Neem & Kelp Organic Handmade Soap. Great soap for trouble skin. Neem and kelp helps to protect and restore balance to skin.

Saponification as defined by CHEMISTRY 122 - SYNTHESIS of SOAP:

Soap is produced by the saponification (hydrolysis) of a triglyceride (fat or oil). In this process the triglyceride is reacted with a strong base such as sodium hydroxide (lye) to produce glycerol and fatty acid salts. The salt of the fatty acid is called a soap.

SOAP CALCULATORS:

Snowdrift Farm Soap Calulator.

Majestic Mountain Sage Soap Calulator.

Majestic Mountain Sage also has a Fragrance Calculator here.

The famous SoapCalc. Much more details here. From INS value and more!

There are lots of useful information about soap making found on the Internet. But sometimes it’s nice to have these books as part of your own library to use as references.

The following list includes the title, author, and my reviews of them. Enjoy! 

Soapmaking Books: Soapmaker’s Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques & Know-How by Susan Miller Cavitch This was the first book I read about soap making. It is full of interesting information on oils and has good instruction. The drawback is that it makes soap making so intimidating, with all the ingredients needed and handling lye. I think it made me NOT want to make soap at all!

Smart Soapmaking: The Simple Guide to Making Traditional Handmade Soap Quickly, Safely, and Reliably, or How to Make Luxurious Handcrafted Soaps for Family, Friends, and Yourself by Anne L. Watson I liked this book since it was simple and straight forward. The instructions were clear, the drawings also nice and helpful. Anne’s recipes are also simple. She does not add any fragrances in her recipe.  That could explain why she’s had so many success!  No chance of your batch seize due to some fragrance oil.

The Soap Book: Simple Herbal Recipes by Sandy Maine Got this book as a gift. It was more like a pocket book to read on the plane, train, or bus stop. The recipes were repetitious after a while.  She also makes a very large batch.  I would recommend for beginners and people who like to soap with Crisco.

Milk-Based Soaps: Making Natural, Skin-Nourishing Soap by Casey Makela I like this book. Pretty simple and easy to follow. I have yet to make milk based soap, but looking forward to it. Updated: 8/18/09 For my first milk based soap, I’ve read Casey Makela’s instruction book over and over again just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.  The book seem to stretch out this process more then necessary!  And it seem a bit dated since it’s first publication in 1997.  Since then people have come up with other methods and ways of making milk based soap which I think can be  much more simpler and easy to understand.

Handcrafted Soap by Delores Boone The reviews for this book at Amazon is mixed, some either love it or hate it. I have to say I am in the middle ground. It is done nicely with pictures and recipes. But the author just thinks hot process soap is the best thing in the world. And the cover says, “Make it today, use it tonight.” While other expert on hot process said it’s best to wait a week or two. The only reason I have not made hot process is because I think it doesn’t look as nice and smooth as the cold process version. I have made 2 5 batches of hot process.  1st was a success and gave me lovely bars.  But 2nd was a disaster, 3 rd batch onward were all successful.  The one unsuccessful one got turn into “semi-liquid soap” instead.  Great for laundry and washing dishes!

Making Soaps & Scents by Catherine Bardey I found this book at a used book store in Mountain View. It’s published in England, 1999. The recipes are creative and easy to follow. I enjoyed this book very much. Great photographs by Zeva Oelbaum.

Transparent Soapmaking:  A complete guide to making natural see-through soap by Catherine Failor This is a great book if you are interested in making “clear glycerine” soap at home. The illustrations are nice and helpful.  I have yet made any of these soaps as the ingredients include working with alcohol and sugar. I just don’t like the idea of working with alcohol on the stove top. Maybe someday when I am up to the challenge.

—————– Soap making Advice —————– via Sweet Cakes Soap Supplies.

Great advice for adding fragrance to your soap by Sweet Cakes.  I think this will help with experimenting with more fragrance now that I know the steps.  Thanks!

“Unfortunately from time to time, people have problems with some fragrances and their particular recipe. We have put together a list of tips that will help you be successful with fragrances even if you are having a problem. They are as follows:” -SC

1.  Use at least 6 oz. of water per pound of fats/oils in your recipe.

2.  Do not use temperatures of over 100º for mixing lye and fats together.

3.  Add your fragrance at light trace — if the batch looks like pudding, odds are that the mixture will thicken even more when fragrance is added, and a smooth, neat pour may be out of the question.

4. DO NOT use a hand blender (also known as a stick blender) at all once you’ve added fragrance to your soap mixture (although of course you may feel free to use it before this point).

5. Once you add fragrance, stir only briefly (just enough to make sure the fragrance is incorporated) and pour.

6. Do not over-insulate.  Profusely sweating soap is the beginning of disaster.

7. Do not use grapefruit seed extract (GSE) — it is a trace accelerator and if your soap is made properly, there is no need to to preserve it. ** I use grapefruit seed extract with 100 % success and would recommend it. **

8.  We work very hard to greatly lower the likelihood that our fragrances will cause seizing in your CP soap.  If you do find an oil to be on the seize-y side, try holding back several ounces of base oil from your batch (the amount is dependent of the size of your batch) and mix the fragrance with this held-back oil.   Instead of adding straight fragrance oil to your batch at trace, add the base oil/fragrance mixture.  Sometimes this is enough to dilute the effects of raw fragrance and will prevent insta-trace in a touchy batch. You will still need to work quickly and add the fragrance at light trace, but this will certainly help.

SKINCARE BOOKS: Best books about natural skincare:

Natural Organic Hair and Skin Care: Including A to Z Guide to Natural and Synthetic Chemicals in Cosmetics by Aubrey Hampton A classic reference on natural skincare. Notice the artwork, it’s so 70’s.

Skin Care and Cosmetic Ingredients Dictionary (Milady’s Skin Care and Cosmetics Ingredients Dictionary) by Natalia Michalun and Varinia Michalun This book does a great job of explaining all the ingredients that goes into cosmetic. Both natural and synthetic.

Pure Skin: Organic Beauty Basics by Barabara Close. There are great recipes for making your own skincare cleansers and massage oils. There are a couple of things I don’t like about this book. First being that Barbara is against using bar soap of any kind as a facial cleanser. I think this is a personal matter. It’s something most people will find out and decide for themselves. I’ve been using all my handmade soap as a facial cleanser for many years now. And my skin has never had any adverse reaction. If anything I’ve been getting more compliments on my fresh face!