Soap Making 101

[rty007]

1) Yeah.. yeah I can get suet, or at least I hope I can.
2) I did make soap twice a while back, but it was just for kicks then to be honest... So I will have to read up a bit.
3)I am wondering how much EO do I have to use? couse either I am just too dumb which is possible or I cant find it in the calculator?
4) Maybe we should talk on PM?

 

[freemotion]

I've never made soap using eo's, so I'm not your go-to-gal for this one! But just from reading, I know that you add them at the end and don't worry about the lye to oil ration because you don't want it to saponify anyways. It will be superfatted. I would suggest finding ANY recipe online or in a book that has eo's and just use that to get an idea of what amounts to use for the size batch of soap you want to make.

 

[valmom]

I add my scent oils at the very end so they don't saponify and lose their scent, but when I was learning I didn't scent the soap so I didn't have to worry about a batch not coming out right and wasting the scent. I make 2 lb batches (because that is easy to fit in the pot to mix) and I use 1 ounce of scent oil to 2 lbs. I get my oils from Southern Garden Scents- she sells a "sampler pack" of 1 ounce bottles of - I think- 6 scents so it is already measured for me to dump in, and I get lots of different scents instead of lots of soap of one single scent. http://www.southerngardenscents.com/

I buy my lye from AAA chemicals- since I couldn't find it to buy locally around here, even as drain cleaner.
http://www.aaa-chemicals.com/sodium-hydroxide.html

I get my calculations from SoapCalc- they have a lot of oils listed!
http://www.soapcalc.net/calc/SoapCalcWP.asp

I started with what was in my cabinet or easy/cheap to get at the food store. I have found I really like Crisco for soap (I wouldn't eat it, though!). I started with Crisco, olive oil and peanut oil. As I started selling my soap at work I started to worry about the peanut oil and allergies- I couldn't find any data on whether or not saponification removed the allergenic part of the peanut oil, so I stopped using it just in case. I have since bought coconut oil online and love the suds it makes, and I am adding in shea butter for moisturizing (thankfully you can't add a high % of shea- it is a bit spendy).

 

[valmom]

Oh, and for a nice small mold- use a quart milk carton! Fill it and tear it off when the soap hardens. Recycling at it's best! It gives you a reasonably sized square bar when you slice it.

 

[rty007]

@valmom
I am thinking about making a bigger batch to be honest, I mean the way I figure is: it takes just a little bit more time to make a say galon batch, then a quart batch. And I already have my mom asking If she'll get one to try If I am gonna make it. A friend of mine, at whose kitchen we'll probably make the soap, couse he has a bigger and what is more important way better ventilated kitchen.

About the oils. Do they have to be of the high quality, or just your regular oil will do? couse I can get them at an average of around 1,5$/Lb

 

[valmom]

Cheap oils work fine. It is the chemistry of the oil- which long chain fatty acids they contain- that determine the final soap make up. It should actually be easier to make a big batch because small errors in weighing would make less difference to the outcome. That was one of the problems I had in my first few trial batches- I was making 1 lb of soap total and small variations made a big difference and I couldn't get any consistancy. (I wanted to try to learn without wasting a lot of oils and it backfired!)

 

[calendula]

Does anyone know of natural ways that you can scent your soap without using Essential Oils? They can be pricey, so I was looking for alternatives. Will using herbal infused waters scent the soap, or does the saponification take the smell away?

 

[savingdogs]

I made soap using goat milk, honey and oatmeal and added no scent at all. This has a light, pleasant, natural fragrance. And it was really cheap!

Hubby and I both feel that it is not only the best soap I've made so far, but the best soap I've ever used. We are sensitive to scents however and don't like strongly scented soaps. But if you added those to your soap, you sure would not need to use much else to make a nice light fragrance.

 

[gettinaclue]

SD, did your soap gel?

 

[calendula]

Savingdogs, I agree that milk, honey, and oatmeal soaps smell so good! It's my favorite that I've made so far, I like that natural subtle scent. I also like how cocoa butter soap smells, just a nice delicate cocoa scent.

The reason I ask about natural scenting is that I sell a little soap and I like to give it as gifts, and I always notice that the first thing people do is smell it. It seems that people like a little fragrance. So I'm just wondering if herb infusions added, or maybe even herbal infused oils, or ground herbs added at trace will keep their fragrance.