. I know lye gets used in soap and the dangers of it. I have done some reading in here already so if I ask anything that has been answered its either because I have not found an answer or because I have not found it in here yet.

1. Is there a specific "type" of oil that I should be looking at when it comes to the scents I want to incorporate into my soap? Are they the "scented essential oils" or are they something completely different?

2. Are there known and reputable places that you soap makers like to get a lot of your ingredients and hardware from. I know somethings can be crafted .

3. Again in regards to oils how do I know that maybe a special "bacon" scented oil is going to smell better or worse than another places "bacon" oil? Is this even an issue?

4. Is there any known site(s) that would explain some of the effects of certain ingredients being used. For example shea butter has some moisturizing properties and Tallow is great for skin conditioning. Another thought would be how some scents can have different effects, aroma therapy I guess.

5. I have come across pigments but not sure whats good, whats not good, what works and doesn't work. I know by now you're probably thinking "no way have you done any research." but I promise you I have. Im just looking to learn as much as I can about this.

6. Lastly, Other than a special piece of equipment like a stick blender, goggles, and gloves what are going to be the basics of what I need to get started in this wonderful hobby?

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Mockingbird Ramble]

Good luck on the man soap!

Some notes, many hunters like anise, but take it from someone who uses dogs to find missing hunters every year...If my dog can find you in 30 miles of wilderness beneath your doe urine spritz, the deer/fish just smell human male, ate potatoes with pepper for breakfast, carring a gun made of metal and oak covered in deer urine.

Now that does not stop the fact that many hunters swear by it and will continue to use it, but in reality it dont work.

I think man soap is easy in the fact that many hunters/outdoorsmen are not going to be squicked out by the animal fats so lard and tallow can probably be promoted instead of avoided.

Beer, coffee, pumice, charcoal soaps will go over well.

 

[nebetmiw]

Welcome to the forum. You will find all your information here just take your time to search and read. We have a posty here on how to get the most out of the search on the forum.

Since soap is a WASH OFF product nothing you will make will stay on long as scent goes. Therefor Mockingbird is right in one way. But anise does work for short term like fishing which it is most known for as a soap to help hide scent. I would not really try it with hunting for Does are just to dam smart.

As far as a bug repellant again it will not last long enough or be strong enough. A candle with citronella works better than a soap would.

OK now with that out of the way a good mans soap would be hard and high cleansing. Look up gardners soap and mechanics soap. Both are high cleansing and one has pumice in it plus citrus for degreasing. Lard and tallow work great for these. FO which is a frangrance oil and much easier to use and less expensive than EO which is essential oil. FO are used more for scenting and there are many great mens scents like Dragons Blood, Bonsai, Mayan Gold or oakmoss just to name a few. Many places have them and one can choose a online place based on location that is close to you to cut down on shipping. Bramble Berry is West Coast and we have many one the East coast and central to choose from like Soap Works, Soapazoola, Daystar, Camden Grey and Wholesale supplies Plus just to name a few. It will take time to find out which one you like best base on your wants need and criteria. It is a great hobby and for some a good business. Just do not think you will be selling in a year as it will take that long just to learn most of what you need to know about when thngs go wrong and they will. This forum is better than any book so read, read and read some more. Enjoy.

 

[kazmi]

Welcome! You will find LOTS of good information here. There are also a lot of websites too that offer some 'basics' to help you get started. Some of these websites sell products, some don't so make sure you read both kind. Also there's quite a few videos on youtube that you can watch and see the process of hp and what to look for. Some helped me with my first batch which happened to be hp (I'm a visual kinda a person so it helped).
Here's some websites to get some basic recipe ideas, colorant ideas, etc.
http://www.soap-making-essentials.com/index.html
http://www.soap-making-resource.com/
http://www.colebrothers.com/soap/oils.html
and go to About.com and search soapmaking. Lots of info and tutorials there.
There's many links in each of these sites too for sources of supplies.

 

[Crazy8]

Thank you all for the info and advice. this will help out a lot. Kazmi, I to am a visual learner so the YouTube videos will be great. I also have my own channel with my own videos of a few other hobbies Im in, so maybe if I get good enough at this I can make videos for other noobs. Thanks again. I really do appreciate it and will be reading reading reading and watching as soon as possible. Cant wait to get going.

 

[jean1C]

I agree with the others that Anise is suppose to be a good scent for hunters. I haven't tried it yet in my soap...but maybe I may as my family is hunt crazy. I understand that it is a soap that you wash off...but I think some of the scent remains....or it washes off some of the human scent. Maybe you could make lotion bars for hunters to take in their pocket...OH!!...THERE YOU GO>>>>Throw in some BLACK/GREEN Mica and you've got camo lotion bars!!!

It's crazy that I read this and thought...."OH...Bacon grease...kind of like lard....right?". My mom and grandmother always had a coffee can of bacon grease in the fridge....what if you could filter it and use it in the soap? Just and FYI...my daughter's boyfriend wanted to do a soap, so I suggested a bacon "scent"(FO)...not worth it in my opinion.

