Ask the Soapers

[krissy]

Ladies,
Thank you for your replies. Of course it makes sense that any oil can affect the lather, so maybe there is something to it.

Yes oils can and do affect the lather in different ways. But it should also be noted that comparing cold process made soap with a glycerin (melt and pour) soap base are very different soaps and can't be compared.

With melt and pour soaps (depending on what they are made of) are already made into soap and the user has no control over the ingredients or how much is used. So many crafters add additional oils to the base to make it more moisturizing but if to much is added it will affect the lather. With melt and pour even adding too much fragrance will affect the lather. It's very sensitive to what is added to it and the type of oils that are added.

Making cold process soap is a lot different the soaper can pick and choose what ingredients will go into the finished product. And while they can affect the lather in different ways, but more importantly the soaper can control other aspects of the final products. Not just the type of lather or how much it lathers but how much of the natural oils it will strip off your skin to clean it or how moisturizing it will be. Plus by choosing oils higher in Oleic acid will make a better soap for older skin while choosing oils high in Linoleic acid will make a better soap for younger skin. Cold process soap isn't made just by throwing oils into a pot, but rather they are carefully calculated and various percents are added to give the desired outcome in the final bar of soap. And if too much fragrance is added to cold process soap it isn't as sensitive to affecting the lather. And I've also experimented with adding oils to the soap after it has turned into soap before it was poured into the soap and it didn't affect the lather like I thought it would. I still have some of that batch and it's EXTREMELY moisturizing and an awesome bar of soap.




Slip is a term that is used often it's an extra slickness that allows the razor to glide over the skin easier.

 

[Kenno]

Is it ok to use shaving soap as a shower soap for the body and face? Are there any issues you might think using shaving soap in this way?

thanks,

 

[Sue]

It is fine to use a shaving soap for a shower soap. Many do this to use a soap that does not meet expectations for a shave soap. The soap may have a clay to provide 'slip' for shaving but is not detrimental for showering.
Sue

 

[Sue]

Randy,
Think slippery = 'Slip'. This makes your razor glide over your skin/beard area, as opposed to tugging or skipping which would end up giving you razor burn.
Sue

 

[jakespoppy]

Randy,
Think slippery = 'Slip'. This makes your razor glide over your skin/beard area, as opposed to tugging or skipping which would end up giving you razor burn.
Sue

Thanks Sue. So does it help the blade slip over the face, or primarily the rest of the razor while the blade is doing it's job of cutting whiskers?

 

[Sue]

It helps the blade slide smoothly over your skin so that the blade can do it's job. Sue

 

[Kenno]

It is fine to use a shaving soap for a shower soap. Many do this to use a soap that does not meet expectations for a shave soap. The soap may have a clay to provide 'slip' for shaving but is not detrimental for showering.
Sue

thanks Sue

 

[Alacrity59]

I just stumbled across this thread and was driven to read every single bit. I'm thinking that mixing of scents must be fun and frustrating both. Imagine a scent . . . now . . . how do we get there . . . ah now add to soap built from this and that oil and a bit of the other . . . did the scent come through . . . does it lather . . .

And here I sit . . . happy to buy the stuff that worked out.

 

[Sue]

I just stumbled across this thread and was driven to read every single bit. I'm thinking that mixing of scents must be fun and frustrating both. Imagine a scent . . . now . . . how do we get there . . . ah now add to soap built from this and that oil and a bit of the other . . . did the scent come through . . . does it lather . . .

And here I sit . . . happy to buy the stuff that worked out.

That's one I'll remember, 'the stuff that worked out'. Maybe tomorrow I'll take a photo of the 5 gallon bucket of 'stuff the didn't work out'. When it's full, it goes to the curb, then we start a new one.

I wonder what the waste haulers think it is. Actually, it smells pretty darn good. How much lather could be made with 5 pounds of shaving soap and creams?
Sue

 

[DSB]

How much lather could be made with 5 pounds of shaving soap and creams?
Sue

 

[Mama Bear]

LMAO! I just spewed a sip of coffee all over my laptop!!!!!!!

