Soap making

Yeah, I just made some soap for the first time about an hour ago. It smells like peppermint. Which is good, because that is the essential oil I used. Well, I just thougth I would share that with you. I am looking forward to showeing with it in the morning. Then I can smell like peppermint. That is way better than axe or any of those other earth-harming sprays... And who doesn't like peppermint?

 

Peppermint soap sounds great, my only worry is I would want to eat it, that smell is so gorgeous!

 

When does it hit the Market?

 

oooh i love doing soap my stpe mum has a soap stall at covent garden in london... hehe muchos free soap for fleassy

Do you make it from scratch? she used blocks of base soaps and adds colours, textures and oils and moulds it.

 

Yeah I got a 2lb brick of like premade soap stuff... but added my own essential oil and coloring and stuff. I got to showr with it today, and it was pretty awesome. Another plus is that it doesn't dry out my skin! Which is something that every soap I buy, even the kind that is SUPPOSED to moistureize, does! I have skin that is very sensitive to soaps and chemicals and the like, as well as the weather. About anything will make it very dry, particularly my hands and face. But I was very surprised that this didn't aggravate it.

I think next batch I make I will put some more oil in it though, to make the scent stronger. Also use another type of oil, like Patchouli.

I could probably make up a great deal of it and sell it at a local record/cd/comic book store. Other people have been bringing stuff there like jewelry and such and they let them sell it. I could give it a try.

 

so did ya have a soap-making book or did you just wing-it?
i would love to get into making soap but could definately use some direction.

 

Well, the instructions were actually on the box of the pre-made soap stuff. Basically, all you do is, if you use that (I wouldn't know how to make soap without it...), melt it in the microwave, add coloring, essential oils, shea butter, vitaman e, herbs or whatever you want in it, mix it together, pour it in a cold and let it harden. Viola, you have homemade soap! It is sold as glycerin soap, but that can be natural, unless I am mistaking (if so, please correct me). The stuff I bought was sold as being all natural ingrediants. All real soap would be glycerin for the fact that is what causes the suds reaction. They used to use animal fat to make lye soap. They know now how to get the same result without hurting animals, or having that aweful lye-smell, out of natural plants and stuff. Of course, all essential oils and herbs are natural (unless they have additives...) and things like that.

 

not completely natural, no, but still good for your skin, and way better than the stuff you get at the store.

real soap is technically fats (some use animal fats, some use only vegetable oils) that react with an alkali (lye) to form a completely different substance (soap ) glycerin doesn't cause the suds, but it is great stuff for your skin. in fact, the crap you can buy at the store has all the glycerin removed, and it is then sold as a by product. so they took the good stuff out, and sold it. makes a lot of sense, huh?

and lye soap doesn't have an awful lye smell not in the finished product anyways.

have fun with your soap making, it's an addicting craft.

 

the only real homemade soap is lye soap.. an i wouldnt reccomend bathing with it for 3 weeks after ya make it unless ya want 1st an 2nd degree burns all over yer body..

that crafty fake shit you just made can be done cheaper just by buying ivory or any unscented soap,melt it down add yer essentail oils an remold it..

its called french milled...

 

nooooo that's not true. melt and pour glycerin is completely different from ivory. completely. hand milled and melt and pour are not the same.

there's nothing wrong with melt and pour soap, either.

i personally make soap with lye. fyi, there is a process where you can make 'lye soap' and use it the next day. without first and second degree burns it's called hot process. i do cold process, which is the long way, and i always use mine within days of making it. the additional 2-4 weeks that i wait before selling it are so that it can cure. during that time, the soap loses excess water, and yes, does become more mild as it completes saponification. it helps to know how much lye should be going into your soap. if it's lye heavy, it will burn, and you don't ever want to use it.

 

yes we make our own soap as well its lye.. no need for yer lil diatribe..
could actually care less about any other soap besides lye on account it aint real in my opinion..

 

i don't do melt and pour either, but i've learned enough about it, and where it comes from to respect it a lot more than ivory. i also think it's a great way to get into soapmaking for someone younger, or someone who doesn't want to mess with lye. also just wanted to correct a little bit of misinformation.

you're entitled to your opinion, of course

 

yer spreading false information about lye

the ph content in the damned soap needs to level out down to near normal 7.0 levels, although real lye soap will not get to those levels in any short time...

hot process soap is along drawn out deal, cod process, is what we use here,, and i defy you to use it the following day,,,, it has to cure and the least amount of time i have seen or used at any time is 3 weeks,,,,

glycerin can be used immediately after its done and you big soap blocks can be melted n added to n then used,,, but your lye,,,, go shower with a bar a day after its made,,, n post me a pic

 

which part of what i said is false?
i said *i* use my own soap within days. i cut the next day, and use it on my own hands at that time. within a day or two after that, i shower with it. no lye burns here. perhaps we do things a little bit different. do you allow yours to gel? do you superfat at all?

hot process is where the soap is in fact cooked, speeding up the process. in fact it is quicker overall than cold process.

also wanted to point out that i did say that i allow my soap the full 2-4 week cure time (depending on recipe) before i sell it. i agree that it is more mild at that time.

 

http://www.soapnuts.com/snhp.html

found this for ya. i don't hot process, never have. but it does say in each of those that you can use it right out of the mold as soon as it's cooled. i would say that's a little quicker

 

yes so if you have 8 to 10 hours to devote to cooking 1 batch of soap it can be used immediatley.

in 8 to 10 hours we could make a few hundred bars..

i see no way that that is time/cost effective ..

 

mmm... i never said it was. nor did i say that i was only making soap to get rich. i make soap because i enjoy it, i love the way it feels and smells and how much better my skin feels since i started using it, and i like to share it. that's all. i also said i never hp'd. however, if i did, and if i enjoyed it, damn right i would keep making it regardless of how time/cost effective it may be

i only posted here to share info, not debate. if anyone would like to actually discuss soapmaking, i'm more than open to it.

 

whos debating anything? your obviously one of those folks who is convinced they are a guru of the subject an yer gonna be smarter an better informed blah blah blah than anyone..

you dont want to discuss,, as that is what weve been doing,, you want to teach an be looked at all knowing..

people like you grate on my nerves so im done..

 

i never claimed to be a guru or all knowing at all. FAR FROM IT haha. i'm still learning all the time and i'll never stop. that's all i was trying to do here. i asked some questions and don't think i got an answer. maybe you missed them. i suggested that maybe we have different methods and tried to ask you about yours and got a smart comment about how hp is not cost/time effective.

i also have a tendancy to question things. maybe that's where i 'grated on your nerves'. oh well.

a lot of what i said is based in fact, though. and my own experience (i may be a little younger, but i do have some years doing this behind me, and some very awesome mentors). there are reasons for our different experiences, i'm sure, but i guess we'll never know why

 

Why is hillbillyhippie so defensive about differant opinions/methods? seems like Hillbillyhippie is being EXTREMELY close minded and judgemental, to me. In my opinion hillbillyhippe, YOU seem to be the one trying to come across as some kinda guru...

The melt and pour stuff I bought said that it was natural stuff, but then a lot of stuff sold as natural isn't really.

So is the lye that you make from plant or animal fat?