How do you name your recipe?

[Sharryn]

So I'm stuck on how or what criteria I should look at in naming my recipes. Do you use the FO or EO from your recipe and name it after the scent? Do you look at the oils and their characteristics and name it using that? Or do you go by the colors and name them with something relative to the color? Or maybe a combination of all?

My reason is so that I can tell my recipes apart better, and if someone wants a particular one, I'll be able to make an exact copy of that recipe. Right now I have probably 5-6 recipes without any real name to them, unless you count "first goat milk recipe" as a name lol.

And what do you do if you like a certain recipe, but want to use different fragrances in it and make a collection of that recipe with different names?

I tend to over-think things. Can you tell. :headbanging:

 

[Wyredgirl]

Well in general I use at max 5 different recipes

One is a spa type bar
One is my GM
One is my standard
One is a shaving soap
One is a shampoo

The variations come in with additives,fragrances, and colors

I have a soap "book" where I keep the components of each individual soap written down. It looks like this.

Soap name: "Be my Baby Tonight"
Fragrance : Cucumber Melon, Vanilla,Berry (ratios 0:0:0)
Properties : fruity/mildly floral
Additives:kaolin clay (amount)
Soap type: Base recipe
Super fat:7%
Water discount: Full
Colors: Neon green,Neon blue, Activated charcoal,titanium dioxide (0:0:0:0)
Method:CP
Design: 80% white base with combination chopstick swirl at light trace, spoon swirl (teaspoon) at medium trace.
Cutting:36 hours

Then I have a picture of the soap

I also have a "recipes" section but my recipes are named "base recipe" "GM recipe"

 

[ibct1969]

I ask my friends and family to name them after I post them on Facebook.

 

[toxikon]

I use basically the same recipe for everything, just swapping out FOs and using different additives. And they're all saved in Soapee, so they're easy to find if needed.

But for my own personal reference, I usually just go with the FO name or whatever defining feature it has.

 

[IrishLass]

I have a good handful of different recipes and each has a name, or rather more like a nickname, actually. I don't necessarily print the nickname of the recipe on the label, though because the recipients of my soap wouldn't understand what on earth I was trying to convey with some of them. .

For example, in my soap notebook I call my recipe made with tallow and lard, "VCC-3", which is my shorthand for 'veggie con carne #3", which translated means veggies with meat #3- it has vegetable oils in it along with the rendered fat of cows and pigs, and the #3 refers to it being my 3rd (and final) tweak of the formula. On my label I simply call it "Tallow/Lard Soap".

I never use FOs or colors as the basis for what I name my soap formulas. That would be pure chaos for me because I use the same colorants and scents across the board in all my soap formulas (i.e., I don't limit a formula to only ever being scented or colored with a particular scent or color)

In order to differentiate between formulas, I simply go by the either the type of fat(s) I want to highlight in the soap, i.e., "VCC-3" (i.e., Tallow/Lard Soap" on my label) or the characteristics they exhibit, such as my "100% coconut oil formula w/20% superfat" (i.e., "Super Sudsy Coconut Oil Soap" on my label); or by certain highlighted additives such as my "Salt Bar", or "Beeswax Honey Soap".

It's real easy for me to keep track of all my different formulas because I keep meticulously detailed notes of every single batch I make, including to whom I gifted whatever soap to, so that if they come to me and ask for a repeat bar, all I have to do is look it up in my notes.


IrishLass

 

[Viore]

I'm like Toxicon in that I have a standard recipe and I just change up the FO and additives. I name my soaps based on their fragrance, because I've found that people are looking more for a particular scent than a particular oil. And some fragrance names are quite fun and spark conversations! (Monkey Farts, anyone?).

There are a few soaps named after people who've contributed to the recipe in some way. My grandma has a kumquat tree and I use the kumquats to make a citrus soap. I've named that soap "Margie's Kumquat Soap." When people ask "who is Margie?" I get to tell them the story of my grandma and her kumquats.

 

[Susie]

I name them for the fragrance, normally. However, like IrishLass, I have a handful of recipes I use over and over. I have nicknames for all of them, also. I do not print the nickname on the label. I do record (now, not before) the picture of the bars and any special additives needed on a file on the computer WITH THE DATE. So, for instance, if one of the friends/relatives said they wanted the Dragon's Blood from last year, I can reproduce it if I liked the appearance. I am trying to get my swirl techniques improved, so those are a maybe.

My base recipes are all on Soapee.com, and I use them over and over with minor changes for size, etc. I print a copy for all 3 sizes of my molds and keep them in sheet protectors that I can hang on the upper cabinets as I am soaping. I use Dry Erase pens to keep track of what I have added. They wipe clean easily.

 

[NsMar42111]

I'm in the "same recipe" camp. I do have a few that are different, but the difference is part of the name. I had a lot more different recipes originally but it was just too confusing (Okay, was monkey farts 40% or 50 % oil x? arg!).

