When do you know it’s time to give up on soap making and call it quits ??

[Basma]

Although I’m in the beginning and I’m not the quitting type at all (having battled MS and gone through HSCT and got through tough recovery)... there seems to be many forces working against me... I’m am Egyptian living in Egypt where getting a hold of most of the required materials is a bit tricky but not impossible after a bit of research, failure and then success ... finally trying three recipes until now , one cold process and two hot process recipes, I haven’t thrown any away but there’s non so far that I can call a complete success... I started with small batches as not to waste too much expensive oils, as here everything is expensive, but nevertheless I’m running out !! Faced with so many professional people in the field and no one to help me, since I’m self taught, as no soaping courses are available just online sources to read and research and youtube... when should I say this seems not the job for me I should seek something else to master ?? After batch # ?? Please share your success journeys if possible I desperately need the motivation ... Thank you

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

why do you feel none of them are complete successes? is it the recipe or is it the swirls? I don't know how the market is in Egypt. there are a lot of soapers in the states.
I did not take any classes here but came on this site a lot and got a lot of help from the awesome people here. how long have you been soaping? there was a time I was going to give up (I am not a quitter either) and things kinda clicked. I had my share of failures and still do but I just love to soap so I just keep going. I have been selling for awhile now but I am not making anywhere near what I have put into it.
I think only you are going to know if its time to quit but if you are needing help please ask here

 

[Maaki]

Well I'd say that the time you should quit will be when you stop enjoying doing it And every batch is a a great opportunity for learning. I will actually just start selling this year and at this moment i am waiting for materials for production. I started doing soap just for fun but decided to start selling when I realized it could be a great business opportunity. I guess you have to find how your soap can stand out from the rest. I have definitely invested quite some time, effort and money into it but I believe I will be able to at least recover the initial investment if things go wrong. And if not, well its still been awesome just learning this craft. And definitely dont underestimate the knowledge and information you can find online! Im definitely not a professional but that's where i learned everything I know now and I hope someday to be as talented as people in this forum.

Since you live in egypt I can imagine you can get hold of awesome raw materials such as olive oil and argan oil straight from the producer. In my case I though the same as you did since I live in Mexico, but through investigation I managed to do just that and found awesome raw materials at a very good price dealing directly with the producers (which is something most people doing soap cant). The only thing I wasnt able to source locally were the essential oils, but I found them for a great price in the US and is the only thing Im importing, hoping ill be able to produce my own in the future. I think theres great quality essential oils in Turkey, so maybe you can source them there?

I wish you great luck in your soaping venture

 

[sirtim100]

I'm 58 years old, and right now am learning the following:
1. Straight razor shaving
2. Straight razor honing
3. Soap making
4. Shaving soap making

A good friend of mine described one of his projects (an NGO) as being full of "laughter and tears", and so the laughter and tears for me in each case have been: 1. My face looked like a serial killer horror film after the first few shaves, now I'm done to one nick or cut a day. 2. I reduced one razor to a twisted shard of steel, the second one actually shaves, but there's a lot of learning in store. 3. My first batch is showing worrying signs of DOS, not surprising considering how I was storing it and the humidity levels in my part of Spain. But now I want to make soap, lots and lots of soap, of all kinds, shapes, smells and textures. 4. Is a fantasy, but one day I'm going to cut my face with my own honed razor, gliding my blade across a face coated with lather from my own soap.

Why? Because it's there, because life is to be lived and you don't live when you give up. Believe me, I know, I gave up on an awful lot of things and now regret my lack of persistence/stubbornness/self-belief/blind faith...

We all have the right to make mistakes, to learn. My second batch may be a great success, it may be an outright disaster. But in each case, I'll take something away from the experience to use another time. And that's the joy of it all.

