New to soap

[Tylermcm]

My wife and I are very interested to begin making our own soaps but there are so many options that it seems overwhelming. I was hoping this forum could grant some guidance.

Our soap goals are as follows:
Healthy ingredients
Reduced cost
Safe on baby

Right now we use dove liquid soap and shampoo. If we can stay with liquid that would require the least lifestyle change. Is there a one soap (body and shampoo) solution? We also use essential oils in candlemaking so we have those ingredients already purchased.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Lilahblossom]

If I were you I would go to BrambleBerry and get some of their soap paste first to try out and see if you like that kind of thing.
I have bought it for my husband to try. I may make my own liquid later. But easier to buy the paste. I prefer making the regular bars.

 

[ClaraSuds]

Regular bars of soap are cheap and easy to make. Mine cost about 30 cents per bar. Liquid soap tends to be something people get into later once they've got the basic bar thing down pat, as I understand it's a bit more complicated and something best attempted once you understand basic soap making. I've never tried to make liquid soap. You could indeed try the soap paste idea if you are not keen on making it from scratch. But a basic bar of soap is very simple to learn to make and the ingredients readily available. Soap can be made from as little as a single oil and lye water. How complicated you want to make it depends upon you, so it's definately within your soap goals.

A basic vegetable soap can be made with olive oil and coconut oil
A basic tallow soap can be made with lard\tallow and coconut oil
And of course a soap can be made with any combination of various oils you care to imagine, it's properties will vary depending upon the ingredients.

I use my basic soap on my body and my hair. But to use soap on hair will require a lifestyle change for most people because you'll need to use a vinegar rinse instead of conditioner and get used to hair that hasn't been slicked over with silicone. Using bar shampoo is quite a lifestyle change.

With regards to essential oil, yes you can use them in soap but most soaps require a fairly large quantity of essential oil which can get expensive and not all essential oils survive the chemical reaction of soapmaking. Some known essential oils that do work in soapmaking are lavender\lavandin\rose geranium\litsea cubeba\lemongrass\peppermint.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

My wife and I are very interested to begin making our own soaps but there are so many options that it seems overwhelming. I was hoping this forum could grant some guidance.

Our soap goals are as follows:
Healthy ingredients
Reduced cost
Safe on baby

Right now we use dove liquid soap and shampoo. If we can stay with liquid that would require the least lifestyle change. Is there a one soap (body and shampoo) solution? We also use essential oils in candlemaking so we have those ingredients already purchased.

Thanks in advance!

Too many options can certainly be overwhelming :shock: and I'm about to add to those options :

First, make yourself familiar with a Lye Calculator, like SoapCalc http://www.soapcalc.net or Brambleberry's http://www.brambleberry.com/Ages/Lye-Calculator.aspx
You will need to run any recipe you come across through a lye calculator to get the proper amount of lye for your recipe. All the fields and values can seem quite daunting, but I promise you will get the hang of it :wink: A lye calculator is your best bet that you will produce a safe, non-toxic/caustic bar of soap.

As for liquid vs. bar soap...liquid does take a bit more knowledge (and patience!) and can be a little tricky. You would need KOH instead of NaOH. Bar soap does take getting used to if you use liquid soap at the present, but once you do, it will become your "new normal" The above post suggesting you buy a premade paste to try is a great idea! If you like it, then your next step could be an attempt to make your own.

Regarding your "Soap Goals", I would make a 100% Olive Oil Castille Soap for the baby. It is the gentlest soap you can make, very cost effective (unless you use EVOO or Organic oils), and VERY few people have allergies or sensitivities to Olive Oil. It will take a long cure time (a few months as opposed to 4-6 weeks) but will be a great baby soap. Most Essential Oils are NOT recommended for use on babies or children under 6 (except Lavender for kids over 2), so please avoid their use for your baby soap.

And while that Castille batch is curing, you could make a different soap for you and your wife. You can be your own "guinea pigs" before trying your new soap on the baby As posted above, you CAN make soap using a single oil, but my favorite "starter soap" is a simple and basic 3-Vegetable Oil: 50% Olive/25% Coconut/25% Palm. You could substitute Lard or Tallow for the Palm if you have no objections to animal oils. It produces a hard, long lasting bar that has a creamy lather and is very conditioning to the skin. It is still the base ingredients for most of my soaps, though I tweak the proportions sometimes and add Castor Oil, sometimes Cocoa Butter or Pumpkin Seed Oil...the possibilities are endless. There are those overwhelming options again! :twisted:

I use Essential Oils exclusively for my soaps and body products...so I have quite a bit of experience with them. Using Essential Oils in products that come in contact with the skin is different than in candles. Even though you use them for your candles (I love that!) please educate yourself on their use in soap and their properties and usage rates, as they vary by oil. You can always post questions on our "Aromatherapy, Herbs, and Essential Oils" board on this forum if you need help :wink:

