Teach Soap

I have noticed in reading the topics, now and then that posters say they have one base recipe they use for most of their soaps. I am wondering...is this true for a lot of people?

I now have two recipes I really like. And was think of doing Just this.

Would that be strange? And maybe now and then to change them by adding some other oil?

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Theresa

I have 3 basic recipes I use for the soap I sell - two are all vegetable oils and the other is made with lard.
I make other soaps for personal/family use so I can experiment with different ingredients.

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

I have 3 tried and true. My customers like them, so I'm not changing it. It took me a long time to get to this point.

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

Thanks for your help. That was what I needed to know

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Theresa

I actually have several because I like them all. Now it is getting too expensive and takes up too much space to keep them all. Time to winnow out the least favorite and stick to my top 3 (if I can give up that many ). Honestly, only my family has noticed a difference in soaps and that only because they like the creaminess of my base with lard.

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

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

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Linda

I learn so much when I can't leave well enough alone!

Lard soap fan here, too!!

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Lisa
“What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul” ~ Yiddish proverb

I'm trying to work towards having a base recipe I can stand behind. I have a pretty good one right now, just so much olive I want to find something chaeper to cut it with without sacrificing the hardness and lather I get.

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Just call me "Apo"

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

I have 2 base recipes that I use, and I sometimes experiment with variations. Like the batch I made for Soapbuddy, she is allergic to shea, so I substituted mowrah. What a nice soap!!! In another batch I added neem (ICK) and babasau, you can still smell the neem, but the soap is really nice! [it was made for a friend on my husband who has a horrible fungal rash he can't get rid of, we're HOPING the neem helps.]

Experimenting with your base recipe is super fun, as is all the experimenting that goes into settling on a base!

Also.. my second base is a lard base, yay lard!!!!

Next up... a tallow base for a shaving soap. Think I'll work on that one next week!

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~~Heather~~
Mad [soaping] Scientist

My shaving soap is a variation of one of my base recipes adjusted for an increase in stable lather. Same ingredients, slightly different % = shaving soap.

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

I have several base recipes. I can not focus on only one or two. It would be boring to me

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Genius is 1 % inspiration and 99 % perspiration

I'm sensitive to coconut so I sort of had to settle on one basic recipe. But I love what I came up with. I use palm kernel flakes in place of coconut oil and away I go. Plus, I really like having the one recipe, with the ingredients I already know and love, so that way I can work on different swirl techniques and such without having to stress myself about the other ingredients. I tend to have an other thinking problem and if I stray too much from the original recipe I end up with 17 million different thoughts in my head (omg did I add this... did I follow the new recipe correctly... etc.)