Thread: Soap Making Escapades

Do you think it is being too brave to try to convert this recipe to a hot process soap? I don't want to try something that is ridiculously out of my depth but if it allows me to see the recipes shortcomings faster then i may be able to try and adjust the recipe to solve the problems and come up with a better product faster.
Or maybe I am jumping in far too deep here?

I am no expert and don't want to discourage you from trying things out but in my view you are in way too deep and at the bottom of the pool.

I would make a regular bath soap first and see how you get on with that before you even have a go at a shaving soap, which is more complex.

You will see that throwing fragrances in also changes trace times etc too and can curdle your soap so to begin with I would make a cheap unfragranced bath soap based on cheap ingredients you can get at the supermarket (olive oil, lard and sunflower oil or something like that). The batch will cost you virtually nothing to make and will get you used to what a trace looks like and get you experienced with the preparation (you have to have things ready and move quick when the soap traces).

With this under your belt move on and try the shave soap, cold processed. You could even do the bath soap in the morning and then try the shave soap in the afternoon or straight after if you are in that big a rush. The shave soap recipe you have is fairly simple though so it should be OK. I would still do a cheap bath soap first so if it all goes wrong you haven't wasted any of that expensive coconut and palm you bought.

If you go hot processed straight off the bat you will more than likely end up with rock hard soap in your pan or end up burning yourself in the mad rush.

Hi
HP is not as scary as it sounds. You are only adding GENTLE heat to a batch you have made. I have found that it is best accomplished in a slow cooker (crock pot) or in a warm oven (170*F or 60*C). Your goal is to force your raw soap into a gel stage. I would not suppest trying this on a stove top unless you are very experienced and have two uninterupted hours of time to devote to the task!
When you have a recipe high in hard oils or that traces too quickly and gets lumpy pop the bowl (you need to use stainless or oven safe glass) into a warm oven. In an hour or so the soap should be in a gel stage and have a texture similar to petrolium jelly. I keep mine cooking for about another hour untill all the lye is gone. Fragrance is added at the end of cooking and/or when the soap has cooled for a short time if I am using a fragrance with a low flash point.
Above all else only do what you are comfortable with! Only do what you feel safe doing! If you have no experience making soap this may be beyond a first timer. Soaping is a wonderful and satisfying endevor but needs to be done with caution and respect for the process.
Jean

Actually, stupid me didn't think to make a cheaper one first! I will try maybe with cheaper ingredients to get the technique down first.

My new recipe went on today. It traced extremely fast but everything went OK.

I think this recipe will be awesome based on the soap calc numbers. Will wait and see.

My last soap was pretty good and this one will be too. I know I keep promising this but testers will be coming out soon.

Rob

Well I'll be very interested in trying samples when you get them ready.

Good luck with the process.

Steven

Ok, did a cheap one today, HP(I was feeling confident). I am now proud owner of 27 bars of lavender hand soap. It seems to be ok, everything went smoothly spotted trace no problems, and it cooked and went into the mould perfectly. once it cooled i cut it up. No problems.
I used 500g each of tallow and lard(which cost me 70p in total) so it was dirt cheap too.
I'm glad i did do that as a test though because now I will be less nervous about ruining my next batch, and i will use a different fragrance, as i'm not ridiculously keen on the lavender now i have made it.
I recieved the Cavendish black and Bay rum soaps today, really looking forward to trying the cavendish tonight, it smells gorgeous - Thanks Bobbo for importing to the UK.

Hey no problem Nicky, I hope you like the soap.

My newly formulated batch of shaving soap came out the mold yesterday and cut up perfectly too. Washing up the mold produced a nice creamy lather so I am still confident the soap will be good.

Will wait a week and test.

27 bars of soap, what are you going to do with all them? You might want to scale down your next recipe to 400g of oils in total.
You could go lower if your balance is acurate to 0.1g.

Test the safety of the soap by doing the "zap test". This invloves putting the tip of your tongue on the bar. If it zaps you, like licking a battery, then the pH is too high and there is NaOH still present. If it tastes mildly salty then you will be OK. I was apprehensive about doing this test and getting a mouthful of soap taste but it is fine. They use soap in toothpaste to create a foam and that doen't taste bad.

I made lavendar soap once and wasn't too keen on the smell of the bars. But once I formed a lather with hot water the smell changes and I began to like it.

Steven, samples will be coming your way when ready.

Cheers

Rob

Rob, I hope you haven´t forgotten about me either

How could I forget about little old you?

It looks like there will be two soaps coming out for the first round of testing and all the guys that have bought Colleens sopas from me and anyone else interested will get the samples (that includes you Ilija)