My Recipe Portfolio

[lucid]

Hello to all soapers,
For a while, I've been thinking of starting a small soap business and selling them to help my budget. Having made thorough searches on different sites and this forum for weeks, I came up with these final recipes of mine which hopefully will contribute to the existence of this forum. I wanted to share them so that you could also benefit if you want. I'd surely appreciate it if you want to add any of your valuable opinions as to possible improvements about them.
I formed four recipes for three different skin types+babies and I am thinking of producing only these four soap types as of now, until I feel experienced enough to try more complex ones in the long run. And here are the recipes.. : )

1. Bastille Soap (for Dry and Sensitive Skin)
%70 Olive Oil, %20 Coconut Oil (76 deg.), %5 Shea Butter, %5 Sweet Almond Oil; superfat (%7), water as % of oil (%33), with one tsp sugar for extra bubbles, without any frag. or color.


2. Balanced Soap (for Normal Skin)
%50 Olive Oil, %20 Coconut Oil (76 deg.), %10 Shea Butter, %10 Cocoa Butter, %5 Sweet Almond Oil, %5 Castor Oil; superfat (%5), water as % of oil (%33), without any additives.


3. Bentonite Clay&Tea Tree Soap (for Oily Skin)
%30 Olive Oil, %30 Coconut Oil, %10 Sunflower Oil, %10 Shea Butter, %5 Neem Oil, %5 Rice Bran Oil, %5 Sweet Almond Oil, %5 Castor Oil; superfat (%10), water as % of oil (%33), with 1 tbsp bentonite clay water&1 tbsp tea tree EO in trace


4. Goat's Milk&Honey Soap (for Babies)
%55 Olive Oil, %15 Coconut Oil, %15 Shea Butter, %10 Cocoa Butter, %5 Castor Oil; superfat (%7), water % of oil (%33), with a %50 of goat's milk/distilled water, 2 tsp honey to be mixed in milk/water/lye solution


The soaps lack in some oils like palm, avocado oil and lard; it might have been better if I had substitued them with some of mine but I don't have the chance to buy them here... The total amount of oils in each soap was calculated to be 1000 grams and the amount of additives (sugar, clay, EO, honey) were calculated accordingly. And just to remind you again; I have not tried any of these recipes myself yet. I'm in the phase of getting the equipments now and will hopefully start making soaps soon. I hope, the post helps and gives an idea to especially those who are new to soapmaking like me.. : )

 

[Susie]

So, let me get this straight, you are planning on selling soaps that you have not even made a batch of yourself? Don't you think that that is not only a bit precipitous, but could be harmful to people since you do not know what you are doing yet?

 

[cmzaha]

I never recommend selling lye soap for babies. Their tender skin just does not need soap. It takes time to develop recipes for good soap, and I am sorry to say there is not one recipe above that I would use let alone sell. Another fyi trying to supplement income with selling soap is similar to moving a mountain, especially in the beginning when one needs to purchase a myriad of supplies. Not say do not do it or it cannot be done, but it takes years to build a customer base that will actually turn a profit

 

[shunt2011]

You are truly putting the cart before the horse. Yes, you've thrown together some recipes but have no idea how they are except on paper. First, this isn't going to help anyone as you don't even know if they are good recipes and they aren't tried and experienced recipes. Do you know what the oils and butters you've put in your recipes do and add to a bar of soap?

Now, what I suggest, is you make these and see if you even like them. Then, test them over a period of time after properly cured. This isn't something you should even consider selling at this point.

If you are in need of supplementing your income, I highly suggest you start with M&P. We generally recommend making and testing for at least a year. It's not a cheap endeavor to take on. Especially if funds are a problem.

We welcome new soapmakers to the forum and would be happy to help but you need to do the R&D necessary before starting a business.

 

[lucid]

So, let me get this straight, you are planning on selling soaps that you have not even made a batch of yourself? Don't you think that that is not only a bit precipitous, but could be harmful to people since you do not know what you are doing yet?

I can't figure out how you came up with this idea. I don't remember telling in my post that I am going to give away testers or sell these soaps without first trying myself. Of course, I will test them on my skin before selling out. Soapers making money out of soap making will probably agree with me that none of them will take such a risk of letting the customers down, let alone getting in trouble with them. Besides, it's not all about making profit after all; all that matters is to be in all good conscience.

