Teach Soap

I am so excited! I made my first batch of handmade cream soap last night/today. Anyone here (looking at you soapbuddy) have experience with cream soap?

I did a lot of research online, joined the Cream Soap yahoo group, and also bought the booklet Making Cream Soap from BB (), and ended up starting with a smaller recipe from "The Everything Soapmaking Book," that didn't have a super-creaming step. Even with that small of a batch I had to split it in half before putting it in the stand mixer because of the volume. My first mixing turned out pretty perfect though it probably could have been lighter, and the second a tad lumpy no matter how much I mixed. I'm letting it sit up for at least a week as instructed, I assume I will be able to fluff it up more at that point and hopefully get rid of any lumpiness that might still be left. I read so much about adding too much water during mixing making it runny over this week, that I was afraid to add any more, but I feel like more water might would have fixed my issues.

Any advice or tips? I am thinking of putting this first batch just into some Mason type jars I have, do those need to be sterilized or boiled before using them for bath products? (I did use a preservative, phenonip, at 1% of weight.) I know I probably should've posted this sort of thing on the yahoo group, but it's archaic looking and confuses me, heh.

At any rate, I'll probably put a blog post together after the week has passed with step-by-step photos and stuff, but here is how it looks right now. Still moderately light and fluffy, not stiff.




P.S. Oops, I posted this in the wrong section.

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Laura<3

Looks good! Your cream soap should soften as it cures. I add very little extra water to mine. Bake your jars in the oven on low for 20 minutes to sanitize them.

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

Thanks Irena! I couldn't resist giving it another mix after I posted this, first with my stick blender in up and down motions because I read that is doable.... well they must have way better sb than me because, um, no, haha. Then with a hand mixer. This definitely did the trick! Looked much creamier and got mostly all the small lumps out.... Then I added a teaspoon more water because I just can't leave well enough alone, and POOF soup!! Haha, I'll just leave the lid off for a day or two to let some evaporate. That should work right?

Thanks for the jar tip too!

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Laura<3

Soup huh? Leave it be for now. In this instance a KitchenAid or a hand blender works better. Let it rot.

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

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Linda
I know the voices in my head aren't real, but they sure have some great ideas!