I’ve let go of liquid soaps in the last few years and opted to used classic solid soaps for my hygiene but between trendy scents or seasonal supply I haven’t been able to find a soap I can stay with.
This led me to consider making my own soap but is it worth it?
Artisanal soaps are expensive and hard to find in my country and mostly pass the notion they are targetting luxury customers and not making something for everyone to use and enjoy and trying to make an effort to create change.
I am aware initial costs have to be considered and that there is a learning to it.
Totally. Once a year I make a huge batch with all the things I like and none of what I hate. I give out a bunch for Christmas and have enough to last me the rest of the year.
Occasionally I’ll dig out my supplies mid-year for something special or to make soap with friends, then I just have extra.
It was easy to learn and the costs were worth it.
During the pandemic, my wife took up soap making.
Took her about two months to finally create the recipe she wanted to use. The good ones, we give out as gifts.
All the rejects are still good. It’s now three years and we’re still going through all the bars she made.
My ex used to make our laundry soap. It was lot of work but cool. Got a recipe to share?
I alternate between different ones every year. I just tried to find my favorite olive oil soap recipe but I’m only getting AI slop results. Silly me for not bookmarking. The best one I found was basic cold process recipe that only uses olive oil, lye and water. If you’re searching, the one I like recommends using a milk carton for the mould and letting the soap sit for a week before slicing, then letting it cure for 60 days. The ratio of ingredients should all be the same across good recipes. I don’t trust the slop.
Otherwise I used meltable glycerine soap base I used to get from a place called The Soap Dispensery in Vancouver. Doesn’t seem like they sell it since I moved, so I can’t tell you what was in it. To the melted glycerine I would add jojoba oil, shea butter, vitamin E, tea tree oil, charcoal and cedar essential oil. I like woodsy, herbal scents.
Sometimes, if I plan ahead, I’ll dehydrate lemon and lime rinds into crumbly bits to add for texture and exfoliation. Other times I use coffee grounds.
Another time my niece mixed in vanilla, mandarin and rosemary for the scents, it was a hit with everyone. Smelled like a healthy orange cream pop.
That’s good to know.
You can do it pretty cheap if you source your fat from high end liposuction clinics.
I get the reference and I feel obligated to remember you about the first rule.
I should soap myself to lose weight :(
Um. Did you forget about the first rule?
He didn’t say anything about the actual fight club
Shut your god damn mouth, boy, if you know what’s good for you.
What club?
Fright club? Like the stick you use to frighten people? Sounds scary!
I dunno if they’re still around, but there’s a number of soap companies in Palestine that genuinely had some of the best bar soap I’ve ever used. No perfumes, the soap itself is dense enough to last 10x longer than anything you buy at the store, and I had no irritation. They might be rubble by now tho.
I’ve had that! Guy from the Greek grocery was at my company’s open house, giving out a bar with every olive oil purchase. Had no idea how long a bar lasted because I would lose track before replacing it.
One night I was watching a YT video on making soap and there were my boys! (I know it was them because of the stamp.)
That got me started on making my own. First batch was perfect, subsequent batches refuse to dry properly.
That’s just glycerin soap.
It’s olive oil soap.
It might be fun, but it is only cheaper in the long run if you consider your time to be worth nothing.
If it IS fun for you though, I’d suggest it is far more valuable to you than the soap itself and/or any savings.
My time is priceless. So priceless that I run out of it even if I try to save it. Time is the least concern I have.
Putting this on a poster at work…
Photo or it did not happen.
I demand a primitive cave drawing. Otherwise, it didn’t happen
Agreed. Let us get primal!
Soap making involves very little time investment. There is a long drying time (weeks to months) but you can spend that time on other things 🙂
“oh no I’ve run out of soap and forgot to make more. See you in 5 months, shower” - my autistic ass
I did this once with pickles. Ran out for a month, then made more pickles than anyone should ever eat.
And now you are in a pickle?
I was!
You shower with pickles?
Gotta, at this point
I dill not see that coming.
…I’ll show myself out.
Meanwhile, I’m thinking I’m going to make a different batch every two weeks to have enough soap to gift.
that’s true for every home chore though
Unless you enjoy the process, or the end result enough then no.
