Thank you for watching! Have a question that you'd like Anne-Marie to ask in a future video? Leave it in a comment below! If you have any questions, feel free to contact our customer service team at info@brambleberry.com or 877-627-7883 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. PST, Monday-Friday. You can also live chat with customer service on BrambleBerry.com from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PST, Monday-Friday. For more tutorials, tips and tricks and business advice, visit our blog www.soapqueen.com/. For soapmaking supplies, visit our website www.brambleberry.com/
Hi, thanks for all your videos and answering questions! My question is what (if anything) do you recommend as a preservative in your soap and what shelf life does that preservative give the soap?
I just started making soap this year and your videos have been so informative and inspirational. I'm a stay home mom with 2 toddlers and soapmaking has helped me so much mentally and emotionally. Coming across your videos have truly made my life better.
Yes, please make more like this on a monthly basis. 99% of us miss seeing you do videos. There are to far and in between. Maybe drop 3 videos a week, and question and answer session monthly. I would rather watch you here than on the hallmark channel.
Love your videos Anne Marie. I'm a new soaper of just several months. I use your book all the time and am constantly watching you on TH-cam. Thanks for all you do to help newbies like me. I know my friends and family will be very happy with the gifts I've made for them this year. I couldn't have done it with out your help.
Thanks Anne-Marie, your sharing of information is so so invaluable to those of us new to soap making and inspirational to people mulling over the idea of trying it out. I think you are such a joy to listen to and my goodness I think so many would feel kind of lost without your input.
OMG i'm new to soap making and I didn't know you had your own book AnnMarie! I just went and bought it cant wait for it to get here. More and more i find you are one of the best sources of solid information on the wild world of soap! Thanks for all your work!
Thank you Anne-Marie. This was insightful. I've been sticking with just melt and pour. I may just break out the stick blender and try the cold processed soap.
I really enjoyed this. I would love more videos like this. I’m not gonna lie, I started out thinking “wow, this is like a sales pitch for the book” and by the end...I added the book to my amazon cart. I can’t wait to get it!
I’m reading your book now! It is so thorough and easy to understand for beginners. Thank you so so much for writing it, I can’t wait to make my first batch ❤️❤️
Thank you so much taking time out of your busy day to answer questions! I'm not a new soapmaker but I think the info you shared was valuable to soapmakers at any stage! Would love to see more of these Q & A's! For future ones to come (hopefully!), I have a question... Luxury oils & butters: When it comes to CP soapmaking, are they worth it? I feel like unless one can specifically control which oil or butter is going to be their superfat, it's impossible to know which oil (or fat) those lye molecules will bond to (ie: What the "lye monster" is going to eat up!). With the more expensive, luxury oils, do they truly make a difference in one's recipes? Oftentimes I see these more "luxurious" oils & butters used in lower percentages (possibly due to their cost), and wonder if there's any considerable benefits? I've been curious to try some of these more "exotic" oils in my own recipes, but wonder if it's really worth it to do so? I'd love to hear your wisdom on the subject! Thank you for your time, and thank you again for this insightful Q&A!
Thank you so much Anne-Marie, all the information in this video was very helpful. It answered many of my questions. I look forward to more of your videos.
Thank you so much for all your sage advice. I have and LOVE your Pure Soapmaking Book as a wonderful reference tool! Also, Bramble Berry's lye calculator... invaluable!
Thank you for the very useful tutorial. Please tell me what do I do when a soap I made is taking ages to harden. I had used olive oil and castor oil only. Please answer
Anne thank you very much for sharing lots of your very precious knowledge .I learn a lot. My question is if I make a soap good to treat fungus skin acne like that,that seem itchy in skin. If I boil medicinal herbs.,let it cool and use to dissolve lye will I get a result to make a good soap ?thank you .
Hi Ann Marie . I made my first batch of Lavender cold process soap yesterday. Didnt cut it yet but I checked on it and it looks perfect. Can I add oats to it next time ? .And do I just add to the same recipe or do I need to calculate?And thank you so much .
