Attention shoppers! You’ve got lye waiting for you at home, but you have no oils, additives or molds. The challenge is to make an excellent soap using at least 3 oils that can be found in virtually any grocery store. As far as additives go, none or many. You MUST pick a mold from products or containers found in the store. Bonus points if you use the contents of said container in your soap
Yep, I have done this many a time since I started soaping. Probably won't actually participate in your challenge this month though, as I have surgery on Wednesday and already have 2 soaps I want to make prior to being restricted for 6-8 weeks from using my dominant hand post-surgery. In fact, I don't think I'll be making soap again until probably June.
Molds:
I have collected display boxes (free) at the store to use as molds, and they work quite well lined with Freezer Paper (also from the grocer). One of many grocery store cavity silicone molds I have is the state of Texas I got at HEB (my favorite grocery store in Texas). It has 6 individual cavities shaped like the state with a center hole to fill in later with a contrasting soap. It is a fun mold. Early in my soaping days and early in my traveling soaping experience, I used buttermilk cartons frequently as my mold and added buttermilk to the soap if I had any left over after drinking it (usually none left over, because I really enjoy buttermilk.)
Colorants:
Grocery store colorants I have used run the gamut of spices, vitamins (carotene gel tabs in the vitamins aisle), powdered foodstuffs (matcha tea for example), eye makeup (with varying degrees of success & failure), even clothing (Rit) dye, although it is not recommended (I had to try it at least once early in my soaping adventure), food coloring & cake frosting colorants (with varying degrees of success & failure), and pretty much all the obvious ones like cocoa powder, activated charcoal, carrots, tomato purée, spinach, avocado, etc.
Oils:
As everyone many have mentioned, there are often plenty of oils available for use in many grocery stores. Almond oil has become harder to find, but the Asian market in the Cities sometimes has it in stock. In fact, the Asian market is a fun place to shop as there are all sorts of gems that can be found, not only for cooking, but to use in soap as well. Same for the Mexican mercado, especially for inexpensive herbs for infusion and coloring soap. I have also used Sesame oil, Walnut oil, even Macadamia nut oil in soap, but prefer it in cooking for the nutty flavors they impart. But the choice of oils in grocery stores seems to have diminished over the years, even when I travel I notice this is the case, so it's not just here in my part of the Midwest. Now it's mostly OO, CO, Avocado (sometimes, but not always), vegetable shortening (I don't use it, but have in the past), lard (only in some stores, not all & I don't like it in soap anyway), Canola, Sunflower & rarely Safflower oil. Peanut oil and Soybean oils I prefer to avoid in soap, although I have used them in the past. So for me, the grocery store oils I still use are: OO, CO, Avocado, HO Sunflower & HO Canola when I can find them. Palm shortening (Spectrum brand) is available in some grocers and I have used it in the past when traveling. Cocoa butter is carried in some grocers (in the aisle where lip balms and personal care items are sold), castor oil (in the pharmacy or healthcare aisle in some markets.)
Liquids for lye solution:
Liquid replacements I have used from the grocer include: aloe vera juice, vinegar, komucha, beer, wine, buttermilk, and of course the obvious distilled water. I have experimented with lemon juice in smaller amounts (using bottled Real Lemon). I used to make tea infusions for water replacement quite often, including marshmallow root (actually from a health food store, but it counts as a grocer since it is food they sell), as well as chamomile tea both as water replacement and the tea itself for exfoliation. I have also used home-made Rejuvalac made with raw grains purchased at my favorite health food store (another specialty grocer.)
Fragrance:
Some grocers carry Essential Oils as well, and before I started buying from soap suppliers, I used some of them in soap to varying degrees of success. Lemongrass is the longest lasting EO in soap in my experience.
Additives:
Rice & rice flower, cornmeal, honey, maple syrup (made my soap too spongy), sugar (any variety), agave syrup (sparingly), salt (avoid sharp salts like Himalayan), coffee (finely ground), tea (IME - dried leaves tend to be very exfoliating in soap, so I stopped using it), plain unflavored yogurt (the cheap stuff - never the Icelandic because it is just too tasty), flowers (many stores sell flowers), etc.
Some grocery items I have recently used more recently include rice & rice flour (for rice soap), corn silk after husking corn on the cob (for adding to lye solution for a vegan soap in place of spider silk), why I have even made soap using black cherries (for a Soap Challenge Club soap a year or so ago).
I only mention that so other Newbies reading this thread don't do it. There's a recent thread on the subject. Take a look:
