Simi, even though I have been making soaps for six years, I always learn something new from you. THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all the knowledge you generously share with us, your followers. You’ve made another excellent video, which I was eagerly waiting for, because last time we were writing to each other, you mentioned that you were preparing it. Thank you. Sending you warm greetings from Europe - Slovenia.🥰🥰
Yay!! I absolutely love seeing a comment like this - thank you! So happy to hear you enjoyed it and I do remember writing to you about this next video - thanks for stopping by to watch! :)
Thank you so very much for your amazing and patient explanations and teachings. Despite making soap for 25 years!!!! there is always something to learn and that is the fun part also. I have been through your journey formulating and even throwing in the bin soaps which were experimental. I dont sell or want to but I enjoy the process and making for me and close friends. You are very inspirational and your passion comes through and re generates my own when it's flagging just a little. Very many thanks, I shall keep watching.
Love the details in this series. An awesome part 3 would be going into more details of each of the 8 fatty acids and what properties they each bring to the party. Thanks for all the information you have already provided.
Thank you!! Yep, the fatty acids do bring a lot to the party. :) In fact, they're all the matter at the end of the day, as the properties are simply just based on these profiles. I do think you can go down a rabbit hole of research into this kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, making the soap and seeing how it feels is the best way to learn. Thanks for watching! :)
Thanks for this! I have been making soap for years but never noticed the "One" column in section 5 that shows the propertiesof oils selected. That is so useful to make replacements. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Also, reading your book - learning many new things 🙂🎉
I just found you on TH-cam today. I’m doing research on starting my own soap company. My husband and I fell on some very difficult times and are in desperate need for additional income. So here I am… Also, I was born in Longmont, Colorado… I thought that was funny. Thank you for the content.
Hello and welcome! Soapmaking is a fun business and it also doesn't take much up-front capital to get it going. I hope it goes well for you! And, hi from your birth town! :)
I‘ve been soaping for many years. I‘ve found this video so much more interesting and informative than I had expected from this length. You are sharing very valuable in depth knowledge here. Thank you so much for that. I‘ve never used palm oil and I don’t plan to, so all your tips were especially appreciated. I‘ve rendered gras-fed organic beef tallow before, that my local butcher used to give me for free. It made the most wonderful soaps, so I highly recommend it. But since my butcher retired I haven’t found a replacement, yet. Thank you again for this great video!!! Truly inspiring.
Oh wow! Free organic beef tallow sounds amazing! I love the idea of using a waste product for soapmaking, especially when you can get it locally from a butcher. What a score! I've heard that lard and tallow soaps are amazing. I'll have to make some one day! Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the kind comment! :)
This made a whole lot of sense, particularly for an enthusiastic soap maker, who has had so many frustrations with this craft. You have simplified quite a lot. Thank you.
Simi perfect timing. I have been playing around with recipes for a year and using those numbers in soap calc to guide me. After determining what recipe to go with as my base one I made more soap. My husbands friend asked if she could try some and was happy to give feedback. So I put together a page of what I wanted her to consider for each soap (5) not all with the base ingredients and all with different additions. She just gave the feedback and it has been so well done it’s useful. At the same time we are both trying the same amongst others and scoring the same values. Of course I recognise we all have different skin type , age etc so will prefer possibly different bars but it is the overall affect I am interested in. Now I have gone back to reading more about fatty acids and which oil is responsible and what is the recommended/preferred score. So you can see your video arrived just at that stage. I’ll come back to it later once I’m free in the day , but already thank-you Simi if you ever run an online course let me know.
Thank you for sharing I have purchased soap making classes but none of them give all the information you give in that video thank you ❤ I have also purchased your book off amazon I haven't tried any recipes yet but I did read the entire book Really happy with my purchase ❤
Hi there! Do you mean a launch day for your business, a particular product, or something else? We didn't really have an official launch day - we just put stuff up and then things started slowly. But, if you have an audience already and want to do a big launch, then that's a different story! My only experience with this is with our seasonal soap launches, so I can really only speak to that. I like the idea of a video like this though... let me know more specifically what you're wondering about and I'll think on it!
@@muddymintsoap Thank you for your response! I am in the beginning stages of starting my soap business and I don’t have an audience yet since I haven’t started my social media page. I wanted to get all the legal stuff done first and then get my inventory ready and then launch. I guess what I’m looking for is what my first day could look like if I really start my marketing and building my social media presence early. Also, what I might expect on that first day or first week after opening my online store. I’m brand new so I hope this makes sense. Maybe it would be helpful if you could talk about some of the things you did leading up to your opening day and what your first week was like after opening.
Thank you Simi! Love your explanations and grateful for your substitution of different oils. May I ask you for an input for future videos if you also use any ghee in a soap and can include the properties of it and its comparison and similarity to another butter? Have a wonderful Christmas to you and your staff!!! ❤❤❤
Hi there! So happy you found this helpful! I’ve never used ghee, but I checked it out in soapcalc. It is an option and it looks like it’s very nourishing, but not very hard or bubbly. I’d love to hear the results if you make a ghee soap!
@@muddymintsoapHello Simi, I will definitely let you know if it’s a success. Thank you for all sharing all the teachings on TH-cam. Making soap is very new to me so I have a lot to learn but it’s a very interesting and satisfying hobby for me. ❤️🙏
Hi there, I have just started watching your videos and I am just blown away at how wonderful and informative you are. I was just wondering what your thoughts are on adding citric acid to your soap? I have been told it increases. Lather, makes the bar a little harder, slows down trace, and reduces soap scum. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it will make the so harsh? Have you ever added citric acid? What percentage would you use? I have heard one to 3%. Is the target range?
Hi there! Great question! Citric acid is often used to help with soap scum especially in hard water and it helps with rancidity of your oils. I personally don't use it, but I know a lot of soapmakers that swear by it. The main thing to know about using citric acid is that it reacts with lye to create sodium citrate. What this means is that you need to account for that in your lye amount. Since citric acid reacts with lye, that leaves less lye to saponify your oils. You'll need to take this into account when formulating your bars of soap. As far as usage rates go, I would look to Elly's Everyday (she also has an excellent TH-cam channel here: @EllysEverydaySoapMaking on TH-cam). She has an awesome article on using citric acid here: www.ellyseveryday.com/ellys-everyday-blog/how-to-use-citric-acid-in-soap-making. She seems to recommend 1-2% of the soaping oils and uses 2% in her example, so if I were to begin using it, I'd probably start with 2%. She also states that every gram of citric acid consumes 0.624 g of lye, so you'll want to calculate that as well. Her article is excellent and very well written! I hope this helps!
Hi Simi and thank you for your lovely videos. So much to learn from them. Easy to understand and so informative. ❤ I have one question: you mentioned Saturated : unsaturated fats in soap. What difference does that make in soap? (I am just used to think about it in food 😅)
Hi there! In general, hard oils and butters like lard, tallow, palm oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, etc are high in saturated fatty acids, so these hard oils/butters will lead to more hardness in a bar. Soft oils like olive oil, avocado oil, and sweet almond oil, are generally high in unsaturated fatty acids which leads to softer, but more nourishing bars of soap. The first four fatty acids in the list are saturated and the next four are unsaturated, so you can click on an oil and see its composition of each! I hope this helps!
Hi, thank you for all the info. I would like to know if there is cheat sheet for ingredients in soap making. sometimes I have doubts on amount and % of active ingredients.
As someone who just started to get as much information as I can before I make my first batch ever this is boosting my confidence to actualy go and make soap ( once my supplies are all in) Thank you so much! 🩷💚💙
That is so awesome!! I'm so happy this video helped boost your confidence. I do think that doing your research before making your first batch makes a huge difference. You're already way ahead in my book! Good luck!
This has been the most helpful thing for me!! I have a few questions. First of all I know that using coconut milk, I buy mine in the can at the grocery store, has quite a bit of fat. Usually I have been freezing it and using it as my liquid. But because the fat content is so high, it sets up as it's cooling and ends up being like a thick yogurt and makes a nice bar of soap still. My question is does it not affect the final soap qualities? Because there is no way to add it in Soap Calc. My second question is what is your/others' opinion of Grapeseed oil instead of Olive? It's easy to buy at Costco. Also how do I know if the Crisco Oil I buy is the old or new? It's the one in the blue box. Thank-you for this very exceptional video....oh one more comment.....I've made several bars with 0 cleansing properties as you mentioned, hard as rocks due to tallow and cocoa butters but essentially 0! I made them before understanding how to use this calculator. They suds up nice, smell nice, but leave a slippery feel. I'm happy to hear we can still use them as soap!
