I’ve let go of liquid soaps in the last few years and opted to used classic solid soaps for my hygiene but between trendy scents or seasonal supply I haven’t been able to find a soap I can stay with.
This led me to consider making my own soap but is it worth it?
Artisanal soaps are expensive and hard to find in my country and mostly pass the notion they are targetting luxury customers and not making something for everyone to use and enjoy and trying to make an effort to create change.
I am aware initial costs have to be considered and that there is a learning to it.
If you don’t want ridiculous amount of goddamn perfume in it, you pretty much need to.
IDK if these manufacturers don’t have olfactory senses in their QC departments, but it’s getting stupid how much more scent is being added. I had a Costco brick of Irish Spring soaps I’d been whittling away at and bought another one recently. I couldn’t even stand having the new one in the house, I tossed it because it stank so much, even through the door of the bathroom cabinet. I still have a couple left from the old brick and they’re manageable but now I’m going to have to find something else.
Maybe I need to look into making it, too.
For what it’s worth, my intuition tells me the soap market in my country is currently heavily geared towards women and even more towards a niche within the general population of women that go into the extreme girly style.
Most soaps are incredibly sweet scented, heavy on flowers and fruits. This leaves men’s soap, my case, to become a very narrow market. Men’s market is currently covered by the big brands - Axe, Old Spice, etc -through their “active/sports/urban” lines of body wash that usually smell like cars or floor disinfectant covered with a layer of cheap, strong, short lasting perfume.
Not my thing.
Dial, Dove, and Ivory all sell unscented varieties of bar soap.
I’m not a Costco shopper, but the Costco website suggests they carry only an extremely limited variety of bath soaps. Way more choices at your average grocery store, drug store, etc.
I thought this said “soup” and was about to be all up in arms about it as a soup lover. Please carry on.
I can personally attest that making your own soup is worth it.
It might be fun, but it is only cheaper in the long run if you consider your time to be worth nothing.
Soap making involves very little time investment. There is a long drying time (weeks to months) but you can spend that time on other things 🙂
“oh no I’ve run out of soap and forgot to make more. See you in 5 months, shower” - my autistic ass
Meanwhile, I’m thinking I’m going to make a different batch every two weeks to have enough soap to gift.
I did this once with pickles. Ran out for a month, then made more pickles than anyone should ever eat.
And now you are in a pickle?
I was!
You shower with pickles?
Gotta, at this point
I dill not see that coming.
…I’ll show myself out.
If it IS fun for you though, I’d suggest it is far more valuable to you than the soap itself and/or any savings.
that’s true for every home chore though
My time is priceless. So priceless that I run out of it even if I try to save it. Time is the least concern I have.
Putting this on a poster at work…
Photo or it did not happen.
I demand a primitive cave drawing. Otherwise, it didn’t happen
Agreed. Let us get primal!
Totally. Once a year I make a huge batch with all the things I like and none of what I hate. I give out a bunch for Christmas and have enough to last me the rest of the year.
Occasionally I’ll dig out my supplies mid-year for something special or to make soap with friends, then I just have extra.
It was easy to learn and the costs were worth it.
During the pandemic, my wife took up soap making.
Took her about two months to finally create the recipe she wanted to use. The good ones, we give out as gifts.
All the rejects are still good. It’s now three years and we’re still going through all the bars she made.
That’s good to know.
My ex used to make our laundry soap. It was lot of work but cool. Got a recipe to share?
I alternate between different ones every year. I just tried to find my favorite olive oil soap recipe but I’m only getting AI slop results. Silly me for not bookmarking. The best one I found was basic cold process recipe that only uses olive oil, lye and water. If you’re searching, the one I like recommends using a milk carton for the mould and letting the soap sit for a week before slicing, then letting it cure for 60 days. The ratio of ingredients should all be the same across good recipes. I don’t trust the slop.
Otherwise I used meltable glycerine soap base I used to get from a place called The Soap Dispensery in Vancouver. Doesn’t seem like they sell it since I moved, so I can’t tell you what was in it. To the melted glycerine I would add jojoba oil, shea butter, vitamin E, tea tree oil, charcoal and cedar essential oil. I like woodsy, herbal scents.
