A brief "Hello" and first attempt

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

So, just what it says on the tin, really. Just joined the forum - I'm living in Austria but I'm from England originally. Started soap making as a hobby with a view to making Christmas presents easier, maybe even making some money but mainly just to get some good man-products going - made Bay Rum cologne, a pre-shave oil for wet shaving and now soap. My wife has suggested I look in to doing products for women, too, under the name The Admirable Lady.

So, here is my first CP attempt. Olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil and rapeseed oil. Ground poppy seeds, lavender and sandalwood. Sure, they're not pretty, but these won't be going on sale - most likely tidied up and given away. The picture is taken 24 hours after cutting, which I did 24 hours after I made it.

I am not looking forward to waiting 4 weeks to use it - I'm seriously looking at getting a slow cooker (crockpot, you might say) and doing HP instead from now on.

 

[ourwolfden]

Welcome. Those look pretty. Be warned you will still want to wait 4-6 weeks with HP too. It will be safe to use but it won't last as long.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Welcome. Those look pretty. Be warned you will still want to wait 4-6 weeks with HP too. It will be safe to use but it won't last as long.

Ah, so not a hobby for impatient people! Good job my pre-shave oils, Bay Rum and massage bars can be used straight away - instant fun.

 

[jd_198818]

So, just what it says on the tin, really. Just joined the forum - I'm living in Austria but I'm from England originally. Started soap making as a hobby with a view to making Christmas presents easier, maybe even making some money but mainly just to get some good man-products going - made Bay Rum cologne, a pre-shave oil for wet shaving and now soap. My wife has suggested I look in to doing products for women, too, under the name The Admirable Lady.

So, here is my first CP attempt. Olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil and rapeseed oil. Ground poppy seeds, lavender and sandalwood. Sure, they're not pretty, but these won't be going on sale - most likely tidied up and given away. The picture is taken 24 hours after cutting, which I did 24 hours after I made it.

I am not looking forward to waiting 4 weeks to use it - I'm seriously looking at getting a slow cooker (crockpot, you might say) and doing HP instead from now on.

Whether cp or hp it will still have to cure. Soap looks nice! The scent combo sounds tasty as well. Did you use sandalwood eo or fo?

 

[TVivian]

Hi! Your soaps look great! They're so nice and white.

 

[Tienne]

Good soap is like a good wine. They need time to mature to be at their peak.

Two things need to happen when you've made a soap. They need to completely saponify and they need to dry to get a lot of the water out of them you added during production. HP will speed up the saponification and some of the water will evaporate, but they will still be "wet behind ther ears" (so to speak) for a few weeks. You can't hurry love, as the song goes, so give your soaps the time they need to cure and you will love them even more and as an added bonus, they will last a heck of a lot longer, too. Soap-making is definitely not for the impatient, but rest assured, it will be worth the wait.

 

[Skatergirl46]

Your soap looks good. Fun isn't it? I am impatient one too. One of the things that you can do with HP to ward off a bit of the impatience is to scrape the crock after you spoon your soap into the mold. You'll get a little ball of soap that you can press together and try. It won't be as nice as the cured soap, but at least you can see how it feels on your skin.

Welcome!:mrgreen:

 

[dixiedragon]

This is why you should make soap every week. Sure, there is a 4-6 week wait time...but if you make soap every week, then after your first 4 weeks, you will have a new soap to try every week! :razz:

 

[Jencat]

Your soap looks good! Much nicer looking than my first attempt.

 

[Lildlege1]

Great looking soap

 

[tyerod]

Welcome. The way I solve the waiting problem is during the curing process I will usually "test" a bar as soon as it passes the zap test. I realize it won't last as long as the cured bars but its just "testing" anyway. Luckily I live in a dry climate so my bars cure quickly

 

[savonierre]

Hi welcome to the forum, your soap looks awesome.

 

[7Lbar]

So, just what it says on the tin, really. Just joined the forum - I'm living in Austria but I'm from England originally. Started soap making as a hobby with a view to making Christmas presents easier, maybe even making some money but mainly just to get some good man-products going - made Bay Rum cologne, a pre-shave oil for wet shaving and now soap. My wife has suggested I look in to doing products for women, too, under the name The Admirable Lady.

So, here is my first CP attempt. Olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil and rapeseed oil. Ground poppy seeds, lavender and sandalwood. Sure, they're not pretty, but these won't be going on sale - most likely tidied up and given away. The picture is taken 24 hours after cutting, which I did 24 hours after I made it.

I am not looking forward to waiting 4 weeks to use it - I'm seriously looking at getting a slow cooker (crockpot, you might say) and doing HP instead from now on.

Oh what a beautiful set of bars. As your first batch, I'm sure it is difficult to wait. I'm still waiting (going crazy) for my first batch ingredients to get here via UPS..come on Friday. I like the idea that we should make a new batch every week. This month would be a great month to buy Crisco if I really wanted to do shortening soap because of the cheap price due to the holidays, but I feel like its cheating.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Thanks for the comments, all. I like the idea of making more batches to keep things on rotation! But I can also try things without lye, such as moisturising bars, which can fill the time between.

@ jd_198818 - both are EO. At the moment I'll be doubling up my EOs for soap and for the moisturising bars, so I need them to be EO rather than FO. I think when I'm making a lot more I might well look at FOs for soap - do EOs lose their beneficial properties in the process?

 

[judymoody]

I love your avatar name!

A standard mold that produces square edged bars will quickly add a professional look to your soap. I would also recommend investing in some sort of wire cutter. That said, your initial foray looks lovely.

EO use - for CP soap, this forum recommends a scent load of 3% or lower. For leave on products where the lye monster is not a factor, you can go much lower. For example, in lotions, I use .5-1%
Some EOs last in CP, some do not. Citruses tend to fade. Spearmint and anise will last forever! These are just a few examples.

FO use rates vary - check your suppliers information for safe maximums.

Welcome to the forum! I love efficacy.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Thanks for the tips, JudyMoody. I will look in to a better a cutter and making a wooden mold, one that I can build a guide in to for cutting, for example.