I need your own PERSONAL soap recipes!

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Please print your own personal soap-making recipes! I know there are web sites with recipes but I want to know the ones you use that you feel turns out the best soap and which are easiest for you!

Also, does any one make soap with the cold method without lye????

thanks!

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), December 31, 2001

Answers

Hey Suzie,

I make soap with goat milk, olive oil, tallow, coconut oil, castor oil and silk. I rebatch with aloe. I make different size batches depending on what I have available. I add ostrich oil when it is available. Soap is not soap without lye and fat. Most of what you buy in the store is actually a detergent. I use the cold method exclusively. I have 6 children and we live off the farm. My soap sales are helping us make it through the winter. If you need help using the lye, just contact me. If you would like me to calculate ingredients for a specific size batch of soap, let me know. We have Alpine and Nubian dairy goats and the soap is just wonderful! By the way, I will have buck soap, made with deer tallow, available soon.

God Bless...Mindy Stowers

-- Mindy Stowers (dm1@naxs.net), December 31, 2001.


no lye, no soap!

-- shari (smillers@snowcrest.net), December 31, 2001.

Hi Suzy, I am a new soap maker but certainly have my favorite and by chance, it is the easiest. 2 cups water, 2/3 cup lye, 2 1/3 cup cheap shortning, 1 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1/1/2 cup olive oil. At the very end I add 1 tsp of tea tree oil and 2 tblsp of castor oil. I give this as gifts and everyone wants more! Gotta love making soap. Jean

-- Jean from Iowa (kjean@i-rule.net), December 31, 2001.

Hi Susy, I just found out a really good shampoo recipe though. No lye either! I made it with soapwort and aloe. If you have it growing where you live, you can dig the roots and dry them. I boiled mine for about 45 minutes, strained the liquid, and added aloe to where it made a gel. I also added a few drops of chamomile essential oil. My hair came out clean and soft. No lather though. That's something I'll have to get used to I guess. Diana

-- Diana (rock_hunter83@hotmail.com), December 31, 2001.

17 oz olive oil 16 oz coconut or palm oil,(whichever I happen to have!) 52 oz tallow 12 oz lye 32 oz water

This makes 7 lbs of nice hard bars with a very rich lather, just add whatever oils or colorants as it traces!

-- Tracy Conklin (tconklin@ncci.net), January 01, 2002.



I have made soap with lye, but find it's too long a process for me. When I want soap for skin that is easily irritated, I order Glycerine soap base and add my own essential oils for scent and add color if needed. This stuff is simple, also called Melt & Pour. You can use it as it comes, just plain. You can melt it down and add whatever you want, and then pour it in any mold you want to make cute soaps for kids. It's also kind of fun to put a little toy inside a bar of this soap, like a plastic frog or car or ducky. It's available clear or opaque. Buy it in bulk as a two single pounds of it will cost almost as much as five pounds. Have fun.

-- Bobbi in NH (the_bee_lady@hotmail.com), January 01, 2002.

Would someone please describe the cold method? I've always used boiling water.

-- sam dade (swdade@yahoo.com), January 01, 2002.

Grate 1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap into a saucepan with 1 pint water and heat until melted. Add ½ cup Borax and ½ cup Washing Soda. Stir and mix well. Pour into a large bucket and add plain water to make two gallons. Let set up overnight, then it's ready to use. It has a sort of gel consistency and doesn't bubble much, but cleans clothes well and costs about 32 cents a gallon. Use about 1 cup per load in a regular washer. add 1/2 cup of softner to make it smell good.

-- Fay Streisant (SOandSO@webtv.net), January 01, 2002.

Fay we were all just talking about this, the gel laundry detergent an old aunt of ours made/used, but what is washing powder? Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 02, 2002.

Sam Dade, the cold method requires several basic steps. First you combine the lye with the cold water and set aside to cool down. Then you weigh and melt your fats together, and begin to cool them down. Both the lye mixture and the fats have to reach 100*F at the same time. This might require setting one or the other into a cool sink of water.

When they reach 100*F simultaneously, begin to stir the fats, and continuing to stir, pour the lye-water into the fats in a thin stream. Stir briskly until the soap begins to "trace"- a little dribble from the spoon will rest on top of the soap for a while before sinking back in. This can take 15 minutes to half an hour. (Some people swear by their stick blender or their hand-held mixer for this step, as it seemingly speeds up the process conciderably. I havent tried it yet.)

When the mixture "traces", add whatever essences or fragrances you wish, and pour it into a large mold and cover it. Wrap with an old blanket or towels, and place in a warm spot to finish the saponification process in that heat that it will generate for itself. Allow it to set WITH NO PEEKING for at least 24 hours. 48 hours is better if you can control yourself better than I can. Unmold the block of soap out onto the countertop and cut into bars. Set the bars out on an opened paper bag, not touching each other, in a warm dry place to cure for 2 weeks.

I am new at soapmaking, but have spent the past several weeks reseaching the subject and trying recipes. Have had great success so far with the above techniques!

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), January 29, 2002.



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