Bad Advice You Have Read on the Net about Soapmaking

[AshleyR]

xyxoxy - I have loved watching Nancy Today on YT, and while she is not always safe and doesn't measure her stuff properly most of the time - she is a really nice, funny, and she doesn't give off the impression that she knows it all - rather the exact opposite. She is pretty free spirited. So, while some people pick on her, her soapmaking ways don't bother me as much as the other lady I watch. I've never seen this one mix lye in a glass jar so I don't know if we're talking about the same person, but I just wanted to let you know it wasn't Nancy I was talking about.

 

[carebear]

Nancy Today makes me nauseous. Seriously.
OMG.

 

[Deda]

Hells Bells, Watching Nancy mix her oils and lye in chipped broken dirty dishes just about makes me sick. I half expect to see a dead mouse on the counter. Can you imagine the filth she lives in?

 

[Guest]

I watched Nancy today before I made my first soap and learned a lot of what not to do. I think Nancy is a very free spirit and means no harm , but it does bother me that someone might think that is the way to make soap.

Kitn

 

[carebear]

I don't believe she MEANS harm, but that doesn't mean she many not CAUSE harm if people do as she does.

And still, disgusting. Did you see her video where her cat drags its but across the couch and she thinks it may be worms?

 

[xyxoxy]

I wasn't sure so I just looked and I can safely say I have never seen Nancy Today (or any other day for that matter ). So it wasn't her that I was thinking of. She does seem a little kooky though... but I like kooky.

I tried to find the lady I was thinking of... she was much younger but also not a know-it-all - just a little new to be selling and giving demonstrations.

I didn't see her but I found this guy who just throws in a bunch of oils at random and THEN calculates how much lye is needed to saponify it including a 5% superfat. THEN he adds shea butter for MORE superfat. So basically no planning or recipe. He also mixes everything in these (again) giant glass jars and (again) uses wooden spoons while his cat is walking around freely in the background :evil: . His 2 ten minute videos skip the actual lye mixing and there's not even a peek at the soap in the mold let alone the finished product.

OK I need to stop looking at YT. :shock:

 

[kittywings]

Well... I AM Nancy Today and if you guys don't stop talking trash about me... I'm gonna rub my cat's butt worms on you! :evil:


(ok... eew, that was even a little too gross, even for me )



(Not that I deleted it) :wink:

 

[kittywings]

He also mixes everything in these (again) giant glass jars and (again) uses wooden spoons while his cat is walking around freely in the background :evil:

Well that's just GREAT! There go my plans for my new cat hair soap! :x

I thought there was a market for it....

 

[Guest]

I found youtube a great inspiration. I like the african american trucker lady who makes soap to a hip hop beat, I like the guy who drinks his homemade bear while he soaps and yes, Nancy Today...when I saw her house I knew she was a lil screwy louie but I gleaned a lil from all three people.

I found myself less trusting of the 30-something and under soap makers on youtube, their style of soapmaking made me less confident in their knowledge.

 

[ChrissyB]

I think Nancy Today is Nancy the Nutbag.
She is one crazy woman.
While I feel a little sorry for her because she is obviously alone and suffering from some form of mental illness, the way she makes soap, let alone cooking/cleaning, any domesticity, she makes me cringe.

 

[Dixie]

OMG, I think I'll pass on YT!

 

[BlueSky]

Today I am going to try to replace all of my glass mixing supplies with stainless. A lot of you mix your soap in a pitcher, but how can you tell when it is time to pour? I would think if you are stick blending in a pitcher it would be really difficult to see the soap tell when to pour. My glass measuring bowl gives me a lot of visual and I can tell when the soap is thickening.

So that leaves stainless steel bowls, but it would be difficult to pour from a bowl. I like to use the small imprinted molds so a pour spout is a must. Just hate to invest in a stainless pitcher and find I can't use it.

 

[honor435]

so, if yall use stainless to mix lye/water, doesnt that take a long time to cool down, I use a hard plastic measuring cup from home depot( my hubby is in granite bus. and used these all the time for hot liquids)i like it cause i can put it in ice bath to cool lye.

