Teach Soap

Hi everyone!!! Im Celeste and new here! My good friend and me have just started making cold process and just finished our third batch and it did not gel. I have been reading the forum for some weeks and decided I should join. Why did our last batch not gel? Are all soaps supposed to gel. I think it could have been the fragrance we used was chocolate mint.

Another thing. My friends husband is a european engineer and thinks he knows the right ways to do everything and so he has been trying to help us. Is there a right and wrong way to mix in your fragrances and colors? It seems like he has good ideas but want to keep involving himself in what is not his business. We are trying to start a business and want this to be only our business. What kind of man likes to make soap anyway? Maybe needlepoint and wearing a nice skirt will be next for him! He should be playing with power tools in his garage or something! LOL.

Hi Celeste and welcome to the forum. I thought I'd give a try answering your questions. I actually had to read your thread twice to make sure I read the last couple of sentences correctly.

First I'll answer your technical questions then I'll answer your philosophical one: So please, try to keep up. No, there’s nothing wrong with your soap that didn’t gel. If you followed correct methods and a tried/true recipe, it should be fine. If you go to the BrambleBerry website you will find instructions on how to mix in your colorants. As a general rule of thumb, fragrances go in at trace just before you pour. Read the description of the fragrances also and note that some notate that they may accelerate trace. Many soaps don't gel. I gel all of my soaps but that's just a personal preference.

Now, you want to know what kind of "man" makes soap? I’ll tell you cupcake. An Italian man who left a career as a professional football linebacker to concentrate on running a nationwide company he owns. A man who married his best friend. And his best friend happens to be a strikingly beautiful Russian lingerie supermodel. She even owns her own fashion line (beauty and brains). A man who is highly educated yet knows his way around a genetics laboratory, the deep forest, a kitchen, and a toolbox. A man who is just as comfortable clinging to the side of a mountain as he is on the dance floor. I'll bet he even owns power tools and knows how to use them. A man who fluently speaks 4 languages. And if you could find a skirt that would fit a 6'5" and 240 pound "man;" I would bet that nobody in the room would dare to laugh at him wearing one. So, to answer your question sweetpea, I'm the kind of European man who enjoys making soap. I'm not offended but I do want to set the record straight that this isn't a "ladies-only" forum. Please think before you choose to insult someone of the opposite gender next time.

Oh…..and Celeste, incidentally, it’s "my good friend and I" not "my friend and me" and the word "European" is always capitalized.

Sheesh. Guess I hit a nerve on you huh big guy. Sorry. I did not mean to say that this is only for women. Thank you anyway for the info. I saw a bunch of people read my question but only you replied so thank you. And again I am sorry.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Keep reading past forums, there is so much great info here it is amazing. As for the man thing, my hubby makes candles and I see him as no less of a man! Maybe more so because he sticks up for what he likes and what he does. I would be elated if he choose to join me in soap making! Maybe you are wanting something as 'your own' and not meaning it as a gender thing. That is ok, why not give him a project of his own, like melt and pour soaps or candles - something to complement your line?

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Susie
Sometimes A Mistake is so much fun, You just have to do it again!

Hi Celeste, welcome to the forum. I have only been making soap for two years but have found I prefer to add the fragrances and coloring right up front with the melted and cooled oils. I mix with a Whisk at first to get them mixed in a bit before adding the lye/water mix. For me, this helps getting things blended in well before I try to trace. So many times the soap traces way to fast and then it's a mad dash to get everything put in before pouring into molds. However, with Alkanet root powder I love the unmixed speckles I get by adding it at light/medium trace. Play around and see what you like.

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"Maintaining Balance Between People and Nature"

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You may be only one person to the world, but you may also be the world to one person

Bygones.

Yeah, a lot of people read but sometimes only a few respond, if any. Much like when you were reading the posts but weren't a member yet.

Bubbles2 made a good point. Maybe your friends husband would like to do something similar. It might help keep his hands out of your projects.

I've gotten a lot of comments from my buddies about having a "woman's hobby." I was the butt of a lot of jokes until we all found out that one of us, a very gruff U.S. Marine counter insurgency commando was doing quilting with an old ladies church group on Wednesdays, twice a month. He liked being around a bunch of cotton-tops who reminded him of his grandmother. Evidently he was pretty good at it also. All was good until the local paper wanted to do a story about him. Yanno....if you're a secure guy you can do whatever you want. He!!, I own pink shirts and wear them whenever I want. I'm also OCD and making soap calms my brain. I can sing, read and do quadratic equations all at the same time. But when I'm making soap, my mind is concentrating on one thing.....and that's making soap. I don't have 6 other distractions going on all at once. It slows me down. I know, I know, TMI.

I think you'll find that once you get established with your soap business, that you'll have a lot of male customers because men like good soap also....they just don't like to admit it.

Welcome!
I have been making soaps for a long time. I prefer not to gel. The soaps come out lighter and fragrances morph less. I add everything right up front. As soon as my oils/butters are melted and cooled, I add my fragrance and/or color. I also put my soap in the fridge or the freezer to help prevent gel. I use a stick blender for 99% of all my batches. The only ones that get stirred with a stainless steel whisk are the ones that I know will accelerate trace.

Gelling or not gelling is a matter of presonal preference. What works for me, might not work for you. I am also European, but I'm not a man.

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

Alright Soapbuddy. Spill the beans. Where are you from?

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

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

Welcome Celeste, and please excuse my poor manners.

I wish you and your friend much fun and success soaping.

Here is the TeachSoap site where there are all manner of helpful information and techniques. I think you will enjoy it.

http://www.teachsoap.com/

More than likely many people after they learn about this forum go to the chapter that is specific to their area of interest and skip the welcome spot. You too will also find your favorite threads and probably stick there. In the beginning though you will want to read a bit of each and every one.

So have a reading soaping good time! Aloha, Mella

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

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~bytheSEAsoap~ Mella bythesea, bythesea, bythebeautiful sea

海の皂

Alright Mella, settle down!! I have to admit that my side hurt from laughing after re-reading this thread. I hope I didn't frighten her off. Please come back Celeste!!! I knew John Maddon has some weird quirks....but I'm one to talk. I'm gonna start signing my responses 007Soaper from now on and give my wife a good laugh.

Hawaii.....hmmmmmm......

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