Looking for some easy CP recepies with SuperMarket ingrediants

[Carl]

I want to make some more soap this weekend. This will be my 2nd time doing cold process.

I have a lot of free time this weekend so I wanted to get about 4 or 5 recipes that I can cold process.

I have about 6 pounds of lye sitting here. For the remaining ingredients, I'm looking for things that can be acquired easily locally; preferably at the local market or Target. Also minimal essential oils. I'm looking for recipes that have 1 at the most.

Also any ideas on colorants? Things I can grab at the market?

I'm not very picky or fussy on the recipes. I like almost everything, lol, from honey, to oatmeal, fruits, etc.
My main goal is to be able to get things locally since it's Wednesday already and most orders from the web will bot be here by the weekend.

Thanks ahead of time!!!

 

[IrishLass]

Hi Carl, here's a simple recipe that was posted on the forum some years back, called Paul's Wal-Mart soap....aptly dubbed because all of the ingredients (except for lye and essential oils) could be found at Wal-Mart:

https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/pauls-wal-mart-recipe.1514/

As for essential oils, if you have a local Wholefoods or a Sprouts grocery store nearby....or a local healthfood store... they sell essential oils. I've always had good success with the NOW brand and the Aura Acacia brand that I can find at such stores.


IrishLass

 

[Carl]

Thanks! I've never thought of Whole Foods for essential oils. I guess you can add different essentials to this recipe to make different varieties of soap. But how would you decide how much to add?

 

[IrishLass]

Essential oils (as well fragrance oils) each come with a usage rate per pound of the base oils/fats in your soap recipe. Generally, most essential oils can be used safely at a rate of 3% per pound of the base oils/fats in your soap batch, but some others need a much lighter hand (around .4% to .6%) because of their tendency to cause extreme skin irritation, such as cinnamon, cloves, peppermint, eucalyptus, etc....

I personally don't use essential oils in my soap, mostly because of their cost vs. 'staying power' in soap when used at their recommended safe levels (I use body/soap-safe fragrance oils instead), so hopefully the folks who do use them will chime in soon.


IrishLass

 

[Zing]

I always get my oils from local stores and my base recipe is almost always palm oil, coconut oil, castor oil, avocado oil, and olive oil. I too have used essential oils from Whole Foods but the best price per ounce I've found is online (Bramble Berry) but you don't have time to wait for online orders. Lavender, lemongrass, tea tree, orange 10x have all lasted many months in my soaps. You could do 100% lavender, I use 1 oz per pound of oils. For color, the orange 10x has a yellow/orange tint to it. For brown, brew double-strength coffee with distilled water for your lye solution, and add fresh grounds at trace for some exfoliating (my coffee soaps do not smell like coffee). I've also used paprika for an orange tint. Have a fun soaping weekend!

 

[MadTeddyBear]

I've been using coconut oil, olive oil, and lard. I've been able to find all three at any major grocery store near me, as well as target and walmart. I get the coconut and olive oils at Costco since they were the best prices I could find without buying at least 35lbs each. The walmarts near me also have 4lb tubs of lard which were cheaper per oz than the 1lb boxes that are easier to find. My local vitamin shoppe also carries a few others like castor oil, cocoa butter, and shea butter as well as some essential oils.