Teach Soap

Hi everyone! Thank goodness I found this forum! As you can see, this is my first post.

I’ve been wanting to try out making CP soaps, but the ingredients are a bit hard to find in our area (I’m based in the Philippines, by the way) so that deterred me a bit. But after reading all the posts (and seeing pictures of soap projects) – I was sooo envious!!! Now I’m determined to get started…:D

Have some questions …I couldn’t find lye here but found caustic soda instead which is being sold by the kilo. Is this the same as lye? If the recipe calls for 6.9oz lye, should the measurement be the same for caustic soda? 6.9oz caustic soda? Pls help!!

Can you also pls give me a basic recipe for me to start practicing on? Maybe scented with something yummyfruity,or flowery . I’d love to order from Bramble Berry but I can’t for now since they don’t accept Paypal payments. I wish they did, though.

Anyway, I’m really looking forward to your suggestions. Thanks in advance!



P.S. Is it ok to use a candlemaking thermometer?

I can't help you with your question on lye. But if you google Food Grade Sodium Hydroxide you will get some websites that might help you over there. As far as a basic recipe, try this website: www.millersoap.com. They have all kinds of soap recipes for you. Also, you will need an accurate scale to measure your ingredients. You'll have to run your recipe through a lye calculator to make sure all the measurements are correct. I use the one one this website: www.thesage.com. But there are others on-line that you might find more helpful. Good luck!

Caustic soda is another name for lye. Just as long as it's white. It comes in granules or flakes (usually).
What oils are available to you locally?

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

Hey & welcome!

I have yet to try any CP soaps myself yet, but the first ones I'm going to try are located right on the main page www.teachsoap.com

They have a couple of links that seem easy to try- click on the small batch link and the easy link.

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ween rules

Wow! Thank you all for the suggestions & the welcome.

@ soapbuddy: I haven't ordered the caustic soda yet (wanted to make sure first) but I think it's in flakes/granules form. Unfortunately, the only oils available at the supermarket were canola, olive oil, coconut oil (liquid, not solid), vegetable oil, & sunflower oil. No palm & castor oil. Can you please, please suggest a recipe using any of these oils?

@ vexvelour: the beginner's recipe posted at teachsoap has palm & castor oil in it. I'd like to try it out, but I don't how if it would be ok to omit those oils or substitute it with a different one.

@ SpottedCat: Thanks for the link! I'm still trying to read everything about soapmaking, especially CP. I just hope that with constant, I'll get to be as good as you guys are! My digital scale's ready and so is my candlemaking thermometer. But is this kind of thermometer ok to use in soapmaking?


Thanks!

Castor oil is not a necessity in your soap. Palm oil adds to the hardness of the soap, try substituting the palm oil with lard, you should be able to get clean lard at the grocery store. You might want to add a tsp of sugar to your lye water once it's cooled a bit to add some bubbles. I'm not an experienced soaper, so I'm hoping I'm not stearing you in the wrong direction. I just read this in my soapmaking book, I have not used Lard or sugar in my soaps as I have access to soapmaking supplies here. Good luck!

I would go with olive oil, coconut oil & vegetable oil. Do you know what is in the vegetable oil?

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

I agree with soapbuddy - the coconut and olive are both excellent for soap. Other good oils that you might be able to find are lard, tallow, or vegetable shortening - are those available to you?

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Caster oil in the drugstore section. It's with the laxatives. I would substatute lard ( this is already rendered pig fat) or tallow ( you can usualy get beef fat from a butcher ) and render it yourself. I use beef tallow and caster oil in all my soaps. Along with olive, coconut, and sometimes sweet almond oil. All these oils you can get in a grocery store.
Read Millers soap page she has a section on where to get oils. When your just starting out and don't want to order online ( shipping charges) the grocery store has alot of the stuff you need. Good luck.

Well, the vegetable oil is only labeled as 100% Pure Vegetable Oil so I hope that would do. Here's my final list of available oils --
-- Crisco Pure Canola Oil
-- Olive oil
-- Coconut Oil (in liquid form)
-- Palm Oil (100% Pure refined Palm Olein w/ Vit A -- in liquid form) -- would I be able to use this?
-- & a can of Crisco (the one used for baking)

By the way, here's a recipe I found online & thought maybe this would be a good one to follow. What do you think?

450 grams olive oil
250 grams coconut oil
250 mls chilled water
90 grams caustic soda (sodium hydroxide/NaOH)
Optional:
20 mls of essential or skin safe fragrant oils
1/4 cup ground herbs or ground oatmeal
1 tablespoon of cosmetic clay
(This recipe makes about 8 full-sized bars of soap)

Does the water have to be chilled or will ordinary tap water do?

What would be a great essential & fragrance oil combo? Maybe something flowery or fruity?

I'm so excited. . . Will be ordering the caustic soda & fragrance oils this week, so hopefully by next week, I'll be making soap already!!! Yipee!!

Thanks, guys!

David Fisher at( About .com Candel and Soap Making ) has a bunch of great beginers soap recipes useing oils found in the grocery store. And he explanes what all the diffrent oils do for the soap. Thats important when your building a recipe. So that the soap isn't too soft, and lathers well. All things to consider when your just starting out. .....................Happy soaping

By the way - I noticed that you said Bramble Berry doesn't accept PayPal but they do! There's a drop down menu on the checkout page and you can choose to pay with a credit card, money order or PayPal!