I buy most of my "hard to find" oils, like palm, hemp, on soapers choice website. Other oils coconut, OO I buy at walmart and/or sams club. You don't need to use extra virgin OO, I have found a nice 100% OO at sams club that is faintly yellow in color, which works better than the EVOO.
My colors I buy from TBK trading. The "NEON" colors work wonderfully in CP. There aren't a lot of reviews on there other than using for makeup, I have tried to put something on the colors I personally used for future reference.
I use a Candy Thermometer that actually belonged to my Grandma, she made a lot of jelly and candy. It works great even after 40 years
I purchased these silicone molds
http://bebecollection.com/lf01-loaf-mold
Unlike a regular loaf mold you buy at Target, these have extra support on the sides and won't expand. I am very happy with them. But if you prefer a wood mold you can make one yourself or buy one online. I made my own, but did not treat them and they warped. You could also find "milky way" molds online, or smaller silicone molds for Christmas and stuff at Michaels, or Hobby Lobby. If you go at the right time of yr, a lot of them are on clearance too! Ya Gotta love the clearance isle for soap making.
My first batch of soap I made in PVC pipe that my hubby had gotten along with caps for both ends. NOTE was not easy to remove soap from them, so I stopped using.
My first batch was a "Castile Soap" from Millers soap page. Someone else referred to it here.
http://www.millersoap.com/castile.html
I did not add any fragrance or color, and I hated the smell of it myself at first. It took a time to cure 4-6 weeks. That was in the Spring of 2011, Now I LOVE that soap esp for shaving
It's very bubbly.
My 2nd batch was a goats milk soap, and I used cocoa powder to mask the browning from the milk. Needless to say I did not write everything I added into that soap, and now I kick myself in the a$$ for not doing that, cuz I have no clue what I did, and I LOVE that soap
KEEP A DIARY!!!! This is a good piece of advice. Esp at the beginning, you will find all kinds of recipes to "try" and a couple that you yourself truly like/love. If you write down everything you put into your soap in the diary, you won't kick yourself later when you forget! LOL
As far as the "soapcalc.com" it was not easy for me either at first, but now I like it, and have found it to be a good thing to have.
Most importantly (at least I have learned) don't get discouraged if your batch doesn't turn out the way you like them too. This is a learning process, and everyone makes mistakes. Just know that you can come on here for support. The people on these forums are great, and helpful, and knowledgeable.
I also read somewhere...."you know you truly enjoy soap making, when you find yourself in
any store going "that would make a great mold!"..." GOOD LUCK! Post pictures when you get a chance....(another thing I have yet to figure out how to do here).