The reason artisanal soap is expensive is because it’s a fairly labour intensive process on a small scale. I did the numbers with a friend who thought about making it a few years back.
Ive been making my own liquid body for about 6 months and it doesn’t include castil soap or putting bar soap in water. All the ingredients are available online and the end result comes out to a fraction of the price of store bought. It’s also a great option for allergen control as all 7 of the ingredients are low reactives.
I’m currently pushing into shampoo and conditioner, both are a little more work than the body wash as they need to be heated and ph balanced. If my research is correct, all three can be made as concentrates for long term storage and all you have to do is add it to the water and xanthum gum before use.
If you’re interested in getting into it, hit me up and I’ll give you the deets. I have incredibly specific preferences in texture, smell, and experience so it’s not perfect by my standards, but it’s fucking amazing compared to buying it at the store and I’ve wanted root beer scented body wash since I was a child. Plus, you don’t need anything special for the body wash, I mix it in a 4 cup measuring cup and put it in aldi Condament bottles.
I never got past making liquid hands soap, is the process any different?
My partner has a coconut allergy, so I had to learn how to make soap, I just find the process a bit existing right now. Hoping to make some bar soap in the near future once spoons are available
I posted the recipe and directions as a reply to OP’s reply if you wanna check it out. Cocamidopropyl betaine is processes from coconuts but is supposedly to be hypoallergenic. I’d test it on her carefully before investing in it. Personally I find it so much less taxing than bar soap.
Yeah, I don’t believe anything coca- is hypoallergenic given the number of stuff I’ve seen them react to. But it being supposedly hypoallergenic might explain the rumblings I’ve heard about coconut stuff no longer being listed as a major allegen (hooray)
Thanks for the reply, even if I can use the info.
That seems extremely interesting. Should I DM you?
Measurements in % by volume, I find ml to be the best option
- Distilled water - 60%
- Cocamidopropyl betaine - 20%
- Decyl Glucoside - 10%
- Xanthum gum - 1% dry
- Glyserin - 4%
- Germall plus - 1%
- Fragrance - 4%
Water mixture: In a container mix 1,4 vigorously to incorporate xanthum gum. (Milk frother, mixer, drill with whisk, it takes a lot because dry xg is hydrophobic) set aside for ~20min, stir periodically to disperse chunks.
Soap mixture: In a a second container, fold together 2,3,5,6,7 gently with spatula to avoid bubbles.
When water mixture is sufficiently gloopy, mix vigorously until masses have broken up and mixture is thick but smooth. (Not nessesary but fun and makes for better texture.)
In the bottle you plan to use (soap bottle, ketchup bottle with squeeze top, really anything with a set volume and lid.) Add soap mix to 39% of final volume. Add water mix to fill remaining 61% volume.
Close bottle tightly and shake vigorously until contents combined.
Notes:
- Bubbles in soap mixture last 2 weeks before returning to jell form. DO NOT MIX IN BUBBLES it wastes ingredients.
- Use “cosmetic grade” Essential oil, it’s formulated for skin contact.
- Final mixture will change color over the first 24hrs, to match the color of the oil added for fragrance. Ask a scientist why, I just know it’s safe.
- texture can be modified with changes to xanthum gum amount. More gum=more slime
- test fragrants on skin before committing, it’s the most likely to react to.
- some fragrants are very weak in this mix. You can just add more.
I’m not a scientist or professional so look up each chemical and make sure you’re not allergic, these are supposed to be the least likely to be allergic to, but I’m not your doctor and I don’t know you.
Are soaps like dove or ivory not available?
Ivory is the original generic soap and really cheap. Stuff lasts forever. And isn’t scented. I bought a sleeve of several bars for like $7.99 - should last 2 years or more.
Dove technically isn’t the same thing, but it’s also cheap and some people find it less drying.
Ivory isn’t available and Dove does not play well with my skin; I’m left feeling my skin oily.
Dove is not soap, its not caustic like soaps.
I make my own soap from 3 ingredients: lard that I process from bacon grease, lye, and water. It is extremely cheap and easy to make, and cleans really effectively. And no, the soap does not smell like bacon at all, it just smells like soap.
