ResolvableOwl
Notorious Lyear
Not a recipe for a specific soap, but a “meta-recipe” how one might, could (should?) find one's way to an individual “soapy character”.
Level 1
Get distilled water, NaOH, olive oil, coconut oil, lard or tallow or palm oil. Protective gear, plastic beakers, stick blender, simple mould
Get used to lye concentration, and lye/oil balance, excess (“superfat”)
Make CP batches (not too small) of each
Don't get distracted by beautiful and fragrant products of advanced soapmakers (you'll meet their level early enough anyway). You will be glad more than once to have “reference soaps” that are uncoloured, unscented, made from simple & cheap recipes.
Level 2
Get castor oil, a mid-linoleic oil (almond, rice bran, canola), a butter (optional), fragrant oils/colourants (optional)
Get used to property numbers/soap profiles in a soap calculator, reaction of skin to soap, understanding where to apply which soap
Make 2 to 5 soaps. Wildly play with ingredients (while inside sane soap profile numbers) and/or with FO/colour and/or hot process, soap dough. But stay at <5% SF.
Compare the performance of the new soaps with those of Level 1. Distinguish the needs of the skin at different parts of the body (hands, body, face, special regions, possibly hair) and the different sensations that soaps give to them (clean, tender, tight, dry, chalky, moisturised).
Level 3
Get ROE, sorbitol, arbitrary oils/fats/butters, goat/coconut/… milk, advanced moulds (log, silicone), KOH (optional)
Get used to understand/adapt/reverse-engineer foreign designs and recipes, detailed fatty acid profiles, swirling techniques, forced/avoided gelling, CPOP
Make more soaps, try out designs, ingredients, etc., whatever you want. Again, don't judge tweaks too early, give the soaps time, and critically compare the results to former products. Ideally, give away soap an recap their observations/properties together with your presentee(s).
With quite some experience and a decent variety of soaps at hand, it is now easy to decide into which direction (advanced designs, recipe refinement, soap dough, mass production) to develop further.
Also a good time to evaluate how/where to get rid of excess soap (give away to homeless shelter etc.) before you drain in soap.
Level 4
Get crazy.
Background: It wasn't until today that I eventually fully deployed my first “true” castile soap – gave it a shot in the shower. Before, I had used up a bar with 25% PKO, that had luxurious lather and slip, but the suspicion is growing that my skin seems to dislike lauric oils – after decades of careless application!
I am a bit angry to myself that I hadn't tried this a lot earlier. Now I'm sitting on a huge heap of coconut, babaçu and PKO containing soaps of which I don't know if I'll like them this way on the long run. Basically, I am walking through the above scheme in reverse order: starting with being crazy 😆, I'm fluent in Level 2 and 3, but I have officially reached evaluation phase of Level 1 only today (sans the obligatory salt bar, that is still far from fully cured).
Who could have guessed that soapmaking is all about patience?
This “starter kit” is kind of my “Notes to my former self”: Fast-forward through a soapmaking career by, as contradictory as it sounds, making less soap and waiting longer than seemingly necessary. But then, a few months in, gained the self-confidence to judge own and foreign (DIY, artisanal and industrial) products, having a few “favourites”, and a great basis to start customising recipes from, knowing why it's a good thing to let soaps time to cure. And knowing myself better, saving me from disappointment and perplexity.
Level 1
Get distilled water, NaOH, olive oil, coconut oil, lard or tallow or palm oil. Protective gear, plastic beakers, stick blender, simple mould
Get used to lye concentration, and lye/oil balance, excess (“superfat”)
Make CP batches (not too small) of each
- Castile/ZNSC (only olive), 0–1% SF
- Basic Trinity (olive+coconut+hard fat), 3% SF
- Salt bar (only coconut), 10–20% SF
- (Optional) One “bad batch” from a rancidity-prone recipe like with high in HL sunflower or soybean oil, >5% SF
Don't get distracted by beautiful and fragrant products of advanced soapmakers (you'll meet their level early enough anyway). You will be glad more than once to have “reference soaps” that are uncoloured, unscented, made from simple & cheap recipes.
Level 2
Get castor oil, a mid-linoleic oil (almond, rice bran, canola), a butter (optional), fragrant oils/colourants (optional)
Get used to property numbers/soap profiles in a soap calculator, reaction of skin to soap, understanding where to apply which soap
Make 2 to 5 soaps. Wildly play with ingredients (while inside sane soap profile numbers) and/or with FO/colour and/or hot process, soap dough. But stay at <5% SF.
Compare the performance of the new soaps with those of Level 1. Distinguish the needs of the skin at different parts of the body (hands, body, face, special regions, possibly hair) and the different sensations that soaps give to them (clean, tender, tight, dry, chalky, moisturised).
Level 3
Get ROE, sorbitol, arbitrary oils/fats/butters, goat/coconut/… milk, advanced moulds (log, silicone), KOH (optional)
Get used to understand/adapt/reverse-engineer foreign designs and recipes, detailed fatty acid profiles, swirling techniques, forced/avoided gelling, CPOP
Make more soaps, try out designs, ingredients, etc., whatever you want. Again, don't judge tweaks too early, give the soaps time, and critically compare the results to former products. Ideally, give away soap an recap their observations/properties together with your presentee(s).
With quite some experience and a decent variety of soaps at hand, it is now easy to decide into which direction (advanced designs, recipe refinement, soap dough, mass production) to develop further.
Also a good time to evaluate how/where to get rid of excess soap (give away to homeless shelter etc.) before you drain in soap.
Level 4
Get crazy.
Background: It wasn't until today that I eventually fully deployed my first “true” castile soap – gave it a shot in the shower. Before, I had used up a bar with 25% PKO, that had luxurious lather and slip, but the suspicion is growing that my skin seems to dislike lauric oils – after decades of careless application!
I am a bit angry to myself that I hadn't tried this a lot earlier. Now I'm sitting on a huge heap of coconut, babaçu and PKO containing soaps of which I don't know if I'll like them this way on the long run. Basically, I am walking through the above scheme in reverse order: starting with being crazy 😆, I'm fluent in Level 2 and 3, but I have officially reached evaluation phase of Level 1 only today (sans the obligatory salt bar, that is still far from fully cured).
Who could have guessed that soapmaking is all about patience?
This “starter kit” is kind of my “Notes to my former self”: Fast-forward through a soapmaking career by, as contradictory as it sounds, making less soap and waiting longer than seemingly necessary. But then, a few months in, gained the self-confidence to judge own and foreign (DIY, artisanal and industrial) products, having a few “favourites”, and a great basis to start customising recipes from, knowing why it's a good thing to let soaps time to cure. And knowing myself better, saving me from disappointment and perplexity.