Soap Making 101

[me&thegals]

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.

Ditto here. I have one with oats, honey, beeswax, egg yolks, etc., and it smells like honey grahams or Bit O' Honeys.

EOs are going to be your best bet, but I have infused oils with peppermint leaves, plus ground it up in the soap. Not sure how they would stand alone, as I always also add peppermint EO. Just plain old soap has a very nice smell, though!

 

[Farmfresh]

I have used several herbs and a few spices when soaping with good results. Do a little research. Some of the herbs also have other good qualities to bring to a soap. One example of that is Sage which is also an antibacterial.

How I usually do it is to measure slightly more water that I need for the recipe and heat it to boiling then add the herbs and let them steep (usually in the fridge) at least overnight. Then I strain the water, measure and use the water as normal for the soap recipe. You can also add herbs in at the trace for effect, but be sure they are finely ground and not too much. Nobody wants to take a shower with bunch of soggy leaves falling out of their soap.

 

[savingdogs]

Yes, and grind up any oatmeal in a coffee grinder first or else you will have chunks of oatmeal in your soap that are rather gross, as well, if you add oatmeal!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Ok, I have read through this ENTIRE thread and I brought my soap book to work with me so I can find a recipe at lunch. I need to get a list of supplies (oils and lye and possibly EO) together because I've got some money saved up and I'm ready to take the plunge.

 

[calendula]

Good luck!

 

[savingdogs]

You'll love it Katie, it isn't hard at all....

 

[aggieterpkatie]

You'll love it Katie, it isn't hard at all....

I know once I actually get started it'll be much easier, but I've been procrastinating like crazy!! I wanted to make soap last year, and for some reason it gets pushed to the back burner! I get frustrated with myself because I know the longer I wait the more time I'm wasting. Oh well, I'm really going to do it though. I swear.

Hey, y'all hound me until I get the stuff ordered, k?

 

[savingdogs]

Except the lye, you can get all the ingredients for my soap from the grocery store. I ordered lye and fragrance from Brambleberry, but I've made several batches now with no fragrance, people really like it. So don't wait on fragrance to make your first batch, although if you order lye online from a soapmaking store, you can get the correct kind of fragrance at the same time. But I started with a real simple recipe and just added ingredients to it as I got better at making the soap. Now I'm working on making it PRETTIER.

 

[freemotion]

I bought everything locally....grocery store, discount store, and Ace Hardware for the lye (Rooto drain cleaner, had to order a case through them but no shipping!)

 

[savingdogs]

I bought everything locally....grocery store, discount store, and Ace Hardware for the lye (Rooto drain cleaner, had to order a case through them but no shipping!)

I think it depends on your state. My state was having a real hard time with the meth people and I guess they use lye to make it? They passed laws here making the ingredients for meth-making hard to obtain and they have had some success fighting the problem, so I don't mind paying for online shipping. I chose to order from a soapmaking place as well because I heard that people buying lye are watched for the reason why they want it, and I wanted my reason to be 100 percent obvious in case that is true that there are lye-buying watch lists.