Bad Advice You Have Read on the Net about Soapmaking

[Guest]

1. It is okay to use glass to mix your lye water and to make soap in . NOT

 

[kittywings]

Really? I use a big ugly glass vase that I got at the thrift store to mix my lye water... so far so good.

Have you had something happen?

 

[blue hill]

I do too...nothing yet...keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[TessC]

"I don't ever weigh the ingredients, you just use a bottle/cup/tablespoon/etc of _______". Makes me crazy, seriously, use a frigging scale.

 

[andreja]

With long exposure with glass lye forms sodium silicate and you get frosted glass, damaged glass. Not worth risking.

 

[DeeDee]

Would a plastic gallon milk jug work? I used my big glass measuring cup last time. That thought did go through my mind about the glass shattering and lye going all over. I washed a milk jug out thinking that I might try that next time.

 

[zeoplum]

I mix mine in a 4 quart stainless steel pot (looks like a big bowl). And then after I add it to the oils, I rinse it out realy quick with lots of cold water and set it aside in case I need to split my batch for coloring (either swirls or layers). It costs a little more but was so worth the investment!

zeo

 

[xyxoxy]

I use a heavy plastic 1 gallon Rubbermaid pitcher - well marked with warnings.

It heats up a bit but never to the point where I've worried about it melting.

ETA: Bad advise I got from reading a Cavitch book before I started making soap. Not sure if this counts as bad advice or stupidity on my part - but I used one of her recipes as it was listed in the book (not knowing any better) and so my FIRST 3 batches of soap were 8 pounds each! I screwed up one wasting a lot of good oils. Not the best way to ease into soap making.

 

[carebear]

Glass may break - unless it's tempered glass it's not made to withstand temperature shifts (lye heats the water up fast), and even the tempered glass isn't a good idea because 1) the lye does etch it and create miniscule weak spots, 2) stirring can do the same, 3) **** happens anyway. I have read of several accounts where glass has suddenly broken. Some are confident that it's ok anyway and continue to use glass. To them I wish luck and hope they keep their children away and their health insurance policies in place. And maybe they'll be ok. For ME, in the equation of risk versus reward the scale is tipped to far to risk for me on this one.

Plastic milk jugs are kinda ok, but the plastic can get very soft from the heat of the lye so I don't recommend it. Rubbermaid pitchers are good. A cheap plastic pitcher from the dollar store works well. I actually use the tall gladware containers from the grocery store because I make up one batch at a time. And they have a nice lid.

Bad advice I've received? About FOs - that you can test if an FO is "skin safe" by just using the stuff and if there is no rash you are good to go. NOT.

 

[BlueSky]

I have been mixing my lye solution in a glass bowl since I started soap making (which is very recent). I didn't even know there was a controversy. I guess I'll switch to stainless. :shock:

 

[DeeDee]

I have a rubber maid 2 quart pitcher that I will use and scrap the milk jug idea.
Thank you!

 

[mandolyn]

Safety First!

Mixing lye in glass is NOT recommended. Lye will etch even tempered glass & eventually weaken it. It might look fine, until you lift it up, then the bottom falls out or it seeps solution all over you.

There are many plastics that shouldn't be used either, because the lye will eat right through them. Plastic milk jugs for example.

I use stainless steel. I always mix with the container sitting in the sink. If you're using plastic, you should be doing it that way in case it leaks. Better the lye/water solution goes down the drain than leaks on you, the counter top or the floor.

There's LOTS of bad info floating around the internet about soapmaking. There was a video showing the soapmaker pouring water into lye, for instance!!!!

There are a plethora of bad recipes as well. That's why those of us who've been around a while keep chanting the mantra "Run every recipe throug a lye calculator - no matter where it came from."

It's also why we chant our other mantra, "Do lots of research before you do your first batch." We know, once you do all that research, you'll come back here all confused & full of questions, then we can give you the correct info. Just kidding!

 

[Guest]

I would say in addition to mandolyn's post , after you do your research ( take notes ) and find a forum you like and follow the advice given there . You will get tried and true information . You will also learn more tips and tricks on a forum.

Kitn

 

[TessC]

The other really bad one I saw wasn't on a soap-related forum or site, but came from a lady on a pet-oriented forum who makes and sells small batches of goatmilk castile to people she knows.

