Thread: The Chemistry of Soap

Patchouli here seems to be 1/4 of the price of many other oils. The Patchouli and the lime were the cheapest at £0.95 for 10ml each so I went with them to start with. I bet it would be cheaper if you bought a bigger bottle though. I bought it off ebay. There are loads of essential oil sellers on there in the ebay shops bit. Let me know if you want the exact vendor.

I'll be pressing the soaps out the mold tonight and I haven't peeked so who knows what lies in wait for me. I may have a bar of mush or a block of cement. I will celebrate in 4 weeks time when I have a bath with it and my skin stays on!

Originally Posted by Bobbo

I may have a bar of mush or a block of cement. I will celebrate in 4 weeks time when I have a bath with it and my skin stays on!

Well hats off to you, Bobbo Its not always easy getting things in the UK that appear so easily obtainable in the U.S.!

I think you might have to work on your Marketing skills though - the choice of a 'bar of mush' or a 'block of concrete' is perhaps a tad unappealing

Yeah it is a struggle here. You can get most stuff you can get in the US over here. Hones, soaps or whatever. It is just called a different name or you have to track it down a bit. I do chemical consultancy for a living and know for a fact that most herbal extraction is done in the UK and in France (all goes to the French market to make perfume etc) so essential oils are relatively cheap here. All the fats and oils for the base soap you can get in the supermarket (much cheaper than the soap supplier) and I got one of my old lab mates to provide me with some lye (but this is dirt cheap from many sources). The only thing I had to order was the coconut oil.

I honestly think the soap will be OK as the recipe worked as it should and everything looked exactly like the pictures in my book. I am confident in our resident soap mistress and of obtaining a nice creamy bar of soap!

I am thinking now though that the patchouli is going to need something sweet to balance it if it is that earthy. I know Colleen uses Orange but I may use my lime. Oh the possibilities.....

I find Patchouli to be very alluring and intoxicating....its one of those EO's thats hard to describe, but you will also find....that people either like it or they don't!

I read one person's description of Patchouli as "having the scent of a Gorilla's arm pit", of course I was thrilled with that description as I couldn't imagine how they would know such a thing...

C.

Hi Folks,

Well, just to update you all, the soaps came out the mould last night. They looked like soap and smelled like soap, so I guess they must be soap .

They look nice and creamy and are nice and firm too. I struggled to get them out the mold (didn't use liners as I used a small commercial mold greased lightly) but a couple of hours in the freezer shrunk them enough for them to pop out nicely (that was a wee tip from my book).

Will make a new batch at the weekend with the frangrances.

Originally Posted by Bobbo

Hi Folks,

Well, just to update you all, the soaps came out the mould last night. They looked like soap and smelled like soap, so I guess they must be soap .

this is one of those "things" that I like about soap. Unscented soap smells....well, just like soap! how does it do that....lol.

Congrats on your first batch. soapmaking is not hard, all you have to do is measure correctly, and be careful with the lye. Adding fragrance, teas and herbs is when it really gets to be fun.

Colleen

Colleen,

Do you have any advice on frangrances? What combinations go together well?

Do I need a base, middle and top note or can I just use singles and pairs of oils.

I'm going to try a new recipe from my book tomorrow and fragrance it with the lime alone I think.

I can see this is going to be a game of patience as you have to leave it for a month before you can see how things have worked out. I will have to develop a labelling stystem and a log book to asses a) the quality and style of soap b) the fragrance appeal.

So I may end up with a really nice soap that smell horrible and a poor soap that smells great. Once I have the style of soap I am after, I can add combine it with the best fragrance combination to get the perfect soap.

Thats my theory anyway.............

Afternoon all,

Made a batch of shaving soap today, far more indredients than the previous batch. Had it all nicely setting and was playing around with a lye calculator spreadsheet and realised I had got my lye levels wrong Arrrgggg!

Pressed the soap out the mold (a drainpipe this time so I can make "pucks") and it looked pretty good. Such a pity. It was really hot even 5 hours later so the saponification/gelling was still in action.

I repeated the recipe with the correct amounts and it turned out even better so all was not lost. Also, with my extra experience I created far less mess this time round and the whole process was much quicker. Didn't need the gloves or the apron this time to be honest but will continue wearing them just in case.

Added my lime essential oil to this batch. It smells pretty nice but will see if the lye chews it up. I heard citrus frangrances are not that robust against the lye. Will have to wait and see.

Have a good weekend.

Rob

Hmmmm.....Bobbo, have I just driven myself outta business!!! making shaving soaps, making pucks...using drain pipe !!! I'm doomed....lol

Fragrance help....sorry sweetie your on your own although I will concur that citrus oils are very hard to hold.

It is true that these days I rarely wear my gloves while I am melting oils and dissolving lye. But I ALWAYS wear my SAFETY GLASSES. And I ALWAYS wear my gloves when mixing the lye solution into the oils. Did I always do that.... well no, but after a good burn on the arm, I went back to using them when mixing.

My Mom ran off with my best soapmaking/chemistry book, so I'm going to look up some different things for everyone here, just more history kinda stuff...I will say that if you haven't looked at the "National Geographic" video on shaving....its a must. I loved it, some really cool stuff on there!!!

Colleen

I don't think there is much danger of me driving you out of business! This is my first batch and I still have a lot to learn.

I guess it was a bit of a cheeky question but I'm just making them for the fun of it really. Keeps me out of trouble. Also the guys on here all love you so are unlikely to jump ship. I'm just going to sell them down the rugby club (assuming I can get them to a level where they could be sold) so there's no need to worry.

Well the soap still smells nicely of lime so I am optimistic.

I seem to have hijacked your thread too, so will put mytail between my legs and skulk off to another thread I think