# What got you into soap making?



## jade (Nov 17, 2006)

Just curious how everyone got involved in soap making. For me, i went to the fair with my aunt and saw a booth with the yummiest scented homemade soaps. After using the soap I knew I could never go back to regular store bought soap and set out to learn how to make it for myself.


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## Mandy (Nov 17, 2006)

My mom always made soap when we were growing up. I didn't start making my own soap until just a few years ago when my mom stopped making it due to health reasons.


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## Panda (Nov 18, 2006)

I was actually at a yard sale where a lady was getting rid of all her soap making supplies. I'd never really considered it before, but i decided it might be a fun hobbie to pick up.


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## Candy (Dec 28, 2006)

I quit my job after my daughter was born and once she was old enough that she didn't need my constant attention I felt like I needed a hobby. I tried out a few different things but the thing i really enjoyed and have been doing now for 3 years is soap making. I'm addicted.


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## Cobblestone (Dec 28, 2006)

My friend gave me some homemade soaps for christmas one year and i fell in love. I had her teach me how she made them and i've been hooked ever since.


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## *zoe (Jan 9, 2007)

I was reading a magazine at the dentists office that had an article about homemade skin care products and soap. I thought it sounded like something I could get in to so I checked out every book i could find in the library and went to work making soap.


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## Tabitha (Jan 12, 2007)

A friend gave me a bar he brought back from London w/ him. I loved it & attempted to buy another bar  when I used mine up. It was $8.00 for 1 bar  :shock: . I was looking around the internet for a cheaper version & stumbled across a recipe... that was 5 years ago...


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## jellyfish (Jan 13, 2007)

I'm just crafty. If there is the slightest possibility I can make it for myself i usually try. I just started searching on the internet and reading books and asking silly questions on forums until i sort of figured it out.


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## pepperi27 (Jan 15, 2007)

My family has a problem with dry skin. I decided to venture out and found the many ways to make soap. I'm too scared to try cp right now but I love making mp soaps. My skin looks and feels way better and I no longer itch! My daughter is the one with scaly problematic skin so my soaps have helped her a great deal.


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## skinflint (Jan 28, 2007)

jellyfish said:
			
		

> I'm just crafty. If there is the slightest possibility I can make it for myself i usually try. I just started searching on the internet and reading books and asking silly questions on forums until i sort of figured it out.



Yep, that's me too!!


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## Bliss (Jan 30, 2007)

My mom started making them a few years ago and got me into it as well.


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## anakoi (Feb 2, 2007)

We just moved to a new city and my husband travels a lot. Until i meet more people in the area i felt like i needed something besides housework too occupy my time. I went to the library and started researching a bunch of things like pottery, candlemaking, etc. I finally decided to start with soap making. Already it's such an addiction. I feel like i might need to start working part time just to pay for all the supplies i want to buy.


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## contessa (Feb 27, 2007)

Same as you! Bought some Ren Faire soap (for $5 a bar), loved it so much, I decided to make my own.


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## mandys (Mar 23, 2007)

I used to collect soaps as a child, and then when i got pregnant and I realised all the chemicals that were found in shampoos and bubble baths etc I decided to have a go at making it!


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## Siberian Rose (Apr 4, 2007)

I have started to do the soap because a climate in Siberia guess what.    Usual soap strongly dries up a leather, deprives some its necessary fat which protects. My self-made soap leaves a thin protective film on a leather and to me no frost is terrible! It also protects and from our aggressive sun, I went in the summer with the open hands and any burns! Self-made soap - the best! To do it it is complex, process labour-consuming, but result! :mrgreen:


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## rain (Apr 4, 2007)

A neighbor gave me homemade soap as a christmas gift once. After using it I realized I could never go back to regular store bought soap. I started buying it at craft fairs and online, but thought it would be more cost-effective to start making it myself. I didn't realize how expensive all the supplies would end up being, but by that point i was hooked.


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## SOAPFREAK (Apr 10, 2007)

We were at my husband's cousins house in Ga. She had it sitting on a plate on the counter.  I asked "What is this?"  She said "It's soap, I made it."  I asked "You made it?"  I thought that was so cool so I started buying books and the rest is history.  Every night I had soap bars dancing in my head instead of sugarplums.


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## erica (Apr 19, 2007)

well it's like this.  i quit my "carreer" of 8 years training show horses to move with the better half to eastern montana.  started ranching and I needed to buy a ranch horse. then she was lonely so I bought her a goat.  then, surprise! one morning there was a kid!  then somehow I aquired a handful more nannies.  now i have a boatload of milk and needed to do something with it.  so I just tried soapmaking for the first time and love it already...  I can't wait to try again this weekend!  .....now on to cheesemaking....


