So what are YOUR soapy secrets?

[Navaria]

You can sketch your swirls on the computer?!?! How cool! How do you do that??

 

[Chefmom]

I'm a neat freak when I work. I check and double check my numbers. Even a recipe that I've made many times gets its own soap calc print out with everything written on it. I have fatigue issues and so even a simple batch of soap for me is many many small steps to completion. My professional baking background has me working clean (work clean...clean less) and I am meticulous about how I scale and set up my oils. Before I left the baking industry for good, I worked in a busy bakery and restaurant. At any moment someone could walk in and ask a question that made you stop what you were doing to answer, so if I was in the middle of scaling or mixing it was easy to lose your place and forget if an ingredient was added. I learned to line my ingredients up, in order so that I could go back to what I was doing after an interruption and pick back up where I left off. This habit has come in handy for soap making. A fatigue day also means my head gets muddled and I can confuse myself or get caught up in something else very easily. I stay organized so that I stay on track.

I do lots of experiments. So I take lots of notes, prep notes, batch notes, afterthought notes, cure notes, in use notes. I hope to get my studio to make soap as well as candles, but for now I keep half my ingredients stored downstairs and half in the kitchen. Being organized is probably my biggest "secret".

 

[MoonStruck]

You can sketch your swirls on the computer?!?! How cool! How do you do that??

Thanks . I have a template in Photoshop, really any paint program would work. I have sheets printed out so I can sketch with a pencil or make notes as well.

 

[Saipan]

Thanks. It took a long time to reach this point. Laughter is truly the greatest medicine. At least for me.

Puppies are great medicine also, here is your soulmate Stripe.

 

[TeresaT]

Thanks Saipan!! What is not to love about that face? That is the cutest nose!! I've said this before, but I've got to say it again, I wish they sold a "puppy breath" FO. I would buy gallons of it!!

 

[Navaria]

Puppies are great medicine also, here is your soulmate Stripe.

He has a moustache!! And a little smutz of dirt on his nose!

 

[lenarenee]

When I fall into temptation and order fo's, I purposely forget which ones I ordered. ( there's always way more in my cart than i actually buy) That way it's a surprise when I open the box!

 

[Deola]

I adore my soap room, it's like a my temple...sometimes I just enter to smell my soaps and leave. A place I'm so proud of.

I have strong love for coconut oil

If a soap didn't turn as I planned, I will turn it into a fresh batch...more like a new design

I try using mot of my soap before the third week, and I keep one bar of each batch for about a year or more.

 

[SuzieOz]

I have trouble getting out of the shower ... I wash myself 2 or 3 times all over ... with different soaps ...

Okay, sometimes MORE than 2 or 3 times! :razz:

Even then I'm reluctant to get out cos there are more bars in there I haven't tried today yet.

 

[Saponomancer]

Even though I've been reading about how to soap since I was in elementary school I finally took the plunge one fall to make Christmas soap for the family- something that embarrasses me every time it comes up on the forum now

My first soap was the one and only time I followed someone else's recipe exactly instead of tweaking it for myself or making it completely from scratch, I got one of the brambleberry kits.

I soap on the dining room table and I've manage to strip all the varnish off one side of it over the course of the last year.

I wear my PPE but I also soap barefooted and short sleeved- I always mean to wear one of my million aprons and never remember to put it on.

I measure all of my oils into one container in the same order every time: Lard, which is melted, then coconut oil into the lard to melt it, then my liquid oils, and then all the additives but the colourants so it has a good chance to soak completely through and get out all the lumps while the lye is cooling down

Sometimes I don't completely disperse my colourants and just live with the speckling

I scrape down all of my bowls within an inch of their lives, and then wipe with a wash cloth- and the washcloth goes in the laundry.

My shower has been completely overtaken by my and other people's soaps

When I'm soaping I lay out every single thing I need to soap and then meticulously put away each container as I use it

I always immediately rinse out my lye bowls as soon as they're finished being used because I'm forever nervous about an accident involving them

My husband yells at me for making lavender soap because I'm allergic to it but its one of my best sellers

I want to use all EOs in my soap between branding and me being allergic to some of the fragrances, but I really really like a lot of the foody smells and they sell spectacularly

I told myself I wasn't going to do hightops and glitter but I have two bars that feature hightops and one with glitter because they're so much fun even if they aren't my aesthetic

 

[Slnsgirl]

Me, too!

I definitely feel a kinship with most of my fellow soapers. I, too, am a little OCD. Kitchen must be clean before I start and all ingredients are measured and prepared for my recipe. It's really hard for me to wait the 6 weeks for curing. Ugh. And in my shower are several new pieces to "try out". I am laughing out loud because I understand everything you (we) all do while we enjoy this hobby of ours:think:

 

[SoapsMcGotes]

*sigh*

I rarely wear gloves and often wear flip flops when making soap.

I can't bring myself to make soap that looks like food. I just don't get it.

I use Dawn.

I usually wait a week to wash my pots and pans.

Cannot make soap without music playing.

 

[McMomWV]

*sigh*
I can't bring myself to make soap that looks like food. I just don't get it.