I never recommend selling lye soap for babies. Their tender skin just does not need soap. It takes time to develop recipes for good soap, and I am sorry to say there is not one recipe above that I would use let alone sell. Another fyi trying to supplement income with selling soap is similar to moving a mountain, especially in the beginning when one needs to purchase a myriad of supplies. Not say do not do it or it cannot be done, but it takes years to build a customer base that will actually turn a profit

Thank you for your warning about not preferring lye soap for babies. I'll take into account and search for m&p methods as well for that soap. I didn't get what you meant with your statement though that you wouldn't use any of soaps made with recipes above. Did you say so as they aren't tested yet? Or did you mean that the percentages are somehow wrong? I couldn't really understand, sorry.

You are truly putting the cart before the horse. Yes, you've thrown together some recipes but have no idea how they are except on paper. First, this isn't going to help anyone as you don't even know if they are good recipes and they aren't tried and experienced recipes. Do you know what the oils and butters you've put in your recipes do and add to a bar of soap?

Now, what I suggest, is you make these and see if you even like them. Then, test them over a period of time after properly cured. This isn't something you should even consider selling at this point.

If you are in need of supplementing your income, I highly suggest you start with M&P. We generally recommend making and testing for at least a year. It's not a cheap endeavor to take on. Especially if funds are a problem.

We welcome new soapmakers to the forum and would be happy to help but you need to do the R&D necessary before starting a business.

I really thank you for your suggestions about setting up a business. I guess, I missed a point while writing the post. I'm not going to sell the soaps right after I've made them. Even if I'd want to sell, I know that I wouldn't be able to do so. As you said, it will take much time to have a customer database. What is in my mind is that I will try the soaps each first on myself, then I will give away smaller testers to people whose suggestions I give importance to. This is a matter of time and experience surely.

 

[shunt2011]

I can't figure out how you came up with this idea. I don't remember telling in my post that I am going to give away testers or sell these soaps without first trying myself. Of course, I will test them on my skin before selling out. Soapers making money out of soap making will probably agree with me that none of them will take such a risk of letting the customers down, let alone getting in trouble with them. Besides, it's not all about making profit after all; all that matters is to be in all good conscience.



Thank you for your warning about not preferring lye soap for babies. I'll take into account and search for m&p methods as well for that soap. I didn't get what you meant with your statement though that you wouldn't use any of soaps made with recipes above. Did you say so as they aren't tested yet? Or did you mean that the percentages are somehow wrong? I couldn't really understand, sorry.


I really thank you for your suggestions about setting up a business. I guess, I missed a point while writing the post. I'm not going to sell the soaps right after I've made them. Even if I'd want to sell, I know that I wouldn't be able to do so. As you said, it will take much time to have a customer database. What is in my mind is that I will try the soaps each first on myself, then I will give away smaller testers to people whose suggestions I give importance to. This is a matter of time and experience surely.

Awesome, glad you clarified yourself. Have fun with experimenting you will find a plethora of knowledgeable and helpful folks here.

 

[Susie]

What we are saying is that your customer database should start in about a year. Not now, not any time soon.

You need to first learn to make soap. Just soap. Then you need to make several soaps, and try them over the course of several months. See if they develop DOS, see if they are good recipes (I would not make those recipes above, either!). See if your family and friends like them. Change one oil, see what everyone thinks of that. Change it more, see what everyone thinks of that. Change a different oil, see what everyone thinks of that. And on, and on, and on. And this is BEFORE scents and colors.

Once you get 4 or 5 good basic recipes that you have perfected over the course of a year, THEN you can start giving samples to people you want as customers.

You have many, many mistakes and bad batches coming before you know how to make those 4 or 5 recipes. We can give you recipes, but you must learn how to make soap.

 

[IrishLass]

Hi Caner!

Thanks for sharing the recipes you've designed! If I remember rightly from your first post last month, you are not looking to sell until somewhere down the line in the far future, but just give away to friends for now, and that is a very good plan to stick to. Lye-based soap is one of those tricky products that needs a good year of testing to make sure it holds up over time and doesn't morph on you or go bad (as it sometimes can).