And no, the soap does not smell like bacon at all
My disappointment Is immeasurable and my day is ruined
Isn’t that what is considered hard soap? A bit like Marseille soap.
You use it for general cleaning or personal hygiene?
It is
hardsolid/bar soap and safe to use on skin. Mostly personal hygiene but can be used for anything where soap is appropriate. Could grate it into shavings to use as laundry detetgent.EDIT: clarified an answer after a misunderstood definition of “hard” soap
I have used hard soap in the past for personal hygiene and it does a wonderful. Solved a case of heavy dandruff with it.
However, hard soap I find in my market tends to dry the skin over time, due to the lye. It can be used to deep clean nearly almost anything because the lye kills all nasties it comes in contact with but… I know of situations where operating rooms were desinfected using hard soap.
Lye chemically reacts with fat and is chemically changed into soap. There is no lye present in soap, unless you made it wrong. Lye is used to make soap but soap does not contain lye.
Hard soap as in bar soap, it is a solid. As opposed to liquid soap. All soap is made with lye, including liquid soap.
Hard soap, in my country, is a very hard, usually white and blue or white and pink, soap, available in long 1kg bars. It brings a warning that the soap is intended for laundry and general cleaning, but it can cause skin irritation or dryness due to the caustic soda used to make it.
Personal hygiene soaps I still haven’t discovered what reagents are used to trigger the reaction for soap making but do not carry that risk.
We have different words for the stuff. Hard soap is called “sabão” while personal hygiene soaps are called “sabonete”.
“Personal hygiene soaps” are superfatted, including the soap that I make. The ingredients are not different, only the ratio of ingredients. The recipe contains extra fat, more than the amount of fat needed to chemically react with the lye. So when all of the lye is used up by the chemical reaction, some amount of fat is left over unreacted in the soap. This extra fat is moisturizer for skin and replaces the natural oils on skin that soap strips away, so the soap is not drying.
My soap is usually minimally superfatted, so it is balanced more towards cleansing than moisturizing but still contains extra fat to ensure it is not harmful on skin. If you want a soap that is very gentle on skin, you would include even more fat.
Thank you for that clarification.
Hold up. You don’t want hard soap? I think that’s what most of the “making soap” advice in this thread is about.
I’ve just tried to explain that in my country there is difference between soap and hard soap.
Hard soap is harsh to the skin for prolongued use. It’s made with lye and used to do laundry, deep clean surfaces, etc. It has no perfumes and can even have a slightly pungent, almost bleach like, odor.
Soap is used in personal hygiene. Scented, hydrating, skin safe. Some can even labelled as “technical” and have additives put in to address specific skin conditions, like goat or donkey milk, pine tar, sulphur, etc.
Both soap forms are solid.
Cool stuff.
Sidebar:
I remember reading about soaps at one time, and there was this trend on websites to demonize sodium lauryl sulfate, the key chemical ingredient in soap, in order to sell their own soap.
There was complaint that always bothered me: exposure to sodium lauryl sulfate was used as a measure of skin irritability. This, they showed was an example of how HARSH SLS was.
I hated that, and kept thinking, maybe SLS is the measure because it’s, cheap, easy to produce, and has a mild effect that ramps up slowly for more precise measurement.
And that I saw Fight Club and saw what lye actually does to skin and started wondered what the hell these people thought soap actually DOES to get you clean if they were so worried about “harsh chemicals.”
The lye reacts with the fat to chemically change into soap. The ratio of fat to lye in the recipe should ensure that all of the lye chemically reacts, leaving none left in the final product.
And this is what soap actually does:
One end of the soap molecule loves water, the other end hates water. Tons of the soap molecules end up sticking to dirts and oils, completely surrounding them and pulling them away into the water.
Oh, yes, I’m getting chemistry flashbacks, now.
One of the ends of the soap is hydrophilic and the other is hydrophobic, so the hydrophobic end buries itself into the grease.
?
Yep
SLS gives some people (my wife) canker sores when used in tooth paste. No one told us this, and a dentist just prescribed a herpes medicine. I found out by chance on line and switched tooth paste to one of the few I could find without SLS. No more canker sores. The kicker? The only thing SLS does is make the tooth paste a little foamy. Absolutely worthless ingredient that I’ve held a grudge against for 15 years.
