Hello all.

Michael-soap-husband. · Oct 22, 2013

Hi everybody,

I am in Australia.

I have joined up to ask for some advice. My wife loves natural soaps from the markets and I like to use them too. I feel that she would be good at making them, so I thought about getting her set up for Christmas this year.

I have had a look around the forum and the net, but can't find anything besides premade packs to start. I am hoping that some of you could share some links on this forum to what exactly is needed to start with natural soaps (probably essential oil style?) and if there are any books I should get.

I thought about ordering the complete set from Australian website's (there are quite a few) but didn't know exactly what to get, so I thought about getting The Complete Idiots Guide To Making Natural Soaps and trying to read it in private :-?, and then thought maybe I could just ask for help instead.

Anyways thanks for reading, and my apologies for not actually joining the forum as such.

Michael.

la-rene · Oct 22, 2013

Hi there! Welcome!

A simple set up would be:

1. A stainless steel pot.
2. A heavy duty plastic pitcher for your lye water. (I use Rubbermaid)
3. A good digital Scale
4. A good thermometer (there are little hand held ones for under $15 US)
5. A vinyl (plastic) spoon/spatula
6. A stick blender if you can get one or you will be stirring for hours... trust me. I had time to go buy one.
7. A simple box lined with some heavy plastic or freezer paper. Waxed paper doesn't work well. I use freezer paper, but others use plastic, they may know what kind of plastic works best.
8. A towel (if you want to gel your soap.)
9. A good simple recipe.
10. What ever Fragrance oil or Essential Oil you want to use. Or go fragrance free first, to see how it all works.
11. A good soapmaking book. (though, you can do your research online, but I find it handy to have the book right there) There are a lot of e-books you can get.
12. Gloves, safety glasses, and a gas mask. (mask not necessary, but I use one. It helps as I don't have very good ventilation in my soap room.)

A plan is essential. A safe, ventilated place to do it sans kids and pets is key.

Look around at all the tips and tricks for beginners as far as getting started.

Have fun!

PS. Maybe others will chime in with some tips. But, this is primarily what I had when I started.

Edited to add SAFETY!

Relle · Oct 22, 2013

Michael, all the info you require is on here on the forum here's a link to a previous thread for Aussies.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=22172

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=24476

Hazel · Oct 23, 2013

Hi Michael,

You don't need to apologize for not joining to be a "member". I think it sounds like a very thoughtful gift for you wife and it's smart to ask for advice. la-rene has already given you advice on supplies so I just want to mention your wife could get started with just two oils - olive and coconut. A simple recipe would be 70% olive oil/30% coconut oil. Normally, I don't recommend coconut at 30% since it can be drying for some people. But olive oil is so conditioning that it offsets the dryness of coconut. The downside to using a high percentage of olive is you may find it needs a longer curing time. It's personal preference. Some people love the feel of olive in soap and only cure for 4 weeks, other people prefer a longer curing time. I don't care for olive's lather so I prefer to cure soap with a high percentage of olive at least 6 months and find the lather better after an even longer cure.

If you do want to get some essential oils, I'd suggest starting with lavender and lemongrass. I've had good luck with these two holding up in CP. I like to use twice the amount of lavender and blend it with the lemongrass. The reason I use more lavender is because lemongrass is very strong and can overpower a blend. These two produce a lovely herbal scent. I determine the amount to add of the combined EOs at approximately 2% up to 3% of the total weight of the oils. For example, I'd use between 18 g to 27 g depending on the EOs for a 900 g batch. I'd use the lower percentage for EOs which can be irritating. I'd probably blend 18 g of lavender with 9 g of lemongrass. However, this is just what I would do and isn't necessarily the best way of doing it.

Michael-soap-husband. · Oct 23, 2013

Well, I think I have enough now to get started, these 3 recommendations are pretty comprehensive, including the links and the links from those links

.

I have seen a kit which is a little dear but has almost everything that la-rene recommends, but I have a bit of time so I will see how I go, I should be able to knock up some moulds as well but maybe having a fancy one would be nice too.

I will be sure to send the other half along here after Christmas and after learning a little I feel she will really enjoy this hobby.

Thanks Hazel, Relle9 and la-rene for the kind advice.

Michael.