My best advice (if you've not made or tested these recipes yet) is to first is make a 1-pound (454 grams) batch of each formula, cure each one for 4 to 6 weeks, test them for zap, and then try a bar from each batch out on yourself if it is zap-free. And also give a few bars away from each batch to your family/friends for them to test out (ask for honest feedback in return). Once the feedback from your family/friends comes in, add it to your own feedback, and then you'll be able to see more clearly if or where things need to be tweaked in order to make each formula the best it can be.



IrishLass

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I think that is the issue - even if you are planning to sell way down the line: stop bleating on about it now! Forget about it totally and concentrate on making good soaps. Then when you know what you are doing and what soap making is, THEN come back to the idea of selling.

Your first post in this thread stated that you want to use these recipes for your business. Yes it did. You might not have meant it, but that's what it said. Which is why people pointed out that planning on selling soaps based on a recipe that you haven't even made once is actually utter madness!

 

[lucid]

Thank you guys all for sparing your time and sharing opinions. These are the recipes I was planning to use in the first hand but now I have serious doubts as nobody seems to have approved them. A bit disapponted I got.. :/ The ingredients may change surely according to the feedback taken from the people that were given testers. Seemingly, it could have been better if I had clarified that in the first post.

 

[BattleGnome]

Your "balanced soap" looks much more gentle than your "sensitive skin soap" to me. It will boil down to testing and personal preference but if I use that much coconut I certainly feel it in my sensitive bits. Again, that's me.

I would say instead of saying "these are the untested recipes I've decided," start testing and find one recipe you really like then adapt it. I've only been Soaping a little over a year and the recipe I'm starting to narrow in on is vastly different than where I started. I'm also using ingredients I never really considered on day one. I see a lot of olive/coconut/shea in your recipes, start there before narrowing yourself down to specifics.

 

[cherrycoke216]

www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?p=615003

This thread might give you some clue. A recipe of yours contains like 8 oils. When lots of stores or people on etsy or market selling 8 oils soap, it is almost for label appeal. ( to me at least )

Increasing butter % = increase palmitic acid + stearic acid . You'll have to do your research on what does these fatty acid brings to the soap. ( of course there's unsaponifiables at a small percentage, but go look at the butter fatty acid profile. )
ETA: high % exotic butter will kill lather and feel like rubbing plastic in hands and will be at its best after a longer cure time.

And personally I don't like high olive soap. Just too snotty gooey slimy to me. Your mileage might vary.

ETA: try adding some hard oils like Palm oil,lard, tallow or vegetable shortening into the party. And see if you like it.

 

[dillsandwitch]

A good beginner recipe is:
tallow/lard/palm 65%
Coconut 15%
Olive/RBO 15%
Castor 5%

My advice to you is learn the soap making process, experiment with different oils, make a bunch of mistakes, laugh, cry and yell about it but mostly just have FUN doing it. Then in a year or 2 (or 3 and a bit in my case) then think about the possibility of maybe thinking about selling your soaps. Whichever way you choose to go, good luck.

 

[Susie]

A good beginner recipe is:
tallow/lard/palm 65%
Coconut 15%
Olive/RBO 15%
Castor 5%

My advice to you is learn the soap making process, experiment with different oils, make a bunch of mistakes, laugh, cry and yell about it but mostly just have FUN doing it. Then in a year or 2 (or 3 and a bit in my case) then think about the possibility of maybe thinking about selling your soaps. Whichever way you choose to go, good luck.

^^^This!

I make the recipe above using lard pretty much all the time. I started out (over 3 years ago now!) trying to use a whole bunch of expensive oils. I learned somewhere in year two that all that is just not necessary. I then learned that higher lard soaps were truly wonderful! I now have 3 different recipes that I have perfected that people like. None of them use expensive oils. Only one contains a milk (and I just used that for label appeal). But it has taken me 3 years to get to where I am happy enough with my 3 recipes that I am willing to indulge the idea of selling. I really don't want to, as I am afraid that it will ruin the fun of the process.

