Teach Soap

For the last couple of months I've been trying to bring more natural products into my life (when I was younger, I swear the only way you could find all this out was to belong to a commune! The downside of the wealth of the internet is there is sometimes too much wealth!)

I've been making my own deodorant (which hasn't yet stood the test of a hot summers day workout)

I've been using coconut oil and other butters for body moisturizing. My favorite so far is sweet almond butter! But someday I'd like to try a blend.

I've bought a few different bars from a semi-local company at a fair (and have tried some of their cleaning products and toothpaste too). I am learning what I like and don't like and kind of unfortunately this is such a mild time of year to be doing this! It's not too hot so I can't see what I don't like in the heat and it's not so cold that my skin is super dry.

Anyway, as I've said I've tried a few bars and I really like one of them EXCEPT - I really prefer a liquid soap for my hair and body. I've been doing this for about 5 weeks now and although I can force myself to use a bar, and will likely still make some..... I really want a liquid. Preferably a mildly scrubby type of liquid!

I've been putting things in and out of my BB shopping cart for over a week now and it's driving me nuts. Two of the items I'm looking at are the Liquid Soap Guru kit and the Soap Base Sampler (I would like to try the Goats Milk base as I have yet to buy any soaps with that.). I see the shampoo base has SLS which I was trying to get away from...... well maybe I should just order a goats milk sample).

I had been also thinking of trying the invigorating shampoo bar recipe - can I split it in half and add something scrubby to it?

OK my last question. I swear in all my reading I found an equipment list. But I don't see it bookmarked, no link here or at the other site I had bookmarked. What can I get away with using of my own supplies and what would I really need to repurchase for soaping only? (if there is a link I'd be happy to read it! Wherever I found it, it was obviously marked). I do have a good digital scale I can use, but not a thermometer, don't think I have a mixer unless I can find the 25+ year old hand one my mom gave me before I got my good one.

I do a lot of baking so I do have a number of measuring items etc but I don't have a lot of multiples of things other than some plastic cups. I am leary of plastics made in China so I'm cautious of going to cheap on that stuff (I found a Farberware one I already bought). I have good Farberware pots but again, not sure if I have extras. I don't have a double boiler at all - when I made a body butter kit I just put a container inside a big pan. I am guessing anything that comes in contact with lye should be only used for soaping. But some of the other things, like butters and oils? Just trying to minimize what I spend all in one shot - though I suppose it's inevitable I will eventually have a small fortune tied up in this!

Thanks so much for any comments.

You can make liquid soap yourself with potassium hydroxide. I love CP soap on my skin, but I can't use it on my hair. That's the only thing I use a solid synthetic shampoo bar for. I prefer to keep my soaping pots and utensils separate.
I'm not sure which sticky you are looking for. Is it this one? viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3800

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

I bought the liquid soap guru kit and I am glad I did. So super easy once I saw how it was done

Irena, that wasn't the link I saw but it's got the info I need - thanks!

ahutchins9, I think I saw one of your posts when I was searching for shampoo. Good to know you liked that.

The Liquid Soap Guru kit says to provide your own OO. I bought some last weekend at Ocean State Job Lot. They had at LEAST 25 different kinds and the prices ranged all over the board. I ended up with Racconto Extra Virgin. Should this work? I am finding the BB pricing to be great compared to what I can get most oils for out here, but in this case it was close enough and I won't have to pay the extra shipping. Castor oil that I've found so far is 3x what BB charges, and I paid over $10 for a lb of coconut oil on sale and thought that was good. I just wish they weren't on the other side of the country from me!

I'm going to hit up a local Goodwill to see if I can find any pots and utensils.

If you are located on the east coast try essential depot. Thats where I get my oils and lye from. Much cheaper than shipping cross country from BB Also look into Wholesale Supplies Plus. Their prices may seem high on some things but everything includes shipping. I often find that they are actually cheaper once you add in shipping charges from other places. You can get 8lbs. of coconut oil from them for around $19.00 shipping included. I like to order their coconut oil because it comes in a bucket which is easier to work with than gallon jugs.

Wow thanks for those sites! They are not as easy to follow as BB though, but I can see using them once I get the hang of things! TBH if I take the liquid guru kit, that's still less from BB than Essentials even with shipping! The place that was in my home state charges a fortune for shipping too - it's nuts these days. Wholesale doesn't sell lye? Or could I just not find it?

Well my Goodwill trip was for naught. This is why I don't shop haha! I ended up with two cool bookends and a cute wrought iron bench that hold votives. <sigh> For soaping I got a tall plastic pitcher and some weird rack that will hold a few bars of soap for curing (I hope). No utensils, they only had an old hand blender that was $12 - I can get a new stick blender for $18 at CVS or Walgreens. No pots and pans!

