how did you decide on your first soap to make?

[shee]

wow!! some awesome replies!!!


still indecisive. but oh well. LOL! looks like that just means I'll be making a few different kinds! right??

thinking the first one may be shortening and olive oil and coconut oil. I thnk with coffee and a layer of chocolate on top haahahahaha.

my mom was here yesterday and I had a handmade soap in the bathroom ad she commented on how nnice it was. I believe it'll be an addiction all around cuz I'm SO doing christmas gifts!

 

[Deda]

I used to make my own laundry detergent. Washing soda, borax and Ivory soap. I saw a recipe in Mother Earth News for Crisco soap and I decided to try using that instead of the Ivory.

I had never heard of SAP values or soap calculators and knew nothing about different oils. I would use 3 lbs of oil, 6 oz of lye & 12 oz of water - no matter what oils! Thankfully I was only using it for laundry.

It was almost a year before I added color, scent or anything else.

I was lucky enough to work for a small cosmetic company that purchased private label soap from Pangea when they were still a relatively small company. Josh, the founder of Pangea, was very helpful in helping me to understand the soapmaking process and answered a million questions.

My first bar with additives was made with Spectrum coconut oil, Bertolli olive oil and a little bit of shea butter. I used green tea for part of the water and added tea leaves at trace. I poured it into an empty pringles can and wrapped it with a bath towel.

My mom still has one of those bars from 2002 sitting in her guest bath. It's so ugly.

 

[shee]

I do laundry detergent too! LOL! but I have been using the pink zote soap.

what type of soap is great for laundry? now you have me curious. time for another thread perhaps hahaha.

 

[rubyslippers]

... Anyone remember Sherry's Fanstastic Soap??!!

I've got that recipe but never tried it. Is is really Fantastic?

 

[KD]

First Soap Recipe

Back in 2003, I was at home on an extended disability leave. At that time, we had a herd of over 300 meat goats, and I got this idea in my head that it would be fun to try to make goat's milk soap. I did a lot of research and came upon the Miller soap site, where I found a fairly basic recipe. I had a few friends over, we stole some milk from Lucy, a fairly cooperative La Mancha doe, and proceeded with the recipe. I was fairly nervous about the lye and was quite extreme with the safety measures! I used a discarded Tupperware container as a mold and nothing for fragrance. I was instantly hooked! I have made hundreds of batches of GM soap since then, and I am always surprised when others discuss the challenges of soaping with it. I have only ever had problems when I made a foolish decision to HP with it. Don't go there.

 

[Fyrja]

I don't really have to think back very far as I made my first batch of CP last week. My obsession at the moment is with Castile. About two years back I visited the island of Crete. My Greek vacation consisted of walking everywhere, eating most everything, climbing up mountains to old venetian fortresses, and shopping.

Shops were full to the brim with homemade beauty products. Olive oil hair masks, castile soaps, sea salts, natural sponges, if it could be made with local products it was there.

Naturally I bought about 8 gazillion tons of stuff, because honestly who could resist? It was natural and inexpensive. I gave a lot of the bars away as gifts, but also kept a lot of them for my own personal use. About two months ago I realized I was down to my last sliver!!!!! :shock: NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

And since I've been wanting to learn to make soap for a long time, and I'm not getting back to Greece any time soon it's time to learn. I purchased "The Soap Maker's Companion," by Susan Cavitch and the "Everything Soap Making Book", by Alicia Grosso. I spent about a month researching, reading, learning and absorbing as much knowledge as I could because let's face it Lye is scary stuff. I didn't want to blow up the house, or end up being like the phantom of the opera I wanted to understand the chemicals and fats as much as possible.

I also decided that for economic and learning reasons I would start off with small batches, 1 or 2 pound batches. That way I wouldn't get overwhelmed or possibly use up way too many ingredients on a failed batch. My first was Coconut, Palm, and Olive Oil. My second was Olive and Coconut superfatted with Castor Oil, and my third batch last night was 100% Olive Oil Castile, I'll check it tonight to see if I can unmold it. All the recipes I used were from the Everything Soapmaking book as the recipes in it are broken down into batch sizes for you. I plan on attempting the larger recipes from the Soap Makers Companion once I become more confident.

I have a full wood shop at my disposal so I built my own molds out of 3/4 inch pine planks and they work beautifully so far.

I do need a better scale though. Any suggestions?

 

[chrisnkelley]

I just made my first batch yesterday, but I've been researching/studying soaping for a while and have been a member here for a while already.

I bought Anne Watson's book and made the All-Veggie recipe with just oo an co since that is what I have on hand. I have more on order to try some others. I used Lemon Pound Cake fo from Peak and some poppy seeds. I can't wait to make more batches!!

 

[shee]

well the first batch is setting up right now as we speak!! WOO WOO!

that took forever to make. wow!

 

[tespring]

I made my first batch a long time ago and I used a large variety of oils...which was my first mistake. My second mistake was when I used SoapCalc and I had absolutely no clue how to use it and although I managed to figure out a recipe, it wasn't a very good one. My third mistake was thinking I could make a good soap with a regular mixer...3 to 4 hours later, it still looked like broth, my fourth mistake was thinking I had to get a medium trace so it took 3+ more hours to get it that thick (as pudding the book said). I also thought that the oils and the lye had to be within 5-10 degree's of each other before I mixed them and I had my handy dandy thermometers to make sure they were. One 2 lb batch of soap took me all day to make. LOL Oh what fun.

 

[HenleyNatural]

My first batch of soap which I made 5 years ago was a very basic recipe from a natural soap book I checked out from my local library. The base oils were olive, coconut and soybean (Crisco). All three base oils I could get in small quantities at a local store. The soap came out wonderful! I still have a few bars I saved from that first batch. They still look great after 5 years.

 

[jennikate]

Well i got intrested in the process watching dirty jobs knowing what i know now I cringe thinking about what he did to that poor GM soap. My first attempt after much online research and couple books from library was oo crisco castor oil and due to fact my scale was not a good one to be nice about it ended up in trash Lye heavy. Since than I have new scale and am enjoying the addiction. I have recently started some HP soaping as well using a crockpot. I still have not branched into any real exotic oils.

 

[alabama49]

Hi-I am a newbe to soaping and to this forum--although I have been lurking gathering much needed info before I made my 1st soap which I did just yesterday!!! I decided what to use by looking at the properties of the oils I had on hand, and then just did it!! Took me almost a year to get the nerve to make it and I did only make a little over a pound cuz I didn't want to waste much my oils if I messed up. I think it is going to be ok but I do have a question-since it was a small batch it did not go thru a gel stage? Is it suppose to? Also, I did make it in my blender-would that make a difference?

 

[BakingNana]

Hi-I am a newbe to soaping and to this forum--although I have been lurking gathering much needed info before I made my 1st soap which I did just yesterday!!! I decided what to use by looking at the properties of the oils I had on hand, and then just did it!! Took me almost a year to get the nerve to make it and I did only make a little over a pound cuz I didn't want to waste much my oils if I messed up. I think it is going to be ok but I do have a question-since it was a small batch it did not go thru a gel stage? Is it suppose to? Also, I did make it in my blender-would that make a difference?

A small batch in a shallow mold that is not insulated or provided with an artifical heat source often will not gel. On the other hand, some soaps gel no matter what you do. Gelling or not gelling doesn't affect the quality of the soap; it's basically a cosmetic/personal preference issue. Congratulations on your first batch!