Sometimes, if I plan ahead, I’ll dehydrate lemon and lime rinds into crumbly bits to add for texture and exfoliation. Other times I use coffee grounds.
Another time my niece mixed in vanilla, mandarin and rosemary for the scents, it was a hit with everyone. Smelled like a healthy orange cream pop.
You can do it pretty cheap if you source your fat from high end liposuction clinics.
I should soap myself to lose weight :(
Um. Did you forget about the first rule?
He didn’t say anything about the actual fight club
Shut your god damn mouth, boy, if you know what’s good for you.
What club?
Fright club? Like the stick you use to frighten people? Sounds scary!
I get the reference and I feel obligated to remember you about the first rule.
I started making my own soap years ago… for me it was worth it. I didn’t want the anti-bacterial or fragrance in it… used only olive oil (pomace), avocado oil, palm oil and coconut oil with the lye. (though I want to replace the palm oil in my recipe, what I have is supposedly ok environmentally, it is controversial) Check out brambleberry.com and they have a lye calculator and recipes as well.
Are soaps like dove or ivory not available?
Ivory is the original generic soap and really cheap. Stuff lasts forever. And isn’t scented. I bought a sleeve of several bars for like $7.99 - should last 2 years or more.
Dove technically isn’t the same thing, but it’s also cheap and some people find it less drying.
Ivory isn’t available and Dove does not play well with my skin; I’m left feeling my skin oily.
maybe get some one from Syria to get you some Genuine Aleppo Soap , or Sugar factory Soap
Ive been making my own liquid body for about 6 months and it doesn’t include castil soap or putting bar soap in water. All the ingredients are available online and the end result comes out to a fraction of the price of store bought. It’s also a great option for allergen control as all 7 of the ingredients are low reactives.
I’m currently pushing into shampoo and conditioner, both are a little more work than the body wash as they need to be heated and ph balanced. If my research is correct, all three can be made as concentrates for long term storage and all you have to do is add it to the water and xanthum gum before use.
If you’re interested in getting into it, hit me up and I’ll give you the deets. I have incredibly specific preferences in texture, smell, and experience so it’s not perfect by my standards, but it’s fucking amazing compared to buying it at the store and I’ve wanted root beer scented body wash since I was a child. Plus, you don’t need anything special for the body wash, I mix it in a 4 cup measuring cup and put it in aldi Condament bottles.
That seems extremely interesting. Should I DM you?
Measurements in % by volume, I find ml to be the best option
- Distilled water - 60%
- Cocamidopropyl betaine - 20%
- Decyl Glucoside - 10%
- Xanthum gum - 1% dry
- Glyserin - 4%
- Germall plus - 1%
- Fragrance - 4%
Water mixture: In a container mix 1,4 vigorously to incorporate xanthum gum. (Milk frother, mixer, drill with whisk, it takes a lot because dry xg is hydrophobic) set aside for ~20min, stir periodically to disperse chunks.
Soap mixture: In a a second container, fold together 2,3,5,6,7 gently with spatula to avoid bubbles.
When water mixture is sufficiently gloopy, mix vigorously until masses have broken up and mixture is thick but smooth. (Not nessesary but fun and makes for better texture.)
In the bottle you plan to use (soap bottle, ketchup bottle with squeeze top, really anything with a set volume and lid.) Add soap mix to 39% of final volume. Add water mix to fill remaining 61% volume.
Close bottle tightly and shake vigorously until contents combined.
Notes:
- Bubbles in soap mixture last 2 weeks before returning to jell form. DO NOT MIX IN BUBBLES it wastes ingredients.
- Use “cosmetic grade” Essential oil, it’s formulated for skin contact.
- Final mixture will change color over the first 24hrs, to match the color of the oil added for fragrance. Ask a scientist why, I just know it’s safe.
- texture can be modified with changes to xanthum gum amount. More gum=more slime
- test fragrants on skin before committing, it’s the most likely to react to.
