Teach Soap

Hello everyone . This is my first time on here. I am new to the world of soapmaking and I'm hoping someone will be kind enough to help me out a bit. First, I just bought an intro to soapmaking book and some of the recipes in the book say "almond oil" and others say "sweet almond oil". Are these two different oils?? I can only find sweet almond oil.
Secondly, I am very confused about preservatives. I am not even sure if preservatives are necessary in CP soap. If so, I have no idea what I should be using. I was planning on using grapefruit seed extract, but then read that GSE will accelerate trace when using FOs, which is what I plan to use mostly. I would like to use materials that are at least somewhat natural. Any suggestions on when preservatives should be used and what kinds?
Thirdly, I have bought quite a bit of handmade soap in the past and have noticed that many soapmakers include ingredients such as sorbital, sorbitan oleate, and soybean protein. Can someone please explain what these are and why some people include them in their soaps?
Finally, I made my very first batch of soap the other day. It was a simple recipe with just coconut oil, olive oil, and shea butter. I added .6 oz of Ocean Rain FO to it and the batch looks great so far but the smell is just overwhelming. It will almost knock you over and I'm not sure why. Are some FOs just like that? BTW it is a 1.8lb batch.
I apologize for this long post. I know I have a lot of questions, but I would appreciate some help from some experienced soapers. Thank you so much

Welcome!
Almond & sweet almond are the same thing.
CP soap do not need a preservative.
Sorbital, sorbitan oleate, and soybean protein are ingredients for MP (Melt N' Pour)
Fragrancing soaps is more of an indivudual thing. It also depends on their strength.
Some fragrances work well at 0.5 oz per lb, others as much as 1 oz. per lb. of soap.

BTW. Grapefruit seed extract most likely contains Trichlosan, which, even though it's not on the label, is a preservative. For soaps it's not needed.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Thank you soapbuddy..that clears up a bit..especially about the almond oils..I was beginning to go crazy looking for 'almond oil'..lol..i feel a bit silly but oh well. I hope you dont mind but if you are still there I have a couple follow up questions to what you said.
First about the preservative thing...I am wanting to experiment at some point with using things other than water in my soaps...like perhaps various fruit juices and sodas among other things and I'm wondering if that makes a difference in the shelf life of the soap. You had said no preservatives are needed in CP, but I have heard of people using pureed fruits and sugary drinks and I find this very interesting. I am worried though that these things would just make my soap rot really quickly or smell weird. Any suggestions for this type of soap? I am figuring from other things that I have come across that if I use sugary items that I should keep the soap in a thin layer in the mold and not insulate it. Does that make sense?

My second question is about the overly smelly batch of soap that I had mentioned earlier. I was wondering if it was possible to make another identical batch of soap that is unscented and then 'rebatch' it with the smelly soap. Is that possible? I figured if I melted both soaps together it would dilute the smell . I know nothing at this point about rebatching so forgive me if that is a crazy idea.
Sorry if I'm going overboard with all of the questions. I am just so excited and trying to learn everything I can. This forum is so great and everyone is so nice...thank you I appreciate any help =)

You can add most juices to CP except citrus juices or pineapple. Those could neutralize some of you lye, making the soaps superfatted more than you intended to.

Soda is just sugar, water and flavor. That would be just wasted in soap. You can do beer, but you have to make sure it's VERY cold & VERY flat. If it's not flat you could end up with a lye volcano.

The more sugar in the soap batch, the more chance that it could overheat. If you want to add sugar, I would start out with 1 tsp. added to your cooled off lye water.

Yes you can rebatch, but it will not be as smooth as CP. You can add the old soap shreds to an unscented new batch. That will work.

If you haven't made many soap batches, I would suggest to start simple, til you get the hang of it.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

thank you so much you have been very helpful and I really appreciate it. I am so glad I found this forum

You're welcome.
Always run any recipe (even from a book) through a lye calculator. Mistakes do happen.

_________________
Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.