# liquid soap beginners help



## SoapAddict415 (Feb 23, 2014)

Hi all. I'm considering trying to make liquid soap for the first time, but I don't know where to begin. Can someone recommend a book or a Web site? Thanks in advance! :-D


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## seven (Feb 23, 2014)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VUGV_H7bZU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VUGV_H7bZU[/ame]

http://chickensintheroad.com/house/crafts/how-to-make-liquid-soap/

that video and that site helped me a lot when i made my 1st liquid soap.


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## FGOriold (Feb 23, 2014)

If making liquid soap for the first time, I would definitely not use the glycerin method.   I think it is best to use distilled water to dissolve your Potassium Hydroxide in so that when you mix it with your oils you can see all the stages your soap will go through to become paste.  The glycerin method can go so fast at times it is hard for new liquid soapmakers to know what is normal and what is not.  Once you get a few batches done using distilled water, then try the glycerin method or 50/50 (half glycerin/half distilled water) to make your KOH solution.


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## SoapAddict415 (Feb 23, 2014)

Thanks Seven!


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## SoapAddict415 (Feb 23, 2014)

And thank you FGOriold!


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## lady-of-4 (Feb 23, 2014)

SoapAddict415 said:


> Hi all. I'm considering trying to make liquid soap for the first time, but I don't know where to begin. Can someone recommend a book or a Web site? Thanks in advance! :-D




I started with this video, and searched from there:

[ame]http://youtu.be/oQQU4ltkqJ8[/ame]

I also HIGHLY recommend Catherine Failor's Making Natual Liquid Soap.  Amazon usually has it cheapest.

Also, this fellow is pretty knowledgable in LS and based his theories on the Failor method.  Just search for Liquid Soap Making in his blog.
http://candleandsoap.about.com/


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## Susie (Feb 23, 2014)

With all due respect, I would actually not recommend Catherine Failor's book to a _brand new_ liquid soaper.  Most people who make liquid soap now do not use her methods.  No need to use alcohol, or go so lye heavy that you MUST neutralize.  Once you have a few batches under your belt, THEN go get her book.  It is a gold mine of other useful information.  

Use the Soaping 101 video, and the Chickens in the Road tutorial. Only use the CitR to go straight to the bottom to get to the Yahoo liquid soapers group.  Their site is not as user-friendly as here, but there are some excellent beginner recipes on there, and everyone is friendly and helpful.


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## lady-of-4 (Feb 23, 2014)

Most lye calculators that include KOH are designed around Failor's methods,  including but not limited to,  Brambleberry,  Summer Bee Meadow,  Soap Calc and even the Soap Maker 3 program. Even the gentleman of Candles and Soap explains why her recipes are "so lye heavy"  as you put it: because KOH is 10% impure ,  containing also water plus a small fraction of impurities.  To say that her explanations are incorrect,  is to say that several other notable liquid soapers are wrong.  And these are notable folk that we as liquid soapers turn to for the most accurate information possible. 

 No,  the alcohol isn't needed,  but it is a possible method,  that yields different results.  And in theory,  her alcohol method can be synonymous with the glycerin method,  in that glycerin is an alcohol by nature,  but rather than adding it in,  like with Isopropyl or Ethyl alcohols,  glycerin replaces water completely,  without the effect of soap expanding as it does in Failor's alcohol method. And you gain the same,  if not better,  end result with the Glycerin method.  I however do not recommend the glycerin method for a beginner LS maker,  because that method causes soap to go through its phases faster than the normal water/lye method.  It doesn't allow a soaper to see the phases as you would when using water.  Even just adding a little Glycerin to the batch causes acceleration of saponification.

Soaping 101 is also a great resource for beginners,  but I've noticed some of her tutorials to have a few fallacies that can confuse a beginner,  who hears or reads otherwise from other sources.

And here is the article that explains the lye excess in Failor's methods:
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/liquidsoap/a/lyeexcessliquid.htm

And this on neutralizing the soap using either Failor's or SBM methods,  both of which I already indicated, go hand in hand:
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/liquidsoap/a/neutralizeliq.htm


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## FGOriold (Feb 24, 2014)

The summerbeemeadow and brambleberry calculators are not based on the Failor method as both take the 90% purity into account when calculating KOH and water amounts.  When superfatting at 0% both of these calculators will give you a KOH amount that will not need neutralization if cooked properly.  My understanding is soapcalc just changed their calculator to give one a choice of KOH or 90% KOH when using it.  I know nothing about Soapmaker 3.  But you can use the other three without having an excess KOH in your formulation that will require the excess to be neutralized.


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## Susie (Feb 24, 2014)

I fully agree that people new to making liquid soap should be able to see all the stages that it goes through to become usable paste.  However, for someone who has made bar soaps to make liquid soaps, they are going to think something is drastically wrong if it takes >30 minutes to bring it to trace.  If they watch the Soaping 101 video(and I added some water to that recipe after having trouble with it, so I will be the first one to tell you that it is not a 100% perfect recipe), they will see the stages she gets with her soap and actually be able to recognize if they are on the right track.

I am not saying that anyone is wrong.  Not at all.  Liquid soaps were safely and wonderfully made with those methods for a VERY long time.  Catherine Failor's book is a gold mine of useful information.  However, we have lye calculators now that help us not have to go through unnecessary steps.  And her book is VERY difficult for a brand new soaper to get a methodical step-by-step process for making a batch of soap.  I know, because I bought her book, and set out to do that very thing.  And I am not alone.  Many new soapers have that very issue with her book.  

Now that I have made several batches of liquid soap, I go to that book almost for every recipe and base most of them on her recipes.  Just not her methods.  I look at the oils, and go with the same percentages when I run it through the SoapCalc lye calculator.  She gives very reliable recipes.  

Again, I meant no offense whatsoever!  I just wanted a new soaper to not get discouraged by unnecessary steps.


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## lady-of-4 (Feb 24, 2014)

Did my last comment get deleted?  If so I'd like to know why.  It was nothing but plain honesty and firm belief and nothing offensive in the least.


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