How NOT to make soap

[Kamahido]

In my daily travels through the great realm of Internet-land I found this great video that perfectly illustrates how you should NEVER MAKE SOAP LIKE THIS! For this reason I am not posting this video in the beginner's forum.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac-3kjeSEuk[/ame]

 

[Navaria]

What. The. Hell!

 

[Kamahido]

Almost word for word what I said the whole time the video was playing. I wonder if this guy is TRYING to get sued...

 

[snappyllama]

Words fail me.

 

[Soapmaker145]

The horrors of an accident waiting to happen coupled with a crappy soap!

 

[cmzaha]

I have seen others that use a blender for making small batches, so this is really not new. Oh yes, and I have been guilty of making lye in a beaker if I run out of my master batch. At least he put the beaker in the sink.

 

[newbie]

The video now says that's it's private. What was the person doing?

 

[DeeAnna]

Perhaps the person who made the video and switched it to private is also a member of SMF.

If the video is about using a regular blender to make soap, I agree with Carolyn -- it IS a practical method if you want to make smallish batches. As long as the container isn't over-full, it's as safe as using a stick blender and has the advantage of leaving your hands free compared with using a stick blender.

An acquaintance of mine who has a successful soap business in southern Minnesota has been making goat milk soap with a regular blender for some years now.

 

[gdawgs]

Bummer, I never got to see it.

 

[cmzaha]

Bummer, I never got to see it.

You really did not miss anything, he just made soap in a blender and hp'ed it in the oven. He was adding in soap extra so he had so he hp'ed it all in the oven. I always re-batch in the oven because I get a smoother melt down

 

[Soapmaker145]

It wasn't just the blender use. It was the way he prepared the NaOH, the amount of lye he used in the first place which seemed too little for his batch, the solid fats that weren't melted even after baking in the oven to sort of HP the batter and ended up in lumps (different color) in the final soap.... When using a blender, it needs to be well covered with a towel to make sure nothing escapes in case of an accident. Sooner or later, accidents will happen when using glass and lye. Glad it's off youtube.

 

[cmzaha]

It wasn't just the blender use. It was the way he prepared the NaOH, the amount of lye he used in the first place which seemed too little for his batch, the solid fats that weren't melted even after baking in the oven to sort of HP the batter and ended up in lumps (different color) in the final soap.... When using a blender, it needs to be well covered with a towel to make sure nothing escapes in case of an accident. Sooner or later, accidents will happen when using glass and lye. Glad it's off youtube.

The solid was additional soap he used. Don't always judge how someone does something. Should other precautions been used probably but that was his choice and there is a whole site or there was on blender soapmaking for small batches. Lye accidents can also happen with plastic.

 

[Kamahido]

I don't have a problem with someone making soap in a manner that is unsafe. What I do take issue with is when a fore mentioned person publishes such methods as "this is how you make soap". Think of how many beginner soap makers could be hurt by such ill advised methods. His batch size was under 500 grams, and his scale dies when measuring the olive so he wings it. I think we all know that smaller batches require even more diligence in weighing out as small errors could cause big problem. Once again, a new soap maker would not understand that and could hurt themselves and others.

 

[cmzaha]

I can be a huge critic of some things, but beginner soapmakers need to study and take responsibility for themselves, learning about their ingredients and how to work with them safely. If they want to start making soap after watching a video where he was playing in the beginning is a choice they make. If it is a bad choice they may have to live with their decision. I did not get the idea this person was teaching a class. There are a lot of bad You Tube videos and not just in soaping. As for him getting sued, for what, he posted how he makes soap, and it must work for him, also I never heard him tell people to make it his way. When I started I had one little book, no forums or videos or You tube and I managed to make a nice lard soap with no causalities. I have had my share of boo boos but I accepted they were my errors. As for his adding in some oil because he scale went off, guess what I have done that more than once when my scale went off. I do a guesstimate. Unlike many think, soap is much more forgiving than we like to think. Just recently I noticed I left an oil out of a batch because the bucket was not full enough. Not knowing which oil it was I took a guess. The soap is fine. A good reason to weigh and mark the weight on your soaping bucket, bowl, pan, etc. I do not drive myself crazy with exact measurements and adjustments, and I make as small as 4 oz batches when testing. BTW I do make good soap, except for one time I made a facial bar from a recipe of a well known instructor and did not check the values listed. (not soaping 101) After months of curing it went in the trash. If the recipe was incorrect it was my responsibility to check it and make any necessary adjustments. Okay I am done, I can tell I am bored not having my Friday market :-(

 

[Soapmaker145]

We judge everything we see and read. A beginner soapmaker won't know all the things they still need to learn. Yes, it's their responsibility to do more research but it doesn't mean that the person posting a how-to video doesn't have any responsibility. He made working with lye equivalent to making a smoothie with no safety precautions. It creates an illusion that there is no danger to somebody who doesn't know better.

