Soft and Crumbly Mistake

[Soapa]

Hi I am new here but have been reading and soaking up all of the great information you guys put out so much so, I now want to sell some of my bars. Well, I got bold and dumb and put a tablespoon of cream of tartar in my cranberry and orange peel hot process soap. I thought it would create mounds of stable lather like a bubble bar. OMG. It had the consistency of wet dough. I dumped ( I-don't-know-how-much) sea salt in it to harden it. Okay now it is crumbly and soft and wet. It was way too wet in the crock pot anyway because of the water content from the fresh, boiled then frozen cranberries. (On sale at Walmart .50 a bag)
Anyway I guess they will be salt bars if I can rebatch them.
So I learned an old lesson - pay attention and think before experimenting. I have only been seriously soaping since October. I have improved to the point that I only use my own products - soap and lotion and hair conditioner. I don't bother to make my own laundry soap or dishwasher detergent anymore - too much work! It is late and i am so sad I messed up all of my ingredients and used up so much of my time. Thanks for reading.

 

[Lindy]

I think at this point you might want to hold off on selling. You still have a bunch of mistakes to make, like this one. I'm not going to preach about soaping for at least a year, or two or ten, but I am going to say from this post you're really not ready.

My reasons for saying this to you is that when you start selling you really need to know that when that customer buys your soap and doesn't use it right away is still going to be happy with their purchase when they go to use it in 6 months or a year. If the soap does not stand up to the test of time they are going to tell everyone how bad that soap was and that they will never buy from you again. This is a tough hurdle to overcome. If, on the other hand, you've waited at least 6 months of making soap on a really, really regular basis (4 or 5 batches a week), you will know what your soap is going to do in most instances. You won't know if it can stand up for a year or more, but if it stands up for 6 months you can be fairly confident it is okay.

It is so much easier to start selling and carry on selling with people who don't know you, and have no attachment to you, raving about what a fabulous soap you are making. If you truly want to start selling so quickly perfect one recipe, and one only to the point that you can do variants like milk, beer, etc with confidence.

Keep your passion but exercise some patience, you'll be glad you did. At this point you don't even know what you don't know, trust me on this.

 

[Soapa]

Thank You

I think at this point you might want to hold off on selling. You still have a bunch of mistakes to make, like this one. I'm not going to preach about soaping for at least a year, or two or ten, but I am going to say from this post you're really not ready.

My reasons for saying this to you is that when you start selling you really need to know that when that customer buys your soap and doesn't use it right away is still going to be happy with their purchase when they go to use it in 6 months or a year. If the soap does not stand up to the test of time they are going to tell everyone how bad that soap was and that they will never buy from you again. This is a tough hurdle to overcome. If, on the other hand, you've waited at least 6 months of making soap on a really, really regular basis (4 or 5 batches a week), you will know what your soap is going to do in most instances. You won't know if it can stand up for a year or more, but if it stands up for 6 months you can be fairly confident it is okay.

It is so much easier to start selling and carry on selling with people who don't know you, and have no attachment to you, raving about what a fabulous soap you are making. If you truly want to start selling so quickly perfect one recipe, and one only to the point that you can do variants like milk, beer, etc with confidence.

Keep your passion but exercise some patience, you'll be glad you did. At this point you don't even know what you don't know, trust me on this.

It is so nice to receive guidance on this issue. I am the only one I know who makes soap and lotion and my friends are tired of hearing about stuff they aren't into. Sage advice, great insight.

btw: I have perfected hot process goat's milk (or hot process anything), learned to use the soap and lotion calcs and have five basic recipes: one especially for doing intricate swirls (45 percent water to oil ratio) and this morning-thanks to a salt bar recipe- I have saved that batter.

I added a few ounces of coconut oil, some grape seed oil and cocoa butter. I cannot call it a salt bar because I only put in about 6 oz of sea salt to 32 oz of oil but it is now soap. The cranberries and grated orange peel do not show so the soap is all tan. The next step is to try the soap.

However, you are correct about not knowing what I don't know. If that were an order, would I have enough money/raw ingredient on hand to remake it? A mistake with two pounds is different than a mistake with five or six pounds. The most soap I have made at one time thus far is three pounds.

You guys on this forum are so smart. You just don't know how long I've been lurking around the boards. This and a few other forums have helped me out so much. Thank you again.:grin:

 

[Lindy]

I'm glad to help. Just stick with it and know it will come. I must confess I have been making my own bath products since I was in my 30's (I'm 55 now) because I am allergic to so many commercial products. Now I understand why.

Something you can do with your excess soap as you're learning. Providing they are now lye heavy you can donate them to your local food bank or salvation army. If you are in Canada you will need to do the legalities of registering your recipe(s) with Health Canada and label them correctly, but you can use any old name for your business as long as you have contact info on there. Let's face it, the amount of soap you are going to produce before you're even close to being ready to sell is astronomical. You can also donate them to the armed forces for Christmas gifts....

 

[Genny]

Something you can do with your excess soap as you're learning. Providing they are now lye heavy you can donate them to your local food bank or salvation army.

You mean "not lye heavy", right Lindy

 

[Lindy]

Oops - yup :lolno:

 

[Soapa]

Great Idea!

Oops - yup :lolno:

I have been mostly giving them away but I did think of donating to a nearby woman's shelter and to a mental health facility. Most people are so happy to get pretty soap that smells good and cleans good - ifn it were not for financial need I would always give my soap away. It is really nice to see that smile on their faces. Thanks ladies!
btw: I made a cpop olive oil soap (70.3 % olive oil) and I am preparing to make a shampoo bar that is 50 percent olive oil.

I wish, however, that I understood how to make my green indigo powder turn blue before I purchased it. There is a difference: my powder is unprocessed. Processed Indigo is already blue. wha wha wha whaaaaa. Live and learn.