Might get into this.

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Renraw9002 said:
Guess now's as good a time as any to ask this by the way. Where on earth do people buy the oils and butters? I mean lye, distilled water, CO, and OO are easy enough to come by, but where would you go for pure shea butter or pure avocado oil?
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For butters and soft oils other than what I can find at Costco or grocery store I use Amazon.
 
Renraw9002 said:
Guess now's as good a time as any to ask this by the way. Where on earth do people buy the oils and butters? I mean lye, distilled water, CO, and OO are easy enough to come by, but where would you go for pure shea butter or pure avocado oil?
Click to expand...
In Virginia, I can get Avocado oil for a reasonable price at Walmart. If you don’t shop at Walmart, some grocery stores have it, but it tends to be pricey. You can buy 100% Shea in some drugstores, but again, it will be expensive. If you shop Amazon, Essential Depot sells unrefined Shea and avocado oil, and other companies sell butters, but you may want to read the recent reviews to try to get a sense of the quality of the product. The ED unrefined Shea I bought makes soap that is distinctly unrefined Shea in terms of scent, which I like, but not with some Fragrance oils. I also have refined Shea that I ordered from Soapers Choice, which does not impart a distinct scent of it’s own. Soapers Choice sells in bulk. In my recipes, the unrefined Shea speeds up trace.
 
Renraw9002 said:
I did play around a bit more on the calculator after the tips here. Let me know what you think of this recipe.
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I don't use the numbers on soap calc for tweaking soap formula because I use high OO soaps and they just don't work for OO. DeeAnna has a better system for hardness etc of soap in her blog.

That recipe looks ok. I personally don't go over 10% for Coconut and don't go below 10% for any oil other than castor. Try it though and see what you think. Try a 1 lb loaf and test, test, test.
It is so annoying but honestly making the perfect soap is such a personal thing that you have to make it and try it. There really is not other alternative.

I live in Oz so can't help you with suppliers.
 
So I really shouldn't have to go to a specialty store for say shea butter or avocado oil? I've seen avocado, grapeseed and some other oils in the cooking aisles of my local grocery stores. If they simply say 100% avocado oil or similar than it's ok to use? I was just assuming stuff was added to cooking oils to make them cooking oils.
 
Renraw9002 said:
So I really shouldn't have to go to a specialty store for say shea butter or avocado oil? I've seen avocado, grapeseed and some other oils in the cooking aisles of my local grocery stores. If they simply say 100% avocado oil or similar than it's ok to use? I was just assuming stuff was added to cooking oils to make them cooking oils.
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There is pharmaceutical grade, food grade, cosmetic grade (lips and skin safe) and non skin safe products which include artists clays.

Food grade is great, generally. There are some food additives that some people won’t eat or use in soap like BHT and there are some processes that some people won’t eat or use in soap like pomace. But it is a personal choice.
 
Renraw9002 said:
This cure time thing is odd. I often see people saying let it sit for a month or two like yourself and then others say maybe a few days is all you need. It's good to know though that adding time will actually do anything besides allowing the bar to become harder which is more or less all I've read that adding time will do. I'll likely throw out these first couple batches since I didn't really superfat at all, maybe 5% at most and likely not even that, and they were meant merely for practice.
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I liken soap to making whiskey. If all you want to do is get drunk, go for the moonshine; but if you want to warm the soul, let it sit in the barrels and age.

Don't toss those beginner soaps, but them in half, let them fully cure and then donate them to local homeless shelters. I buy the 36-packs of Mainstay Washcloths from WalMart, wash them in hot water because they bleed, and then put them in a store-brand ziplock bag with a half bar of nicely trimmed soap. I do this with soaps that I don't like for one reason or another (color, design, scent fail).
 
Renraw9002 said:
Guess now's as good a time as any to ask this by the way. Where on earth do people buy the oils and butters? I mean lye, distilled water, CO, and OO are easy enough to come by, but where would you go for pure shea butter or pure avocado oil?
Click to expand...

Originally I bought everything except Distilled Water from Bramble Berry, but have since branched out:

Olive Oil, Coconut Oil - Costco
Palm Oil, Castor Oil, Sodium Lactate - Bramble Berry
Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Kaolin Clay - Rustic Escentuals
Sodium Hydroxide - Amazon (Essential Depot)
Distilled Water - Local Grocery Store

Because I have Prime with ‘free’ shipping, I will check out other Essential Depot ingredients.
 
Well I've learned a couple things so far.
1. Mixing lye is not nearly as scary as I expected. It's a lot like mixing salt except it gets hot.
2. Even with a stick blender you have to mix and stir a lot longer than I expected.
3. It's a lot easier than I expected.
And finally 4. Never zap test only 24 hours after pouring into the mold and don't stick your tongue directly onto the soap itself. It's gonna be like licking a 9v battery.
 
Renraw9002 said:
2. Even with a stick blender you have to mix and stir a lot longer than I expected.
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Depends on your ingredients, size of batch, room temp, temp of oils and lye, scents and colors.

I make one and two pound batches and that was my mistake in the beginning...too much stick blending and ending up with pudding all the time.
 
TheGecko said:
Depends on your ingredients, size of batch, room temp, temp of oils and lye, scents and colors.

I make one and two pound batches and that was my mistake in the beginning...too much stick blending and ending up with pudding all the time.
Click to expand...

I just made a 1lb batch and the lye was still at least warm when I touched the bowl, same with the oil. I just did the zap test again today and there was no zap so I washed my hands with the soap to see if it would lather up and see how it felt on my skin. The lather was meh which is probably to be expected for such a young soap, but my skin feels weird. This is my first time using homemade soap and it almost feels like something is coating my hands.
 
Renraw9002 said:
This is my first time using homemade soap and it almost feels like something is coating my hands.
Click to expand...

That’s because you are used to washing with detergent...which is what commercial soaps are. Washing with a true soap is going to feel for awhile, but after awhile you won’t even notice. BUT you will notice how dry you hands are after washing with commercial soaps. I even have a bar of my soap in the ladies room at work.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Renraw9002 said:
I just made a 1lb batch and the lye was still at least warm when I touched the bowl, same with the oil. I just did the zap test again today and there was no zap so I washed my hands with the soap to see if it would lather up and see how it felt on my skin. The lather was meh which is probably to be expected for such a young soap, but my skin feels weird. This is my first time using homemade soap and it almost feels like something is coating my hands.
Click to expand...
You need to cure handmade soap for 6 - 12 weeks depending on the recipe before really working out if you like it or not.
 
penelopejane said:
There is pharmaceutical grade, food grade, cosmetic grade (lips and skin safe)...
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Just in case anyone isn't are, food grade may be less pure but is safer than pharmaceutical grade. There are so many pharmaceutical grades, and they don't all mean you can consume it. For example my local pharma grade 75% ethanol is not for drinking and doesn't even burn with a clear blue flame.

Renraw9002 said:
And finally 4. Never zap test only 24 hours after pouring into the mold...
Click to expand...
I never wait that long with HP, but touching the soap with a wet finger then tasting the finger is a crucial first step.
 

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