Please educate me: Who makes the Best Soap? (Handmade or Otherwise)

[Swanky Mama Of Three]

best bar soap I've ever used is L'Occitane's shea butter soaps

[Wildflower]

Originally Posted by ShimmaPuff

I do not even know the first thing about this handmade soap they speak of. Does it work?

I am a soapmaker. I began loving handmade soap and quicly discovered that all "handmade" soaps are NOT alike! There are thousands and thousands of recipes out there to make soap. I began buying Lush soaps and then moved onto CP soaps by individuals. CP means Cold Process which is a method of making soap. It leaves the moisturizing in -- most commercial soaps remove it and sell it back to you in lotions because the soap is so drying...

IF I have to buy soaps, I will only buy Zum soap from indigowild - http://www.indigowild.com/ I think they have the best soap out there and they are made with goat's milk and essential oils.

I use essential oils and fragrance oils to scent my soaps with but prefer essential oils. I never make goat milk soap -- it's a pain in the butt to work with! Most animals milks are. Coconut milk is great and I use it often.

At one time I went into business for myself -- and was actually too successful. I enjoy making soap as a hobby and when one store sold 300 bars of my soap in a month and asked for 1,000 more bars -- I quit. I still make soap as a hobby and one day might try the business thing again. Right now, each soap batch that I make only gives me 13 bars -- to go into business, I need to make a LOT more than that per batch! LOL

My favorite soap in the world is make with lard. Makes the BEST soap - ever. But many people only want soaps not made with any part of an animal and that includes lard and goat's milk. So I stick with mainly olive oil soaps and add other ingredients like palm oil, coconut oil, etc.

Good luck in your soap quest! I think I could talk about soaps forever!

[ShimmaPuff]

^^^
That sounds like a great company! I love it that they will not allow employees to make soap if they are having a bad day, to keep negative energy out of the product, and that they have a theme song.

On the downside, they only have one scent on my list. They have a sandalwood product, but it is mixed with citrus, and I rock it old school and take mine straight.

I wish you would talk about it all day. It is a fascinating subject!

Soap is a product I have always taken for granted, my ignorance of it is immense, and it is not the kind of thing my brain cuddles up to easily, as it is lousy with Science, especially Chemistry, which, like Math, is allergic to me.

If you made 13 bars a few times, you would have enough to throw up on Etsy.

Do you ever feel sorry for the people who bought your soap, got addicted, and were then sadly informed that they would never be able to have any more of it?

I am sorry if that is too personal, but it is just the first thing I thought when I read your story.

[elizat]

Great thread! I love handmade soaps and whenever I see them at craft fairs, etc., I always buy some. Plus, I like buying things that are not made by a huge corporation too. I'm going to look at the links provided and see what's available online.

[mcb100]

I was going to try Lush. Big bars of soap can last me quite a long time, so I don't mind buying pretty ones

[jillgoble]

In my opinion the best rose soap is by Kate of Omshanti Handicrafts whcih you can buy here
http://www.creativecafesalesrooms.co...il.asp?id=1090
and in here Etsy shop here
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5574742

This is what Kate writes about her soap:

"Nothing so romantic, so classic, so wonderfully scented as a rose, and this soap is all about the roses.

Rosehip oil is used as a carrier oil (along with olive and avocado oils). It's wonderful for treating eczema and psoriasis, and is also efficacious in reducing scar tissue. Precious rose absolute oil gives that so-familiar scent, and I've added red rose petals as an exfoliant (and, honestly, just because they're pretty).

Each bar weighs almost three ounces. It's cold-process soap, made right in my kitchen using all-natural ingredients -- I use no artificial fragrance oils in my products! "

Kate also make a Scarborough Fair soap and a range of bath salts and lip balms all from natural ingredients. I am addicted to her bath salts and everything she makes smells georgeous.

[Wildflower]

Originally Posted by ShimmaPuff

^^^ That sounds like a great company! I love it that they will not allow employees to make soap if they are having a bad day, to keep negative energy out of the product, and that they have a theme song. On the downside, they only have one scent on my list. They have a sandalwood product, but it is mixed with citrus, and I rock it old school and take mine straight. I wish you would talk about it all day. It is a fascinating subject! Soap is a product I have always taken for granted, my ignorance of it is immense, and it is not the kind of thing my brain cuddles up to easily, as it is lousy with Science, especially Chemistry, which, like Math, is allergic to me. If you made 13 bars a few times, you would have enough to throw up on Etsy. Do you ever feel sorry for the people who bought your soap, got addicted, and were then sadly informed that they would never be able to have any more of it? I am sorry if that is too personal, but it is just the first thing I thought when I read your story.

There are a few people who still buy my soap. I usually give them bars of it but they insist on paying me. They also know that I'm not insured as a company anymore -- and I trust them enough to not get peppermint soap in their eyes and then turn around and sue me!