Whatever you do, don't give up. I don't have much money either, and I have to plan ahead with soap projects because I can't buy big batches of this or that. And I just know that a good percentage of what I make will probably end up in the bin, and that I'll go to bed all grumpy and disappointed when that happens. But, it's my right to make mistakes, and it's yours too. I'm sure that one day you'll start a thread, saying that one batch is a great success and that you're very pleased and happy. And behind that thread will be more than a few errors, and curses and thoughts about giving it all up. But that lovely day will come, I'm sure. I'm banking on it happening to me...

Good luck

 

[Basma]

why do you feel none of them are complete successes? is it the recipe or is it the swirls? I don't know how the market is in Egypt. there are a lot of soapers in the states.
I did not take any classes here but came on this site a lot and got a lot of help from the awesome people here. how long have you been soaping? there was a time I was going to give up (I am not a quitter either) and things kinda clicked. I had my share of failures and still do but I just love to soap so I just keep going. I have been selling for awhile now but I am not making anywhere near what I have put into it.
I think only you are going to know if its time to quit but if you are needing help please ask here

It’s incomplete coz my first batch(glycerin soap) was sweating and not transpare But i fixed it with color , fragrence and Sodium lactate, the other batch doesn’t look as appealing as i wanted and a bit drying, the third cold process one does look nice and feels weird to the touch but again it hasn’t completely cured yet... it been a month since I’ve started and I’m facing alot of unpleasantness to say the least from my parents who have too of high expectations for me ... Thank you very much for sharing your story and best wishes to you

 

[shunt2011]

It’s incomplete coz my first batch(glycerin soap) was sweating and not transpare But i fixed it with color , fragrence and Sodium lactate, the other batch doesn’t look as appealing as i wanted and a bit drying, the third cold process one does look nice and feels weird to the touch but again it hasn’t completely cured yet... it been a month since I’ve started and I’m facing alot of unpleasantness to say the least from my parents who have too of high expectations for me ... Thank you very much for sharing your story and best wishes to you

If you post your recipes and process we would be happy to try to help you out. It may be the recipes themselves. Also, making glycerin soap is not an easy task to begin with. If you're talking about clear soap. CP is probably the easiest and then HP. Also, if you tell us what oils/butters are available to you we can help with that as well. Don't give up, 1 month is nothing in the scheme of things.

 

[Basma]

If you post your recipes and process we would be happy to try to help you out. It may be the recipes themselves. Also, making glycerin soap is not an easy task to begin with. If you're talking about clear soap. CP is probably the easiest and then HP. Also, if you tell us what oils/butters are available to you we can help with that as well. Don't give up, 1 month is nothing in the scheme of things.

The CP recipe is
120 G coconut oil
220 G Olive Oil
160 G palm oil
Lye 70.77 G and water 190 G

Glycerin soap (HP)
120 G coconut oil
90G palm oil
90 G castor oil
45.6 G lye
76 G glycerin
190 G alcohol
94 G sugar
192 distilled water( 120 for lye and 72 for sugar)

Simple HP soap
145 coconut oil
49 grams coco butter
120 g olive oil
120 g sunflower oil
20 g castor oil
64 g lye
128 distilled water

 

[shunt2011]

Firstly, your soaps are barely old enough to get a true reading on how they will be. You may need to let them cure a bit longer. In your first recipe you have 24% Coconut. You may need to drop it some. I don't personally have a problem with higher CO soaps. Many do and don't go over 15-20%. You can also increase your superfat some as it's at the standard 5%.

Third recipe: Your coconut is at 32% and again you only used a 5% SF. You've got over 50% liquid oils (OO and sunflower) so it will need more than 4 weeks personally.

Coconut is very cleansing to many. The more coconut you have in a soap the more oils will be stripped from the skin unless you adjust your superfat some. But, it may be too much for some regardless of the SF. I like higher CO soaps. I SF 7-8% or so.

Can't help you with the second as I've never made glycerin soap.

 

[lsg]

Glycerin soap will draw moisture, especially if stored in an open, humid environment. It is best to keep glycerin soap in a tightly sealed container or to wrap each bar with shrink wrap to keep it from drawing moisture from the environment.