For myself, I just had them listed by major differences: 80% lard . 100% coconut. 60/40 lard/olive. Etc

 

[artemis]

My "base" recipes are numbered/lettered in some way and if I label, I include the number somewhere. That way, regardless of fragrance, my friend can tell me if she liked a particular recipe without quoting all the ingredients. If I do name a soap, it's usually based on the fragrance. So it might say "Recipe No. 3Av" in the corner and "Rosie" more prominently on the label.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I like simple names that represent what's special about the soap -- the fragrance, the additive, the plain jane like "Zen". I also like to keep it as brief as possible -- to fit the cigar band. I find movies and songs to be inspirational. I especially like puns, like "Sudsweiser". Here are a few...

ALOE-LUYAH - Basic with Aloe Vera
ANTIQUE ROSE - Basic with Rose EO Blend
BLACKBERRY BLISS - Blackberry FO
BOOGIE NIGHTS
BORA BORA - Tahitian Vanilla FO
COMFREY - Infused herb
COOL AS A CUCUMBER - Cucumber Soap
CREAM OF TOMATO SOAP - Facial soap with Tomato powder
GREEN CACTUS - Green Cactus FO
HOG WASH - Lard with Honey, Oats, Goats milk
KIDSKIN - Goats Milk Soap
LAVENDER ANISE - EO Blend
LEMON SQUEEZE - Real Lemon juice
LIFE'S A BEACH -
MISS PIGGY'S SECRET - Lard soap
NAKED DOVE - Transparent soap
OLD BUTTERMILK CHAI - Buttermilk & EO Blend
ONYX - Black Transparent soap
PALM OLIVE - PKO, palm & olive
PASS THE BAR! - Nephew passed the bar
RICE WATER - Rice water as liquid
SCARBOROUGH FAIR - Infused parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
SLUMDOG
SPA BAR
SPRING THYME IN THE ROCKIES - Signature EO Blend
SUDSWIESER - Beer Soap
TATONKA - Buffalo Tallow
TWILIGHT
WILD CARROT - Facial Bar
ZEN - Basic White Bar

 

[navigator9]

My standard recipe is called Balance. I named it that because balance was the main thing I was hoping to achieve with my standard recipe...conditioning enough, hard enough and enough lather. I tweaked that recipe over and over again for what seemed like forever, until I was happy with it. After experimenting with all sorts of ingredients, some basic, some pretty far out, Balance uses only three oils. Most of the rest of my recipes are variations of Balance, so I call them something like Balance/Avocado. I usually name the soaps something that relates to the fragrance that I've used in that batch.

 

[Dahila]

it seems that you do not have to send it to FDA, I would not be able to call each soap differently, I can add on form the combination of oils, and additives, but it is about it. I tend to call my soaps with name from Greek Mythology and add important facts under the name (must be English and French) it does complicate the labels

 

[WeaversPort]

I like simple names that represent what's special about the soap -- the fragrance, the additive, the plain jane like "Zen". I also like to keep it as brief as possible -- to fit the cigar band. I find movies and songs to be inspirational. I especially like puns, like "Sudsweiser". Here are a few...

ALOE-LUYAH - Basic with Aloe Vera
ANTIQUE ROSE - Basic with Rose EO Blend
BLACKBERRY BLISS - Blackberry FO
BOOGIE NIGHTS
BORA BORA - Tahitian Vanilla FO
COMFREY - Infused herb
COOL AS A CUCUMBER - Cucumber Soap
CREAM OF TOMATO SOAP - Facial soap with Tomato powder
GREEN CACTUS - Green Cactus FO
HOG WASH - Lard with Honey, Oats, Goats milk
KIDSKIN - Goats Milk Soap
LAVENDER ANISE - EO Blend
LEMON SQUEEZE - Real Lemon juice
LIFE'S A BEACH -
MISS PIGGY'S SECRET - Lard soap
NAKED DOVE - Transparent soap
OLD BUTTERMILK CHAI - Buttermilk & EO Blend
ONYX - Black Transparent soap
PALM OLIVE - PKO, palm & olive
PASS THE BAR! - Nephew passed the bar
RICE WATER - Rice water as liquid
SCARBOROUGH FAIR - Infused parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
SLUMDOG
SPA BAR
SPRING THYME IN THE ROCKIES - Signature EO Blend
SUDSWIESER - Beer Soap
TATONKA - Buffalo Tallow
TWILIGHT
WILD CARROT - Facial Bar
ZEN - Basic White Bar

Those are so fun, Zany!! I'm going to borrow your brain when it comes time to start naming soap!

 

[earlene]

Being in the seemingly continual stage of recipe experimentation, I found that saving my recipes as files on my computer and naming those files in such a way that I could easily pull up a particular recipe later was important to me. Initially the names were pretty generic which became problematic later when I wanted to compare recipes. I later added more detail to my recipe names (file names in the computer) to a make identification for later evaluation and tweaking easier. I always include the date in this format as the last part of my file name: 2017May26 when making a new soap.

In some cases the recipe/file name includes the purpose of the soap, i.e.; BlackSmith Soap with Stripes - 2017April09. In some cases it includes specific characteristics of the soap that make identification easier, i.e.; Dual Lye Castile. For experimental soaps, I tend to name the recipe specifically for the characteristic with which I am experimenting, i.e.; Slow Moving Recipe#1 Test [30% Dual Lye] - altered with egg whites - 2016Dec14. As you can see it can make for a very long file name, but it helps me find it faster in my computer when I want to call it up to do my next test version. Then when I save the next version, I change the name of the next file slightly.