Thank you, I always enjoy the videos. You mentioned bees wax. What does Bees wax do for soap? And what can I use for my soap to have a glossy look? Thanks
Can I use regular sea salt instead of sodium lactate? What about stearic acid does it have same features as sodium lactate? Someone told me that he has sodium lactate as powder and it’s used as food preservative! Can I dissolve in distilled water is it the same
Hi..I have read in some ingredients of lush soaps and scrubs the ingredient "propylene glycol "can we add it at the end of soaping..or adding glycerin is better?? If OK how much can we add
Hi, I was wondering how to stop additives from separating in liquid soap? I used sodium coco Sulfate noodle & cocamidopropyl betaine as my surfactant. My additives are Kaolin Clay, Allantoin & Colloidal oats. I mixed it with Vegetable Glycerin & honey but it still separated.
In creating my soap recipe, I am using your calculator, I’m getting a sufficient suffusing ratio, but I’m finding all of my recipes are in a really low cleansing range. I want my recipe to be primarily tallow (47%) herbal infused sunflower oil (37%) and some castor oil (16%). With a 2% or less super fat. What oils should I be adding to make it more cleansing? Or what ratios should I change?
I would like to know if anyone has experienced health issues from using essential oils when mass producing soap? For 2 craft shows that I did this year, I made approx 180 bars for each show. When I was at the shows after exposure to all these bars I get very fatigue, feel off in the head and upper chest feels irritated Also when they are curing in my house the smell is intense. I do open windows so I am venting. Wondering Anne Marie if you have any tips for working safely with large amounts of essential oils. Or perhaps I am just one of the sensitive ones. Thank you all your informative and helpful videos!
It definitely sounds like you are more sensitive to essential oils, I would recommend running a heavy duty fan around the window when you have it in your drying room and keeping the door closed as long as you can. The soap doesn't really need to be moved or anything within the first few days, after which the intense smells should fade away a bit.
Hi, I watched some of your vids/read some of brambleberry articles/recipes about using fruit purees. Had a bad soaping result so I thought of trying out fruit extracts for a change. I couldnt find any recipe online as a guide though. How should I treat the fruit extract? Like oil? Hope you can point me in the right direction
I like Brambleberry lye calculator but I can't find where it allows me to choose my water discount ratio. Could you direct me to that , and if it's not there, can you adjust your calculator to include it. When I formulate some of my recipes, I need that option. Thank you.
Calculating a water discount is definitely a necessity! I am always adjusting the water discount to fit my soaping needs. There's an article about it on the Soap Queen blog: www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/water-discounting-cold-process-soap-how-why/ Also, Kenna from Modern Soapmaking has a great breakdown of how to calculate it along with a cheat sheet to quickly calculate what you need: www.modernsoapmaking.com/lye-solution-in-soapmaking/ I agree, it would be a nice addition to the Brambleberry fragrance calculator. :)
Hi Anne-Marie, I'm loving discovering your videos, they're so helpful, thank you. I'm wondering how you can formulate a lower pH level soap, say 7 to 7.4. I have horses and want to create my own soap that is the kind to their skin, cleanses and nourishes and is the same pH level as their natural skin/coat. Do I decrease the lye and increase the superfat? Or does the ingredients have more influence over the end pH level? Thanks, Erin :)
Can you talk about recommend percentages for certain oils like if I want to add a few different oils how would I know what percentage of each I should use
We have a great article on this already! You can find it on our blog at this link here: www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/free-beginners-guide-to-soapmaking-common-soapmaking-oils/
When formulating your soap recipe, you can include additives after you've combines your oils and lye. Whenever you're experimenting with them, we always recommend making small test batches so you can see if the recipe you make works as intended.
