A good reason to keep soap diaries!

[JayBird]

I am a hobbyist who foists her soap on everyone. Up until recently that is. The last few months, I've been asked for specific soaps.

A few days ago, I was asked for a soap that I barely remember making. The person sent me a picture of it, and I do recall that was something like my 5th batch ever, so it's three years old. Evidently, he has now been using it, and it's cleaned up his blackheads, so he wants more.

First of all, that's GREAT my soap holds up for three years! LOL. Yet at that time, I was keeping track of my experiments on random sheets of paper, not in a diary. So I don't know what is it!!!! WAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

I do know what colorant I used by the picture -- madder root. I assume this does not help with the blackheads, but wonder if anyone else has thoughts on that?

I will probably send him some salt bars and pine tar soap to try, but I'm kicking myself for not keeping proper diaries.

 

[Luv2Soap]

JayBird - *raises hand* I do it was suggested to me to keep one too. I keep all my information on a spreadsheet - 1 tab per each batch. I also am taking pictures of them all too so I have a visual of them. I'm hoping that it's going to help me in the future to notice patterns and trends in my recipes.

 

[cmzaha]

I have every soap calc printout so I can always go back. I keep them in banker filing boxes with the date range on the box in one of my under the house storage rooms. Wish I had a house with a basement, but I have to settle for enclosed on stilts

 

[AnnaMarie]

You might want to look at a journal app for your records. I use one to keep my recipe and a picture of the soap made; it's a great way to keep track, and it's all in one place. I do understand the frustration though...I've kicked myself a few times for not writing down a recipe
Best,
Anna Marie

 

[cliff]

Evernote

I use an app called Evernote on my iPad. You can keep different notebooks in it. For example I have a notebook for cold process soap recipes, one for bath salts, one for Chapstick recipes, etc...

In my CP soap notebook I keep a note with a screen shot of each soapcalc recipe and I number each different recipe (CP#1, CP#2, CP#3, and so on). I also keep notes above the screen shot for quick reference where I state oil, superfat, and lye concentration percentages, essential oil ppo, and whether I 'CPOP'ed it or not.

Then, finally, I keep another note called "batches" where I keep a running tab of all batches I make. I give the date, CP #, and comments regarding how the batch went, like if it took forever to trace or whatnot. After a batch has cured and I've had a chance to use the soap, I'll go back and update each entry in my Batches note. I'll include how it lathers, how well (or bad) the scent did, if it developed ash, etc... This has been great for knowing which recipes I liked and which recipes should never see the light of day again.

Works great for me.

 

[snappyllama]

I'm with Cliff. Evernote is great for storing batch notes. Chrome has a plug-in that lets you save new recipes right from Soap Calc. Even when I make the same recipe, I just duplicate my note so I can keep track of each batch individually with all my notes, reminders for cure times, pictures, and exact ingredients I used (including colorants). I update it with performance notes.

I keep separate notebooks for research notes, B&B batches, and soaping.

I love that it syncs from my pc to tablet and is searchable.

It's really easy to set-up. Best of all, it's free!

 

[ngian]

I'm with Ciff and Snappyllama and to be honest I had read snappyllama before, mentioning evernote and I did try it, I liked it and ever since is my (cloud) digital soap notebook, that is synchronizing across all devices instantly.

I also keep a "clients" list where I keep track to which family members and friends I have given which batch noting their feedback.

Nikos