Good luck in your soapy endeavors...you will soon find yourself joining our "Soap Cult"...once you enter, you can never leave! :twisted:

 

[lizflowers42]

I'm also a newbie to lye soap. I haven't made any yet, and continue to research it! I keep seeing lye calculators pop up, and I'm so confused! I get that you use them to check the level of lye to oil ratio, but beyond that I am confused. For example, I wish to make my first batch using ingredients I already have on hand. Olive oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. (I use olive oil and coconut oil all the time to cook/bake and got started making lip balms and lotion bars, so picking up the cocoa butter wasn't a big step.) I like that all of these ingredients can be purchased at my grocery and drug store, and I can always use them for other things. So how would I essentially use a lye calculator to determine the ratio's? I am assuming that I would want to consider my mold size to hold it---but for my first batch I'm okay just using disposable plastic food containers (or is that a terrible idea?).

 

[DragonQueenHHP]

Okay here is my 2 cents
If I was new and my main interest was liquid soap I would make my first trail runs with small batches of hot process soap because it is the closest way to making liquid soap. I would use the calc on Summer Bee for 2 reasons 1 you can enter your mold size and for LS it is set at a true 0% superfat. You can HP a Castile soap and cut your wait to use time down to a couple days I make a mild salt water and add a teaspoon of sugar (per pound of oil). When you move on to the LS here is what I do I make a large batch, then I split it out into small (8oz) rubbermaid tubs and store it for sale and use it is far more compact then gallons of soap hanging out. I personally do not think LS is that hard to make just takes time

 

[DragonQueenHHP]

I'm also a newbie to lye soap. I haven't made any yet, and continue to research it! I keep seeing lye calculators pop up, and I'm so confused! I get that you use them to check the level of lye to oil ratio, but beyond that I am confused. For example, I wish to make my first batch using ingredients I already have on hand. Olive oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. (I use olive oil and coconut oil all the time to cook/bake and got started making lip balms and lotion bars, so picking up the cocoa butter wasn't a big step.) I like that all of these ingredients can be purchased at my grocery and drug store, and I can always use them for other things. So how would I essentially use a lye calculator to determine the ratio's? I am assuming that I would want to consider my mold size to hold it---but for my first batch I'm okay just using disposable plastic food containers (or is that a terrible idea?).

I would go play with them check it out hands on it will answer most your questions. And its fun hehe

 

[Lindy]

My very first soap was Castille (100% Olive Oil) and to this day the smell of it takes me back. Castille is considered to be one of the most gentle and for baby soaps I make it with Goat's Milk.

Now for a hint. ALWAYS run your recipes through a lye calculator, even if you're getting them out of a book. Just because someone has published a book does not make them an expert and I've seen ones that were downright dangerous because they were lye heavy. Lye heavy means that there is too much lye in the soap to the point that it is still caustic. If you run your recipes through the calculators then you will know you are making a safe soap. Well that and a good calculator... :wink:

 

[lizflowers42]

My very first soap was Castille (100% Olive Oil) and to this day the smell of it takes me back. Castille is considered to be one of the most gentle and for baby soaps I make it with Goat's Milk.

Now for a hint. ALWAYS run your recipes through a lye calculator, even if you're getting them out of a book. Just because someone has published a book does not make them an expert and I've seen ones that were downright dangerous because they were lye heavy. Lye heavy means that there is too much lye in the soap to the point that it is still caustic. If you run your recipes through the calculators then you will know you are making a safe soap. Well that and a good calculator... :wink:

Thanks!

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

I am assuming that I would want to consider my mold size to hold it---but for my first batch I'm okay just using disposable plastic food containers (or is that a terrible idea?).

Did you check out this thread? It's a "tutorial" on how to figure how much soap your mold will hold:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3461

I'm also a newbie to lye soap. I haven't made any yet, and continue to research it! I keep seeing lye calculators pop up, and I'm so confused! I get that you use them to check the level of lye to oil ratio, but beyond that I am confused. For example, I wish to make my first batch using ingredients I already have on hand. Olive oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. (I use olive oil and coconut oil all the time to cook/bake and got started making lip balms and lotion bars, so picking up the cocoa butter wasn't a big step.) I like that all of these ingredients can be purchased at my grocery and drug store, and I can always use them for other things. So how would I essentially use a lye calculator to determine the ratio's?

