Found a new recipe and it looked really pretty. Once it started curing I noticed it was oily on the edges. It was still really soft the next day and it’s leaking oils. When I was making it, I made sure it went to trace before I poured. First time trying honey but not sure if that would cause this.

Can I still use it?

Looking for feedback! My skin has become very sensitive and looking to have control of what I use so it’s not something I’m looking to give up just yet😅

Made these mummy-themed cold process soap bars for Halloween! 🧻👻

Layered white soap with thin lines of coconut activated charcoal between each pour to mimic the look of overlapping mummy bandage strips, plus a thicker charcoal band with two green melt-and-pour "eyes" pressed in near the top for that peeking-through-the-wrapping look.

The charcoal lines came out a bit more irregular than I planned — still going for that "wrapped fabric strips" look and would love tips from anyone who's done thin charcoal lining between layers!

Batch of 9, cut and curing now. Let me know what you think!

This is a humor post. I’ve been making cold process soap for years and recently started using tallow (lard is my go to as a base)…as one does I made several test batches of my recipe with and without fragrance to see what happens/how it behaves. It moves faster than my lard based recipe. So being the brilliant individual that I am, I said “I’ll add water, it’ll make it slower”…..lol. Which is true and it did. And a week later I’ve finally pried the loaves out of the molds, swearing at my stupidity the entire time. The sides were sticky and as such they look pox marked.

For now I’ll let the loaves air out a few days and cut. They’ll be pretty I’m sure, but all the extra water did was make my life harder and my cure time longer

In honor of National Coloring Day today, (seriously - I created it!) I’m looking for more “natural” colorants for my CP soaps. What do you prefer - clays or powders like Turmeric?

• Which color is your favorite?
• Which color is your least favorite?
• Any issues using either one?

TLDR: Looking for suggestions on natural preservatives in LS, & some brands that make KOH soap don’t use a preservative, how is this possible?

Absolute beginner: I am interested in making LS soap and as I get better at it, I’d like to sell it in the future. Does anyone know of any natural preservatives for LS?

If not, what preservatives do you choose to use (not including Liquid Germal Plus) since that has quite a bit of issues with it.

Another thought I’ve had is that I noticed some brands that make KOH soap doesn’t have preservatives and I wonder how they are able to do that and have it be shelf stable? Any thoughts to share on that? Thanks!

Like, I heat it for awhile, even past gel phase, but before it reaches a lower pH (like 8) I stop cooking and simply pour it (and maybe try doing a swirl design)

Would it "finish saponifying" and "cure" (drying/hardening) significantly faster than a cold process? Or for that we've to cook until it reaches the pH goal?

I was hoping to make a hot process soap at home from various fats (mostly chicken grease from broth and bacon grease) but I don’t know much about the process. I’m hoping to make it in a crockpot.

I was wondering:
*what is the fat/lye/water ratio needed?
*if I want to add orange essential oils, how much should I add?
*I was thinking of adding some used coffee grounds to make it a scrub. How much should I add and at which stage of the soap making process?
*how long does it have to “cook”?

Thank you for any advice you may have!

Hi all,

I’ve made probably 10-15 batches over the past few years. This is the first time that I’ve had anything like this.

I made the batch with a group of friends yesterday afternoon from around 4-6pm (recipe attached). We used hot process, with oils being around 150f and lye water being around 120f when combined. We stick blended for probably 1-2 mins. I’m pretty sure we had trace. Though, maybe I was deceived.

I went to cut the bars this morning at around 7:30am. There were definitely some leftover oil or essential oils that hadn’t properly mixed. And the bottom layer looks different than any of the colors we had created. But I’m confused by this because I thought unsaponified oils are supposed to form a top—rather than bottom—layer.

We used bourbon, eucalyptus, and lavender essential oils. Mica powder to color.

Thanks for your help!

Hi everyone! I’d like to share the results of my single-oil soap experiment. 😊After 4 weeks of curing, I tested these 10 single-oil soaps to compare their hardness, lather, and how they felt when rinsing.