Hey Ann Marie, I have a question , my soaps have been in there moulds for nearly 2 weeks and I still can’t u mould , they are sooo soft , how do I prevent this? To make a harder bar of soap I had in mould quicker x
What do you say about adding fresh fruit juice to melt and pour soap? I'm very confused because some people say it's not gonna work but some people still do that and said it works. I've read an article about this and the author said adding fresh liquid like milk or juice to a melt and pour is the same with adding fresh egg to a baked cake so that means it's impossible. What's the worst thing gonna happen if I do that? Like adding coconut milk or cucumber juice to my melt and pour soap base? Thank you so much!
Since melt and pour is already saponified it is very similar to adding eggs to a baked cake. They won't mix in well and they won't turn into soap. What ends up happening is the fresh ingredients start to spoil and grow mold and bacteria. We don't recommend it at this time. www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/purees-fresh-ingredients-melt-pour-soap/
Madam Marie, i have a question that i see after four week Soap bar discharge Oil like Sweat , it's not properly dry, It is India climate are Humidity so high. Regards Pankaj Chakravarty.
How can I lower the pH in cold processed soap? Would like to make dog organic soaps in controlled 6-7 pH but am not sure how to go about it. I am in a dog grooming business and I would like to make my own grooming soaps.
Thank you for watching! Have a question that you'd like Anne-Marie to ask in a future video? Leave it in a comment below!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact our customer service team at info@brambleberry.com or 877-627-7883 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. PST, Monday-Friday. You can also live chat with customer service on BrambleBerry.com from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PST, Monday-Friday.
For more tutorials, tips and tricks and business advice, visit our blog www.soapqueen.com/.
For soapmaking supplies, visit our website www.brambleberry.com/
Hi, thanks for all your videos and answering questions! My question is what (if anything) do you recommend as a preservative in your soap and what shelf life does that preservative give the soap?
Hello,please is it safe to add cocobetaine to a cp soap recipe. And if yes, when should it be added?
Y'all...
She LITERALLY gave us instructions on how and where to ask questions.
Hint: not in the comments.
😆😆😆
I just started making soap this year and your videos have been so informative and inspirational. I'm a stay home mom with 2 toddlers and soapmaking has helped me so much mentally and emotionally. Coming across your videos have truly made my life better.
Saaaaame!
Dodsfalle Keep pushing Mama!❤️
Im really proud of you! :)
Yes, please make more like this on a monthly basis. 99% of us miss seeing you do videos. There are to far and in between. Maybe drop 3 videos a week, and question and answer session monthly. I would rather watch you here than on the hallmark channel.
🙌👏👏👏👏
Agreed!
Love your videos Anne Marie. I'm a new soaper of just several months. I use your book all the time and am constantly watching you on TH-cam. Thanks for all you do to help newbies like me. I know my friends and family will be very happy with the gifts I've made for them this year. I couldn't have done it with out your help.
Thanks Anne-Marie, your sharing of information is so so invaluable to those of us new to soap making and inspirational to people mulling over the idea of trying it out. I think you are such a joy to listen to and my goodness I think so many would feel kind of lost without your input.
i don't make soap nor have plans too but her videos are so satisfying and i actually love her personality, she's so knowledgeable abt soap
OMG i'm new to soap making and I didn't know you had your own book AnnMarie! I just went and bought it cant wait for it to get here. More and more i find you are one of the best sources of solid information on the wild world of soap! Thanks for all your work!
Thank you Anne-Marie. This was insightful. I've been sticking with just melt and pour. I may just break out the stick blender and try the cold processed soap.
I have been a customer for YEARS...I love BB! Thank you Anne-Marie, you're amazing!
So glad to see another new video from you, Anne Marie! I hope all is well and I hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving tomorrow!
Thank you Anne-Marie, brilliant as always. I am using the BB lye calculator and the fragrance calculator and i love it !
I really enjoyed this. I would love more videos like this.
I’m not gonna lie, I started out thinking “wow, this is like a sales pitch for the book” and by the end...I added the book to my amazon cart. I can’t wait to get it!
anne marie you are a gift. thank you for this and all that you have shared! 💗
Thank you Anne-Marie, very helpful info. Keep videoing please.