As for the lye calculators and your ingredients, if I were you, I would enter your ingredients into the calculator as percentages that add up to 100% until you get the quality values (hardness, bubbly, cleansing) within an acceptable range. Then you can adjust those percentages to reflect proportions in your recipe.
For Example:
Olive Oil 55%
Coconut Oil 30%
Cocoa Butter 15%
If you were making a 2 pound batch, this would translate to:
Olive Oil 17.6 oz
Coconut Oil 9.6 oz
Cocoa Butter 4.8 oz
According to SoapCalcPro, this recipe with full water (38% of your oils) and a 5% Superfat, you would need:
Water 12.16 oz
Lye 4.57 oz

 

[ClaraSuds]

I'm also a newbie to lye soap. I haven't made any yet, and continue to research it! I keep seeing lye calculators pop up, and I'm so confused! I get that you use them to check the level of lye to oil ratio, but beyond that I am confused. For example, I wish to make my first batch using ingredients I already have on hand. Olive oil, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. (I use olive oil and coconut oil all the time to cook/bake and got started making lip balms and lotion bars, so picking up the cocoa butter wasn't a big step.) I like that all of these ingredients can be purchased at my grocery and drug store, and I can always use them for other things. So how would I essentially use a lye calculator to determine the ratio's? I am assuming that I would want to consider my mold size to hold it---but for my first batch I'm okay just using disposable plastic food containers (or is that a terrible idea?).

I like simple and so I use some rules of thumb I've picked up along the way...

700gms of oils generally makes about 1 ltr of soap batter. This will give you about 7 good sized soap bars (150gms each). Check out the capacity of your plastic food container and adjust the amount accordingly. A standard 1 ltr milk carton is a decent and cheap mould and I find test batches of this size really easy to manage. It's large enough to gel properly, kind on measurements and you also don't get stuck with piles of soap you may or may not like.

Olive, coconut and cocoa butter will make a fine soap. I tend to not take much notice of the soap calculators attribute ratings. The soap I like best rates very poorly according to those figures but I find it's got wonderful lather, is cleansing without being drying and the bar lasts a decent amount of time. Figures don't tell you everything when it comes to personal preferences. I based my soap recipe on the general wisdom out there that....

Coconut oil should be less than 30% to prevent the soap being drying
Something in your recipe needs to make the bar hard (olive, coconut oil and other solid oils will do that)
Castor oil improves the lather of other oils, commonly used 5-10% but I use 20% in mine.

My favourite self-created recipe was recipe #2. So it doesn't necessarily stand to reason that you'll have to make lots of different recipes to find a soap you like.
Coconut and olive oil is a simple, time tested and popular recipe for soap. You could start with that and work from there.

I use a simplified soap calculator because I like simple. I just plug in my oil quantities and the calculator gives me both my lye and water amounts for various levels of superfatting and water discounts. Easy! In the beginning I just chose the median level of water ratio (30%) thinking I wouldn't go far wrong by doing so. That served me well. It didn't take me long to figure the rest out. I still don't use the soap calc that a lot of people recommend. I don't find it very user friendly but others find it invaluable especially if they want to get an idea of the attributes of the finished bar. It's horses for courses, we are all different. Use what suits you best, as long as you are using a reputable one.

 

[lizflowers42]

Thanks Clarasuds! This makes me feel much better! And thanks Ashes for finding that thread! I am still learning this board too!

 

[Tylermcm]

It sounds like the solid soaps are much easier to make. My wife and I will probably start there. What can we expect by switching to vinegar as a conditioner? Will the solid soaps still lather on my loofa?

 

[Lindy]

It sounds like the solid soaps are much easier to make. My wife and I will probably start there. What can we expect by switching to vinegar as a conditioner? Will the solid soaps still lather on my loofa?

Not quite sure what you mean by using vinegar as a conditioner? You don't want to use it as part of your soap as it will neutralize your lye. Solid soaps actually create a nicer lather than liquid unless your liquid contains a lot surfactants so the answer is yes, it will lather with your loofah and that's how a lot of people actually use their bar soaps. It also lengthens how long the soap will last in the shower....

 

[Tylermcm]

Clarasuds had recommended using vinegar as a rinse after washing your hair with a solid soap. I wasnt sure how this would effect my wife's hair in regards to styling or feel.

 

[Stinkydancer]

I'm with Dragon- learn Hot Process Soaping for your solid bars and get comfy with that. Then move on to Liquid Soap or my favorite Cream Soap when your ready.

These 3 processes are very similar with obviously different outcomes. You can also use less of your Essential Oils in Hot Process soap bars since you are adding them after the cook and they will not come into contact with the lye.
Good luck and just read all you can!

 

[Lindy]

Ah okay. People swear by using vinegar as a hair rinse but I prefer to now use regular soap as my shampoo. It was what made me do the research to create a true shampoo bar without synthetic surfactants, I just didn't want to #1 repurpose a soap and #2 rinse my hair with vinegar...