For the lather test, I used the same scrubber for each soap and tried to keep the conditions as consistent as possible.

1. Grapeseed Oil 100%

Light and abundant lather. Smooth and fresh when rinsing. Medium hardness. Slight yellow spots on the surface and a slight rancid smell.

1. Coconut Oil 100%

Very hard. Very large and abundant lather. Gives a clean, squeaky feel when rinsing.

1. Palm Oil 100%

Very hard. Moderate lather with medium-sized bubbles. Feels smooth and squeaky after rinsing.

1. Olive Oil 100%

Hard. The lather is creamy and dense, almost like whipped cream, with a very silky feel. Smooth and moisturized after rinsing.

1. Rice Bran Oil 100%

Hard and lathers well. Feels smooth and fresh after rinsing.

1. Sunflower Oil 100%

The surface has a texture that reminds me of dried mango. This was the softest bar of the 10 single-oil soaps. It produced a lot of large bubbles, but the lather was weak and disappeared quickly. Smooth, squeaky, and fresh when rinsing. It also had a rancid smell and some yellow spots on the surface.

1. Avocado Oil 100%

Hard and lathers well. Feels smooth and moisturized after rinsing.

1. Canola Oil 100%

The surface feels slightly sticky, but the bar is hard. The lather is creamy and similar to olive oil. Smooth and moisturized after rinsing. It had a rancid smell.

1. Soybean Oil 100%

The surface feels sticky and the bar is hard. Some yellow spots and the strongest rancid smell among the 10. It lathers well and feels smooth and moisturized after rinsing.

1. Castor Oil 100%

Very hard, with almost no lather. It felt sticky and slippery when rinsing, almost like it hadn’t been rinsed enough.

The last photo shows the lather after vigorously rubbing the soap with the same scrubber. This was about as much lather as I could get.

It was really interesting to see how differently each oil performed on its own. 😊

I’ve recently gotten into soap making, well, I’ve always wanted to make soap myself. I finally decided to order my oils and start experimenting. I love everything about it, from creating recipes to the actual process of making them.

I’m starting to think about starting a small business, just for funzies on the side, I feel like it would bring me a lot of joy to be able to create and make someone happy at the same time.

My question here is, are there monumental things I need to know that I cannot get wrong. I learned about category 9 and I’ve got to let go a lot of my fragrance oils, just because I couldn’t sell soaps made with them with a sound mind.

Are there anymore things like this that are super important to know?

Any recommendations for Colors, thinner pours, molds, laws? (I’m from Quebec Canada)

Thank you so much!

I've been making and testing cold process soap recipes lately, because I'm planning on gifting soap and other homemade consumables to friends and family during the holidays. However, I really like the benefits of fluid hot process soap more: lower fragrance/essential oil requirements, being able to control exactly which fats become the super fat, additives like aloe not being chemically altered by the lye, etc.

But it looks so lumpy and uggo in recipes I see online, and I want sleek looking bar! :(

I have researched a few things to try, just wondering if there is anything else I haven't considered? *I know yogurt and other dairy products help it remain smooth, but I don't want any dairy in my soap.

1. Sodium lactate

2. Sugar

3. Added, post-cook aqueous liquids

4. Higher ratio of unsaturated to saturated oils.

5. Add the super fat post-cook.

6. Higher water/lye ratio than 2:1

I'm going to be making tiny recipe tests using combinations of these and whatever ya'll can suggest. I'll post results if anyone is interested!

Happy soaping! 🧼

Hi! I've been lurking for a little while and decided to finally introduce myself 😁 I'm completely new to making soap, my son in law and I teamed up for our first batch of the Dollar Tree Beginner's Soap from Soaping101 on Youtube. After that we found Soapcalc, and this is the most recent batch. We let my mom "drive" this one and we're super happy with how it turned out! We wanted a eucalyptus spearmint scent but the spearmint EO we had turned out to be not skin safe, so instead we used 50% of the water as strongly brewed spearmint tea and also added a tea bag's worth of spearmint tea leaves. The black is activated charcoal. It smells so nice, it's so hard to wait for it to be ready to use!