No wholesale doesnt sell lye. If I need oils and lye at the same time thats when I order from ED. Otherwise I get what I need from WSP. ED does carry Organic Unrefined Shea that I like alot. I think it's like $25 for 5 lbs. I will try their cocoa butter next time I order from them.

Try walmart. They have Coconut oil. Called Luannes. Not sure of the spelling exactly. Its like 19 cents an once. 2 pound container is about $4.
Their Olive oil is pretty cheap too.
They have the lard there too.

They have pots for under $10. Just make sure they are stainless steal.
You can buy Pitchers there for about $2-3 dolloars. Rubbermaid.
Good for mixing your lye.
They have inexpensive thermometers too.
If you go through this store, you can get a good deal of your items. at a decent price.

Have fun shopping.

I noticed a nice Blender at Ace, it was a stick blender for about $45. Looked very sturdy.

And ACE sells Lye also.

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Theresa

Sadly I despise Walmart. The only time I go there is if I am in a certain state more south of me that only seems to have Walmarts or Rite-Aids to shop in, and admittedly those Walmarts are really nice. The ones up here are trash. Only one sells food and it's not close to me (though I have at least 3 others in a short driving distance).

So I stick to Target when I venture out shopping (don't like shopping much!). I had planned on going Monday but with the storm rolling in I opted for next week.

I did hear that Ace sells lye but I didn't see it on their website! I'll have to stop in and look. I check on the blender too but that's way more than I want to spend, if I can get one at a drugstore for $20. I've already read how not to burn it out trying to get to trace lol

I do think I'm going to start with a kit. Will I have any leftover materials from the CP Beginners Kit and the Liquid Guru kit?

Thanks for all your advice!

Not sure on the the cp beginners kit but you will have leftovers on the liquid soap kit. One thing I did though was I cut her Olive/Castor recipie that she makes in the video in half. For my first time her recipies just seemed like alot to do ( also didnt want to have alot of useless paste in case i didnt like it ) If you do plan on cutting her recipies in half always make sure you run it through a liquid soap lye calculator. Everyone always refers to the Summer Bee Meadow calculator but I did use the one on BB site since I weigh everything in grams and SBM calculator only does ounces. You also need to be careful when using olive oil bought from a grocery store. Some work some dont. Soapbuddy posted a thread with brand name olive oils and if they worked but im not real sure what it was listed under.
Ah I found it
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7568

I was thinking of cutting in half too.

I searched for the brand I bought and didn't find it listed on the forum at all. I have some of another brand in the pantry, I'll look that up. I'd hate to kill my first batches!

I've stashed that OO list in my todo program so I can look when at Ocean State again - thanks! (of course it would be helpful if I could find my receipt to return the other one!)

You may have to ask at the counter for lye. Sometimes the stores keep it in the back and require that you sign for it since it's used to make meth...

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

Oh My Gosh I had no idea lye was used to make meth! No wonder the hardware store guy looked at me weird when bought a few of them at the same time...small town....rumors....oh my! Oh man I am so glad I ordered my next batch online. I don't want anyone raiding my soap closet but me.
Don't know much about meth other than what it does to people but my goodness! It really has lye in it? How do people put that in their bodies?

I think they use the lye in the manufacturing process, not in the actual product. Although I wouldn't want to put that in my body either!

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

I believe in natural selections but that's a WHOLE other topic!

Stopped buy Ace on the way home. They do have lye and not behind the counter, but it's labeled as a drain cleaner. Says 100% lye (he looked at me funny when I asked for another). It's the Rooto brand which I remember reading about somewhere! $4.99 for 1 lb. Would that work?

I got a blender, candy thermometer (is it ok that it only goes down to 100 degrees??) and a cheap plastic spoon - all for $23

Then I headed to the dollar store in hopes of finding some cheap measuring spoons or cups. No go, just cups and they are plastic. I did however find the same stick of pure cocoa butter that Whole Food sells for less - who would've thunk?

They also had Murrays 100% pure Austrailian Beeswax for hair conditioning - BUT in addition to beeswax it contains petrolatum and fragrance which makes it sound not pure to me.

Oh, they also had their own brand of pots - I could get an 8 gallon stock pot for $8 and a 12 gallon for $10 but even though it said stainless steel, it felt too flimsy and I feared the rivet points where the handles are are really aluminum. So I passed on that. It's Family Dollar if anyone knows for sure.