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## stephie (Jun 27, 2007)

I had some extra time on my hands a few years ago when I had to move to a new city. I wanted to fill my time as well as get to know new people in my area so I signed up for a soap making class.

I'm not sure why i picked soap making, i guess it just sounded interesting. 

I'm hooked now.


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## dragonfly princess (Jun 28, 2007)

I was at a health expo and saw some home made soaps, pulled out the laptop and found some recipes.  Thinking there was only one way to make soap, I stopped at Michaels, found M&P and the rest is history


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## Judilynn (Jun 28, 2007)

I was pregnant looking for something to soothe my dry skin.  Tried hand made soap and have never gone back   Got me into aromatherapy also. That was 17 years ago.


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## Colleen (Jul 2, 2007)

I'm an aromatherapist and during one of my courses we had an assignment to make and use a blend of oils in something other than a massage oil.  I looked on line and it seemed most people selling essential oils were also selling soap.  I found a recipe and made soap.

Next semester we had the challenge again.  I made bath bombs.

The instructor called me aside and said that she supplied a chain of spas with a goatsmilk soap and her supplier had let her down, did she think I could make goatsmilk soap for her.  I sure did !

I put my tools away 4 years ago when I became seriously ill and had to have surgery.  I was unemployed for a while due to the illness/recovery and didn't have the funds to start soaping again.  I just moved and I kept saying, "After I move I'm going to start soaping."  Well, an opportunity presented itself a couple of months ago ... an organic farmers' market was opening in the town I've moved to and they were looking for artisan crafters.

I am now soaping Organic soaps and I now have a SOAP ROOM !!!! in my new home.  So that's how I got back into soaping.


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## Guest (Jul 17, 2007)

I was searching ebay one day and found a women who made her own soaps, I purchased one, and she also sent me one free of charge. I loved them.. That was 5 years ago or so.


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## naturemama (Sep 9, 2007)

About 17 years ago I was given a book by mother that had handmade body product recipes inside.   I was shocked that people could actually make their own products.  I started playing around with them and really fell in love with the whole process.  A couple years later I got involved with a group of animal rights activists and that is when I heard about handmade soap (the whole no animal testing topic brought it out).  I didn't think twice about the soap until about 6-7 years ago.  Then along the line I decided to give in and I purchased a soapmaking kit from Sandy Maine, it sat on the shelf a year (don't tell her that). LOL  I was so scared to work with it because of all the warnings on the lye package.  But... even though it sat, I eventually made it, it worked out great, everyone loved it and I haven't stopped since.  

Even though it worked out great, I wouldn't advise people let their first soapmaking kits sit a year  :wink:


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## soapbuddy (Sep 9, 2007)

My mom and grandma made it. So I fell into it.  

Irena


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## moca (Sep 9, 2007)

My husband told me I spent too much money at Bath and Body Works and thought it would save money if I made my own.  Now he wishes I would go back to BBW.


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## Gigi2 (Sep 24, 2007)

My 1st year married, my husband & I wanted to give our large extended family each a gift for the holidays. So, we purchased a stack of very inexpensive soap bars, cut up old wrapping paper~ placed pieces on top of the soap & dipped the top of the soap in wax. That was 30 years ago, & today I still am giving handmade soap as gifts, but all the soaps are handmade.


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## Gigi2 (Sep 24, 2007)

moca said:
			
		

> My husband told me I spent too much money at Bath and Body Works and thought it would save money if I made my own.  Now he wishes I would go back to BBW.



Now that's funny!


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## pink-north (Sep 25, 2007)

I had always liked making things myself (trying to be frugal) , especially cosmetics. I even tried to make lotions and lip balms as a child. One day I came across a book in the library that had a recipe for soap. I tried it and the rest is history. I love doing it!


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## Soapmaker Man (Sep 25, 2007)

My story is similar to Irena's.  I helped my grandmother when I was a kid cut her lard lye soap.  I thought it was fascinating watching how those fats and lye combined to make soap.  As the years went along using her soap to wash with while visiting her and her washing my clothes with the same soap, I was convinced that someday I would do this!  Well, 39 years later, or 2 years ago, I had the time to dedicate to learning the art of milk CP soapmaking.  After reading, researching, more reading and researching, testing, testing, retesting, tweaking and failing many times, I got it right.  It took the right recipe, after over 30, and the right methods and procedures, to get to where I am today.  My grandmother had the chance to try my soaps compared to hers (night and day difference) before she was too sick to shower and before she passed.  She was amazed how we can produce such a mild soap today.  I love creating something by my hands that is better for us than something some huge multi-billion dollar company produces.  It is so therapeutic for me to soap and imagine what new tool I can create to help make a better looking bar of soap.  So my soaping is multifaceted; making goat milk based soaps and making my TOG Soapmaking Tools!  I love what I do.

