I made some M&Ps for Christmas gifts and I was hooked! I ordered all my supplies (small town here so no local supplier) and did my first CP this week! I used a very basic recipe from the Soap Queen (3 oils) and added some EOs and turmeric for color and then some orange peel powder. It worked! It's not the prettiest thing, but it gelled and everything. Then I made another batch of the same basic recipe with different EOs and some ground cloves and cardomom (no color this time.) I didn't want it to gel, but it did anyway, and that's ok. I've been using a loaf mold. I'm planning on another batch tonight and I'll use a 6 bar silicone mold this time. I'm going to add a little green sea clay, some EO and some dried herbs.
Hey Beginners! What was your first ever soap attempt?
- Thread starter coastmutt
- Start date
-
- Tags
- beginner soap melt & pour
Help Support Soapmaking Forum:
Loaf molds get a little hotter, so they will tend to gel more easily (it also depends on how cool you soap and how much water you use). But if you use individual molds there is less of a tendency to gel (again, soap cool to not gel).
Tarra
Member
My first was straight lard and lye. Wasn't the prettiest. I then discovered I better used other oils so I now use a base of lard, olive oil, and coconut oil. I make my lye solution with a 50% water discount but use frozen coconut milk instead of water. I color with things such as turmeric, activated charcoal, matcha powder, and Titanium Dioxide. All my bars come out super bubbly and gentle. sometimes I use a 2 lb mold and other times I will use cavity soap mold. I have also used ground oats or poppyseed for exfoliators. I have also added a tsp of Himalayan salt and a tsp of granulated sugar.
Tarra
Member
I hope that you removed them from the loaf and cut them after a day or so?
Catscankim
Well-Known Member
My first soap was about 14 years ago. I just moved to florida (2007), that's how I know LOL. I had a book on soapmaking. I don't remember what book.
I cooked it on the stove, in a pot (probably metal), and added a ton of Lavender EO. I don't even remember what oils I used. It probably wasn't properly hot processed, because I remember pouring it into a mold liquid "guess this is done", which was an empty rubbermaid-type shoe box.
I knew it had to cure for 6 weeks, and that's as far as I got with the instructions...so it sat for 6 weeks in the shoebox LOL. Needless to say, it was a little hard to unmold and cut LOL
It looked a little weird, but soap I had!! It didn't lather very nicely, so I imagine it was probably all olive oil. But my girlfriend and her hubby loved it and kept asking for more (maybe out of pity lol). I made a few batches after that...knowing that I needed to cut a tad sooner. I used a knife, but they were fine. Those were my staple over a couple of years. I never tried to perfect this process, I just wanted home made soap. Then I stopped making it and just bought hand made soap. I remember my friends asking about making more soap, I told them that I was giving it up because it's hard to wait 6 weeks to find out your soap sucks LOL.
My first "real", well-researched soap was back in May 2020. I bought a bunch of supplies from Brambleberry, but being as impatient as I am, I made a Castile soap with some supplies I bought on Amazon. I still have a ton of that soap sitting in the spare bedroom that I haven't even looked at in months.
Now I am elbow-deep in soap. If I quit now, I would probably still have enough soap to last the rest of my life LOL.
I cooked it on the stove, in a pot (probably metal), and added a ton of Lavender EO. I don't even remember what oils I used. It probably wasn't properly hot processed, because I remember pouring it into a mold liquid "guess this is done", which was an empty rubbermaid-type shoe box.
I knew it had to cure for 6 weeks, and that's as far as I got with the instructions...so it sat for 6 weeks in the shoebox LOL. Needless to say, it was a little hard to unmold and cut LOL
It looked a little weird, but soap I had!! It didn't lather very nicely, so I imagine it was probably all olive oil. But my girlfriend and her hubby loved it and kept asking for more (maybe out of pity lol). I made a few batches after that...knowing that I needed to cut a tad sooner. I used a knife, but they were fine. Those were my staple over a couple of years. I never tried to perfect this process, I just wanted home made soap. Then I stopped making it and just bought hand made soap. I remember my friends asking about making more soap, I told them that I was giving it up because it's hard to wait 6 weeks to find out your soap sucks LOL.
My first "real", well-researched soap was back in May 2020. I bought a bunch of supplies from Brambleberry, but being as impatient as I am, I made a Castile soap with some supplies I bought on Amazon. I still have a ton of that soap sitting in the spare bedroom that I haven't even looked at in months.
Now I am elbow-deep in soap. If I quit now, I would probably still have enough soap to last the rest of my life LOL.
Funmi
Member
My first soap making was an 80% shea butter soap, with the rest being palm kernel oil because it was readily available. I used the heat transfer method to melt the shea butter (cos i was lazy) and put a little beyonce's heat rush fragrance oil that i had lying around. It had honey, yorghurt and bentonite clay
I was not expecting the acceleration i got and had to scoop into the PVC pipe i had, hence the shape.
The soap had very little lather, it like a lotion, sweated a lot, but still was wonderful to use. It felt very moisturising and non stripping and left the skin soft. Which was what i was going for.
My sisters didn't enjoy it tho. They didn't get the appeal of a soap without bubbles. It was a learning experience.
Theres a pic of the soap in use
I was not expecting the acceleration i got and had to scoop into the PVC pipe i had, hence the shape.
The soap had very little lather, it like a lotion, sweated a lot, but still was wonderful to use. It felt very moisturising and non stripping and left the skin soft. Which was what i was going for.
My sisters didn't enjoy it tho. They didn't get the appeal of a soap without bubbles. It was a learning experience.
Theres a pic of the soap in use
Attachments
Right, I knew that the wooden loaf mold would probably make it gel, but decided to let it do what it was going to do. I was pleased that I got full gel and not partial. Next time if I don’t want it to gel I will start at a lower temp and put it outside.
My first soap is actually the one in my avatar picture!
I joined a workshop in 2019 (which now feels like ages ago, wow) and the instructor had us make a vegetable oil soap. We could choose how to scent it from a selection of essential oils and that alone took me 10 mins, I got carried away smelling all of them haha.
I wanted to take ALL the notes, it was like a new world. And I had so many questions at each step (the instructor was really patient considering she has other 6 people in the room haha). So it was such a satisfaction when I still managed to make the soap along with all my scribbling and questioning
I joined a workshop in 2019 (which now feels like ages ago, wow) and the instructor had us make a vegetable oil soap. We could choose how to scent it from a selection of essential oils and that alone took me 10 mins, I got carried away smelling all of them haha.
I wanted to take ALL the notes, it was like a new world. And I had so many questions at each step (the instructor was really patient considering she has other 6 people in the room haha). So it was such a satisfaction when I still managed to make the soap along with all my scribbling and questioning
I was at Michael's with my sister and saw the M&P soap. I was looking for something to do so I gave it a try. It turned out okay and I started researching online. Next thing I am knee deep in equipment and molds and 10# blocks of M&P. It was a natural transition to CP. I read everything I could, watched 4,010 videos and psyched myself up for lye. I made my first CP soap August of 2019
Last edited:
