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| Saponification experts | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 18 2009, 10:45 AM (442 Views) | |
| brenda | Feb 18 2009, 10:45 AM Post #1 |
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Those of you who do it, tell me about the soaps you make. I have considered trying it, but I don't know if it would be worth the time. What kinds do you make? Favorites? How much time does it take? How often do you make soap? Is it worth the time to make it for a family of three, or would it be just as well to buy from others? Other things you've learned about it? Thanks in advance! |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| BeeLady | Feb 18 2009, 10:55 AM Post #2 |
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Middle Aged Carp
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Go here for great info to start....http://www.thesage.com/ I made batches each fall but now lye is hard to buy and oil prices have skyrocketed. Do it because it is fun, you won't save money. It is dangerous so make batches when kids are out of the house. Mr. Beelady made me molds that hold 5 pounds. 10lbs is a year supply for us. Fav's are those with essential oils rather than perfumes....orange, oatmeal/honey, peppermint my favs... Greatest tool you can use to get to saponification is a stick blender. |
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"My wheel shall sing responsive to my tread, And I will spin so fine, so strong a thread Fate shall not cut it, nor Time's forces break" "Distaff and Spindle: Sonnets by Mary Ashley Townsend" 1895 | |
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| sue | Feb 18 2009, 11:00 AM Post #3 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Soap making is bizarrely popular where I am. Go to one of the craft fairs here, and every second table, someone is selling homemade artsy-fartsy, cutesy, new age sounding soaps. Looking out my window here at work, I can see three places that sell homemade soap. A good lunch is harder to find. We're either extraordinarily obsessed with cleanliness, or extraordinarily in need of cleanliness. There's some nice stuff, to be sure, but after a bit, a good old, inexpensive bar of plain, unscented Dove is a welcome change. The homemade soaps tend to get very gloopy. |
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| Bernard | Feb 18 2009, 11:03 AM Post #4 |
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Senior Carp
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I had to look that one up: Saponification is the hydrolysis of an ester under basic conditions to form an alcohol and the salt of a carboxylic acid (carboxylates). OK... Saponification is commonly used to refer to the reaction of a metallic alkali (base) with a fat or oil to form soap. Ah! Saponifiable substances are those that can be converted into soap. Who knew!? |
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| RosemaryTwo | Feb 18 2009, 11:08 AM Post #5 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I was okay with red cookies, but I shy away from the bright green Irish Spring soap that my husband uses. What that can do to a person, no one knows....
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| "Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua | |
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| Bernard | Feb 18 2009, 11:18 AM Post #6 |
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Senior Carp
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It smells good. (My first boyfriend used Irish Spring so the scent of it brings back fond memories.) |
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| Aqua Letifer | Feb 18 2009, 11:32 AM Post #7 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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The green means it's natural and fresh and good for you. |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| Phlebas | Feb 18 2009, 11:48 AM Post #8 |
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Bull-Carp
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![]() Here. Have some toast. |
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Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D | |
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| TomK | Feb 18 2009, 11:50 AM Post #9 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I make laundry detergent commercially. Where I would do saponification is to mix large quantities of liquid caustic soda and sodium sillicate in a bath with cloth napkins and turn the grease in the napkins to soap and then wash the naplin in that (and further added) soap. It's called the breaking process and the alkali is called a builder. I don't do the washing (I used to,) I just provide the chemicals. |
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| kathyk | Feb 18 2009, 12:00 PM Post #10 |
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Pisa-Carp
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Speaking of toast, I have a funny saponification story. My mother, a child of the depression wasted not for wanting to not want. Anyway, she saved all of the bacon grease in a coffee can, and when she accumulated enough she made a batch of soap. We didn't use it for bathing (thankfully, as it didn't smell great and was kind of harsh), but she used it for laundry. One day, she had made a batch and had poured it into an 9 x 12 inch cake pan. Once it set, she would cut it into bars. That day, my sister's annoying little friend came to the house - she was maybe 8 or 9 and a bit of a spit fire, but kind of like part of the family. She looked at the pan and asked what it was with a hungry look in her eyes. I told her it was cheese, so she proceeded to cut off a piece and give it a try. Yum!
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| Blogging in Palestine: http://kksjournal.com/ | |
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| Kincaid | Feb 18 2009, 12:06 PM Post #11 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Perfect timing and delivery!
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| Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006. | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Feb 18 2009, 12:07 PM Post #12 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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Exactly. Penicillin is good for you. |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| ivorythumper | Feb 18 2009, 12:58 PM Post #13 |
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
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And Klaus thinks Latin is really useless.
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| The dogma lives loudly within me. | |
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| brenda | Feb 18 2009, 02:55 PM Post #14 |
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Thanks, Beelady! I think you're right about not saving $$ by making it myself. Hubby and daughter like to use shampoo bars instead of liquid shampoo, so I buy those on-line as well as handmade soaps. Those are a little more pricey. I try to get good deals when I buy soaps on-line, so I don't know that it would save money to make it. I buy pounds of it at a time, not just an individual bar at a time. Sue, it seems the secret to non-gloopy handmade soap is to let it harden a loooong time. The makers sell it too fresh. It needs to age. The other thing is to have a good tray for the soap between uses, one that allows airflow on all sides. Hubby has sensitive skin, so I pamper him. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| Claude Ball | Feb 18 2009, 03:32 PM Post #15 |
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Middle Aged Carp
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Whut's soap? |
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Dain bramage caused my peach imspediment. Tooth? Tooth? You can't handle the tooth! Remember: He who laughs last, thinks slowest..... DON'T BEND OVER IN THE GARDEN, MARGARET - THEM TATER'S GOT EYES! | |
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| TomK | Feb 18 2009, 03:35 PM Post #16 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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Whatever soap you buy--the container the soap come is is ALWAYS more expensive than what's inside. |
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| dolmansaxlil | Feb 18 2009, 04:19 PM Post #17 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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My mum made soap for a long time because my dad couldn't tolerate anything on the market. My favourites were her goat's milk oatmeal and coffee soap, which is fantastic for the kitchen because it gets garlic smell off the hands. |
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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| brenda | Feb 18 2009, 04:47 PM Post #18 |
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I usually buy it unpackaged or in only a simple plastic wrap, nothing fancy. I have found a couple sellers who let me buy their miscuts. Since I am not fussy about the shape of the soap, that makes it less expensive. Sometimes I get several pounds of soap wrapped in a plastic grocery bag from one seller. None too fancy, but the price is right!
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| brenda | Feb 18 2009, 04:49 PM Post #19 |
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Goatsmilk makes for good soaps! I had never tried any of this stuff until a couple years ago. Now it's pretty much all we use, that and olive oil soaps. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| BeeLady | Feb 19 2009, 02:04 PM Post #20 |
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Middle Aged Carp
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And a good recipe... the ones that use more lye leave less oils unprocessed and make for harder bars but harsher as well. Besides, trolling local potters for good, draining dishes is half the fun! |
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"My wheel shall sing responsive to my tread, And I will spin so fine, so strong a thread Fate shall not cut it, nor Time's forces break" "Distaff and Spindle: Sonnets by Mary Ashley Townsend" 1895 | |
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| TomK | Feb 19 2009, 02:15 PM Post #21 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I can make shampoo, very good shampoo too, by the truckload but my daughter will only have some salon bought stuff for $25.00. It's really all quite similar--but they can tell the difference. I use the half empty bottles they discard. |
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| apple | Feb 19 2009, 02:39 PM Post #22 |
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one of the angels
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Irish Spring by Palmolive made in Kansas City |
| it behooves me to behold | |
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| sue | Feb 19 2009, 02:48 PM Post #23 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I buy inexpensive shampoo, just pick whatever fruit I'd like to smell like that week, but I spend the big bucks ($10 ish) on a good conditioner. I like Neutrogena's leave-in conditioner. Doesn't make sense to me to put on conditioner in the shower and rinse it out right away, and this works really well on my hair. |
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| dolmansaxlil | Feb 19 2009, 03:13 PM Post #24 |
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HOLY CARP!!!
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I buy really good shampoo ($28... but the bottle lasts me for about 3 months), but I don't use conditioner. Because my hair is so short, conditioner isn't necessary, and my hair actually looks worse when I use it. I notice a HUGE difference between my shampoo and others - for one thing, the shampoo I use doesn't fade my colour AT ALL - even on the grey hairs that I've sprouted along my part. I also have very bizarrely textured hair (very fine strands, but TONNES of them) so the wrong shampoo can make me look like a q-tip.
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"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson My Flickr Photostream | |
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Anyway, she saved all of the bacon grease in a coffee can, and when she accumulated enough she made a batch of soap. We didn't use it for bathing (thankfully, as it didn't smell great and was kind of harsh), but she used it for laundry. One day, she had made a batch and had poured it into an 9 x 12 inch cake pan. Once it set, she would cut it into bars. That day, my sister's annoying little friend came to the house - she was maybe 8 or 9 and a bit of a spit fire, but kind of like part of the family. She looked at the pan and asked what it was with a hungry look in her eyes. I told her it was cheese, so she proceeded to cut off a piece and give it a try. Yum!
Perfect timing and delivery!

I also have very bizarrely textured hair (very fine strands, but TONNES of them) so the wrong shampoo can make me look like a q-tip.
4:29 PM Jul 10