Thread: soap DIY

I found a number of shaving soap recepies on the web, and they all use olive oil, palm oil, castor oil e.t.c. I wanted to ask, are those food grade oil, just the regular supermarket oil or?

I would like to try some of those recepies. Has anyone had experience with this?

If you go to the yahoo group and search the messages and walk through the files you will find TONS of info about making your own soap from scratch and how to add a little oil to your existing soaps to enhance their performance...

I think this topic would make a great "stickie" for this forum by the way.. if anyone is listening :lol:

There are people that will only use food grade oil, and others that are a bit more flexible. My recipe includes Hemp seed oil as well. I think part of the reason some people will use the food grade oils is availability.

here is a lazy one to try- I went to Michael's a few months ago and bought a "tray" of their Essentials coconut oil glycerin melt&pour soap; I also bought 2 small bottles to add scent to the soap; cut a few chunks, put them into a mug and threw it in the nuker.
Voila. soon as it is melted I stirred in some drops of the scent, and when it all cooled down-it was already formed to the mug.
By the way the stuff lathers AWESOME. Fun and easy way to blow an hour or two, not spend much cash, and get just about any flavor soap you want.
In the mean time, actually making soaps or creams with fatty acids and lye solutions etc seems a lot more complicated to me, perhaps something to do over a weekend, and then wait, and wait, and wait, and wait....
(apparently it has to cure....)
John P

John,
Sounds like a fun project. We have the Michaels chain here too and I have seen the do it yourself soap products. Guess I am going to have to hit them on the way home and make soap tonight.
I am out of new aftershaves so need a new frontier to explore.
Tony

Let us know how it goes for you. I thought it was pretty much fun personally. So far I have one of tea tree, one of lavender, a mint one, and the one I like the most I can't remember what I used, but I *believe* it is green apple scented. Fun for those of us without the chemical equipment to make "real" soaps and creams....
John P

I get the Melt and Pour Olive Oil soap from Michaels. Also available from Hobby Lobby.
Here's my recipe.
1 cup melt and pour olive oil soap.
1/2 cup of Suave Body wash for men.
3 tablespoons of castor oil
1 tablespoon of bentonite clay ( made from WalMart Special Kitty kitty litter and beat to a fine powder in a blender)

Melt the soap in a microwave. Put in for 20 seconds then stir. Repeat until completely liquid.
Add the 1/2 cup of liquid Suave Body Wash.
Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Pour into suitable containers (makes about 4 normal size cakes)

I haven't tried any of the high end soaps but this is the best thing I've used. The soap lathers great and stays moist longer than anything else I've ever used. This is the result of a lot of experimenting. I added the liquid soap to increase the lather and add the scent. Next experiment will be unscented liquid soap and adding some sandalwood scent.

If anyone tries this let me know how it works for you.

Originally Posted by nef

There are people that will only use food grade oil, and others that are a bit more flexible. My recipe includes Hemp seed oil as well. I think part of the reason some people will use the food grade oils is availability.

I'll bet you're of child of the 60's, am I right? (just kidding)

Latest one: Took some of the white meltnPour soap (coconut oil version) melted it down and dumped a gob of lime oil into it. Now I have a cheap soap that lathers insanely well (too well in fact....got so much lather I could've done 8 passes, and I hate wasting lather) and smells as good as my CF limes cream. Who knew?
Perhaps I'll post pics; I didn't add clay or anything else, just the lime EO.
Maybe I'll try adding clay another time, right now I'm extremely happy with how this stuff is working.
John P

Hey guys, how about making your soap from scratch, lye and everything, has any of you tried that?

I would like to try, but i would need some advice from an expirienced user.