 

[angbaby4974]

Today I am going to try to replace all of my glass mixing supplies with stainless. A lot of you mix your soap in a pitcher, but how can you tell when it is time to pour? I would think if you are stick blending in a pitcher it would be really difficult to see the soap tell when to pour. My glass measuring bowl gives me a lot of visual and I can tell when the soap is thickening.

So that leaves stainless steel bowls, but it would be difficult to pour from a bowl. I like to use the small imprinted molds so a pour spout is a must. Just hate to invest in a stainless pitcher and find I can't use it.

I don't think a lot of us mix our SOAP in pitchers, but rather the lye is mixed in a pitcher. Personally I use stainless steel bowls for everything. The mixing bowls they have at WalMart are cheap & they work well. I got an 8 Qt for like $12 or so. I would rather spend the $12 for a huge mixing bowl (to go with all the others I have) than heat up the glass & risk breaking it, & a possible trip to the ER. I would imagine you can use plastic bowls, but I just hate plastic bowls. And I don't have any problems pouring from my SS bowls either.

 

[angbaby4974]

so, if yall use stainless to mix lye/water, doesnt that take a long time to cool down, I use a hard plastic measuring cup from home depot( my hubby is in granite bus. and used these all the time for hot liquids)i like it cause i can put it in ice bath to cool lye.

I find it dissipates the heat rather quickly if I run cool/cold water in the sink & let it sit in a "cold bath" while I gently stir. I haven't screwed up (*knocks on wood*) & spilled it into the cold water yet. I also don't put the stopper in the sink, I just let the bowl sit over the drain. No way in hell I'm gonna stick my hand, gloved of course, in a sink full of lye water.

 

[carebear]

I think Nancy Today is Nancy the Nutbag.
She is one crazy woman.
While I feel a little sorry for her because she is obviously alone and suffering from some form of mental illness, the way she makes soap, let alone cooking/cleaning, any domesticity, she makes me cringe.

naw, she's not alone. she has a video of her husband rubbing some balm or something into her feet and another of visiting her daughter in Germany. she's got an adult son also and maybe more kids.

 

[tincanac]

Awwww I think Nancy Today is funny and kooky - I dont think she means everyone to take her deathly seriously.....she makes me laugh!

 

[ChrissyB]

Carebear really?
I had the impression that she was all by herself and really really bored and that's why she makes all these movies for YT.
I wonder what her kids think of her? (But I guess if they don't know anything about soapmaking, they wouldn't have a clue, would they?)
What bothers me, is if some kid has to research soapmaking, for school or something, so they look it up on you tube *which they do*, and there she is doing everything wrong, and she is doing it quite dangerously also.
And while some of her soap looks quite nice on etsy, would you like to buy soap off someone that keeps it in the same room as her worm laiden couch, what's to stop the cat from wiping it's worms on the soap? Or anything else she uses for her soapmaking?
Ewwww.

 

[AshleyR]

Nancy does seem a little "off the rocker" sometimes and she isn't the best at keeping her house clean (I totally agree!) but if you watch some of her videos other than the soapmaking videos, she is a really nice and knowledgeable person. I have talked with her in PM's on YouTube for awhile now and she has given me some great advice (supplier info, etc.) So, I can't cut her down!

 

[flyingpig]

Safety First!

Mixing lye in glass is NOT recommended. Lye will etch even tempered glass & eventually weaken it. It might look fine, until you lift it up, then the bottom falls out or it seeps solution all over you.

I've been using heavy Pyrex for mixing lye ever since I began which is about eight years ago. It is true that over time the lye will etch the glass, which is why I don't use that piece for anything else but mixing lye. It takes a long time to etch the glass. I've never had any problem at all. I did replace my first Pyrex pitcher about six months ago, but that was only because I'd left it at someone's house after teaching a workshop there, and was having a heck of a time getting it back from that flake...it was easier just to go get a new one.

I don't like mixing lye in stainless because a)the heat makes it hard to handle, and b)most stainless vessels don't have handles. And I avoid plastics altogether. I suppose a big stainless pitcher like I've seen in restaurants would work just fine, however.