I'd just gotten through explaining to a couple of the forum members that I can't sell them soap due to a lack of product liability insurance, and she popped in with a bunch of "Oh, you only need liability insurance if you have an actual store, you can't get sued for stuff you sell over the internet." stuff.

Um....no? That's utterly and totally incorrect, and I seriously hope that she doesn't end up getting the everliving crap sued out of her over her soaps. She's not the only person I've seen who sort of dismisses insurance as a silly thing to get, and it bugs me that some bad legal advice gets passed around at times.

 

[Inodoro Pereyra]

I mix my lye water in one of 2 containers. Either I use an empty lye container (the 2 lb "roebic crystal" that Lowe's used to sell), or an old coconut oil container (the "lou ana" from Wal Mart). They're sturdy, don't get too soft with the heat, and, so far, haven't shown any signs of wear.

About the bad advice, I actually got tons of bad, dishonest advice from a forum. It wasn't from a soapmaking forum, but the soapmaking section on a biodiesel forum. In there, there's a member who's regarded as the forum's "soap expert", who consistently gives people bad advise, and spreads false information just to sell his book. Fortunately, I've got his number way before I made my first batch, so I wasn't affected by his nonsense, but there are lots of members in that forum that still follow his words as gospel.
One of his favorite agendas is to promote some kind of a "turf war", between biodieselers and "traditionalists" (which would be us).

 

[Guest]

I'm going to step out on a limb and say the bad advice I rec'd on the net was not to start selling.

I want to first qualify this opinion. I think that as you start any hobby/enterprise that the only feasable way to assess your product is to get it out in the public. Both giving away and selling pose the same liability issues. I am not suggesting anyone sell or give away anything they have a reasonable belief is dangerous.

However, be it an ugly handknitted sweater, a tray of brownies, and uncomfortable handmade piece of jewlery...the only way to test the waters is to get your product out into the public.

I've been apart of alot of start up businesses...my daycares, I was a personal fitness trainer, sold insurance...and you are never all that great in any feild in the beginning. Being from an impovershed community where people are so afraid to take an entrepuenurial risk, and where financing is almost non existant...the need to get some type of financial return on anything you have a passion for is important.

I just think the strict attitude on some forums discouraging some from starting to sell is just a lil heavy handed. I'm very glad for the sales experience I acquired, it was the most important factor in my growth as a soap maker.

 

[AshleyR]

I have come across a lot - especially on youtube. There is one lady in particular I watch on there who just started making soap a couple of months ago, opened a business already and is selling some of her first bars. She talks in her videos like she knows the ins and outs of soapmaking and I have caught her giving out misinformation a few times.

One thing she did not too long ago was put on thick rubber gloves to cut her soap over 24 hours later. She said that "all soap at this stage is still caustic so you MUST wear gloves to cut it". I never ever wear gloves to cut my soap, and it never has any zap after it's been in the mold and set up (after about 12 hrs). In this case she was just being overly safe, but it just irks me that she acts like she knows everything about soapmaking when I know she just started.

Anyway, rant over. There are too many times I've heard/seen people give out misinformation to count...

 

[carebear]

hers could have been caustic if she didn't gel it.
but ALL soap is caustic at that stage? bull cookies.

actually I think the worst advice I received was when people didn't provide constructive criticism but let me lead myself astray.

 

[xyxoxy]

I have come across a lot - especially on youtube.
... There are too many times I've heard/seen people give out misinformation to count...

I learned a lot watching a lady on Youtube when I first started... and most of what she said then has held up with what I've learned over time.

However I think I know the one you are talking about and yes... she makes me crazy! I think she mixes lye in a speghetti sauce jar with a wooden spoon (not to beat the dead horse about lye and glass). I mean she seems like a really fun person but it's a little reckless to be giving video lessons on something you have only just started.

Oh that reminds me... be sure to catch my youtube video on building a space shuttle out of items you can find in your home.

 

[IrishLass]

-One of the things I have seen many times on the net that really gets my knickers in a twist is the claim that soaps made with animal fats are bad, or very substandard compared to all-veggie soaps. :?

-And also this knicker twister- 'Our soaps are not made with lye because lye is very caustic and soaps made from it are very bad for your skin.' :twisted:

IrishLass