Hi there! The additional liquids absolutely DO affect the final bar, which I mention in the video. Milk in particular affects it a lot, as the lye actually reacts with the fats in the milk, so you essentially unintentionally get a higher superfat when using milk in your soaps. As far as grapeseed oil goes, I avoid it in soap because of its low shelf life. Grapeseed oil has a shelf life of only six months, which might explain why it’s on sale! The oils with the lowest shelf life in your soap dictate the shelf life of your soap, so that’s why I don’t use it. I’m not sure about your question regarding crisco. Can you clarify? We don’t use crisco in our soaps, but I’m assuming you’re using it as palm oil? The slippery feel you mention reduces a lot of you cure your bars longer, but olive oil soaps are notoriously “slimy” feeling! I hope this helps a bit! 😊
@@muddymintsoap It helped so much thank you for the detailed answer. As far as Crisco that I buy in the store it is what people buy to make pie crusts...but is Soap Calc they have old or new with palm...and I didn't know which one to select. But moving forward I probably won't use it.
I’m glad it helped! I didn’t know that about Crisco in soapcalc. Thanks for clarifying. They probably changed the ingredients and that is why SoapCalc has two different numbers. I’ll have to look into that and get back to you! Let me know if you figure it out first. :)
Thank you! I compared this to my base soap recipie and I ended up with very similar characteristics to what you said you thought were good. I use goat milk in my soaps and ussually keep a 5% super fat. Great soapy minds think alike lol
Thank you! Very informative! I use SoapMaker Friend and they include a Longevity number. Is that something I need to worry about as long as I'm following your other guidelines?
Hi there and great question! Longevity on Soapmaker Friend is calculated by taking the hardness number and subtracting cleansing. So, you could calculate it easily yourself, if you like. It can also be calculated by adding palmitic and stearic acid together. These fatty acids are less soluble in water, so they last longer. Since I talk about going for a higher hardness and lower cleansing in this video, this lines up for more longevity. I guess what they’re saying is that hard butters like Cocoa and Shea will last longer than coconut, since coconut oil makes up the majority of the cleansing number. Of course lard, tallow, and palm oil are all high in these fatty acids as well, I just don’t happen to use them. Honestly, people love our soap and we’ve been selling it for a lot of years, and I’ve never heard anyone complain about longevity (maybe because we do use high butters?). It’s all subjective and personal preference, of course, plus people use soap very differently! I’ve had some people tell me that our bars last a month or more and some people say they go through a bar a week! Hopefully this helps a little. If you’re not satisfied with longevity when using the bars you make, then definitely take a closer look at this.
@@muddymintsoap I just left a comment on the video but this is more of what I'm referring to. The information you just gave about the longevity is exactly what I'm looking for. Now I know to take the difference between hardness and cleansing to have a rough guide on longevity. Those are the kinds of things I'd like to know to be a better soapmaker. 🚀
I have a question about lye. Is it still good to use after the expiration date?.. thank you so much for your knowledge., I love your videos!! And I know I can trust your opinion.
Hi there and thank you! I would not use expired lye. It’s just not worth it to potentially waste so many lovely and expensive ingredients. I’d get fresh lye and make sure you’re good to go!
@ Thank you! Yes, that was my thought as well. I just purchased 3 x 25 kg bags and they all have an expiration date of May,16, 2025. I would rather not chance using it with the cost of expensive oils either. Thanks Simi! Love your book, and can’t wait for another TH-cam video!!🙌❤️✌️
You still have some time, so I guess it depends how quickly you use the lye up! Usually when purchasing lye, you wouldn’t want the expiration to be so soon though.
