Homemade Soap

Pink.

MrandMrsB wrote: »

To complicate matters I was going to ask how to make liquid soap (not liquid soup!). Any thoughts please?

Hi MrandMrsB,

This thread may help:

Liquid soap - is there an O/S version?

Pink

Gigervamp

I recommend the Yahoo group UKSoaping. In the files section there are lots of recipes to try as well as information on the rules and regulations should you decide that you want to start selling.

Melinda Coss is a member there and she runs soapmaking courses.

The important thing to remember, is you must follow safety instructions as you'll be using caustic soda.

If making it from scratch is a bit daunting, you can buy melt and pour soap which is great for being artistic with as you can add colour, fragrance and other additives such as cosmetic glitter or oats etc and it can be moulded in lots of different ways.

Justasoap sell melt and pour base and all the other ingredients.

Beware though, soap making is addictive and can become an expensive hobby!

blaque*angel

bllipp wrote: »

Just wanted to add that I work for Lush, and only about half of our soaps have SLS. It's actually not proven to be dangerous at all - some research has shown that it can be a skin irritant, however as you don't leave soap on your body (you wash it off), the SLS (which creates a foam) is mostly washed away. Besides the amount that is actually in soaps in the first place is very small - too small to have a major effect. In fact, I have a regular customer who has eczema who buys one particular soap as it doesn't irritate her skin.

I'm not plugging the company at all, however I think it's important to note that 'negative' research on SLS is few and far between. I personally prefer my soap to lather as it makes me feel cleaner (psychologically I suppose). I don't like putting chemicals on or in my body as much as the next person, however the company does do its own research and attempts to keep down artifical additives they use. It's like preservatives - we know they're 'bad' (or seen as) so it's always one of the very last ingredients Lush puts in any given product. We do our research and all staff know about concerns like these and can advise people on products we have that don't contain certain additives.

It's given me inspiration to make my own soap too, however working for the company gives me enough to last a lifetime you can always smell me coming haha

Hope this helps.

SLS is actually a cancer causing chemical, it dries the skin out like crazy too.

blaque*angel

Whats the cheapest place to find soap making supplies online?

babyshoes

I haven't tried making soap from scratch yet - our kitchen is really too tiny! I do make melt and pour soap though - it is great for presents, as well as being easy enough for kids and safer than making it from scratch using lye. I wrote a tutorial for it which you can see here.

stardrops42

blaque*angel wrote: »

Whats the cheapest place to find soap making supplies online?

I buy a lot of my soap making supplies from Gracefruit. Just remember that the prices don't include VAT, that gets added on at checkout;) Scent perfique is also good for fragrance, they have some llovely scents.
If you live near Asda it works out a lot cheaper to buy the big bottle of pomace olive oil for £6 ish. I also sometimes get my coconut oil from asian food shops. The only problem is that you can only buy small amounts and it works out more expensive but is handy if you run out. I just buy my caustic soda from Boots or my local DIY shop. HTH
I love making soap, in fact I'm making a batch of honey soap tonight as I gave all of my soap away as xmas gifts! I've also got a new tangerine fragrance so I might make a tangerine and poppy seed soap.