Very helpful. Please do more videos and thank you
Thank you for another great video full of information!
I’m reading your book now! It is so thorough and easy to understand for beginners. Thank you so so much for writing it, I can’t wait to make my first batch ❤️❤️
I so appreciate you taking time to answer question. Thank you even more for the lye and fragrance calculator it's a lifesaver!!
Thanks for that video, you're really answering many questions on my mind, thanks for your inspiration ♥️🌸
Thanks for doing this! Can you talk next about doing a lye master batch?
I would love that too
Thank you so much taking time out of your busy day to answer questions! I'm not a new soapmaker but I think the info you shared was valuable to soapmakers at any stage! Would love to see more of these Q & A's! For future ones to come (hopefully!), I have a question...
Luxury oils & butters: When it comes to CP soapmaking, are they worth it? I feel like unless one can specifically control which oil or butter is going to be their superfat, it's impossible to know which oil (or fat) those lye molecules will bond to (ie: What the "lye monster" is going to eat up!). With the more expensive, luxury oils, do they truly make a difference in one's recipes? Oftentimes I see these more "luxurious" oils & butters used in lower percentages (possibly due to their cost), and wonder if there's any considerable benefits? I've been curious to try some of these more "exotic" oils in my own recipes, but wonder if it's really worth it to do so? I'd love to hear your wisdom on the subject!
Thank you for your time, and thank you again for this insightful Q&A!
Love these videos! Please continue this series!! I know all of us upcoming soap makers need all the information they can get 🤳🏻
Thank you so much Anne-Marie, all the information in this video was very helpful. It answered many of my questions. I look forward to more of your videos.
Thank you so much for all your sage advice. I have and LOVE your Pure Soapmaking Book as a wonderful reference tool! Also, Bramble Berry's lye calculator... invaluable!
great video i have learned so much from you and bought 2 of your books!!
OH YES this is such a GREAT idea, Brambleberry!!
Very helpful... Would love to hear more
Thanks for your instructions very helpful.
So much excellent information packed into a fun video! Thank you! I hope there are more like this to come. :)
YES! Please make more!!! So helpful!
Wow! Thanks very instructive 😊
Anne-Marie is so chill and cool.
Thank you for the question and answer on the facial soap. I’m definitely going to up the superfat!
Thank you for the very useful tutorial. Please tell me what do I do when a soap I made is taking ages to harden. I had used olive oil and castor oil only. Please answer
I'm just about to start soap making and you have helped me alot I'm going out to get your book to see if it'll help me thank you so much
Thanks a lot for your tutorial.Kindly make a video on how to make soap with sodium lactate.Thanks.
Thanks for all your great advice.
Love brambleberry their fragrances are just amazing!
Extremely helpful!!! Thanks so much!!!!
You are amazing !! I can not Thank you enough for your amazing videos and recipes. !!!!
Anne thank you very much for sharing lots of your very precious knowledge .I learn a lot.
My question is if I make a soap good to treat fungus skin acne like that,that seem itchy in skin.
If I boil medicinal herbs.,let it cool and use to dissolve lye will I get a result to make a good soap ?thank you .
Hi,, I bought you book, I can't wait to try the recipes in the book. Thank you !!
Thank you guys , this helps me out so much 😀
Hi Ann-Marie, great work and lovely soap recipes too. Please can sulphonic acid(which is a foaming agent) be added to any of the soap recipes?
I love this! Keep them coming!
GREAT VIDEO. THANKS FOR THE LEARNING TIPS
Thank you for all your help!
Definitely would like to see more videos like this💕
Hi Ann Marie
. I made my first batch of Lavender cold process soap yesterday. Didnt cut it yet but I checked on it and it looks perfect.
Can I add oats to it next time ? .And do I just add to the same recipe or do I need to calculate?And thank you so much .
Thank you, I always enjoy the videos. You mentioned bees wax. What does Bees wax do for soap? And what can I use for my soap to have a glossy look? Thanks
I notice that sodium lactate does in fact create a hard bar. However, does the bar get soggy once in use (like the case of salt brine soaps)?