@@muddymintsoap yes agreed! Another local soap company asked if I wanted to buy a bunch of 25 kg bags of lye at $50 + tax a bag! Normally it’s $145/bag Canadian so that’s why I’m curious about purchasing around another 10 bags. I may go for 7 bags though. Thanks for your professional advice Simi!.. I greatly appreciate it🙏❤️
Hi there! The recipes in the book all have a water to lye ratio included and a superfat amount included. You'll need to make sure to enter those numbers into the lye calculator. Remember that the water amount includes BOTH the water that is mixed with the lye and the additional liquid. For instance, if the lye amount is 4 oz and the water amount in soapcalc shows 8 oz, that's because it includes the 4 oz of distilled water mixed with the lye PLUS the 4 oz of other liquid (milk, aloe vera juice, etc). If you need more help, you can email me at muddymintsoap at gmail dot com. :)
Hi there! As far as I know, the only way to make hair conditioner is to make a syndet (synthetic detergent) bar. With cold process shampoo bars, you typically use a vinegar rinse to help balance the ph, particularly in hard water. We don’t use tallow in our soaps, but that’s because we chose to have a vegan oil base. I’ve heard tallow soaps are awesome! The only con I can think of is that some people don’t want animal fats in their products.
Your videos are always so informative!! Thank you!! I always wondered, if I make a high water discount, for example Lye Concentration 40% or 45%, is it going to affect the moisturizing properties of the soap? Will it be drying to the skin? I am asking because I watched a video with a yogurt soap recipe and they made a high water discount and said "don't worry about this high water reduction because yogurt will replace the hydrating properties of the missing water" I am really curious... Thank you again for your work, Simi!!
Hi there! The water doesn’t affect the moisturizing properties of the soap. If you use less water, the soap will unmold more easily and be much harder to begin with. Most of the water ends up evaporating during the curing process anyway. However, milk, yogurt, or other alternative liquids will affect the properties of the soap, particularly milk since it contains fats that will actually saponify! I hope this helps!
Hi there! I explain it in this video a bit, but you should watch the other soapcalc video we did to learn even more. Superfat is extra free-floating oil in your soap.
I dropped palm oil and replaced it with grass fed beef tallow. it is a dream to soap with.
That sounds awesome! I have yet to work with lard or tallow, but I do plan to try it someday!
We used to go to a Hispanic store and buy pig tallow/lard by the 5 gallon pail. Great soap, hard soap and the price was very user friendly ;)
Simi, even though I have been making soaps for six years, I always learn something new from you. THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all the knowledge you generously share with us, your followers. You’ve made another excellent video, which I was eagerly waiting for, because last time we were writing to each other, you mentioned that you were preparing it. Thank you. Sending you warm greetings from Europe - Slovenia.🥰🥰
Yay!! I absolutely love seeing a comment like this - thank you! So happy to hear you enjoyed it and I do remember writing to you about this next video - thanks for stopping by to watch! :)
Do u have a patron
No, we do not have a Patreon, but thanks for asking! If we did have one, what would like to see?
Thank you so very much for your amazing and patient explanations and teachings. Despite making soap for 25 years!!!! there is always something to learn and that is the fun part also. I have been through your journey formulating and even throwing in the bin soaps which were experimental. I dont sell or want to but I enjoy the process and making for me and close friends. You are very inspirational and your passion comes through and re generates my own when it's flagging just a little. Very many thanks, I shall keep watching.
Absolutely! I'm still learning all the time and that is what is great about this craft. Thank you for your kind words - I really appreciate it! :)
You are the best teacher!! Anything you post am listening watching because l will learn a lot. Thank you for all the effort.
Thank you so much!! ❤️❤️
Love the details in this series. An awesome part 3 would be going into more details of each of the 8 fatty acids and what properties they each bring to the party. Thanks for all the information you have already provided.
Thank you!! Yep, the fatty acids do bring a lot to the party. :) In fact, they're all the matter at the end of the day, as the properties are simply just based on these profiles. I do think you can go down a rabbit hole of research into this kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, making the soap and seeing how it feels is the best way to learn. Thanks for watching! :)
Thanks for this! I have been making soap for years but never noticed the "One" column in section 5 that shows the propertiesof oils selected. That is so useful to make replacements.
I appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Also, reading your book - learning many new things 🙂🎉
Yay! I'm glad I could offer some little nuggets of info for seasoned soapmakers! :)
I just found you on TH-cam today. I’m doing research on starting my own soap company. My husband and I fell on some very difficult times and are in desperate need for additional income. So here I am… Also, I was born in Longmont, Colorado… I thought that was funny. Thank you for the content.
Hello and welcome! Soapmaking is a fun business and it also doesn't take much up-front capital to get it going. I hope it goes well for you! And, hi from your birth town! :)
I am just starting so thank you for the technical part! Love your content ❤❤
Thanks for watching! :)
I‘ve been soaping for many years. I‘ve found this video so much more interesting and informative than I had expected from this length. You are sharing very valuable in depth knowledge here. Thank you so much for that. I‘ve never used palm oil and I don’t plan to, so all your tips were especially appreciated. I‘ve rendered gras-fed organic beef tallow before, that my local butcher used to give me for free. It made the most wonderful soaps, so I highly recommend it. But since my butcher retired I haven’t found a replacement, yet. Thank you again for this great video!!! Truly inspiring.
Oh wow! Free organic beef tallow sounds amazing! I love the idea of using a waste product for soapmaking, especially when you can get it locally from a butcher. What a score! I've heard that lard and tallow soaps are amazing. I'll have to make some one day! Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for the kind comment! :)
Loved this video, so informative, thanks for sharing. I’m going to watch the video before this one.
Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the other one too! :)
This made a whole lot of sense, particularly for an enthusiastic soap maker, who has had so many frustrations with this craft. You have simplified quite a lot. Thank you.
So glad to hear that! Thank you! 😊
Simi perfect timing. I have been playing around with recipes for a year and using those numbers in soap calc to guide me. After determining what recipe to go with as my base one I made more soap. My husbands friend asked if she could try some and was happy to give feedback. So I put together a page of what I wanted her to consider for each soap (5) not all with the base ingredients and all with different additions. She just gave the feedback and it has been so well done it’s useful. At the same time we are both trying the same amongst others and scoring the same values. Of course I recognise we all have different skin type , age etc so will prefer possibly different bars but it is the overall affect I am interested in. Now I have gone back to reading more about fatty acids and which oil is responsible and what is the recommended/preferred score. So you can see your video arrived just at that stage. I’ll come back to it later once I’m free in the day , but already thank-you Simi if you ever run an online course let me know.
That’s amazing!! This is what being a soapmaker is all about! Love it! 😍
this is the best soap channel, we all agree.
Aww, thanks! :) There are a lot of good ones out there, but I'm glad you love ours!
Thank you for sharing
I have purchased soap making classes but none of them give all the information you give in that video thank you ❤
I have also purchased your book off amazon I haven't tried any recipes yet but I did read the entire book
Really happy with my purchase ❤
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate that and I’m so happy you’re enjoying my book! 😊❤️
Love your videos!! Always learn something 🎉
Thank you!! :)
Thank you for the great knowledge you've shared. Love your videos. Can't wait for the next one. Have a great Christmas from the UK 🎉
Thank you so much and Merry Christmas!
Wow, thank you so much, Simi, for sharing lots of helpful information about formulating cold process soaps.❤ God bless 🙌🏼 ❤
Thank you so much! I'm so happy you found it helpful. :)
you made me a confident soap maker prior to making any soap lol thanks!
Haha! I love it! Thank you! :)
Thanks alot, I always learn from you, information you gave are trusted and I appreciate your efforts
Thank you so much and thanks for watching! :)
@ Can you guide me for a book for skincare recipes
Hi! My two favorites are Jan Berry’s book “The Big Book of Handmade Products” and “Botanical Skincare” by Herbal Academy.
This is awesome! Can you do a video where you talk about what you might expect on launch day or things to consider when planning for launch day?
Hi there! Do you mean a launch day for your business, a particular product, or something else? We didn't really have an official launch day - we just put stuff up and then things started slowly. But, if you have an audience already and want to do a big launch, then that's a different story! My only experience with this is with our seasonal soap launches, so I can really only speak to that. I like the idea of a video like this though... let me know more specifically what you're wondering about and I'll think on it!
