First official homemade soap!

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Loran

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I’ve made soap a few times before this, but it was before a scale and just used a google converter to change ounces to cups( I know you’re shaking your heads lol). Anyways, I got the scale yesterday and made a mix off the top of my head with 16oz lard and 8 oz coconut oil. Went with simple. Came out to 3.5oz of lye. Used 2 different colors and a fragrance. Cut the brick mold using a dang square and tape measure to make even cuts! Definately not the easiest way! What do y’all think? Was that a decent ratio of those two oils? I have olive, alvocado and grape seed oil. Oh ya and castor oil to use for future experiments. This is truly some fun stuff!
 

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A square and tape measure - such a guy thing!

Congratulations on your lovely purple soap! What type of colorant did you use?

I put a lb of lard and 8 oz of coconut oil in a lye calculator (just left out the castor) and it came to a rather high cleansing level - roughly 30% depending how much castor you used. That's too much for my skin to use very often, but fairly common for other soapers.

I see your new here - welcome to this wonderful addiction! Do you know about using a lye calculator to ensure that your recipes don't come out lye heavy - and uncomfortable or dangerous to use?
 
Yup the lye calculator on this site is how i got the lye configuration. I was going to use olive oil but the calculator showed zero level on cleansing and the first one, forgot what it is, so I put coconut oil in and it came up with a better configuration. We found some mica powder online for the coloring, came with a big assortment of colors. I’m still learning what the different oils do and what we want for our soap to be. Ya that’s why the first batches of soap we made I don’t want to sell cuz I’m positive the lye solution in them were extremely high. I used 2 cups of coconut oil, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup lye to 3/4 cup water. I mean the soap came out ok(I think) it just seems ultra firm compared to this new soap I made. I’m still learning but think I’m on the right path. Thanks for your response lenarenee.
 

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What do y’all think? Was that a decent ratio of those two oils? I have olive, alvocado and grape seed oil. Oh ya and castor oil to use for future experiments.

Doesn't really matter what we think of your ratio so long a YOU are happy with your soap.

When I first started cutting my soaps I used a measuring tape and a cleaver. I then bought a cheese slicer that I modified with a dowel along the long edge to keep my soap from slipping. Today I have a regular soap cutter, but only because I got a killer deal on it.

One of things I love about soap calculators was the ability to easily adjust the percentages of my ingredients and/or play around with different ingredients I was interested in trying to get the Soap Qualities I was looking for. When I eventually found something I liked...I then tweaked it a bit more because while the Soap Qualities is a good starting point, it's not the end-all/be-all.

Nice looking soap.
 
I’ve made soap a few times before this, but it was before a scale and just used a google converter to change ounces to cups( I know you’re shaking your heads lol).

Hey, I did that once, when on a road trip and didn't have a scale with me. I just HAD to make soap!

Lovely looking soap. I'm a pushover for purple soap.

BTW, Cleansing is a misleading descriptor for the function is actually represents. All soap cleans even 100% olive oil soap. What the cleansing number really represents is how strongly the soap made from that oil will strip the oils from your skin. And when it is stripping oils, it's not just oily dirt or motor oil residue on your hands; it's also oils within the surface layers of your skin. So essentially when I use a soap with a high cleansing value, it dries out my skin.
 
Thank you for the compliments and words of reassurance! I bet a decent cutter makes life so much better! It just seems easier to use the block molds then the single molds, it’s harder to make designs in them and including additives. I will keep reading this site and checking out other soapers techniques. I’ll keep that high cleansing part in mind. The soap is super soft right now I hope it hardens up in the curing process.

Hey, I did that once, when on a road trip and didn't have a scale with me. I just HAD to make soap!

that cracks me up🤣🤣🤣 sounds like this hobby can be quite addictive 🤣
 
Congrats and welcome to the addiction, er um, hobby! When I first used castor oil, it was a game changer for me. I always use 4-5% -- and the effect on lather is huge. I've never used animal fats. When I was a newb, I used a lot of grapeseed too but it goes rancid quicker and I had to store it in the fridge. I've since replaced grapeseed with avocado. Keep us posted and thanks for the pics!
And, seriously, stay away from 'cups' -- gotta use weights.
 
Lovely soap! And I agree with the others, it's really what works for you at this point. I know 80:20 Lard:Coconut is a fairly common ratio. Fun fact- Olive oil can also be too "cleansing" for some of us, and while a lot of people love it, some of us avoid it completely. As far as Coconut oil goes, I started out at 19% coconut oil, and have since backed it down to 15%. My high Oleic oil of preference is Avocado, but I round out my recipes with plant butters and sometimes palm oil for longevity. I love castor oil, and use it at 7-8% in almost everything. Bear in mind that it will make your soap more soluble, so I would start with 5% and go from there.
 
You definitely sound like you're on the right path and eager to learn! I'm excited for you!

