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So in the end I got pretty curious about all these smell talks, and I thought before being able to design a "cheap soap" I might as well just do a test to see how it turns out. So I took whatever I had on hand, finished a bunch of old bottles, and made a soap for the purpose of face wash to...

Sounds very interesting. Which type of fragrance/EO would go along with the neem smell? And, wouldn’t it actually be better if the soap has a very unpleasant taste to actually prevent children to eat them? Why is it better if the soap tastes fine?

You are right! I forgot about sunflower oil. We seem to have access to high oleic one, but they are all mixed with some anti-foaming agent. Would that be a problem?

Oh no! Ghee, why! :( I searched a bit and DeeAnna report having successfully done dairy butter soap by using mint EO, and she says any spicy, woody smell would go along with the butyric smell, so I’m tempted to still give it a try. If it still smells really bad I’ll sacrifice myself into...

Hello everyone, I’m trying to figure out a recipe to make a cheap well rounded durable soap. Something affordable for everyone, good for most skin types. Here we don’t have access to palm oil or lard (really! I did search A LOT), so this is quite a challenge. I’m giving prices as a reference...

Well, it’s not really about fastening a process, but more about understanding the most efficient way of doing something. Why do people use immersion blender? Just because it is more efficient than whisking by hand. So if it exists a more efficient way to do the cure, it would be interesting to...

I think I should just forget palm oil, seems it’ll make me more ecological anyways, so not that bad in the end I guess! It’s quite ironic that India is a huge exporter of palm oil and beef, but none of it is sold internally... but let’s not diverge from the initial topic ;-)

Hello everyone, After reading DeeAnna’s explanation of the curing process, my husband, who had studied chemistry a while ago, came up with an idea to better this process. He told me that if we partially fill an airtight container with carbon black, rice, or both, and put the uncured soaps in...

Hello! I have just made my first batch of HP soap, and my eyes filled with desire can’t restrain themselves from staring at my fresh soaps peacefully curing in a corner of my home. I then start thinking about the process of curing... I understand that the purpose of curing HP soaps is that the...

I meant that vegetable ghee (vanaspati) seems to be made with a variable amount of different vegetable oils. The one I saw, in the packet, they write a few of the oils and at the end they even say blend of other vegetable oils. So we basically don't know what's inside and in which quantities. So...

When I moved to India, a common practice here completely changed my hair/scalp’s destiny... oiling. The concept is to oil your scalp and hair in the evening, let it sit overnight, and wash the next day. The oil used will generally be infused with herbs. I started making my own hair oil, which I...

Well, essential oils do oxidize. The smell will change and I wouldn’t rely on them for therapeutic values anymore either. The speed of oxidation will depend on the oil itself and the ambient temperature. In a cold climate I wouldn’t worry too much, it would generally take a really long time...

Soya bean and sunflower are the common oils here. I asked the husband about vanaspati, and it’s actually sold as a vegetable ghee (ghee is clarified butter), so it’s a mix of vegetable oils that have been hydrogenated to make it thicker. I checked online and first ingredient is palm oil, and...

I’m in the process of making the soap, I think the gel started on the sides of my pot, but the electricity went so my oven is off now before saponification got completed. Can I just leave it there and then when electricity will come back (it can take anywhere from 10 min to a few hours), oven...

Hello! I want to do my first soap tomorrow, and I really want to do HP over CP, so I’m planning to make a simple pure coconut one, oven HP, to practice myself with the technique. The thing is that my thermometer will only arrive in 1-2 weeks, and I can’t get myself to wait that long! So what...

Sounds good! Do you stir it once in a while after putting in the oven? Around how much time, generally, does it have to cook inside oven? Edit: Also, do you cover your pot in the oven or not?

Aahh, wonderful calculator!! I am so tempted to just start straight away with HP, but so scared at the same time to fail and waste everything... let’s see what my mind settles onto! Thanks a lot for your help

Great, thank you! Which calculator do you use? It doesn’t seem to be soapcalc. Also, in HP, which lye % do you use? I think I read that in CP around 33% is good, but HP around 27% is better...? Yeah I want to start with small batches.. is it possible to make like only ONE soap, like a 100g...

I was thinking to go with 5% superfat. What could use to replace 25% of the olive oil then?

If you ever visit Rishikesh again, send me a message and we can do some soap making meetup! :D