YouTube videos- a warning

[Tabitha]

I am not a YouTuber. Tonight I followed a link left in another thread here at the forum that lead to a YouTube video. I am appaled at what I saw. I watched 8 different videos by 8 different soap makers. 7 of them either conveyed seriously incorrect information or were flat out dangerous with comment like ' it is not possible to use too much fragrance oil in your soap so please, use as much as you like."

If you are new to soapmaking, please do not assume what you see on YouTube is good advice.

It is frighning what is portrayed on the internet as fact.

 

[cwarren]

I purchased a book on soapmaking but I am a visual learner ,
I watched every you tube video on CP soap making before I started,
it gave me the guts to mess with lye.
for me it was nice to know what to expect for my first time..
JMHOI dont think youtube is all that bad,,
you must do more research than youtube but it helps... it helped me

 

[heyjude]

That's not good. Which videos were you watching?

 

[Tabitha]

They were random. The first was about a shrink wrap system for CP soap, it had good info, then other links were suggested, as I followed them it went from bad to worse. One lady who was 'teaching' us to make M&P soap made the statement (as she was cutting up M&P soap base) that what she was cutting was 100% glycerin. She did not even know that her soap base contained probably 8-16 different ingredients including oils, etc. She seriously thought it was 100% glycerin. That is a sure sign of a newbie who should not be representing themes as a 'teacher.'

Another lady suggested wrapping M&P soaps in paper which will stick terribly, not just a little bit but like you licked a lollipop, wrapped it in a paper towel & went back the next day to unwrap & finish it.

It’s very irresponsible to make a video giving instructs when you haven’t a clue what you are doing. I guess it plays on their narcissism…

It's very scary what is out there that people might watch and actually think is right and try to emulate.

There are good ones out there; coasta’s bath bomb video is one of the best B&B YouTube’s I have seen.

When you are new though, it is impossible to separate factual videos from fiction.

 

[IanT]

Completely agree ^^^^^

I mean shooooooot maybe I should start making videos about how to fix your car (hahahahahhahahHAHAHhahahaHAHhAhahha)

or how to speak finnish or something ...read it right out of a book

 

[kaelily]

there are some cold process videos too where they aren't wearing gloves/goggles when working with lye. eeek!

 

[maya]

the first video i saw on youtube about soaping was...a canadian soaper who um does a very loosey goosey way of soaping, measuring, cleaning, etc. etc. etc. i should add i very much like this woman, she appears to be the most real person ive seen doing youtube videos...

so good that i wasnt trying to learn from her... :shock:

 

[BakingNana]

I saw that M and P one. I hate to use the word stupid, but some things just are.

 

[Muzhik]

Completely agree ^^^^^

I mean shooooooot maybe I should start making videos about how to fix your car (hahahahahhahahHAHAHhahahaHAHhAhahha)

or how to speak finnish or something ...read it right out of a book

Soap make as she is melt

:?

 

[IanT]

the first video i saw on youtube about soaping was...a canadian soaper who um does a very loosey goosey way of soaping, measuring, cleaning, etc. etc. etc. i should add i very much like this woman, she appears to be the most real person ive seen doing youtube videos...

so good that i wasnt trying to learn from her... :shock:

yeah I def saw one like that but it looked like it was in some 3rd world country, this chick was making soap in a tanktop, and shorts...barefoot (hey we all make mistakes... I did this once... shirtless ... yeahhhh lye in belly button=shoddy way to spend the day).... but i mean dont post a youtube video about how to make soap in your undies or something lol...

 

[TessC]

I can't find the link right now but one of the CP "instructional" videos I found showed pouring the lye into their pitcher (without measuring, "one container of lye" was the measurement they gave for the recipe) and then pouring water into the pitcher on top of the lye.

I stopped it right there, that was all I needed to see, but it gave me the shudders thinking about all of the people who might see that and not know better. Some of the Youtube videos I've found have been great, like some that really helped me get the hang of various swirl techniques, but others are just awful and potentially dangerous. =/

 

[BakingNana]

I hope the comments feature wasn't disabled on the irresponsible posts, and anyone seeing them takes the time to post their concerns regarding the methods shown.

 

[Bukawww]

I was searching something completely unrelated to soaping but using the word coconut and an eHow page came up that was TERRIBLE and dangerous as well.

There was no way to 'report' that page either...bummer. It had over a thousand hits on it.

 

[soapbuddy]

It's very sad. For newbies that have no idea, it could become very dangerous. I've seen one, where two college age kids were making soap with a drain cleaner that had bluish/silver specks as it wasn't 100% lye. They weren't concerned about it. Also no gloves, goggles or any other safety measures.

 

[xyxoxy]

I've seen several videos like this... they make me crazy.
"I just made my first batch of soap so now I'm going to teach you!"

So I just try to avoid them unless I need to see something specific.

 

[Guest]

I love youtube. It gave me the courage to do the soap. Some of the videos make it seem that you are doing the most dangerous thing in the world - go outside, wear your beekeepers outfit, etc. I would never have done it if I had not seen that others were more practical about it all.
I love Nancy Today. However, I think she is rather satirical and I am laughing so hard my sides are hurting. Actually, she is the one who made it seem less overwhelming and more realistic.

I wear glasses, only wore gloves the first time I made soap. However, I make small batches - 2-4 pounds, have a really deep pitcher for mixing lye and a nice big open kitchen. I mix with my face averted and mix small amounts until dissolved, no more fumes, and then mix some more. Not the best safety. I did have the lye plop a dot on my hand once, wiped off with a paper towel and rinsed with water and didn't have any kind of a burn.
Boiling a pot of water is dangerous. Getting that pot of hard boiled eggs from the burner to the sink is dangerous. I put lye in the same category as cooking hot stuff, frying food, etc. Safety is important but not a deterrant like some of those videos make it seem.