 

[Basma]

Firstly, your soaps are barely old enough to get a true reading on how they will be. You may need to let them cure a bit longer. In your first recipe you have 24% Coconut. You may need to drop it some. I don't personally have a problem with higher CO soaps. Many do and don't go over 15-20%. You can also increase your superfat some as it's at the standard 5%.

Third recipe: Your coconut is at 32% and again you only used a 5% SF. You've got over 50% liquid oils (OO and sunflower) so it will need more than 4 weeks personally.

Coconut is very cleansing to many. The more coconut you have in a soap the more oils will be stripped from the skin unless you adjust your superfat some. But, it may be too much for some regardless of the SF. I like higher CO soaps. I SF 7-8% or so.

Can't help you with the second as I've never made glycerin soap.

Thank you so much this definitely helped me understand a lot that i was doing wrong specially the low SF %

Well I'd say that the time you should quit will be when you stop enjoying doing it And every batch is a a great opportunity for learning. I will actually just start selling this year and at this moment i am waiting for materials for production. I started doing soap just for fun but decided to start selling when I realized it could be a great business opportunity. I guess you have to find how your soap can stand out from the rest. I have definitely invested quite some time, effort and money into it but I believe I will be able to at least recover the initial investment if things go wrong. And if not, well its still been awesome just learning this craft. And definitely dont underestimate the knowledge and information you can find online! Im definitely not a professional but that's where i learned everything I know now and I hope someday to be as talented as people in this forum.

Since you live in egypt I can imagine you can get hold of awesome raw materials such as olive oil and argan oil straight from the producer. In my case I though the same as you did since I live in Mexico, but through investigation I managed to do just that and found awesome raw materials at a very good price dealing directly with the producers (which is something most people doing soap cant). The only thing I wasnt able to source locally were the essential oils, but I found them for a great price in the US and is the only thing Im importing, hoping ill be able to produce my own in the future. I think theres great quality essential oils in Turkey, so maybe you can source them there?

I wish you great luck in your soaping venture

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and i wish you all the best !

I'm 58 years old, and right now am learning the following:
1. Straight razor shaving
2. Straight razor honing
3. Soap making
4. Shaving soap making

A good friend of mine described one of his projects (an NGO) as being full of "laughter and tears", and so the laughter and tears for me in each case have been: 1. My face looked like a serial killer horror film after the first few shaves, now I'm done to one nick or cut a day. 2. I reduced one razor to a twisted shard of steel, the second one actually shaves, but there's a lot of learning in store. 3. My first batch is showing worrying signs of DOS, not surprising considering how I was storing it and the humidity levels in my part of Spain. But now I want to make soap, lots and lots of soap, of all kinds, shapes, smells and textures. 4. Is a fantasy, but one day I'm going to cut my face with my own honed razor, gliding my blade across a face coated with lather from my own soap.

Why? Because it's there, because life is to be lived and you don't live when you give up. Believe me, I know, I gave up on an awful lot of things and now regret my lack of persistence/stubbornness/self-belief/blind faith...

We all have the right to make mistakes, to learn. My second batch may be a great success, it may be an outright disaster. But in each case, I'll take something away from the experience to use another time. And that's the joy of it all.

Whatever you do, don't give up. I don't have much money either, and I have to plan ahead with soap projects because I can't buy big batches of this or that. And I just know that a good percentage of what I make will probably end up in the bin, and that I'll go to bed all grumpy and disappointed when that happens. But, it's my right to make mistakes, and it's yours too. I'm sure that one day you'll start a thread, saying that one batch is a great success and that you're very pleased and happy. And behind that thread will be more than a few errors, and curses and thoughts about giving it all up. But that lovely day will come, I'm sure. I'm banking on it happening to me...

Good luck

Thank you for sharing your experience and saying those motivating words

Glycerin soap will draw moisture, especially if stored in an open, humid environment. It is best to keep glycerin soap in a tightly sealed container or to wrap each bar with shrink wrap to keep it from drawing moisture from the environment.

That’s a great idea thank you