 

[Mama Bear]

this is one of Sue's waste hauler's kids...

 

[Sue]

this is one of Sue's waste hauler's kids...

That lather looks thin and airy .
Sue

 

[Mama Bear]

Well yes, it was a bad batch....

Now the previous month he grabbed this batch and gave some to his wife to shave her legs with... and look what happened!

We won't comment on the soap he gave his parents...

 

[gaseousclay]

my question to the soap artisans, how did you get started in the soap/grooming industry? success doesn't happen overnight, so how long did it take to get where you are today?

 

[Sue]

Well yes, it was a bad batch....

Now the previous month he grabbed this batch and gave some to his wife to shave her legs with... and look what happened!

We won't comment on the soap he gave his parents...

Yep, let's not talk about his Dad and the uh......four moms.
Sue

 

[Sue]

my question to the soap artisans, how did you get started in the soap/grooming industry? success doesn't happen overnight, so how long did it take to get where you are today?

I've always enjoyed 'making stuff' whether it be sewing, cooking, cheese, ceramics or bouquets. I ran across an article online about making cold process soap. I tried it and a monster was born. I made soap after soap. My husband said I should either stop making soap or sell some of it on Ebay. I had so much, the bars were curing in his 'space' in the garage.

One of my return Ebay customers asked me if I could make a shave soap. I told him I could and found it was more involved than just adding some clay. This gentleman worked with me for about a year. I sent him my latest creation and a few days later I'd receive his email. It's terrible, junk, lousy, this is total crap and where it needed improvement. I sent him a LOT of junk.

When the soap 'worked', this same gentleman asked if I could make aftershave...same scenario but less time as I already made lotions and womens items, so the learning curve wasn't as long.

My brother asked what I'd call a company. He then sent a drawing of a logo, offered to give me space on his server and a website. I moved out of the kitchen which I had outgrown and my husband and sons built a workshop in the garage with cabinetry and a big counter.

About a year later (spring 2006) my husband died and I hit the wall. With the encouragement of my family and friends (one of the friends also is my home builder) a shop with a range top, double utility tubs and a lot of shelving was built in the unfinished side of my downstairs.

We are customer driven. If a customer wants something special, we try to deliver. I think it is a very big positive of being a very small speck of a company.

Tweaking recipes and trying to offer new products is very rewarding. This fall we, (my dtr. Wendy and I) will celebrate the fourth anniversary of SCS. I still love what I do and who could ask for more than that?
Sue

 

[gaseousclay]

I've always enjoyed 'making stuff' whether it be sewing, cooking, cheese, ceramics or bouquets. I ran across an article online about making cold process soap. I tried it and a monster was born. I made soap after soap. My husband said I should either stop making soap or sell some of it on Ebay. I had so much, the bars were curing in his 'space' in the garage.

One of my return Ebay customers asked me if I could make a shave soap. I told him I could and found it was more involved than just adding some clay. This gentleman worked with me for about a year. I sent him my latest creation and a few days later I'd receive his email. It's terrible, junk, lousy, this is total crap and where it needed improvement. I sent him a LOT of junk.

When the soap 'worked', this same gentleman asked if I could make aftershave...same scenario but less time as I already made lotions and womens items, so the learning curve wasn't as long.

My brother asked what I'd call a company. He then sent a drawing of a logo, offered to give me space on his server and a website. I moved out of the kitchen which I had outgrown and my husband and sons built a workshop in the garage with cabinetry and a big counter.

About a year later (spring 2006) my husband died and I hit the wall. With the encouragement of my family and friends (one of the friends also is my home builder) a shop with a range top, double utility tubs and a lot of shelving was built in the unfinished side of my downstairs.

We are customer driven. If a customer wants something special, we try to deliver. I think it is a very big positive of being a very small speck of a company.

