Newbie here.

[sweetcindylou]

Hi everyone!!! I'm new to this forum. I found you guys on Google... I thought I'd say hello as I have so many questions about soap making. I have been researching soap making for weeks and finally caved this past Tuesday and made two batches of soap. One cold process soap and one hot process soap using the crockpot. Both went very well and I'm impressed.

So, with that said it cost a bit for start up materials, (I probably bought way more than I needed as it was so hard to decide on a recipe). Do any of you have good recipes for newbies? I had such a hard time finding Palm Oil and finally found it at a local health food store and it wasn't cheap, $17.99 for about a pound of it, worst part being I really don't see myself using it again, I don't like the fact that my soap looks like processed cheese (my boyfriend is already thinking of how he will trick friends into biting into it). Does anyone have any recommendations for alternatives to palm oil or is there a way to get it without the orange colour. I have found many articles about palm oil that make me want to not use it.

I can't wait to get to know some of you and take your advice! Thanks for having me!

Cindy

 

[MaitriBB]

Hi Cindy, welcome! I personally don't use palm oil; I use coconut, grapeseed, and castor oils along with lard (pork fat). Many people use olive oil. There are a lot of different oils that you can use. There's a good newbie page here and she also has recipes on her site, although some of her information is outdated (for example, you shouldn't use crayons to color cold processed soap).

Anyway, hope to see pics of your first soaps and many more to come!

 

[lizflowers42]

Welcome! Yeah, that's a pricey bottle of palm! My first bar of soap was just with vegetable shortening (soybean and cottonseed oils...very cheap!) and it came out pretty good! Real Crisco has palm oil in it and there are quite a few "grocery store" recipes for soap making. Alas, I have become addicted to soaping and make a batch every weekend!!

 

[ruby61]

That is pretty expensive for palm.. I use palm kernel flakes which tends to be a little more conditioning and use around 15%, helps with the hardness of the bar. There is some better places online unfortunately you pay for shipping but I find www.soaperschoice.com pretty reasonable. You can get a 7 pound bottle of organic palm for a little of 16.00.

 

[sweetcindylou]

I have an abundance of coconut oil and now it is especially cheap at Costco so will try to find recipes that use that more than any other item. It is so funny that you gave me that link. That is one of the first places I began reading about soap making. I found it so informative. Thanks for your recommendations.

 

[sweetcindylou]

Thanks for your recommendations everyone. This looks like it is going to be a great forum to be a part of. There is so much information! I love it!

Thanks.

 

[Hazel]

Hello and welcome! :grin:

 

[shelley74]

Hi Cindy and welcome! I agree with you oils can be exspensive, i'm brand new to soapmaking myself, and still looking around for places to buy oils that are a little cheaper.

 

[Cindiq4u]

Welcome~ You'll know it when you get the right recipe. Cheers to many better batches of beautiful soap..