Question for Sellers/Long Time Hobbiests

[Shalisk]

How many Recipes do you have for your soaps?

Do you have one 'default' one and many scents, or just a couple like 1 for your vegans, one for everyone else, or do you have dozens that you make/use for various reasons?

And what are your reasons for doing it the way you do?

 

[cmzaha]

Lots of different recipes, some for special purpose. I would be bored to death if I made all soap the same or only a couple. I even have different salt bar recipes

 

[Shalisk]

Well what kind of examples for 'special purposes' like pore cleaning etc?
Do you find that certian scents you ONLY make with spacific recipes in mind?

 

[Lindy]

Most of my soaps are one recipe and then I have a few others that are specialty soaps.

 

[coffeetime]

Mine are mostly different recipes. It's more time and work to do it that way, but I like the variety and I like being able to help people pick the best recipe for their skin.

 

[seven]

i usually have 1 standard recipe for my everyday soaps line. i just play with different additives and scents. i also have a few other recipes for my luxury soaps line, usually incorporating butters and the more exotic oils.

 

[IrishLass]

Long-time hobbyist here. I used to be wild and crazy making all kinds of different formulas because I love to experiment, but I basically try to stick to 8 'keeper' formulas nowadays in order to keep things more simple, free up storage space, and to save money:

Two are what I term as my 'main' formulas because I soap those the most. One contains all-vegetable oils and the other is tallow/lard based. Sometimes I soap them 'as-is', and at other times I spice them up with additives such as avocado puree or goat milk & honey, etc...

One is my salt bar formula.

One is my high coconut oil formula with a high superfat.

One is my 100% olive oil Castile.

One is my 80% olive oil Bastile

And the remaining two are my liquid soap formulas. One is a crystal clear, mostly olive oil liquid soap, and the other is a pearlescent, creamy, opaque liquid soap made with cocoa butter and shea butter.


IrishLass

 

[pamielynn]

I'm still always tinkering around. Depends on what I'm looking for in terms of "feel" or whatever inspires me when I make something new. I am finding, however, that as I scale up, it's lot easier to convert some of my scents to a more "standard" recipe. This way I can masterbatch the oils faster.

 

[Susie]

Well what kind of examples for 'special purposes' like pore cleaning etc?

In the US, we are not allowed to say that soap does anything but clean. No "special purposes" are allowed to be claimed or alluded to unless you want to come under FDA regulation and having to prove your claims.

 

[shunt2011]

I pretty much have 1 recipe that's used for most soap but have 4 specialty bars as well (salt, facial, shampoo etc..)

 

[SozoArtisanSoaps]

Business owner here...I have a VERY simple basic recipe I use for all my soaps. It is simply crisco, coconut oil, and olive oil. Everyone just loves it. I have different scents and specialty soaps that come out of this basic recipe.

 

[dixiedragon]

I have 1 "standard" recipe that I tweak that uses lard (sometimes lard and tallow). When I'm making all veggie soap, it's a lot more variable.

 

[mintle]

I am not selling (yet), I'm just obsessed with soap making . I have 2 reliable recipes - one with lard and the other vegetarian - and I use them for gifts etc.
However, I constantly try to improve or try something new since I am still in the process of learning, so I experiment a lot, too. And by experimenting I mean sometimes BTR soaps, but often I just end up replacing one oil, while obeying all 'rules' or 'foundations' of good recipe that I have worked out in time.

 

[Ruthie]

MOST of my soaps are made with one recipe, which I have tweaked over time. Besides that I have a vegetarian shampoo bar, a castille, and a salt bar with coconut oil only. Oh, I also tried a pine tar soap once, but never found any "testers" to try it for me.

I do try different scents but limit my colors to mostly natural ones.

 

[Ellacho]

Another a long-time hobbyist here, about seven years. I think because I am a still hobbyist, I constantly play with different recipes. But I have narrowed them down a few recipes if I ever want to sell my soaps:

1. a tried-and-true recipe(normal, I experiment with this recipe all the time )
2. oily/acne
3. eczema/sensitive
3. salt bar/brine salt soap
4. castile
5. cupcake/cake soap

 

[Shalisk]

In the US, we are not allowed to say that soap does anything but clean. No "special purposes" are allowed to be claimed or alluded to unless you want to come under FDA regulation and having to prove your claims.

"... dear customers, I hope you will continue to buy my soap. I think it is a wonderful soap because it . . . ummm . . . is rectangular-shaped and . . . uhhhhh . . . it fits in a soap dish, and . . . it does not make you any dirtier...."

If you thought it was funny here is the article: http://www.theenchantedbath.com/i-love-my-government-i-love-my-government/

 

[kmarvel]

How many Recipes do you have for your soaps?

Do you have one 'default' one and many scents, or just a couple like 1 for your vegans, one for everyone else, or do you have dozens that you make/use for various reasons?

And what are your reasons for doing it the way you do?

I have one default recipe and just switch out FO's and EO's. Sometimes I will swirl a batch or color a batch of soap. But I always use my basic oil recipe.

Kathie

 

[Candybee]

Like others I have a basic bath bar recipe that I can change up to make a lot of different soaps out of by changing out oils, milks, liquids, scents, colors, clays, etc. You can make quite a lot of different soaps with one basic that have different properties and appeal.

Then I have seperate recipes for my specialty bars; shaving, shampoo, facial, castile/bastile, etc. Naturally these can be changed up too by switching out additives, oils, etc.

 

[Forsenuf]

Yep, another vote for one main recipe and a few specialty soaps.

 

[littlehands]

I like to play, but I do have a handful of go-to favorites for when I don't want to overthink things.