@@muddymintsoap Thank you for your response! I am in the beginning stages of starting my soap business and I don’t have an audience yet since I haven’t started my social media page. I wanted to get all the legal stuff done first and then get my inventory ready and then launch. I guess what I’m looking for is what my first day could look like if I really start my marketing and building my social media presence early. Also, what I might expect on that first day or first week after opening my online store. I’m brand new so I hope this makes sense. Maybe it would be helpful if you could talk about some of the things you did leading up to your opening day and what your first week was like after opening.
WONDERFUL INFO. LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE VIDEO'S. THANKS SO MUCH!!
You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it! :)
Thank you. This information is helping me boost my soap making game ❤❤
Love hearing that! Thank you! ❤️
I’m learning so much from you!🤯Thank you Simi!❤
So happy to hear that! Thank you! :)
Thank you Simi! Love your explanations and grateful for your substitution of different oils. May I ask you for an input for future videos if you also use any ghee in a soap and can include the properties of it and its comparison and similarity to another butter? Have a wonderful Christmas to you and your staff!!! ❤❤❤
Hi there! So happy you found this helpful! I’ve never used ghee, but I checked it out in soapcalc. It is an option and it looks like it’s very nourishing, but not very hard or bubbly. I’d love to hear the results if you make a ghee soap!
@@muddymintsoapHello Simi,
I will definitely let you know if it’s a success. Thank you for all sharing all the teachings on TH-cam. Making soap is very new to me so I have a lot to learn but it’s a very interesting and satisfying hobby for me. ❤️🙏
Hi there, I have just started watching your videos and I am just blown away at how wonderful and informative you are.
I was just wondering what your thoughts are on adding citric acid to your soap?
I have been told it increases. Lather, makes the bar a little harder, slows down trace, and reduces soap scum.
What are your thoughts on this?
Do you think it will make the so harsh?
Have you ever added citric acid?
What percentage would you use? I have heard one to 3%. Is the target range?
Hi there! Great question! Citric acid is often used to help with soap scum especially in hard water and it helps with rancidity of your oils. I personally don't use it, but I know a lot of soapmakers that swear by it. The main thing to know about using citric acid is that it reacts with lye to create sodium citrate. What this means is that you need to account for that in your lye amount. Since citric acid reacts with lye, that leaves less lye to saponify your oils. You'll need to take this into account when formulating your bars of soap. As far as usage rates go, I would look to Elly's Everyday (she also has an excellent TH-cam channel here: @EllysEverydaySoapMaking on TH-cam). She has an awesome article on using citric acid here: www.ellyseveryday.com/ellys-everyday-blog/how-to-use-citric-acid-in-soap-making. She seems to recommend 1-2% of the soaping oils and uses 2% in her example, so if I were to begin using it, I'd probably start with 2%. She also states that every gram of citric acid consumes 0.624 g of lye, so you'll want to calculate that as well. Her article is excellent and very well written! I hope this helps!
Great video. I always learn a lot.
Thank you! :)
Hi Simi and thank you for your lovely videos. So much to learn from them. Easy to understand and so informative. ❤ I have one question: you mentioned Saturated : unsaturated fats in soap. What difference does that make in soap? (I am just used to think about it in food 😅)
Hi there! In general, hard oils and butters like lard, tallow, palm oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter, etc are high in saturated fatty acids, so these hard oils/butters will lead to more hardness in a bar. Soft oils like olive oil, avocado oil, and sweet almond oil, are generally high in unsaturated fatty acids which leads to softer, but more nourishing bars of soap. The first four fatty acids in the list are saturated and the next four are unsaturated, so you can click on an oil and see its composition of each! I hope this helps!
Great video. I was wondering what are the list of most used essential oils
Hi there! This is hard to say as so many people love different scents, but I would say that lavender was our most used essential oil, by far.
WOW I just found you today. I have learned so much. thank you; especially for explaining super fat
Hooray! I'm so glad you found it helpful. Thanks for watching! :)
Great job 🎉🎉🎉
Thanks! :)
You're the best! Thank you 💕
I appreciate that! Thank you for watching! :)
Hi, thank you for all the info. I would like to know if there is cheat sheet for ingredients in soap making. sometimes I have doubts on amount and % of active ingredients.
