Thread: Homemade Soap Misadventure

Ok, folks, today's bit of redneck ingenuity and DIY spirit is concerning soapmaking... I've screwed up making nearly every other piece of shaving gear apart from the razor, (scuttle, aftershave, brush, strop is en media res) so today I figured I'd post pix of my soap making misadventures! The soap came out really well, but it's still cooling so I won't be able to post a report of how well it works until later tonight or tomorrow.

But in the meantime, here's how the deed was done:

here are the ingredients:

1. soap - the kind I got was melt and pour high glycerine with shea butter in
2. essential oils - rose, eucalyptus mint, and cucumber/grean tea for the wife
3. coloring - to tell them apart
4. things to pour the soap in - I remelt all my soaps into those tupperware containers anyway, perfect size for a brush and wonderful to travel with 'cause they seal up
5. utensils for cutting and stirring
6. microwave (not in pic)
7. more glycerine! must have that uberlather!

cutting the soap

ready for melting

melted soap, about to add glycerine, swirled pattern with dye, stirring the soaps

As long as you can whip up a good lather and it performs well, the color of the soap itself doesn't matter. Still, I'd reconsider the colors next time around

yeah, the colors are weak, I mainly dyed them so I could tell 'em apart.

And now, how it works: very well! Not quite as slick as some of the soaps I have used that have bentonite in them, but lathered really well and felt great! Don't think I put enough EO in, the smell is quite weak. may put more in later. pix:

It's all about trial and error. Colleen spent a lot of time testing her products before she came up with the final works of art. I'm sure Sue did the same.

jock,

Did you test the lather producing potential of the soap before adding any of your EOs or dyes? Did they change the consistency of the suds?

Questions abound...

Originally Posted by Bruce

jock,

Did you test the lather producing potential of the soap before adding any of your EOs or dyes? Did they change the consistency of the suds?

Questions abound...

the dye and eo didn't change the latherability at all, but adding that extra glycerine DEFINITELY helped produce more lather. the soap was ok without the extra glycerine, but with it, the lather just about exploded.