Best Sources for Beginning Soapmakers

Meg Mitchell wrote:IMO the absolute best resource for a beginning soapmaker is Smart Soapmaking by Anne Watson. A lot of soapmaking resources are cargo-culting based on things other soapmakers have said in the past, but Anne bases her work on experience and dispels a lot of common myths in the book. To use a totally random analogy, I'd say she's the Sam Thayer of soap. She even has another book about how to make Castile soap that isn't gross (which I haven't tried yet, but she does explain why Castile soap tends to be so gross and yet such a classic of at-home soapmaking).

I'm not a huge fan of Soap Queen because they use a lot of unnecessary tools and artificial ingredients (they make their $ selling materials and tools, so their recipes tend to use way more than is needed to turn out a good result), and there's been more than one video from them where they insult the viewer's intelligence. I'm a STEM nerd and it annoys me beyond belief to have some woman assure me that it's okay that I'm too dumb to do basic math and chemistry.

Meg Mitchell wrote:IMO the absolute best resource for a beginning soapmaker is Smart Soapmaking by Anne Watson. A lot of soapmaking resources are cargo-culting based on things other soapmakers have said in the past, but Anne bases her work on experience and dispels a lot of common myths in the book. To use a totally random analogy, I'd say she's the Sam Thayer of soap. She even has another book about how to make Castile soap that isn't gross (which I haven't tried yet, but she does explain why Castile soap tends to be so gross and yet such a classic of at-home soapmaking).

Deb Stephens wrote:I also don't consider using melt-and-pour products to be true soapmaking since they are already made into bars of soap that can be used as-is if desired. None of the processes of soapmaking are involved when doing melt-and-pour soaps--they are merely melted on the stove or in the microwave and poured into molds to re-set.

Deb Stephens wrote:By the way, what have you got against Castille soap? A well-made bar is really the best for making a quick version of homemade laundry soap. I grind my bars and remelt them as the base for my laundry soap (with borax and washing soda added). It works great and is a real timesaver when I don't feel like doing the whole hot-process liquid laundry soap. Personally, I find them too drying for regular use on skin, but they do make for a good cleansing bar.

Beth Wilder wrote:Thanks for this thread and all the good information here! I've never made soap before, and what we have to use is wood ash lye. We do have pH meters and scales, and we're fine with making liquid soap rather than bar soap (I have plenty of the latter and we rarely use it, so we're not likely to run out anytime soon). Are there any good resources out there for this so we don't have to be just like the colonists and have really unpredictable results for each batch? Thanks in case!

Deb Stephens wrote:I am another one who really wants a soapmaking forum, so here is my contribution to the cause.

M Wilcox wrote:
Anyway, it turned out great. I wasn't sure how long to let it sit before using it, so I let it sit for a few months.
I'm not kidding, that one batch of soap lasted me for years.

tuffy monteverdi wrote:

M Wilcox wrote:
Is your water by chance somewhat hard?
If so, and if you still have the recipe, can you link me or copy & paste here, the exact recipe you used?

Thank you so much 🙏

Yes, my water was hard. I found a YouTube video that uses the same recipe I used. It’s so very simple, just three ingredients unless you want to add herbs or essential oils. The most important thing to know is to not use any aluminum pans or utensils. Use stainless steel, plastic, or unchipped enamel containers and utensils. Molds can be anything as long as they’re not aluminum. Like I said, I just used a cookie sheet, which I should have put parchment paper on I think. Anyway, I tried to post a link, but it wouldn’t upload. I went to Google and searched vintage soap recipe, and I got a YouTube video with an older lady showing you step-by-step how to do it. She’s British so you’ll know you got the right one.

M Wilcox wrote:

Yes, my water was hard. I found a YouTube video that uses the same recipe I used. It’s so very simple, just three ingredients unless you want to add herbs or essential oils. The most important thing to know is to not use any aluminum pans or utensils. Use stainless steel, plastic, or unchipped enamel containers and utensils. Molds can be anything as long as they’re not aluminum. Like I said, I just used a cookie sheet, which I should have put parchment paper on I think. Anyway, I tried to post a link, but it wouldn’t upload. I went to Google and searched vintage soap recipe, and I got a YouTube video with an older lady showing you step-by-step how to do it. She’s British so you’ll know you got the right one.

M Wilcox wrote:

Ok, i’m not sure if the following link will work, but I hope so. There’s a channel on YouTube called Soap School. That’s where I got this from. So if this link doesn’t work, go to YouTube and search for soap school. The video is called how to make soap out of lard.

https://homestead.noredfarms.com/soap-making-guide

Now, she’s using pure lard, but I didn’t. I just used whatever fat I had saved from the kitchen, whether it was beef fat or pig, fat or bacon grease or used cooking oil or whatever. And it turned out great. It makes a very fine lather (tiny bubbles) not a big lather. She says it has a very creamy consistency when used, but it is hard so it doesn’t just melt like some commercial soaps do. She says if you want more lather, you should use part coconut oil. She doesn’t give a proportion though.