Soap making

scatterbunny

New member
I know we've got a least one soapmaker on the boards. I'd love some tips on getting started!

I've been making my own laundry soap for awhile now and love doing that, but I'd like to switch from store-bought bar soap in the laundry soap recipe to my own homemade bar soap.

Anyone have any simple ideas on getting started? Tips or tricks?
 
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Victorious4

Senior Community Member
My sister does & I dabbled -- made a mess, LOL -- when Leila was an infant: my sister uses oatmeal (flakes) but I stuck to pure essential oils.... I used to lurk at some forums about making soap, but I don't remember what they were (I just Googled at the time). My neighbor with a bunch of kids used to make enough for the whole year in one batch & I still have a pretty full bag of soaps from a few years ago so I haven't had any reason to look into it again. I'm interested to see what others share!
 

LuvBug

New member
I make my own soap, but I dont make it completely from 'scratch'(I wont mess with lye). I use already prepared olive oil based glycerin that you just melt and mix in what you want.
For christmas I made an oatmeal, honey, and lanolin soap and gave to my girl relatives and they all begged me for more because their DH's or kids took them over lol!
I am currently using a oatmeal and lanolin bar with whole caraway seeds for exfoliating. I have some skin issues and so I resorted to making my own soap with the ingrediants I liked and didnt bother me.

ETA: and I use the real ingredients. I processed the oatmeal before adding it and used raw honey and organic lanolin.
 
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Gypsy

Senior Community Member
I make my own laundry detergent too! I'd love to make a bar soap instead of having to buy one! I'd love to have something fragrance free!
 

Tara

New member
Your biggest thing right now will be getting your hands (so to speak) on some lye. Find a place online or a local chem store that will sell to you. Some may only sell in bulk, others aren't picky. Just ask around. Just remember that if you're buying in bulk you'll want a safe, cool, dry place to store the stuff and realize how long it will last you. Lye *can* go bad. If it's sat around for a while, it won't do well in your soap.

Other than that, the simplest recipe you can do uses only olive oil. Pomace grade is sufficient, it'll just lend a slightly greenish tint. Coconut will add some lather, as will palm and/or palm kernal (I forget now, it's been so long since I've soaped and I've never used palm or palm kernal). I love about 5% coconut in my recipes, makes for a good rich lather, but will not dry as coconut, in high quantities/percentages, can tend to do. Lard is another common ingredient, if you're not opposed to the animal fat being in your soap. It works great, it's cheap, I like it. But I know some prefer an all vegan soap.
Look online for a good recipe calculator thre's one at mms.com and I think through thesoapdish.com ? Just do a search for 'soap calculator' and that'll probably do ya fine. I may have some links still around here. If you need them, let me know, I'll take a gander. Oh, soapcalc that was another I really liked. Some calculators have you type in the number of ounces of each oil you want to use then it will show you the percentage. Others, you enter the percentage and it shows you how many ounces for X size batch (that's what I prefer).

Clear as mud?
Anything more specific you need?

I started making soap...oh...seems like forever ago...probably 6 yrs?? Close to it anyway.
Also, go to the library and check out SoapMakers Companion and the like.

I've made milk based soaps, all olive oil (castile) soaps, soaps with honey, oatmeal, fragrance oils.... even pumpkin and carrot (not together! ew) and cucumber.
But for your laundry purposes...I'd say the castile is where you wanna be. You can do that milk or water based. Just know that castile takes a bit longer to cure than the others. All soaps must cure for about 4 weeks before they are fully dried, cured and ready to use. And when working with lye...use your safety sense! Even a tiny grain of lye can burn your skin or eyes. Wear gloves, apron and even goggles are a good idea.
 

scatterbunny

New member
Thanks for all the tips, everyone! :D I now have a direction to go in. I need to figure out where I can get lye locally. I'm okay with using lye, I'll be careful!

Here's the laundry soap recipe I use:

Three ingredients (four if you have hard water, or if you want it scented; five if you have hard water AND want it scented):

Soap of some sort (recommended is Fels Naptha or Ivory bar soap, but others can be substituted; Fels Naptha is usually in the laundry aisle)

Washing Soda (to remove dirt and odors; not the same thing a baking soda; washing soda will be in the laundry aisle)

Borax (to whiten and deodorize; 20 Mule Team is the brand I use, also in the laundry aisle)

Water softener, if you need it (White King water softener is the powder I use)

Essential oil (for scenting the laundry soap; I've also used scented soap instead of unscented soap and skipped the essential oil)


Ingredient proportions:

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above

1/2 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax powder

1/2 cup water softener powder

up to one ounce of essential oil


Grate up your bar soap and melt it in a pot in 6 cups of water.

When the soap is completely melted add the powdered ingredients and stir until they are completely dissolved.

Remove from heat.

In a 2+ gallon bucket add 4 cups of hot water, then add the soap mixture, stirring well.

Now add 1 gallon plus six cups of water and stir.

Store in the plastic bucket with plastic wrap over the top, or use a funnel and pour it into empty laundry soap containers.

It must sit for 24 hours to gel to the appropriate consistency (which will still be more watery than what you're used to; it will resemble egg drop soup or chicken noodle soup).

I use 1/2 cup for medium/regular loads, up to a full cup for super-size loads (I have a super capacity plus washer) or really dirty work clothes of Mark's.

Some tips I've read online suggest doubling the washing soda and/or borax if it isn't getting your clothes as clean as you'd like; also doubling just the soap ingredient if you want the finished product to be thicker and more gelled.

I always use a whisk to stir the finished product once in awhile as it's gelling, to break up any clumps of soap that might try forming.

The first time I made this I didn't let the soap and powders dissolve and melt together, so it was way more chunky than I like. The second time I made sure to heat it all long enough and used a wire whisk that it blended together well.

No matter what, I think it will always appear not quite mixed and not quite gelled, but it works really, really well, and is SUPER cheap. It breaks down to less than a penny per load, if you can find the ingredients for cheap. I think I paid about $2 for the bar soap, about $7 for the borax and about $5 for the washing soda. I've made three batches of soap so far and have over 3/4 of the borax and washing soda left.

I got this from the site tammysrecipes.com , but the basic recipe is floating around numerous other sites, too. :) I really like it!
 

ThreeBeans

New member
You have just saved me so much money!

With a family of five and being a cloth diaper user, I spend a LOT on natural detergents. Thank you thank you thank you! :p
 

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