I did MP as a craft for a long time, and we sued them occasionally.
[bolding mine] It's still kinda early in the morning for me, and as I was sitting here groggily reading your post, I began to scratch my head in wonderment as to who it was that you were occasionally suing.... and why??? MP crafters?? Was the soap really that bad, or were you maybe a lawyer or something (because what other kind of person would go around talking of occasionally suing people, except for lawyers)? Then it dawned on me that you most likely meant to say used. Yeah...I think I'm more awake now. lol
PatrickH said:What is the purpose of home made SOAP?
For me it comes down to one very simple thing- I make my own soap because my skin is more happy using it as when compared to using commercial brands. And also because the skins of those I gift my soap to are very appreciative of how it makes their skins feel, 3 of whom have especially expressed to me that my soap is the only soap they have found to be able to use that doesn't make their skin crack or bleed or break out in a rash if they have to wash multiple times. I also like being able to tailor it to specific tastes in regards to scents, colors, bubbliness, cleansing threshold, etc...
PatrickH said:Making test batches, waiting for cure times, recalculating and making another adjustment until you get what you want. It would take 20 years to maybe come up with a ok bar of soap, especially when someone suggests upping or lowering 1% with each test batch..
You can whittle it down to no more than a year if you make multiple 1lb. to 2lb. batches in a row (each batch being different from each other), compare them to each other after cure (keep a detailed notebook), and then do further tweaking/fine tuning to those you found to be the best out of the bunch. That's a basic summary of how I did things when I first started out.
Regarding making 1% changes that someone suggested: It could be that you might be confusing that with making only one change at a time, which I know is often suggested (completely two different things). I personally would suggest 5% to 10% changes at a time with any one given ingredient.
PatrickH said:Then when a number is said to be too high and a simple recipe is given for help that has a number much higher then what was said to be too high, I don't get it..
That's because we all have different skin-types. Whenever advice is given, just keep in mind that the ones giving the advice are coming from their own experiences of what they've personally found their own skins to like/dislike. Dibbles said it best in Post #3 (bolding mine): "When you are creating a recipe and post it here, you will always get a lot of advice. This is usually based on the person's own experience with a particular oil - most often coconut. Someone with dry skin will advise you to stay at or under 15%. My skin will tolerate 25% with no problem and I love fluffy, bubbly lather. Usually I use somewhere between 20-23%. You will find what you like best in time."
For what it's worth, my two main base formulas (the 2 that I make the most on a regular basis) contain 31.5% coconut and 28% coconut respectively, and my skin and the skins of the folks I gift my soap to are quite happy with it. But I know that if I ever chanced to gift one of my soaps to our forum member Susie, it would be a totally different story- my soap would most likely make her skin feel quite unhappy.
PatrickH said:Or when I hear no soap is never conditioning, it's only cleansing. What is the purpose of adding a bunch of stuff to make it conditioning?
It's all a matter of proper perspective or semantics. While it's very true that a soap by nature is a cleanser- not a conditioner such as a lotion- you can tweak your ingredients or increase your superfat % in order to lower the intensity of it's cleansing power so that it will feel less drying/oil-stripping to your skin, i.e., your skin will perceive the lessening of the cleansing power as being more 'conditioning',.....but it's still a cleansing agent (not a conditioning agent).
PatrickH said:It totally throws me off when I read at places where it says something totally different, then it makes me feel like I'm not understanding a specific something with what I thought I did understand.
As BattleGnome said in post #11: "Remember, anyone with an internet connection can call themselves an expert in anything with no proof to back it up."
And as BrewerGeorge said in post #16: "...be careful what you're reading online. There is A LOT of bad information out there, some even dangerous. This place is THE best source on the 'Net by very, very far."
That's why I love this forum. It's filled with a slew of experienced soapmakers who have been making soap for years and are very generous with their time and advice. Sure- some of the advice given may sometimes differ from soaper to soaper, but there's a big difference between being given advice from a differing perspective based on ones personal, long-term soaping experiences, and downright bad, wrong, and/or dangerous advice. Happily though, you don't need to read very far on the forum before it becomes clear which is which, because our more experienced members are not shy about chiming in and steering the unwary out of the path of danger.
PatrickH said:So now I'm kinda confused on the purpose of HP besides being able to add SF after the cook, which is probably best for use in Shaving soap and not so much hand and body soap.
I'm not a fan of HPing, but it does have its uses. I only do it when I absolutely have to in these 2 instances: 1) When I make my shave soap- because the stearic acid content makes it impossible to CP; and 2) When working with a known seizing FO.
PatrickH said:And then comes the dreaded step of adding lye to water, the worst part of soapmaking for me.. gives me a headache all day the next day, even when mixed outside head down and away and slwcooker by a open door..
I hate making lye solution too. That's why I master-batch my lye solution. I make enough solution at one time that will last me through several batches of soap before I run out of it and need to make another master-batch. Lye solution lasts for a very, very long time (at least over a year) without diminishing in strength/efficacy if stored properly. I store mine in re-claimed HDPE laundry detergent bottles with a no-drip pour spout and tight-fitting lid.
IrishLass