Paul.... :wink:


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## Mothi (Sep 25, 2007)

I think my response is very different.

I got into soap making because of my dog (well now dogs).  After the huge march dog food recall, I have been looking into getting rid of processed junk and chemicals for my dog.  I changed her diet and changed the chemicals I put on her for grooming needs.  I bought a shampoo that seemed more natural, no longer used scented spritz, no more flea chemicals, etc.  I thought if I could make soap for her, I could control the ingredients, thus know what is being used on her.  After learning the soap making process, I am now skeptical to how good the natural shampoo I bought her is because I think the ingredient list is incomplete not listing everything that was put into it.  That fueled my efforts more to make her soap.  Now I am hooked.  I also want to make soaps for myself, but my dog's health was the inspiration.


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## Bret (Sep 25, 2007)

2 years ago I fell head over heels for Lush. Especially their Honey I Washed The Kids soap. y-u-m-m-y. However, it's expensive. And I have to go to Chicago to get it, or order it online. I ventured into the candle world (being a die-hard [email protected]@ Candle fan), found a forum that talked about bath/body/soaps, and here I am, venturing into M&P. 

I have no real desire to do CP at this time. I want to perfect M&P and do everything I can with it!


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## motherhues (Sep 25, 2007)

I ahve been interested in natural stuff since I was in highschool, but when I was 20, I took an "Herbal Crafts for Spring" weekend class at the community college and that led into everything   2 years later I took her "Herbal Christmas Crafts" class just to show her everything I had learned and how I applied it   I have now been making soaps and salves and aromatherapy blends for 12 years and LOVE IT


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## reallyrita (Sep 26, 2007)

*What got you into soap making*

Well, two different paths led to this one..soapmaking.  I have always loved beautiful, mild, sweet smelling soaps.  In fact, I have a little collection of them.  MyDH has such very sensitive skin that I am constantly looking for a soap that will not cause him discomfort.  I have found a few but it is always a problem to reorder and be sure not to run out.  One is from Japan.  So, I decided to look into making him some.  I started with M and P and have made him the goat milk ones.  They do the trick and he loves them...trouble is...I am ready to try CP now....and I am gearing up to the GM soap.  Sounds tricky but I am willing to try and see what comes.  I figure it will take several (at least) failed batches before I get it right.  This forum has been my education.  Thank you one and all!!
Patricia


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## Soapmaker Man (Sep 26, 2007)

Patricia, just jump on into CP soapmaking.  I started out with goat milk CP soap, from day one.  I did make a lot of orangish-brown batches from burning the sugars in the milk, and 30 recipes to get the one I'm loving today, but practice, safety, reading, researching, and asking ones who has the experience to help, is how you grow into our obsession.  I've been a goat milk CP soapier for 2 years now, learning every time I make a batch, but finally turn out a consistent quality batch of soap.  Let me know if you need any help, and I'll be glad to help as much as I can.  I do what I call "Paul's GM RTCP Soap Process."  I can get a slightly off white bar using farm fresh goat milk now.  GM, along with aloe vera juice and a touch of silk makes a great, creamy gentile bar of soap!

Paul.... :wink: 
A GM Soapier
TOG Soapmaking Tools!


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## Mothi (Sep 26, 2007)

Patricia,

I agree with Paul.  Just go for it.

I made my first soap 2 weeks ago.  It was CP GM.  I made 3 batches over 3 days and they all came out fine, using my own recipe I checked over and over again using the calculator.  Do a search and read some of Paul's past posts on making GM soaps.  Honestly, I think those are what helped me the most about making them vs any other website.


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## reallyrita (Sep 26, 2007)

*What got you into soapmaking*

Mothi and Paul!  thank you so much for your encouragment.  I have read all the posts on GM and have bookmarked yours, Paul!  I think I have "made" goat's milk soap a hundred times over already in my head!!  I have a trip coming up here in two days (waaa...away from soapmaking for a bit...) and as soon as I get back I will take the GM plunge!!
Patricia


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