If what he added is soap, his video is a way to rebatch soap that works very well when done properly. In that case, he needs to redo it with added clarifications and safety measures because it would be helpful to people who rebatch. He can turn the negative feedback into something good.

There is a big difference between using containers that are approved for lye like polypropylene and using lye with inappropriate containers like glass. The first is an accident that could happen if the plastic is defective. The other is an accident that will happen with time.

 

[cmzaha]

We judge everything we see and read. A beginner soapmaker won't know all the things they still need to learn. Yes, it's their responsibility to do more research but it doesn't mean that the person posting a how-to video doesn't have any responsibility. He made working with lye equivalent to making a smoothie with no safety precautions. It creates an illusion that there is no danger to somebody who doesn't know better.

If what he added is soap, his video is a way to rebatch soap that works very well when done properly. In that case, he needs to redo it with added clarifications and safety measures because it would be helpful to people who rebatch. He can turn the negative feedback into something good.

There is a big difference between using containers that are approved for lye like polypropylene and using lye with inappropriate containers like glass. The first is an accident that could happen if the plastic is defective. The other is an accident that will happen with time.

The mans video was not titled "Teaching You How to Make Soap" it was titled How to make soap and he made soap whether any of us agree with his procedures. Again he did mix his lye in the sink. I use borosilicate glass beakers for mixing my lye or want to use purees in my lye instead of my master batched lye. How many people mix lye outside and carry it into the soaping room, think maybe they could be a danger if they tripped? That is okay though, and how often do people recommend cheapo dollar store mixing containers with a spout? Those are dangerous, I watched a girl in a soap collective class knock over the whole container of raw soap batter when using a cheap $1 store measuring container, because she stood her SB in the pitcher. Fortunately no one was near her.

I am sure none of us have the proper container for storing and /or mixing lye. We use what we can get, and polypropylene is the better of our available choices. High-Density Crosslinked Polyethylene (XLPE) is the only material I could find for storing lye that has NSF/ANSI certification. Plastic does not have to be defective to melt a hole through it if the lye gets to hot. When making small batches I use a 2 quart mixing bowl with the pour spout. I think B&B sells them although mine are much older, like 20 yrs older. Granted, I do not use it for every batch but I have used it a lot. Will it break over time maybe, but I have used it for several years for soaping

So I would have to question why you think his adding the soap into his batter wrong to melt and mix it together? It was in a stainless pan in the oven. People need to take many You Tube Videos with a grain of salt.

How did we ever learn how to do anything without You Tube....

 

[Susie]

I did not see the video, so I have stayed out of the discussion thus far.

However, the discussion has sort of veered to how people learn to soap, and responsibilities of the student. I have an opinion on this.

I think it is up to the student to do their due diligence when learning anything from anyone. Far, far more so when you are talking about learning something from the internet. I studied how to make soap quite a bit before I made the first batch. I learned much from that bad batch. I learned more from the subsequent batches because I found this forum. I am guilty of posting the address for this forum on every "how to make soap" video that I disagree with what they said. The person posting the video may never come over here, but hopefully someone reading the comments will.

 

[Arimara]

How did we ever learn how to do anything without You Tube....

To answer the rhetorc, I learned by trial-and-error and reading plus bugging people for answers before that. The videos online almost never appealed because there were so many but I watched one video before jumping into the hobby and making my first batch.

Could doing a few more weeks of research help me? No. I can't and won't learn anything without being immersed in the actual doing of it. By going through the process of making my soap, it helped put things into perspective like the need to actually take a dive and join this forum to get more of the info I needed to make the soap I've been dreaming of.

 

[grumpy_owl]

I watched every video I could find after searching for "beginner's soap," "first cold process soap," easy soap," "basic soap," etc, and read instructions as well over and over while following along with hand gestures, like a weirdo. That would be a fun thread, come to think of it--how did you learn to soap? Or what was your first soap? (slimy lavender castille with mousepoop buds; at least my mother said she loved it.)

That said, I would NEVER used a blender to mix soap. That is outrageous! How, I ask you, am I supposed to make margaritas? The horror....