Tweaking recipes and trying to offer new products is very rewarding. This fall we, (my dtr. Wendy and I) will celebrate the fourth anniversary of SCS. I still love what I do and who could ask for more than that?
Sue

wow, great story....and i'm sorry about your loss. glad to hear things have worked out for you in the end.

 

[krissy]

To answer your question on how I began, this is my story.

I've always been the crafty type, and if I saw something that I liked and I wanted to learn how to do it I sat down and did research until I knew. I've done that with numerous other projects in the past including quilting.

But making soap sort of chose me in a way. I have three children and two of them have several challenges in life.

My youngest daughter has PDD-NOS and by the time she was three she was non-verbal. She has regressed and lost her ability to speak. But with autism early intervention is the biggest key and with the help of a home speech therapist at home until she turned three. Then the week after she turned three I was packing her off to the public school for special education preschool classes three days a week. But thanks to a wonderful speech teacher we were able to break through and regain her lost speech. Now she doesn't shut up and borderlines OCD with many behaviors, but is extremely smart. By the time she was 5 she was counting past 100 on her own and writing her ABC's including short words and sentences. Her IEP in school was discontinued last year because she was at a grade 1 level and this fall she started kindergarten with her peers.

But it's my son that has proved me with the most challenges and my reason for making soap. He has many challenges that face him but the biggest ones are severe ADHD, aspergers syndrome (which is on the autism spectrum) and several other medical problems including sleep issues. He's now almost 9 and has been on sleep medication since just a few weeks before he turned 4. He should have been on them much sooner but I didn't see the signs and we lived with his impulsive hyperactive behavior. And many nights I wanted to cry because of the long day I had with him (as a stay at home mom) and then I couldn't get him to sleep well past midnight. So I'm thankful that I chose to make that apt with a psychiatrist when I did to question the possibility of ADHD. I just didn't realize he would have it as seriously as he does. So even with medication, we still haven't found one that is effective as it should be because of all his other challenges.

We have tried just about everything for sleep and we had to resort to a medication called zyprexa for a long while under the care of a psychiatrist. But when he first started to take it we noticed one of the side effects of sun photosynthesize almost right away. He would go outside to play and almost right away he would receive a burn almost immediately. Anything topical that was put on his skin made it hurt worse and he would cry from the pain. So we used baths with colloidal oatmeal to help sooth the burn. But while he was in the bath I thought we should scrub up while I had him in there and found even "dove" bath soap irritated his already sensitive skin. So I bought some naturally made cold processed soap on ebay and that seemed to make a big difference.

But being the crafty person that I am, I knew that I could make it since everyone in the family now preferred the handmade soap to the store bought soap. So I sat down to research how to make my own soap and my first batches were made in my blender and then cooked in the oven before being put into my makeshift mold. Which was actually a draw liner lined with freezer paper. They were crude looking but we really enjoyed them. And I bought some fragrances, and the rest is history on how I have advanced and learned. Not just the process but also on how to formulate my own soap recipes and how to make soap with specific properties. From there I advanced on learning how to make many other items all from scratch. But again not just how to make one recipe, but how to make my own recipes was important to me. Then from there it evolved.

So I owe my success to my children, because without my son, I wouldn't have thought to have made that first bar of soap.

 

[ironbrewer]

I want to try to make shaving soap. Of course I want to make small batches. I have a digital gram scale that goes down to 1/10 of a gram up to a couple of pounds(it is from when I used to make beer professionally). How small of batches can you consistantly make for piloting recipes?? I have a strong chem background brewed beer for 12 years commercially, and am a good cook. I read somewhere how you need to have at least 2 of three items to make good soap.

I think they were

Good chem background

Can follow a complex recipe and get it right

And I don't remember the third.

Maybe it is the you keep triing even if you have some failures.

If I start maybe I'll send out samples for people to critique. Of course you will have to sign a release.