Soap making

Am I bonkers for even thinking about it?

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glenos

glenos

.. is a GRANDPA now!
2018 Sabbatical
2015 Sabbatical
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Hobart, TAS
I've been thinking about turning my hand to soap making. Anyone got some tips and tricks? Or a killer base recipe they are willing to share?

Initially body soap and maybe some shaving soap.
 
glenos said:
I've been thinking about turning my hand to soap making. Anyone got some tips and tricks? Or a killer base recipe they are willing to share?

Initially body soap and maybe some shaving soap.
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It's so easy that it took me by surprise!

I'm on my 4th iteration of base recipe and I'm fairly happy with it now for my personal preferences.
 
My wife makes her own soap. It really is a very simple process and there are plenty of books to help you get started.

My wife's shaving soap is excellent and is up there with my favourite soaps from all around the world. Unlike bath soap that needs to sit for 6 weeks before you can use it, shaving soap is good to go pretty in a day or so.

Just don't expect to make money from it as we in Australia don't have the market like the US.

I would highly recommend this book to get you started.


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glenos said:
The basic principle is simple. I'm an ex-analytical chemist. But like brewing beer to make something is easy to make something good, that other people enjoy is a lifelong pursuit.
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I was shocked to find my first ever try yielded a soap that worked incredibly well.

I tweaked the formula little by little based on my preferences and I feel it performs no less than international artisan soaps...sans the perfume as I purposefully wanted my soap unscented.

I have zero intention to sell my soap but even for just personal use, it's definitely worthwhile.
I also make my own shampoo bars and hand soap.

No bath soap though as I love the Turkish & Greek olive oil soaps plus have a bunch of Italian soaps my sister-in-law got for me. I'm stocked up with at least 5 years of bath soaps!
 
nav1 said:
I was shocked to find my first ever try yielded a soap that worked incredibly well.

I tweaked the formula little by little based on my preferences and I feel it performs no less than international artisan soaps...sans the perfume as I purposefully wanted my soap unscented.

I have zero intention to sell my soap but even for just personal use, it's definitely worthwhile.
I also make my own shampoo bars and hand soap.

No bath soap though as I love the Turkish & Greek olive oil soaps plus have a bunch of Italian soaps my sister-in-law got for me. I'm stocked up with at least 5 years of bath soaps!
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Lard is excellent in soaps. This is what my wife mainly uses for hers.
 
Gargravarr said:
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone here: lard and tallow are to all intents and purposes the same thing.
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Not sure about scientific names...but tallow is from cattle and lard from pigs? Definitely different composition but certainly both great for soapa 😀
 
alfredus said:
Not sure about scientific names...but tallow is from cattle and lard from pigs? Definitely different composition but certainly both great for soapa 😀
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That's about it.

Tallow can be either Cattle or Sheep whereas Lard is from Pigs.

As Gargravarr said, they do the same thing in soap making but lard is usually a lot cheaper than tallow which makes a fair bit of difference if you are making a lot of soap.
 
I was pondering lard and tallow this morning. Is sheep fat still tallow? I could render some myself.

The other thing I wo.derwd is how hard is it to render lanolin from wool? What could I do with the 30kg of wool I've got in the shed.
 
glenos said:
I was pondering lard and tallow this morning. Is sheep fat still tallow? I could render some myself.

The other thing I wo.derwd is how hard is it to render lanolin from wool? What could I do with the 30kg of wool I've got in the shed.
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Tallow is either from Sheep or Cows.

You'll have to google the second one. I can't help you there :LOL: but, if you make it work, lanolin is excellent in soap.
 
Sausages

Laws

Now I will add soaps to that list of things I don’t want to see made …
 
I always thought Lanolin is the equivalent of tallow from sheep 😪
 
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