While the soap cures, I use a similar name and the date the soap was made plus the fragrance used in that batch. The masking tape label with the aforementioned info stays with the soap from mold to curing tray and helps me ID the soap before wrapping and labeling the soap. When I am ready to label the soap, I can pull up the recipe on my computer (or in my notebook) in order to include the necessary info on the label. At the time of labeling, I may give the soap a different name, based on whatever whim I have at that time. The label name is usually based on how the soap looks, or it may be based on a particular characteristic, or one of the ingredients or the purpose.

Some examples of names I've given soap after cure that doesn't fit the name on the recipe: Green Tomatoes Soap (green colorant, tomato puree as an ingredient); Snail Soap (snails showed up in the swirl in a few bars of this soap, and I labelled those specific bars - the other bars got a different name) - I plan to give the Snail Soap to my grandson; Las Vegas Avocado (I made the avocado soap while I was in Las Vegas).

As you can see, naming the recipes and naming the soap itself are two different things for me. Sometimes.

 

[tricia819]

I have a standard base recipe and vary the color, scent and inclusions... Then, honestly, I take the finished soaps to my knit night and pass them around and ask people what they think they should be named (assuming something doesn't scream out to me right away). If they can't come up with an actual name, I ask "What does it smell like?" or "What does it remind you of?" or "What does it make you think of?". Usually, I come up with several different ideas where I can pull together a name. At one point, (keep in mind, I am still pretty new at this), I made a soap that literally smelled just like dirt! (No, that was not my intention) My group came up with the name "Grandma's Vegetable Garden".

 

[IrishLass]

I made a soap that literally smelled just like dirt! (No, that was not my intention).

I make a dirt smelling soap intentionally (with WSP's Dirt FO), and I layer it with a grass scent (WSP's Fresh-cut Grass FO). It reminds me of summer days when folks are out mowing their lawn and planting things. It's an acquired smell for some as a soap scent, but I quite like it.


IrishLass

 

[Susie]

I was making a bunch of soap for the Great Soap Giveaway 2017 (Thankfully over!), and ran out of names for guy soaps. My hubby was no help. So I named two Guy Soap I and Guy Soap II, with a plea for names going out to the recipients.

 

[Complexions]

I usually name my soaps based on fragrance and looks, and sometimes what it contains. For instance, a soap I make that is scented with lavender and contains heavy cream I have named Lavender Cream.

I have been a compounding technician for 15 years, so my record keeping is probably a bit overboard. I give each batch a lot number based on the date so I always know when it was made. I have a spreadsheet where each batch I make is recorded. How much of each ingredient, brand used, what each ingredient cost me, what mold I used, and notes I took for each batch (for example, a fragrance made it move really fast) and of course what I called it

 

[CTAnton]

Ok....Im always open to how people deal with the lard issue..."MISS PIGGY'S SECRET" wins...I'm thinking HOG DOWN like HO DOWN ..or maybe DOWN ON THE FARM,,,you can get tallow AND lard in that one! MY EBF(ex best friend) had a grandmother by the name of Beulah..I've got her hot sauce recipe....maybe BEULAH'S BEST for a soap...harkening back to a simpler time......the streets were paved with oyster shells and the houses were raised on stilts so you could go underneath in the shade...supposedly the black widows thought that was a fabulous idea as well...I'm sure Beulah made her own soap, with whatever commodity was cheap and available....her husband delivered ice in big chunks in a horse drawn cart...you can't make this stuff up...
Id love a thread on naming soaps with animal fats...wasn't there a pig on Green Acres with Zsa Zsa...?

ok..it was Eva not Zsa Zsa...and the pigs name was Arnold Ziffel....I guess naming a soap,"Whatever Became of Arnold Ziffel" would raise a few eyebrows....

 

[Susie]

Ok....Im always open to how people deal with the lard issue..."MISS PIGGY'S SECRET" wins...I'm thinking HOG DOWN like HO DOWN ..or maybe DOWN ON THE FARM,,,you can get tallow AND lard in that one! MY EBF(ex best friend) had a grandmother by the name of Beulah..I've got her hot sauce recipe....maybe BEULAH'S BEST for a soap...harkening back to a simpler time......the streets were paved with oyster shells and the houses were raised on stilts so you could go underneath in the shade...supposedly the black widows thought that was a fabulous idea as well...I'm sure Beulah made her own soap, with whatever commodity was cheap and available....her husband delivered ice in big chunks in a horse drawn cart...you can't make this stuff up...
Id love a thread on naming soaps with animal fats...wasn't there a pig on Green Acres with Zsa Zsa...?

I'm from Louisiana, where south of I 10 the houses are still raised on stilts, and the streets are paved with oyster shells...good times with good people.

My mom went to school in the school boat, and the store boat came around once a month (whether it needed to or not...). That all went away during the depression, because they built roads down there. Can't make this stuff up, either.