Loved this! More please!
Excellent video, thank you. I learned a lot.
Can I use regular sea salt instead of sodium lactate? What about stearic acid does it have same features as sodium lactate? Someone told me that he has sodium lactate as powder and it’s used as food preservative! Can I dissolve in distilled water is it the same
which fragrance oil is best if you want to slow down trace, and which dyes work best for this or which should you avoid , thanks
So informative. Thank you.
Hi..I have read in some ingredients of lush soaps and scrubs the ingredient "propylene glycol "can we add it at the end of soaping..or adding glycerin is better??
If OK how much can we add
thank you, very helpful
Hi, I was wondering how to stop additives from separating in liquid soap? I used sodium coco Sulfate noodle & cocamidopropyl betaine as my surfactant. My additives are Kaolin Clay, Allantoin & Colloidal oats. I mixed it with Vegetable Glycerin & honey but it still separated.
In creating my soap recipe, I am using your calculator, I’m getting a sufficient suffusing ratio, but I’m finding all of my recipes are in a really low cleansing range. I want my recipe to be primarily tallow (47%) herbal infused sunflower oil (37%) and some castor oil (16%). With a 2% or less super fat. What oils should I be adding to make it more cleansing? Or what ratios should I change?
How to added sodium Lacted in Cold process soap making? Any percentage you suggest Madam
I would like to know if anyone has experienced health issues from using essential oils when mass producing soap? For 2 craft shows that I did this year, I made approx 180 bars for each show. When I was at the shows after exposure to all these bars I get very fatigue, feel off in the head and upper chest feels irritated Also when they are curing in my house the smell is intense. I do open windows so I am venting. Wondering Anne Marie if you have any tips for working safely with large amounts of essential oils. Or perhaps I am just one of the sensitive ones. Thank you all your informative and helpful videos!
It definitely sounds like you are more sensitive to essential oils, I would recommend running a heavy duty fan around the window when you have it in your drying room and keeping the door closed as long as you can. The soap doesn't really need to be moved or anything within the first few days, after which the intense smells should fade away a bit.
For Dry skin which will be the perfect recipe Madam ? Can you advised Me please!
This was really helpful! Thanks so much!
Hi, I watched some of your vids/read some of brambleberry articles/recipes about using fruit purees. Had a bad soaping result so I thought of trying out fruit extracts for a change. I couldnt find any recipe online as a guide though. How should I treat the fruit extract? Like oil? Hope you can point me in the right direction
Hi Anne Marie, do you have a book about how to create shampoo soap bars and conditioner shampoo bars and 2 in 1
Not yet! Though that would be a great idea!
I was just wondering if you had a notion to create (on IOS or Android) a Lye Calculator for soap makers. Thanks!
Our Lye Calculator works great on mobile browsers: www.brambleberry.com/calculator?calcType=lye
My soap google:) Miss these videos, definitely want more of them
I like Brambleberry lye calculator but I can't find where it allows me to choose my water discount ratio. Could you direct me to that , and if it's not there, can you adjust your calculator to include it. When I formulate some of my recipes, I need that option. Thank you.
Calculating a water discount is definitely a necessity! I am always adjusting the water discount to fit my soaping needs. There's an article about it on the Soap Queen blog:
www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/water-discounting-cold-process-soap-how-why/
Also, Kenna from Modern Soapmaking has a great breakdown of how to calculate it along with a cheat sheet to quickly calculate what you need:
www.modernsoapmaking.com/lye-solution-in-soapmaking/
I agree, it would be a nice addition to the Brambleberry fragrance calculator. :)
Soap Authority ~
Thank you for that helpful information!
Agreed! That would be helpful!
Rhonda M ~ Agreed!
Hi Anne-Marie, I'm loving discovering your videos, they're so helpful, thank you.