 

[Callistus]

My name is Callistus very inquisitive and always ready to learn, am a growing chemist and would not want to rush into anything, i only want to understand very well every language in soap making

 

[lucid]

For commenting, I thank you all guys. Unfortunately, I had to stick to olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, castor oil and small percentages of some other oils in the recipes, as we don't have the chance to buy lard and palm oil, here in Turkey; it would be difficult to acquire tallow as well. Thus, it was rather an obligation for me in other words, rather than a choice. And that acid calculation is something that I will definitely take into account more seriously from now on.
In different resources I searched online, I had come across similar percentages of almost the same types of oil&butter with mine. This is why I am a bit surprised to see the experienced soapers comment that they would not prefer to use my recipes at all. I still couldn't figure out the reason though.. Nevertheless, there obviously seems to be so much more to search and explore. I believe, even this single motivation will help me have FUN.. Truly

 

[IrishLass]

For commenting, I thank you all guys. Unfortunately, I had to stick to olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter, castor oil and small percentages of some other oils in the recipes, as we don't have the chance to buy lard and palm oil, here in Turkey; it would be difficult to acquire tallow as well. Thus, it was rather an obligation for me in other words, rather than a choice.

Thank you for clarifying that. Probably the majority of those who responded were not aware of the limitations you are faced with in terms of the oils/fats that are available to you.

In different resources I searched online, I had come across similar percentages of almost the same types of oil&butter with mine. This is why I am a bit surprised to see the experienced soapers comment that they would not prefer to use my recipes at all. I still couldn't figure out the reason though..

I've got the reason for you right here, and I guarantee you that the more you make soap, the less surprised you'll be...... and the more you will see that recipe-critiques from even the most experienced of soap-makers can and do often times differ from the critiques of other experienced soap-makers.

Anyway, here's the reason- it all comes down to this- personal preference based on skin-type, individual 'likes/dislikes', and the water quality in one's community. Based on those things (which can vary greatly from person to person), it's not unusual at all for what some experienced soap-makers consider to be a great recipe formula to make another experienced soap-maker cringe in horror.

It's all a very personal/individual thing, and you'll be hard pressed to find any two soap-makers that are exactly alike in what kinds of recipes they prefer. For example- I prefer to have at least 28% coconut oil in my recipes, and right now I'm pretty sure I can hear our forum regular Susie cringing in abject horror. . Also- I've made Susie's favorite lard formula that she's posted on the forum which so many here have tried and love, and it just wasn't a hit with my hubby and son (not bubbly enough for them, they said). But that's okay- it doesn't mean in the least that Susie's recipe is a bad recipe, but just that our skin-types, likes/dislikes, and the quality of our water are totally different from each other.

So, my advice remains the same - make your recipes, see how they work for you and how they feel on your skin and the skin of your testers, and tweak from there. Oh- and have fun!


IrishLass

 

[shunt2011]

^^^^this 100 times over. Everyone is different and what their skin likes varies. Make soap and have fun. Build recipes with what's available to you. Also, read and learn what properties each oil or butter brings to the soapy party.

 

[cherrycoke216]

My name is Callistus very inquisitive and always ready to learn, am a growing chemist and would not want to rush into anything, i only want to understand very well every language in soap making

Hi and welcome! Here's some soapy language for you:

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=3789

 

[cherrycoke216]

Ok then. Maybe you'll like it just like Irish lass said, personal preference, water quality...

Can you got a hold of vegetable shortening / hydrogenated oil there? Or stearic acid or beeswax? If not, you can harden your bar by using yogurt and a bit of salt. ( search solesiefe / brine / salt water soap on forum )

Too much olive oil ( OLEIC acid ) will be gooey and it is more soluable than stearic acid and palmitic acid in water. Long lasting number = hardness-cleansing ( soap calc number )

If you want to avoid it, read this thread:
http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=42922

It's an Andalusian recipe using extra lye ( lye heavy, like -40% SUPERFAT ) to harden Castile soap ( 100% olive oil )

And dual lye ( using both NaOH & KOH ) will fix the slimy gooey high olive soapy snotty. Just search dual lye on forum.

You can try both method together and a not so much lye heavy % to start with. Or be a mad scientist try it on its own & combine both method. Then compare, take note, see what you like.

Have fun my friend!