Haha, I've found my true opposite.
Wearing flip flops in my soap kitchen would freak me out and gloves are a must. Fuzzy slippers are perfectly acceptable, though.
Making food soaps is one of my favorite things to do. Pie slices, tea cakes, truffles, cupcakes. Love them all. I recently made the ice cream bubble bath bomb posted by another forum member. I also crochet food. (It drives my sister nuts, but her grandchildren love it as do mine.)
Dishes are scraped within an inch of their lives and soap kitchen is scrubbed down daily (my laundry pile has been known to walk under its own power, but my soap kitchen is another story).
I use 7th generation liquid soap.
CNN is usually on in the background and I yell at the tv - more frequently when my batter traces too fast or my design doesn't translate from head to hand. Apparently abusing Wolf Blitzer is my stress ball. (Feel free to steal that idea, it really works well.)

 

[SoapsMcGotes]

Haha, I've found my true opposite.
Wearing flip flops in my soap kitchen would freak me out and gloves are a must. Fuzzy slippers are perfectly acceptable, though.
Making food soaps is one of my favorite things to do. Pie slices, tea cakes, truffles, cupcakes. Love them all. I recently made the ice cream bubble bath bomb posted by another forum member. I also crochet food. (It drives my sister nuts, but her grandchildren love it as do mine.)
Dishes are scraped within an inch of their lives and soap kitchen is scrubbed down daily (my laundry pile has been known to walk under its own power, but my soap kitchen is another story).
I use 7th generation liquid soap.
CNN is usually on in the background and I yell at the tv - more frequently when my batter traces too fast or my design doesn't translate from head to hand. Apparently abusing Wolf Blitzer is my stress ball. (Feel free to steal that idea, it really works well.)

Oh, CNN or any news channel for that matter-would ruin my soap day experience, lol. I need music-I can tell customers exactly what song was on when a particular soap batch was being poured. Honestly, That sometimes influences the name of the soap. I have a soap called "The Boxer" that was aptly named due to listening to Simon and Garfunkel's song bearing the same name.

 

[SoapsMcGotes]

Fuzzy slippers are perfectly acceptable, though.




I have, however, been known to wear fuzzy slippers, myself.

 

[niclycha]

BTW
If you buy water soluble TD mix it a a tiny amount of water from your liquid amount as soon as you decide to make soap. By the time you need to use it it will be a lovely, speckle free paste.

Also warmed distilled water dissolves it good too

 

[niclycha]

My kitchen has to be clean but oh LORD look at all of my Soaping STUFF, I don't have a dining room anymore lol look at this mess and BTW I JUST started Soaping like maybe in Feb or March,
I think I like buying stuff for Soaping as much as Soaping
I always NEED this or NEED that and especially if it's on sale
I work in a restaurant that has a bar so I save everything that is EMPTY and cash hold SOMETHING IN
Micas, fo, batter, stirrer sticks, olive jars, plastic cherry jars for lye 50 50 concentrate, empty plastic bottles, chipped wine glasses OMG I MEAN I SAVE EVERYTHING LOL

 

[sjconner]

My biggest soapy secret is that I am soaping ... again. I first learned how to make soap 18 years ago at a university extension course. The batch I made in class was perfect but the next two batches failed horribly. I quit.

I tried again about 9 years ago and ended up with a small soaping business. I tried and made just about everything bath and body related. I even had SOAPMKR on my license plates. Four years ago, after I was diagnosed with cancer, I quit soaping.

I can't seem to help myself ... my soaping urge kicked in again. My daughter (11 years old) has given me a convenient excuse to start up again ... she asked me to teach her how to make CP. I get to soap again! (Rubbing hands together and laughing maniacally)

 

[Raiyn]

I'm new to soap making. I'm still in the reading and accumulating supplies stage. I have not yet made my own batch but I'm close! This forum and thread is helping me a lot because I can see myself doing these same kinds of things. Lol.

Here is my newbie soapy secret though... As I've been accumulating different bars to try to find types I prefer... My shower corner rack gets super over run by bars.. I also wash with at least 3 different bars during my shower and I can't wait until the next day to use yummy hand made soaps again. I have a lucious Greek sponge that I can't live without now! I'm addicted! It makes me anxious to try my own batch!

Here is my tip about drying and organizing bars in the shower or anywhere...

Office letter sorters. I have them on every shelf in my showe, lol. But I must say, my bars have never been drier between showers

This might not be revolutionary to you all but for someone new to using bars... It's a huge improvement to gummy soap wasting!

So happy to have found this forum. I'm becoming obsessed with soap making, but wowza.... I can see this will be an expensive habit. I'm slowly gathering my supplies and hope to batch up soon

 

[earlene]

Here is my tip about drying and organizing bars in the shower or anywhere...

Office letter sorters. I have them on every shelf in my showe, lol. But I must say, my bars have never been drier between showers

This might not be revolutionary to you all but for someone new to using bars... It's a huge improvement to gummy soap wasting!

So happy to have found this forum. I'm becoming obsessed with soap making, but wowza.... I can see this will be an expensive habit. I'm slowly gathering my supplies and hope to batch up soon

I'm having trouble picturing this. There are so many different ones out there. I wonder what you are using?