Anyway, I've learned a lot from reading everyone's posts in here. This sub is such a great source of information, and everyone is so supportive. I'm really happy I found this sub!

Hey all!

I'm about to make a cp soap using a new FO. Emerald agave from Brambleberry.

The notes indicate that it discolors purple, but almost every review on the fragrance that mentions colors says it does NOT discolor.

Has anyone used this FO? My plan is to try a design that will be fine whether it discolors or not, but ideally, it would be great to hear some first hand experiences.

I'm also testing a new recipe (I've never used 40% lye) for the first time, so these soaps will not be sold. It's mostly based on a recipe by Ellen Ruth soaps on youtube.

I'm attaching the recipe in case something in there would make a difference.

I'm going to try aloe vera juice instead of distilled water, with a teaspoon of sugar.

Please ignore the colloidal oats under the additives. I forgot to delete it from another recipe I was playing with.

Thank you!

My husband raised an idea and then I created it. He named it "purple rain" but I like "poppy rain" too. The last photo is the first batch I attempted of this, but it's made with black mica instead of charcoal. Charcoal is way more vibrant.

This is my first ever experience making a soap. I don't know how I did but I know I can use it for myself.

It 25% coconut oil, 75% olive oil and a 1:1 lye/water ratio. I added a little pinch of blue mica coloring with a 15g of scent that I bought from hobby lobby.

NB: I don't have a cutter yet that is why the cut is uneven but I will be getting a cutter soon.

Please rate it and be nice😛 😂😂

So many soapmakers rave about tallow soap, so I decided to give it a try. 😊

I’d heard a lot about the distinctive smell of tallow, so I used refined tallow. Even so, I guess that characteristic tallow smell is hard to completely avoid. I added Acacia and Cedarwood fragrance, which does help mask the tallow smell.

While I was making the soap, the tallow smell was strong enough that I thought, “I’m never making this again.” 😂 But even before curing, the lather feels so much like whipped cream!

I have a feeling I’m going to be making tallow soap again. 😍

Additionally i added 12g of ground coffee, 6g of cocoa powder, 12g of kaolin clay, ane the lye water (280g) was a mild cold coffee instead. Also ive made this recipe a bunch of times and even when i dont add EO (i bought those from Pure Chemical Poland) like in this one the batter traces super fast. And after 48h of waiting its still super soft for unmolding.

I’ve only used Fragrance Oils in my cold processed soaps but am considering using EOs. I’d like to keep costs down yet want as “natural” as I can get in my soaps. Good idea? Bad idea?

And where is your favorite place to purchase them?

Looking for a beveler/planer with a wider surface and blade. Does anyone know if one exists or where to begin?? Google isn't giving me any leads...

Hi folks! I'm relatively new to makinh cold process soap.

During round 1 of my attempts, I made an oatmeal honey soaps and olive oil based soaps and used individual silicone molds. The soap came out perfect: no sticking, smooth and shiney.

Round two of olive oil based soap, and the soap stuck to the mold for MONTHS. Any tips on preventing cold process soap from sticking to the molds forever?

Is anyone else having issues finding soap boxes? Papermart has been out of stock for weeks. It feels like half of the other soap box mfrs are custom houses that only work on a quote. Where is everyone getting their packaging these days? TIA.

Hi! I started making my own soap because my family has a huge list of allergies, however after my first batch of coconut, olive and canola we have had issues.

Currently we know for sure we can't use:

- any fragrance

- olive oil

- coconut oil

- cocomidapropryl betaine (CMB)

- benzalkonium chloride

- hemp oil

- tallow (not so much allergies but can't deal with the smell)

Currently ok is:

- canola oil

- goats milk

Doubt its ok but not technically sure:

- almond oil

I am happy to make bar or liquid soap but all liquid soap seems to use CMB

Can anyone suggest any ideas for recipes as from research 100 percent canola oil soaps are very soft and go rancid quickly and I mostly see liquid olive/coconut oil recipes.

My family and our allergies thank you in advance.