- some fragrants are very weak in this mix. You can just add more.
I’m not a scientist or professional so look up each chemical and make sure you’re not allergic, these are supposed to be the least likely to be allergic to, but I’m not your doctor and I don’t know you.
I never got past making liquid hands soap, is the process any different?
My partner has a coconut allergy, so I had to learn how to make soap, I just find the process a bit existing right now. Hoping to make some bar soap in the near future once spoons are available
I posted the recipe and directions as a reply to OP’s reply if you wanna check it out. Cocamidopropyl betaine is processes from coconuts but is supposedly to be hypoallergenic. I’d test it on her carefully before investing in it. Personally I find it so much less taxing than bar soap.
Yeah, I don’t believe anything coca- is hypoallergenic given the number of stuff I’ve seen them react to. But it being supposedly hypoallergenic might explain the rumblings I’ve heard about coconut stuff no longer being listed as a major allegen (hooray)
Thanks for the reply, even if I can use the info.
I dunno if they’re still around, but there’s a number of soap companies in Palestine that genuinely had some of the best bar soap I’ve ever used. No perfumes, the soap itself is dense enough to last 10x longer than anything you buy at the store, and I had no irritation. They might be rubble by now tho.
I’ve had that! Guy from the Greek grocery was at my company’s open house, giving out a bar with every olive oil purchase. Had no idea how long a bar lasted because I would lose track before replacing it.
One night I was watching a YT video on making soap and there were my boys! (I know it was them because of the stamp.)
That got me started on making my own. First batch was perfect, subsequent batches refuse to dry properly.
That’s just glycerin soap.
It’s olive oil soap.
The overall costs long term are much cheaper to make your own soap.
We started making food for our dogs due to one of them having an allergic reaction to the food we were feeding them before. It’s far far cheaper to make it ourselves, and isn’t really that hard. It just took learning about the basic steps and doing it.
You got me curious: kibble or wet?
Because I know how to prepare fresh/wet food for my dogs. But kibble is a whole different subject.
Not really relevant but still relevant https://youtu.be/tK-cKWSPBBs
I’m very happy to spend 7 years of my life in the kitchen for the results!
Just buy a ready to use kit with everything already weighed out. Cold saponification is the easy way. Took me about 30 minutes to prepare six bars and they will last for quite some time. The soap turned out much softer but i keep the unused soap in a dry place for curing. Maybe the next soap will be harder. Next step for me will be to buy the ingredients in bulk to cut down on plastic waste. I will also add fragrance next time.
The kits I’m finding are for decorative soaps and I’m not in the wanting to make things to stuff my drawers.
I’ll have to read on cold reaction soap.
My parents used to buy Imperial Leather when I was a kid, I used shower gels for a while, but eventually came back to it. It cheap, lathers well, cleans well, isn’t overly perfumed. I struggle to believe you could make an equivalent soap at home for the same price assuming you value your time. (you could buy it in both the UK and Australia so I assume it’s everywhere)
I had never heard of Imperial Leather until this day and I am sad for it. Seems to have an unusual scent when compared with the usual herbs/flowers/vegetable byproducts my country usually favours.
I made soap once and it was fun. We were 4 people and everyone made a slightly different version. The base was the same but the add-ins (fragrant oils, poppyseed, coffee, honey, etc.) were chosen individually. It was quite fun and everyone walked away with 4 different types of soap (after a few weeks/months).
There is a soap making comm, but it’s dead last I checked.
Whenever I think about making soap I think about making my own lye in a pottery kiln. Would fire pots while burning up clam shells or whatever to make the NaOH, at least that’s how I remember it’s made.
I want to go back to basics but I’m not considering going that basic. But it’s a nice idea.
You’d make CaO that way, which mixed with water forms Ca(OH)2 (milk of lime). I’m not sure, but as I remember it NaOH is used to make liquid soaps, lime is used to make solid soaps.
never done it, but afaik it’s just normal hard wood ash in a barrel that you pour soft (traditionally rain) water over and the lye leaches out