Hi there! I do have one in my book, if you have it. It's more like recipe formulation guidelines. :)
As someone who just started to get as much information as I can before I make my first batch ever this is boosting my confidence to actualy go and make soap ( once my supplies are all in) Thank you so much! 🩷💚💙
That is so awesome!! I'm so happy this video helped boost your confidence. I do think that doing your research before making your first batch makes a huge difference. You're already way ahead in my book! Good luck!
This has been the most helpful thing for me!! I have a few questions. First of all I know that using coconut milk, I buy mine in the can at the grocery store, has quite a bit of fat. Usually I have been freezing it and using it as my liquid. But because the fat content is so high, it sets up as it's cooling and ends up being like a thick yogurt and makes a nice bar of soap still. My question is does it not affect the final soap qualities? Because there is no way to add it in Soap Calc. My second question is what is your/others' opinion of Grapeseed oil instead of Olive? It's easy to buy at Costco. Also how do I know if the Crisco Oil I buy is the old or new? It's the one in the blue box. Thank-you for this very exceptional video....oh one more comment.....I've made several bars with 0 cleansing properties as you mentioned, hard as rocks due to tallow and cocoa butters but essentially 0! I made them before understanding how to use this calculator. They suds up nice, smell nice, but leave a slippery feel. I'm happy to hear we can still use them as soap!
Hi there! The additional liquids absolutely DO affect the final bar, which I mention in the video. Milk in particular affects it a lot, as the lye actually reacts with the fats in the milk, so you essentially unintentionally get a higher superfat when using milk in your soaps. As far as grapeseed oil goes, I avoid it in soap because of its low shelf life. Grapeseed oil has a shelf life of only six months, which might explain why it’s on sale! The oils with the lowest shelf life in your soap dictate the shelf life of your soap, so that’s why I don’t use it. I’m not sure about your question regarding crisco. Can you clarify? We don’t use crisco in our soaps, but I’m assuming you’re using it as palm oil? The slippery feel you mention reduces a lot of you cure your bars longer, but olive oil soaps are notoriously “slimy” feeling! I hope this helps a bit! 😊
@@muddymintsoap It helped so much thank you for the detailed answer. As far as Crisco that I buy in the store it is what people buy to make pie crusts...but is Soap Calc they have old or new with palm...and I didn't know which one to select. But moving forward I probably won't use it.
I’m glad it helped! I didn’t know that about Crisco in soapcalc. Thanks for clarifying. They probably changed the ingredients and that is why SoapCalc has two different numbers. I’ll have to look into that and get back to you! Let me know if you figure it out first. :)
Okay, I found the answer! If your Crisco contains hydrogenated palm oil in the ingredients, then it is the new Crisco.
Thank you! I compared this to my base soap recipie and I ended up with very similar characteristics to what you said you thought were good. I use goat milk in my soaps and ussually keep a 5% super fat. Great soapy minds think alike lol
That’s awesome! Goat milk is wonderful in soap. It’s definitely my favorite liquid to add! :)
Thank you! Very informative! I use SoapMaker Friend and they include a Longevity number. Is that something I need to worry about as long as I'm following your other guidelines?
Hi there and great question! Longevity on Soapmaker Friend is calculated by taking the hardness number and subtracting cleansing. So, you could calculate it easily yourself, if you like. It can also be calculated by adding palmitic and stearic acid together. These fatty acids are less soluble in water, so they last longer. Since I talk about going for a higher hardness and lower cleansing in this video, this lines up for more longevity. I guess what they’re saying is that hard butters like Cocoa and Shea will last longer than coconut, since coconut oil makes up the majority of the cleansing number. Of course lard, tallow, and palm oil are all high in these fatty acids as well, I just don’t happen to use them. Honestly, people love our soap and we’ve been selling it for a lot of years, and I’ve never heard anyone complain about longevity (maybe because we do use high butters?). It’s all subjective and personal preference, of course, plus people use soap very differently! I’ve had some people tell me that our bars last a month or more and some people say they go through a bar a week! Hopefully this helps a little. If you’re not satisfied with longevity when using the bars you make, then definitely take a closer look at this.
@muddymintsoap Thank you so much for taking time to answer! That definitely helps me!
