Thread: soap DIY

Lye? From scratch? Well, in one of the Firefox books there is section on doing just that.

It is a time consuming process and you will get dirty. The main ingredient for making lye is a whole bunch of wood ash from your fireplace and then you drip water thru it. What comes out is lye.
A simpler method is to purchase a can of Red Devil Lye. You add the lye to rendered fat. Fat, beef, pork etc., that has been cooked until liquid and the scum that forms on the top is removed and thrown away. To the rendered fat you add a certain quantity of lye then pour that mixture into molds and allow to cure.

Now the main question is, why in hell would you want to put lye, an acidic substance, on your face? :?

Hey Superfly,
Have you read the Shaving Soap.pdf file on the yahoo group? If not, it's a good place to start. It has alot of info about what makes a good and better shaving soap.
That might give you some food for thought to start your search making your own soaps. I do know there are tons of places on the old internet that has the ingredants and the information if you just google it.
http://waltonfeed.com/old/soaphome.html
http://www.make-stuff.com/formulas/soap.html
http://www.millersoap.com/

Those are a few top results from googling homemade soap

I make soap using lye and fats. Mostly bath/hand soap. I have tried using it for shaving but it doesn't lather as well as the melt and pour soap. If you get homemade soap to lather well it is too harsh. If I ever figure it out I'll post the recipe.
Jack

Kelly, thanx for the links, i will check them. I have already searched the web for, i think, shaving soap DIY, and found lots of soap recepies, among them some nice stuff with coconut oil, olive oil and some bentonite clay...

I thought it would be interesting to custom made my own soap, with the ingridients and fragrance of my own choice, so i was wandering has any of you done that. Shure it is easier to drop 5 or so bucks for a cake of classicshaving premium soap, wich i must say, bears the name "premium" with pride, or any other quality brand, but i wanna try making my own just for fun... I might try the melt and pour, but i raly want to make my soap from scratch.

I think the lye is sodium hydroxid, or potashium hydroxid, and it can be found in pharmacy? I will search a little...

Superfly
you can get lye at Menards, Home Depot etc. It is in the drain cleaner section. Red Devel is the common brand name. Be careful with it. Read up on soap making on the internet before you use it. Also coconut oil is available at Walmart. Most recipes call for some of that also.
Jack

Hmm, i think i can't get it at the Wallmart (not that i dont want to,

I live in Skopje, Macedonia, so going to nearest Menards or Wallmart is a near 4600 miles trip

but i think i can find the stuff where i live.

my avatar is getting updated...

Wow...
How are things in Macedonia these days? I had a brief stop in the Balkan's(Sarajevo) back in the early 90's while I was in the Army, and one of my best friends growing up was from Bucharest... I know those places are not in Macedonia... but that whole region was just a mess.

We dont hear much about the things going on over there any more, so I guess most people assume that life is peachy there now. I get the feeling that things havent changed much since, I was there. I know there were some american forces sent to Macedonia back in 2001 over the Slav/Albanian issues..
I hope things are well whith you my friend, Its nice to hear from someone from that area.

Kelly, i am glad you are aware with the situation over here. The situation is a lot better since the 90s, mess is a little word to desribe what was going on then. Sarajevo was one of the most beautiful, and culture rich cities in the region, now it is starting from scratch.
The life is far from peachy, but is is getting better. Macedonia managed to avoid getting involved in the conflicts in the 90s, but got the heat in the 2000s.

What has been, has been, now we are heading towards EU.

Thanks for the wishes Kelly, and all other help on this place.

Great!
Im glad things are looking up over there.. It is really (and I mean really) beautiful country. Your welcome for what little help I can offer, I tend to just complicate things :lol: But if I can be any help at all, I'll be glad to.

Kelly, just wondering,
where in San Diego are you? I am stationed on North Island
John P