DIY-Homemade Soap(non-shaving)



~20hrs later I unmoulded and cut. Very firm, no issues. The scent is a bit so-so but I wasn't aiming for anything swank and Tea Tree does give that 'clean' perception as well as anti-bacterial properties etc.

Am happy with the distribution and amount of coffee/exfoliant in the soap. Have seen others do this but they do tossy stuff like putting a layer of whole beans on the top of the soap! Might look eye catching but zero practical purpose and actually a PITA so sticking with my rules of only something with a purpose goes in THAT was never on the cards.
 
Looks good mate. Very reasonable distribution of the grounds.

I'm onto the last soap of the 3 test bars you kindly supplied - I tend to go through it more than most people. It's the whiter one, the two darker ones are gone.

Cannot give anything other than two thumbs up on it, works well, no irritation, scent is good. In fact, it makes me wonder if I should get into it myself.
 
Monsta_AU said:
Looks good mate. Very reasonable distribution of the grounds.

I'm onto the last soap of the 3 test bars you kindly supplied - I tend to go through it more than most people. It's the whiter one, the two darker ones are gone.

Cannot give anything other than two thumbs up on it, works well, no irritation, scent is good. In fact, it makes me wonder if I should get into it myself.
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From my vast experience of one batch (still untried) I heartily recommend it - did not believe how easy it turned out to be (esp with one of Australias leading makers as a tutor).
 
Thanks @bald as and @Monsta_AU , whilst I'm strictly a function over form chap it did come up looking good...but we'll see in 6-8 weeks eh?

The white soap was the first one I did, it's still quite reasonable - and was @gthomas04 's preferred one. Speaking of the western Sydney sage.....with no disrespect to him but with him now banging out soap too there's really no reason you or anyone should hold back from giving it a try. Very cost effective with next to no equipment you won't already have.......amazingly simple......very safe ...... and well I'm sure I've said it all before but even novice efforts tend to get very good quality soap that compares with upper level commercial stuff.

I'll even go as far as to offer to phone tutor anyone who's either strongly considering or definitely doing a batch. So I can give you all the info you need (which took me MONTHS of research over multiple forums to source), make sure you've got the right gear/bits, give you a few recipes and walk you through the rest of what you need to do.

If you're interested just MSG me and I'll advise my number and you can call me at a mutually suitable point. Only thing I'd say is do a lil research first to make sure you're really leaning towards giving it a try, saves both of us wasting our time.
 
Might have to give this a go sometime

in my spare time ...
 
Mark1966 said:
Might have to give this a go sometime

in my spare time ...
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You have spare time away from cataloguing and maintaining the museum ?
 
Monsta_AU said:
In fact, it makes me wonder if I should get into it myself.
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Ditto. But...

Nick the Knife said:
If you're interested just MSG me and I'll advise my number and you can call me at a mutually suitable point. Only thing I'd say is do a lil research first to make sure you're really leaning towards giving it a try, saves both of us wasting our time.
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...I don't plan to think anymore. I'm in.

I've been collecting ingredients and equipment for a little while now. [emoji6]
 
Bloody heck, we're going to be able to get our own lil beauty queen sash soon for the 'Saponification Inc.' @gthomas04 is a card carrying member likewise with @bald as , from the msgs I've had @filobiblic has his application partially completed and now @Mark1966 is on the way over too! Of course there's the commercial chappies amongst us too but I'm only counting us hobbyists.

We'll have to see if we can lure the big tuna, @Monsta_AU in as well. Before you know it we'll have @Drubbing knocking out stuff like this!
3ecbe24496c0d7e35bedf53c57ce9ad4.jpg

:sick::confused::censored:
 
Mark1966 said:
^^^^ that 'Soapy Angel' creation really has @Drubbing written all over it ...
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Ah the wicked wizard of the west would be spoilt for choice.... sparkly micas, swirling, whole pieces of REAL fruit and food are only a tad of the nonsense that often finds its way into 'Delores from Omaha' etc's soaps. Fairplay to them on the technical side BUT as I said to my wife (putting myself in the doghouse for a few days) its not exactly flattering to females intelligence/logic that the zero functionality (and actually often really negative functionality!) of such over the top aesthetics is MASSIVELY disproportionately appealing to them.

So of course I got a zero logic/100% emotion response and she got the craps....c'est la vie. BUT examine the comment on the actual comment and well it's soap, not something you put on your walls or mantlepiece! So after a few uses its going to look very different to new and does all that crap help it perform better as it will certainly add a massive % to the cost.