I’m glad it helped! 😊
@@muddymintsoap I just left a comment on the video but this is more of what I'm referring to. The information you just gave about the longevity is exactly what I'm looking for. Now I know to take the difference between hardness and cleansing to have a rough guide on longevity. Those are the kinds of things I'd like to know to be a better soapmaker. 🚀
I have a question about lye.
Is it still good to use after the expiration date?..
thank you so much for your knowledge., I love your videos!!
And I know I can trust your opinion.
Hi there and thank you! I would not use expired lye. It’s just not worth it to potentially waste so many lovely and expensive ingredients. I’d get fresh lye and make sure you’re good to go!
@ Thank you! Yes, that was my thought as well. I just purchased 3 x 25 kg bags and they all have an expiration date of May,16, 2025.
I would rather not chance using it with the cost of expensive oils either.
Thanks Simi!
Love your book, and can’t wait for another TH-cam video!!🙌❤️✌️
You still have some time, so I guess it depends how quickly you use the lye up! Usually when purchasing lye, you wouldn’t want the expiration to be so soon though.
@@muddymintsoap yes agreed!
Another local soap company asked if I wanted to buy a bunch of 25 kg bags of lye at $50 + tax a bag! Normally it’s $145/bag Canadian so that’s why I’m curious about purchasing around another 10 bags.
I may go for 7 bags though.
Thanks for your professional advice Simi!.. I greatly appreciate it🙏❤️
I cannot get the lye & water amount to match your recipes in your book. Do you water discount?
Hi there! The recipes in the book all have a water to lye ratio included and a superfat amount included. You'll need to make sure to enter those numbers into the lye calculator. Remember that the water amount includes BOTH the water that is mixed with the lye and the additional liquid. For instance, if the lye amount is 4 oz and the water amount in soapcalc shows 8 oz, that's because it includes the 4 oz of distilled water mixed with the lye PLUS the 4 oz of other liquid (milk, aloe vera juice, etc). If you need more help, you can email me at muddymintsoap at gmail dot com. :)
where do you guys make, you'll soap labels if you don't mind sharing
Hi there! Our soap labels were designed by a local illustrator, and they are printed at our local print shop. I hope this helps!
Do you make hair conditioner bar? Do you also use tallow in some of your recipe, if not what is the pros and cons?
Hi there! As far as I know, the only way to make hair conditioner is to make a syndet (synthetic detergent) bar. With cold process shampoo bars, you typically use a vinegar rinse to help balance the ph, particularly in hard water. We don’t use tallow in our soaps, but that’s because we chose to have a vegan oil base. I’ve heard tallow soaps are awesome! The only con I can think of is that some people don’t want animal fats in their products.
Thank Simi for your reply!
Do you make breastmilk soap by chance? Or is there a video I can find if you’ve already done one?
Hi there! I personally have not, but you can treat breast milk soap like any other milk soap. I will be doing a video on milk soaps soon!
Your videos are always so informative!! Thank you!!
I always wondered, if I make a high water discount, for example Lye Concentration 40% or 45%, is it going to affect the moisturizing properties of the soap? Will it be drying to the skin?
I am asking because I watched a video with a yogurt soap recipe and they made a high water discount and said "don't worry about this high water reduction because yogurt will replace the hydrating properties of the missing water"
I am really curious...
Thank you again for your work, Simi!!
Hi there! The water doesn’t affect the moisturizing properties of the soap. If you use less water, the soap will unmold more easily and be much harder to begin with. Most of the water ends up evaporating during the curing process anyway. However, milk, yogurt, or other alternative liquids will affect the properties of the soap, particularly milk since it contains fats that will actually saponify! I hope this helps!
@@muddymintsoap
Thank you!!! 🩵
What is the soap cal do you use, honey?
Hi there! Honey is an additional ingredient (not an oil), so it doesn’t saponify and therefore not included in soapcalc. I hope this helps!
@muddymintsoap I'm sorry honey I just asked for soap cal company you use.Sorry to make you misunderstand.
Haha! Sorry I misunderstood! :) We use soapcalc.net. :)
@@muddymintsoap thank you so much honey
I don’t understand the super fat number
Hi there! I explain it in this video a bit, but you should watch the other soapcalc video we did to learn even more. Superfat is extra free-floating oil in your soap.