Never made soap before

[cheesenoodle]

Helllooooooooooooooo SOAP WORLD !!!!!

I registered because this board looked like it had a lot of helpful FAQs and stickies, and is active, it seems great.

My awesomely amazing girlfriend looked into soapmaking, we really want to try it. Ideally I would like to do cold process so as to not use as much energy as the hot process, but we don't have time to let our bars cure at the moment.

So it looks like hot process. I have an idea of all the basics, I think, and we got a crockpot for 8 bucks off craigslist. Just need to get the NaOH to make hard soap with (I'm thinking certified-lye.com for 20oz to start?) and then decide which oils (no animal products), so...

As far as the oils go, I see there are a bunch of options.
This is a helpful link
http://www.soapnuts.com/indexoils.html
Nice.

The main issue for me is that olive oil seems pretty expensive but the cheap oils might not be as good. Not really sure what a cheap-yet-decent oil would be.


cheesenoodle

 

[Hazel]

Hello,

Welcome to the forum!

Why don't you have time to let your soap cure? BTW, HP soap benefits from a curing period, too. You can use the soap but they are very soft and melt quickly in the shower. Plus they become milder after several weeks.

If you want to make soap to give away as Christmas gifts, I suggest you try melt and pour since it doesn't need curing.

 

[cheesenoodle]

Hello,

Welcome to the forum!

Why don't you have time to let your soap cure? BTW, HP soap benefits from a curing period, too. You can use the soap but they are very soft and melt quickly in the shower. Plus they become milder after several weeks.

If you want to make soap to give away as Christmas gifts, I suggest you try melt and pour since it doesn't need curing.

Hey, thanks!

We'll be moving in 4 weeks so won't be able to hold on to a lot, or let it cure for that long. I was hoping a crock pot process would work if it was cured for 2-4 weeks.

I dont think we want to do melt and pour, we want to do it all on our own

 

[Hazel]

2-4 weeks is good for HP. Some of my CP batches are cured after 4 weeks. I prefer to cure HP for 4 weeks so they're harder and milder but I've started using them after 2 weeks.

I saw on another post you've read Kathy Miller's site and you've also been given info on lye. So, I'll just say good luck with your first batch.

 

[cheesenoodle]

2-4 weeks is good for HP. Some of my CP batches are cured after 4 weeks. I prefer to cure HP for 4 weeks so they're harder and milder but I've started using them after 2 weeks.

I saw on another post you've read Kathy Miller's site and you've also been given info on lye. So, I'll just say good luck with your first batch.

Cool, that makes me feel better.

I dont mean to nitpick but i still am not sure about where to get lye. Miller's site provided this link which seems to recommend getting certified/pure lye as opposed to using draincleaning lye:

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/coldp ... ources.htm

What do you think?

 

[Hazel]

You're not being nitpicky. I understand your concern about lye.

I saw Tasha recommended Rooto drain cleaner. It's 100% lye so you could use it. I've used this grade of lye but I bought it in bulk from thelyeguy.com. It works just fine. If you're not sure that you'll continue soapmaking, it might be better to purchase just a pound of Rooto.

The lye I'm currently using is the food grade from Essential Depot. I bought it because it was on sale and was a better price than technical grade. You could buy some food grade lye from Essential Depot if you're not comfortable with the idea of using tech grade. However, I haven't found a difference between tech and food grade in soap.

 

[cheesenoodle]

You're not being nitpicky. I understand your concern about lye.

I saw Tasha recommended Rooto drain cleaner. It's 100% lye so you could use it. I've used this grade of lye but I bought it in bulk from thelyeguy.com. It works just fine. If you're not sure that you'll continue soapmaking, it might be better to purchase just a pound of Rooto.

The lye I'm currently using is the food grade from Essential Depot. I bought it because it was on sale and was a better price than technical grade. You could buy some food grade lye from Essential Depot if you're not comfortable with the idea of using tech grade. However, I haven't found a difference between tech and food grade in soap.

Ok, thanks, I'll have to decide on that. It's not so much about performance, I'm sure it's fine, more like heavy metals and that kind of stuff.

 

[cheesenoodle]

Food grade lye has different restrictions on how much can be in the chemical, like heavy metals such as lead..

Tech grade has probably looser requirements. That's why I'm kind of leaning towards food grade.

I did a search and it seems not many people have even heard of food grade! At work we use food grade NaOH and it lists the minimum % of each foreign ingredient, one was lead!

 

[soapbuddy]

Welcome!

 

[IrishLass]

Welcome to the forum!

IrishLass