As stated earlier I am strictly function over form - even the ripple cutter I use, whilst my wife likes it for the look I do it as it increases the surface area to volume ratio of the bars cut thus I theorise it should help them cure faster.

Is interesting as I guess its one of those men vs women things as I cannot ever recall ever hearing anyone in here praising a shaving soap for it's aesthetics. Scent seems to be something both sexes have an equal appreciation for (though I find it significantly overrated and if I didn't already have a lot of finite lifespanned EO onhand would avoid). But despite men apparently being more visually oriented women seem to place a bigger premium on this with regards soap than amles do. Go figure.
 
Just did another big ass batch (~2kg) Clary Sage, Peppermint & Lavender. Smelt very good.

Funny I had good intel that atleast one other forum member was now making soap and yet they seem to be keeping this very close to their chest as not a peep out of them that I've seen regarding their efforts. (n)
 
Nick the Knife said:
Funny I had good intel that atleast one other forum member was now making soap and yet they seem to be keeping this very close to their chest as not a peep out of them that I've seen regarding their efforts. (n)
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Haha! Thanks for the nudge...

I made a 1kg batch of Peppermint & Rosemary about 2 weeks ago. I actually made it via Hot Process and so it was good to go the next day... Leaving it to cure a week has perfected it. I've just got to get around to cutting it so I can post a photo. [emoji51]

Thanks go to @NicktheKnife and @bald as for their helpful advice.

I'm planning to make some shaving soap (HP) the next time around.
 
IMG_0082 by

Sixth body soap effort off the production line - went very well, amazed at how easy even a 2kg batch is to do nowadays. Just do things in the right order and t makes it a lot more efficient overall. Clary Sage, Peppermint & Lavender. The speckles are a poorly graded french green clay that I bought from ebay, ran it through a fine sieve twice and removed all the larger bits but a lot of much smaller ones left - BUT they might work as a bit of an exfoliant.

FWIW this recipe was just a slight tweak (only to use up some of the many litres of RBO we have on hand).
Beef tallow 35%, Palm Oil 15%, Coconut Oil 20%, Rice Bran Oil 20%, Olive Oil 9%, Neem Seed Oil 1% - SF@8% Sugar and green clay added. Will be ready around 07SEP+.

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@filobiblic , so you still haven't cut your soap yet? Don't profess to be a HP expert but seems a long time that you've left it in one big chunk before cutting. You might find it a tad more tricky to cut without chipping/breaking etc - but I'm sure you've got it under control. :)
 
Nick the Knife said:
@filobiblic , so you still haven't cut your soap yet? Don't profess to be a HP expert but seems a long time that you've left it in one big chunk before cutting. You might find it a tad more tricky to cut without chipping/breaking etc - but I'm sure you've got it under control. :)
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Mate, I'm a total noob when it comes to soap-making!!! If you say so then it's probably true! I did notice it was softer the day after and has progressively hardened up since. I didn't know what to cut it with and just left it. Oh well, that's how we learn...

Nice looking soap BTW! You're getting quite good. [emoji106]
 
Thanks @filobiblic , looks of the soap aren't that important to me but due to a couple of lil tricks and tools I can get a very even, well balanced log to work with - so makes cutting nice inch thick bars like the above very easy.

My understanding of when the HPers cut their soap is a tad limited but I've have expected it to have been no later than 24hrs from cook completion. For the shaving soaps etc they'll often pour/scoop the mix right into the containers (hence you'll often see the Mr Whippy-type soft serve pour pattern on shaving soap jars. A common additive to HP soaps is Sodium Lactate which assists them with getting a nice smooth end product to pour into the end containers.

Definitely need some pix of your soap.....haha you're playing possum with us so no excuses not to get them up.
 
@khun_diddy , thanks pal - haha they're actually not that rustic looking as they've got a very smooth exterior, nice set and even dimensions. If you make HP body soap, as @filobiblic did you tend to get pretty rustic looking bars as whereas I get to pour basically a thick batter (think milkshake) into my mould. He's going to have something more like mashed potatoes to scoop out of his. Smoothing that down and getting nice even bars is apparently a bit of a challenge.

@Monsta_AU 's advice on a cutting implement is spot on IF you can get one - you just have to be careful as to work well they have to be strung very tightly and if they break can come back at you. I use a cheap stamped metal asian knife (the famous Kiwi brand that we've discussed at length in here) - the very thin cross section of them makes cutting a breeze.
 
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