Teach Soap

So far the Everthing Soapmaking Book is my favorite ! I stayed up till 1:00 am reading and it is pretty amazing, now I just have to decide on what oils and butters to order from BB, I only live about 1.5-2 hours away rom BB so I could go take some soap queen classes but I am pretty confident that I can make my first batch just fine. There are just so many differ properties in the oils and butter that they all do something different that is what makes it so hard to decide what ones to choose . I would like to chose three oils 1 butter and castor oil this much I do know. If you have any Ideas give me a shout.

hoitlieu

I just found a recipe on the soap queen blog I liked the looks of and went with that. It might have been a little too ambitious but I'm the sort who learns best by doing and I like starting with a challenge.

Olive oil seems like an all around good choice for beginners (which I definitely still am ). From what people say it seems to have the least surprises, is easy to get a hold of at any grocery store and is slow to trace, so it's less likely to set up before you have a chance to do anything with it.

Otherwise, if not going by someone else's recipe (which you should always run through a lye calculator your self just to be safe) you should probably read up on the properties of different oils and butters, how they behave in soap, and what they're good for.

I do believe that BB also has soap making kits, I might buy one of those soon just for fun even though I've made a few batches on my own already.

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"Effective questioning brings insight which fuels curiosity which cultivates wisdom"

Here's my favorite oils/butters in CP:
Olive Oil (not pomace) ~ makes a very mild, low cleansing soap with a lotion-like lather
Avocado Oil ~ helps make a very mild, low cleansing soap
Coconut Oil ~ helps make a hard bar with nice bubbles
Shea butter ~ helps make a hard bar, it's conditioning and helps with a stable lather

But honestly, you'll only know what oils/butters you really like by making soap & testing it. Some people can't stand olive oil, while others like myself love it. Some swear by high amounts of coconut oil and/or palm oil, whereas some people find them too drying.

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Genny

I really like using palm oil or lard in my soaps along with the oils Genny listed. Both make a nice hard bar with creamy lather! And castor oil! Castor helps produce copious amounts of bubbles!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

But don't use too much castor. It makes some great bubbles used in small percentages, but if you overdo it, it makes the soap sticky & you lose bubbles.

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Genny

you can also find a nice basic recipe and play with precentages and ingredients on soapcalc.net to see the bars attributes.

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Anna Rose @-}--
blog

Thank you all, for so much advice and for your likes and dislikes. I appreciate all of you taking the time out of soap making and busy jobs to reply to my questions . I have never found a forum in my life where people like the ones here on Teach Soap have been so helpful and kind it makes me feel so much better to know that not all the world has lost there need to be kind to others and lend a helping hand or go out of their way to answer a question or two. Thanks again from the bottom of my heart.

hoitylieu