Thanks for the great welcome. I finally took the leap and made my first batch of soap. I found a good, basic recipe I liked in the Everything Soapmaking Book. It was olive, palm and coconut oil, but I superfatted with hemp instead of castor oil...'cause I had hemp and no castor at the time, and I read hemp is good for 'mature' skin ;-). I also added an eo blend I got from Brambleberry. Doesn't smell the same in the soap as it does in the bottle tho. Will have to research essential/fragrance oils more.
I was so scared of the lye, but there were neither fumes nor fizz when I mixed the lye/water solution. I just watched the temp rise slowly and calmly, made me feel much better, though knowing how caustic it is will always be very careful to follow safety precautions!!
For my first few batches I am only making small 1 lb batches so if/when I screw up I won't be wasting a whole lot of ingredients, and I get nice small soap bars for testing/trying and giving to friends to test/try for me as well.
I let it trace to a thick pudding like texture, which was probably too much but I just wasn't sure I had trace until it was that thick. I actually kind of like how the top came out a little swirly. I also heated the oven to 160, turned the oven off when I put the soap in, turned the light on and left it in there for about 12 hours. A little technique I learned in this forum 'cause I didn't want to wait the entire cure time to try my very first batch. When I make my 'real' bars, I'll make them the straight cp way, but for testers/tryers think I'll stick with cpop.
I'm very happy with my first batch, though still have yet to try it. I did the tongue thing and didn't get zapped but want to wait at least a week before heading in to the shower with a bar.
I think I'm really going to love soapmaking!! I have a couple more recipes to try this afternoon after the husband leaves for work. One is a milk/honey/oatmeal. Yummy! Can't wait!
