# Our first batches of soap



## jynxt (Apr 5, 2004)

Turned out great!!! I wish I could even remember where I printed the recipes that we used out.... but I guess it don't matter since I mangled them all to bits because I wanted to put different stuff in it. 

The first batch we made honey soap with blackberry seeds for extra scrubbyness (and because I had saved the pulp from making jelly and needed to do something with it). We poured it into pringles cans the boys had been scavenging to make tennis ball mortars with and cut it two days later. It smells wonderful and I can't wait to use some!!! I wish I had realized ahead of time just how much more the stuff heats up with honey in it! WOW! But now I know and will be ready to do it again soon.

The second batch we made an all veggie soap with crisco and corn oil and coconut oil and scented it with lemongrass and sage. Oh my goodness it smells good enough to hide under my pillow!!! We just poured it into a box lined with freezer paper and cut it into bars yesterday. I can't wait to use it either!! 

How long does this stuff have to cure??? My dd is stalking the calendar with her big red pen every day now!! LOL.


----------



## MaineFarmMom (Dec 29, 2002)

As long as it isn't lye heavy you can start using it now. The first bar won't last as long as later bars that are drier. Lemongrass and sage sounds wonderful.


----------



## Sarah Bella (Mar 26, 2007)

I'd wait a month to use it, 3 weeks if you're really jonesin'  You can test it on your tongue to test for the lye bite.. if it bites you won't want to use it yet... "How can you tell if it "bites" you?" you'll know... and it will hurt like the dickens, like getting a nasty shock on your tongue... i tested once this way and NEVER again!! 

Hot processed soap can be used right away, cold processed soap you really should wait as it takes a while to completely saponifyand can really irritate your skin.


----------



## jynxt (Apr 5, 2004)

Okay, now how do I know whether or not it is "lye heavy"? I know that is a really stupid question but I'm not all there some days!


----------



## Jen H (Jun 16, 2004)

Rub your finger on a bar, and touch that finger to the tip of your tongue. If the soap is lye heavy, you'll feel a zap like if you touch your tongue to a 9-volt battery. It won't actually burn, but it's noticeable. If the soap just tastes like soap, then it's fine to use.

Congrats, and welcome to a new obsession!


----------



## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

the only reason to 'cure' soaps (both Hot and Cold process) is to allow for evaporation of excess moisture. 

HP is ready to use 'sooner' only because the applied heat saponifies the batch within a few hours where as soap made with the cold process method needs 24-48 hours in an insulated mold to fully saponify. 

Would love to see pictures jynxt!

You can 'swirl' with HP, but it looks more like marbled swirls rather than wispy swirls.

I've done both HP & CP. I prefer CP since I can get it in the mold faster, can use 100% milk as liquid without the milk sugars carmelizing and can use less liquid with CP which in turns reduces evaporation (cure) time.


----------



## jynxt (Apr 5, 2004)

Thanks guys!!! I LOVE this soap, it lathers really creamy and after just using it for a day my skin feels so different.... I'm amazed, I had no idea I could do this. 

We did the cold process since that's what I'd been reading about. I have a dd who is just dying to learn everything all at once and that kind of requires me to learn a lot of it too.... (just ask Iddee about the beekeeping  ) 

I haven't tried to use milk yet but I can't wait to. I had read that it makes the soap heat up a lot more, but I had also read that about honey and the honey soap turned out great too. I stink at pictures but I can give it a try sometime soon.

Thanks so much for all the help y'all have been while we try our hand at this!!! Our next batch is for my son who is entering the adolescent pimple face stage.... I'm infusing some of the oil with chickweed, plantain, hyssop, red clover, camomile, and mint. I'll probably use some honey in that soap too just because I like it  My friend back home says to use tomato juice in place of some of the water but I'm not sure how good an idea that is?? I have lots of other ideas too churning around in my head and my sweet little dd is full of 'em too ..... she's trying to figure out a poision ivy soap since her and her daddy both get it every year and suffer terribly :help: 

Thanks again!!!! Y'all are awesome.


----------



## FrugalGal (May 10, 2007)

Sounds like you did a wonderful job! And your enthusiasm is contagious! :dance: 

What did you read to learn about it? How long does it take to make up a batch? Sounds like fun!!


----------



## Jen H (Jun 16, 2004)

Start here:

http://www.millersoap.com/

There's all sorts of good information on her site. The recipes she lists are huge, so you might want to cut them in half or thirds to start out with. Just remember that all of the measurements are by weight, not volume.


----------



## MaineFarmMom (Dec 29, 2002)

MullersLaneFarm said:


> the only reason to 'cure' soaps (both Hot and Cold process) is to allow for evaporation of excess moisture.


I wish more people understood this. There's this odd idea that soap must "cure" before it can be used. Soap makers will pick it up with bare hands to unmold it, cut it, move it to a drying rack but oh my goodness don't use it until it "cures." This is a new idea. It's not something we even talked about 13 years ago.


----------



## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

jynxt said:


> ..... she's trying to figure out a poision ivy soap since her and her daddy both get it every year and suffer terribly :help:


Washing with any soap after contact with poison ivy will combat it. You need to wash off the poison ivy oil. Try a soap that has an oil that is higher in lauric fatty acid (coconut, palm kernel).

With milks soaps, you'll want to prepare your oils first and have them ready to go before mixing up your lye solution. I use frozen milk chunked up into approximately 1" chunks. Add your lye to that and stir well to incorporate and melt the frozen milk. Add immediately to your waiting oils.


----------



## jynxt (Apr 5, 2004)

Thanks frugalgal, it didn't take us very long at all I think I did it in like an hour before bed one night. We checked out every book the library had and read them only to find ourselves more and more confused with every page..... so we surfed the web and read lots and lots of recipes on the soapmaking sites we found (the ones recommended to us here were GREAT). Finally we got tired of reading about it and just did it.

I'm glad to learn that soap doesn't have to cure because it is bad to use it just to harden it up. It makes sense to me!! Thanks alot for letting us know that, like I said we've read so much conflicting info it ain't even funny.

Thanks mullerslane for letting me know how to use the milk in a soap recipe, now I'm dying to try that too. Oh my, my dh is gonna have a fit when the soap takes over the closet..... what does one do with all that extra soap??


----------



## MaineFarmMom (Dec 29, 2002)

Takes over the closet? Wait til he can't sit down at the kitchen table for a meal! lol


----------



## Jen H (Jun 16, 2004)

Or when you have to roll racks of soap out of the way to do the laundry.


----------



## jynxt (Apr 5, 2004)

LoL, I can definitely see this taking over some space!! It is surely an addiction in the making. I caught myself several times today trying to find excuses to make some soap and thinking of what I would use and kind of playing "create a recipe" in my head. Oh boy am I in for it!


----------