I've seen camouflage soap (for both men/women). And the mechanics soap is always good! I make soap that is a spice scent and my husband loves it.

As far as your man card goes...you are good. We accept all!!! LOL. I, for one would love if my husband wanted to make soap! But beware...the "hobby" is addictive!!!

 

[jean1C]

6. Lastly, Other than a special piece of equipment like a stick blender, goggles, and gloves what are going to be the basics of what I need to get started in this wonderful hobby?

Thanks again for the help. [/QUOTE]

Spatula..SCALE! I use Dixie cups to mix my micas before I incorporate them. OH! I also keep my "stuff"..( the everyday/every loaf) things in a big bucket from Lowe's since I store my stuff in the basement and soap in the kitchen. I have my scale/goggles/spatula(s)/mixing bowls/THERMOMETER/Chopsticks in it. Easy to pick up and go when I want to do a batch, plus it stores easy.

 

[Crazy8]

One other question I have, I have noticed that due to the use of lye, people will mark their measuring cups and bowls that touch lye with some kind of WARNING label so that it doesn't get used for anything else. I plan on buying hardware that will be stored in a bucket and used ONLY for soaping. But I am curious, because Lye is in the soap, wouldn't you want ANYTHING that the soap and/or lye touch to be ONLY for soaping then, not just the Lye?

 

[shunt2011]

Welcome to the addiction...once you get started it's hard to stop. I keep all my soapmaking supplies separate from things used in the kitchen. Pans, spatulas, thermometers, bowls, pitchers etc..they are all dedicated only for soap. I make many man soaps as well as a mechanics scrub . I have bacon and beer scented soap too...As for hunters, I don't know how true it is but I do a couple large shows in northern michgian and there are a handful of avid hunters that swear my Apple Explosion scented lotion and lotion bars draw the deer to them. .....if it works for them that's a good thing...they just make me laugh when they start telling other folks about it. Who am I to argue. Good luck to you and there is so much information on this board as well as on you tube.

 

[Crazy8]

I may have to take not of that Apple Explosion thing, in addition to Anise from earlier too. Yeah I just don't want to use or mix up my root beer brewing hardware with my lye infested soap making hardware. That could cause things to not go very well. I guess if I just get what I need for soaping and keep it all together and wrapped in "WARNING" tape or something, like the original plane, I should be OK.

 

[nebetmiw]

Actually there is no harm in using equipment for food that made soap. Even the lye bucket that you mixed your lye/water in will rinse clean with no harmful effects. But most do not just as precaution. For one thing it helps when you want to make soap and they are not in use for something else. I only keep one spoon and my lye bucket and the tip of my stick blender (since I have two) seprate. Everything else I use with food also since it is just measuring or mixing melted oil.

 

[newbie]

One reason to keep things separate is that if you cross over, sometimes your food will taste like soap. Very unpleasant. Sometimes if I put my soaping bowls etc.. in the dishwasher with regular items, all the eating stuff carries the soap flavor. You will get complaints. And some people find it offensive that the bowl you used to measure your oils that went into the soap was full of your potato salad last night. I find the taste problem to be more of an issue.

My brother in law loves dirt scented soap for hunting season. I 100% believe that any deer would be able to tell that any lingering odor was not natural dirt smell, but who am I to tell the mighty hunter who bags his game?

You should keep your rust and nails ideas. You could, with time, figure out how to make a rust effect on/in your soaps and you could figure out how to make nail-shaped embeds as well.

You can ask people which supplier has the best X scent and people will tell you what they think, but smell is subjective so you don't know if it's your favorite. Or search in the fragrance oil sections for "best bacon scent" and you may get lucky; there may already have been someone who asked.

Have fun! Plenty of men on the forum too, BTW!

 

[Mockingbird Ramble]

A nail imbed in the soap!

Any one last thing about human scent, you can't wash it off, human scent is comprised of horomones, your breath, your sweat, your clothes, shearing skin cells.

When I set a trail for a tracking dog I have done many where I am right up in the morning, fresh showered, my scent article (or what the dog start off the trail sniffing) has been as simple as a ziplock bag that I spit into.

 

[MaitriBB]

As far as a bug repellant again it will not last long enough or be strong enough. A candle with citronella works better than a soap would.

You can make your own bug repellant using various essential oils (such as citronella, catnip, etc.) so I would assume that you could use those same essential oils in a soap. The bug repellant spray would probably work better out in the field, though.

As far as equipment - buy a few HDPE (high density plastic) containers, maybe a bucket and 2 1-liter containers, to mix things in. Don't use glass, even heavy-duty Pyrex, to mix lye solution. Lye etches glass over time and many soapers have had Pyrex containers blow up when they add their lye solution. I use the 2 smaller containers described above to mix my lye solution, then pour over my oils in the bucket. Costs $5 or so for the 3 containers and they work the best, IMO. No need to get fancy.