Have you read about curing? If not, I really suggest you do. I'm a firm believer in a good cure time. Why? Recently I bought soap from a well respect YouTuber and used it immediately in the shower - and what an unpleasant experience that was. The bar shrunk considerably in size after one shower, and my skin was almost sore from being dried out. That tells me it's either a high coconut recipe, uncured, or both. Since then I've been curing her soap and measuring them weekly - they've lost 7 grams of water (in about 3 weeks) the wrapper is 1/4 too wide now, so she wrapped them soon after cutting. I bet in a couple more weeks they'll be much gentler, less soluble and that's the kind of soap you want to sell to a customer!
 
Yes I’ve been reading on the cure time and the importance of it. It’s hard to not wait! I will admit this has turned into a guilty pleasure. I have several different soaps I’ve made and I just want to sneak one off the curing rack and use it in the shower🤫 definitely un manly of me😂 I was wondering though, with several different scents of soaps all curing next to eachother, do they absorb the scents from one another? Like the wintergreen and rose for example? Should I be keeping the different scents separated?? I hope not considering the space I currently have. It seems almost like the fragrances smell mixed but it could be because I’m standing next to all of them and my nose is playing tricks on me
 
That’s awesome! That makes me happy. So does making soap. I’m going to make more tonight! Y’all are awesome!
 
The smells will mix in the air, but do not transfer from soap to soap.
I am not real sure about that. I sell soap (not my own). If i get an order for a OMH, almond, and mint soap, i will suck up the shipping and place two separate orders, because EVERYTHING smells like the mint. Maybe its the amt of fragrance they add. I dunno. 🤔

I get my orders in less than a week, so they arent even together for that long. They are packaged in craft boxes.
 
@Catscankim my experience is that it is a different story with shipped FOs, as opposed to the amount of FO in curing soap. I agree that certain FOs in the bottle tend to permeate everything with which they are shipped. I don’t know if they leak, or are just so concentrated in amount that it overpowers everything.
 
@Catscankim my experience is that it is a different story with shipped FOs, as opposed to the amount of FO in curing soap. I agree that certain FOs in the bottle tend to permeate everything with which they are shipped. I don’t know if they leak, or are just so concentrated in amount that it overpowers everything.
Not sure if you are talking about fragrance oil in a bottle or FO in soap. Here I am talking about soap. Certain strong smells permeate from one soap to another in an order. A lighter scented soap will smell like the stronger scented soap. Which is why I will place two orders to not combine the two soaps in one order. I have had customers complain that their OMH soap smells like this or that from another soap. And I know it out of the box and hope they dont care. But they do LOL.

you probably know better about the curing soaps together...I just keep unlike smells apart from my experience to be safe. None of the soaps I make are highly scented, so its probably not too much of a problem.

Let me send you some soap that I sell, on me. I need a sale this month anyway LOL. I promise you that the lightly scented soap will smell like the highly scented soap, even after use.
 
Yes I’ve been reading on the cure time and the importance of it. It’s hard to not wait! I will admit this has turned into a guilty pleasure. I have several different soaps I’ve made and I just want to sneak one off the curing rack and use it in the shower🤫 definitely un manly of me😂 I was wondering though, with several different scents of soaps all curing next to eachother, do they absorb the scents from one another? Like the wintergreen and rose for example? Should I be keeping the different scents separated?? I hope not considering the space I currently have. It seems almost like the fragrances smell mixed but it could be because I’m standing next to all of them and my nose is playing tricks on me

Yes. I have walls of shelves to cure soap on but the scent still transfers. I’ve finally learned to at least put similar scents together, like lavender, eucalyptus, and rosemary mint on the same shelf because they have many eo constituents in common.
florals together, most men’s scent (the ones that turn brown) , and fresh/ spa scent. Citrus scents I put in a different room altogether because they seem the most vulnerable. Unscented soap cures in my bedroom or it always picks up enough scent to ruin it....and people smell it strongly enough to guess what scent it was cured near!

I‘ve found that even a simple barrier between bars, like paper or cardboard can really help reduce scent transfer. But you can only use it once because the paper absorbs the scent itself.
 
I’m wondering if my experience is different bc I use very low amounts of FO and only moderate amounts of EO? I also steer away from scents that are strong even in low amounts, bc they give me headaches.

They are all cured in the same room together, and I do keep the unscented on separate shelves from the scented. But they are still nearby one another, and the scent doesn’t xfer. Good to know that I may need to watch for this if I use stronger stuff. The only strong stuff that I accidentally tried went to a girl friend’s house for curing bc the FO headache was horrible, and I can’t afford to let it morph into a migraine and then be down for days.
 
It’s neat sitting back and watching the pros discuss these topics....So it would be best to separate strong scents like peppermint away from the unscented or weaker scent soaps. This probably means multiple storage racks in different rooms
 
This is all fascinating to me too -- I learn so much from the smart people here! @Loran , the secret to impatience is to soap on a regular basis. That way, something is always done curing. Um, we're still waiting for news and pics from your Friday night....
 
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