Lye will NOT do that to your skin. I buy in it bulk (99% pure sodium hydroxide) for various cleaning/restoring projects and for making soap. I’ve stuck in hand in a saturated bucket. You’ll get instantly slimy as the lye converts your skin oils to soap, and you WILL find tiny cuts you didn’t know were there, but it’s not going to instantly burn through your flesh.
Anyway, there’s no lye in the final soap product, no lie! Soap making is a chemical, not a physical, reaction.
An imaginary character made up by another imaginary character lied to me!
I started making my own soap years ago… for me it was worth it. I didn’t want the anti-bacterial or fragrance in it… used only olive oil (pomace), avocado oil, palm oil and coconut oil with the lye. (though I want to replace the palm oil in my recipe, what I have is supposedly ok environmentally, it is controversial) Check out brambleberry.com and they have a lye calculator and recipes as well.
Thank you for the tip.
Nothing bad with palm oil in itself, as long as its cultivation isn’t replacing a vital food crop in its originating community.
The overall costs long term are much cheaper to make your own soap.
We started making food for our dogs due to one of them having an allergic reaction to the food we were feeding them before. It’s far far cheaper to make it ourselves, and isn’t really that hard. It just took learning about the basic steps and doing it.
You got me curious: kibble or wet?
Because I know how to prepare fresh/wet food for my dogs. But kibble is a whole different subject.
Wet food. I don’t have any expertise in making kibble.
Not really relevant but still relevant https://youtu.be/tK-cKWSPBBs
I’m very happy to spend 7 years of my life in the kitchen for the results!
I’be stumbled on that video before and the concept was just horrifying.
That was wonderful and horrifying
I thought this said “soup” and was about to be all up in arms about it as a soup lover. Please carry on.
I can personally attest that making your own soup is worth it.
maybe get some one from Syria to get you some Genuine Aleppo Soap , or Sugar factory Soap
If you don’t want ridiculous amount of goddamn perfume in it, you pretty much need to.
IDK if these manufacturers don’t have olfactory senses in their QC departments, but it’s getting stupid how much more scent is being added. I had a Costco brick of Irish Spring soaps I’d been whittling away at and bought another one recently. I couldn’t even stand having the new one in the house, I tossed it because it stank so much, even through the door of the bathroom cabinet. I still have a couple left from the old brick and they’re manageable but now I’m going to have to find something else.
Maybe I need to look into making it, too.
For what it’s worth, my intuition tells me the soap market in my country is currently heavily geared towards women and even more towards a niche within the general population of women that go into the extreme girly style.
Most soaps are incredibly sweet scented, heavy on flowers and fruits. This leaves men’s soap, my case, to become a very narrow market. Men’s market is currently covered by the big brands - Axe, Old Spice, etc -through their “active/sports/urban” lines of body wash that usually smell like cars or floor disinfectant covered with a layer of cheap, strong, short lasting perfume.
Not my thing.
Dial, Dove, and Ivory all sell unscented varieties of bar soap.
I’m not a Costco shopper, but the Costco website suggests they carry only an extremely limited variety of bath soaps. Way more choices at your average grocery store, drug store, etc.
You can buy glycerin soap for soap crafters and just use it without adding in the perfumes.
I made soap once and it was fun. We were 4 people and everyone made a slightly different version. The base was the same but the add-ins (fragrant oils, poppyseed, coffee, honey, etc.) were chosen individually. It was quite fun and everyone walked away with 4 different types of soap (after a few weeks/months).
Just buy a ready to use kit with everything already weighed out. Cold saponification is the easy way. Took me about 30 minutes to prepare six bars and they will last for quite some time. The soap turned out much softer but i keep the unused soap in a dry place for curing. Maybe the next soap will be harder. Next step for me will be to buy the ingredients in bulk to cut down on plastic waste. I will also add fragrance next time.
The kits I’m finding are for decorative soaps and I’m not in the wanting to make things to stuff my drawers.
I’ll have to read on cold reaction soap.