I'm wondering how you can formulate a lower pH level soap, say 7 to 7.4. I have horses and want to create my own soap that is the kind to their skin, cleanses and nourishes and is the same pH level as their natural skin/coat.
Do I decrease the lye and increase the superfat? Or does the ingredients have more influence over the end pH level? Thanks, Erin :)
I read somewhere that if you try to lower your ph too much it can destabilize your soap. I'm gonna try to find that article for you.
What should I use as an emulsifier in my homemade laundry detergent?
Hello new friend and mentor! Could you please tell me what are the known notorious essential oils that affect tracing and natural colors? Thank you!
I got excited when she answered my question! :)
I once used a teaspoon of table salt and it hardened, lactate is just liquid salt.
Thank You so much! This is a Great tutorial! :-)
Wonderful video and thank you
Ann-Marie will you ever make the baby oneise in a silicone mold. Love your videos. Thanks
Can you talk about recommend percentages for certain oils like if I want to add a few different oils how would I know what percentage of each I should use
We have a great article on this already! You can find it on our blog at this link here: www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/free-beginners-guide-to-soapmaking-common-soapmaking-oils/
Hi! May I know if its possible to add active ingredients to the soap like AHA's, BHA's, lightening, and vitamins? And if it is, how?
When formulating your soap recipe, you can include additives after you've combines your oils and lye. Whenever you're experimenting with them, we always recommend making small test batches so you can see if the recipe you make works as intended.
@@bramble-berry Is there a total percentage of all the additives to add to the cold processed soap?
Hi! How do I find your anti-aging soap recipe?
What is the best palm oils to use in soaps?
Very informative... Thx.
Hi... have you ever used bone marrow in soap? Can it be used? Thank you
Bone marrow wouldn't work as a primary ingredient in soap.
Hey Ann Marie, I have a question , my soaps have been in there moulds for nearly 2 weeks and I still can’t u mould , they are sooo soft , how do I prevent this? To make a harder bar of soap I had in mould quicker x
Did you ever find an answer?
A lot of people that I know is allergic to coconut oil, what is a good substitute?
Love this! Thank you!
Great information Ann-Marie
How do you know what oils to pick and how many and how to get the %?
If sodium lactate helps to prevent soda ash ... and it is a salt, does that mean that brine soaps should not have soda ash?
What do you say about adding fresh fruit juice to melt and pour soap? I'm very confused because some people say it's not gonna work but some people still do that and said it works. I've read an article about this and the author said adding fresh liquid like milk or juice to a melt and pour is the same with adding fresh egg to a baked cake so that means it's impossible. What's the worst thing gonna happen if I do that? Like adding coconut milk or cucumber juice to my melt and pour soap base? Thank you so much!
Since melt and pour is already saponified it is very similar to adding eggs to a baked cake. They won't mix in well and they won't turn into soap. What ends up happening is the fresh ingredients start to spoil and grow mold and bacteria. We don't recommend it at this time. www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/purees-fresh-ingredients-melt-pour-soap/
Thanks this is very helpful
Madam Marie, i have a question that i see after four week Soap bar discharge Oil like Sweat , it's not properly dry, It is India climate are Humidity so high. Regards
Pankaj Chakravarty.
Thank You ,My question , How I contrlo the PH in the process soap
Great video!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Hi can make soap with one. Oil only?
It's hard for me to get pure olive oil and also it's a little bit expensive, what's a better alternative???
Olive pomace blend
i need a recipe formula for the 12 in tall and skinny mold please.
How can I lower the pH in cold processed soap? Would like to make dog organic soaps in controlled 6-7 pH but am not sure how to go about it. I am in a dog grooming business and I would like to make my own grooming soaps.
Good morning madam I am Gopi from India in Tamil nadu, I want to some idea cool process soap ingredients, and what's different hit proccessing
Thanks the video was very helpful. I haven't jumped in and made any soap yet, but I want to. How long is lye good for?
We recommend using your lye within 1 year of purchase.
If the lye is over one year old, how do you recommend disposing of it?