My batches are small and 13 bars goes pretty far... and often times I'll make 10 batches in a weekend which gives me 130 bars. It's just so much fun! Especially experimenting with scents and different recipes...

I have a few friends who like 100% olive oil soap. Personally I think it's a little sticky and not sudsy at all... so I make 92% olive oil and 8% another oil (I can still legally call it "100% olive oil" too). I have to make this soap in July for it to cure in time for Christmas! Soaps with a high content of olive oil take forever to harden... most soaps are ready to go after 3 weeks -- I give mine at least 6. The OO soap needs 4-5 months!

Sometimes I wish my HS chemistry teacher could see me now -- I hated that class and struggled to get a C in it!

Any questions you have on soap -- ask away! I seriously can talk forever about it.

[Wildflower]

Here's part of the description I put on all my fliers to give you more of an idea on CP soap:

My soap is handmade from scratch in small batches using a method called Cold Process. Cold Process is a very old craft that has been used for centuries to soap. Soapmaking used to be a social event for the pioneers of this great country!

In order to make soap, a base (oils) needs to be mixed with an alkali. Once they are mixed, a process called “saponification” takes place. After the soap saponifies, it needs to cure for at least a month, which hardens the soap as well as making it milder.

A natural by-product of this process is glycerin. Handmade soap contains up to 25% natural glycerin. Glycerin is a natural humectant that attracts moisture to your skin. This is wonderful for your skin!

Many "supermarket soaps" are not even soap at all, they are detergents made from synthetic chemicals. Soap that you buy at the store has had its natural glycerin removed, which leaves the soap drying to your skin. Commercial soap makers then sell the glycerin back to you, in lotions that help combat the dryness from their soap!

[Ivy Lin]

Personally, I like the Zum Bar as well.

[bettyyy]

I purchased "hand" soap (literately) a few weeks ago. I thought it was so cute, but my boyfriend thought it was pretty creepy. It is made from goat milk and glycerin.

http://foliage.myshopify.com/products/handsoap

[paintednightsky]

I love buying homemade soap either ebay or etsy. Just make sure it isn't melt and pour soap you are buying. There definitely is a difference compared to harsh store bought detergent soap that is sucked of its' glycerin content as a profitable by product. I never am going back unless I absolutely need too! The one over the counter soap I do like though is palmers cocoa butter. It smells delicious!

[ShimmaPuff]

Thank you all again, I will of course keep you all apprised of my purchases as they arrive!

[declaredbeauty]

Some interesting information this post is! I'm checking out some homemade soaps on ebay now.

[Pias]

Originally Posted by ShimmaPuff

Summer is Annual Fragrance Provision Stock-up time, and this year, like the life and colon of Denise Richards, It's Complicated.** How can I smell good for less? My traditional fragrance palate includes specifically: Sandalwood Jasmine Rose Gardenia Magnolia Lavender (My vetiver needs, thank goodness, continue to be met by the Most Venerable Hove family in New Orleans) Please relate your experiences with soapmakers, both handmade and otherwise, and please tell me what is up with this goat's milk thing? I think of goat's milk as something one uses to make cheese, but so many soapmakers are now apparently putting it into soap that I am obliged to take at least enough notice to ask why. In my experience, all goat products have a very characteristic odor - has this, like the scents of various fruit and dessert products that have so thoroughly infested the commercial personal care market, become a popular way to smell? (Those blessed with keener perception and reading skills will have noticed that my list of preferred fragrances does not include "Goat.") I will be very grateful for any aid you can offer to help me survive the Fragrance Crisis of '08. **Related Link: Help! Fragrance Emergency! Cheap oudh (agarwood), and/or sandalwood sources?

If you are looking for natural scents (essential oils or absolutes), the price can be quite high. According to your scent preferences, rose, jasmine absolutes and sandalwood EO are very expensive. For instance, 1 oz of rose absolute is around $200. There are 9 tsp in 1 oz, so 1 tsp is a little over $20. You'll need about 1 tsp of scent for 1 bar soap. Rose, Jasmine and Sandalwood soaps you see in the market used fragrance oils (synthetics, not natural). Some of those soaps can smell ok if they used high quality fragrance oils, but they will not smell as good as the ones using the real absolutes and essential oils.
For gardenia and magnolia, there are only fragrance oils available in the market since we still can't capture the natural scents from the real gardenia and magnolia yet.

Goat milk's scent will disappear once the soap has been cured.
Just a food of thought from a CP soapmaker.

[purly]

I am a fan of all things Voda Soap makes:

http://www.vodasoap.com/

These soaps are seriously luxe -- handmade, with good ingredients.

I have the aphrodite box set. I've been using it since december and am on my last bar so I will need to reorder soon.

The body butter is also fantastic! But it has the tendency to melt in the summer and don't even think about trying to leave it in your checked luggage because it deflates.

But yeah, they can be a bit pricey.