Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

Hi everyone, just joined up and would like to say its looks like a nice friendly forum here, I am new to soap making so I am pleased to be here.

Hello Jasmine! You'll like it here, lots of friendly faces and lots of helpful info :) No question is too silly to be answered, so don't feel odd about asking anything!

Welcome Jasmine!

Lots of info here - and more in Resources.

(must warn you that certain people will demand to see pics of your soap!)

Honey *cough* Eire *cough*..

Hello and welcome  :buttrf:

Hi Jasmine and welcome.... :buttrf:

Hi Jasmine,

A realyl warm welcome and nice to have you here.  I hope you find it a useful place to be  :buttrf:

Thanks everybody for the lovely welcome, as I said in my opening thead, I am new to CP soap making have tried M & P but wanted to try from scratch this time, I trying to get my head around the soap calc, wanting to make a nourishing soap with shea butter in and some essential oils but have no idea how to get started, with the soap calc can I just add what I like without any adverse effect on the finished soap, has anybody got a simple nourishing soap recipe with shea butter they would be willing to share to get me started, promise to let you know how I get on. My head feels as if it is about to explode with all this science stuff.  :)

Welcome, hope you enjoy it here!

Alypha, bad cough you got there Mrs!

You'll have realised that we love pics here so whenever you've made anything, you have to show us pics!!!

BIG welcome Jasmine, this is a great forum with lots of friendly folk who give great advice.      :buttrf:

Hi Jasmine , I reasonably new as well , dont be afraid of the calc and although you need to be precise with your measurements ( let the calc do this for you ) the best advise i have had off here ( Nature this is your one) Is use the following . 500g Olive oil, 200g Palm , 200g coconut oil and 100 gram cocoa / shea butter its your choice. Use that as a basis and bobs your uncle , soap, well after the messy bit in the middle.

Like I said Im still very new , but there is a fountain of info on here from very experienced CP soapers EJ , Corrie , Suzanne to name but a few .

Welcome to the madhouse  :mwaha:

Thanks everyone, Aah thanks dizzybuff I will give that one a go, I have just been back again to the SoapCalc and it will only let me put percentages in, not actually grams so I can't see what water and lye will be needed for this recipe, also how many grams does this soap make up when finished so to speak. I am really pleased I have found this site today and the lovely Fresholi shop. How long have you been CP soaping for dizzybuff?

Hello and welcome!

Hi and welcome.  :hi:

Eire

only a few months , at the top of the calc you can change the way you input , the weight in g,oz or % on the oil weight. once all calculated view the recipe/ print and it will tell you the weight of liquids ( water , milk , beer etc) and lye etc you need . this I find fills a 1500g mould nicly , although I use rubs .

The shop is Helens baby so shes the one to ask about that .

If your using EOs there a few threads on blends etc , im still getting my head around it , but seeing the finished product is ace.

That reminds me need to talk to scott who is the SA wizz .

Welcome Jasmine!
Keep on playing with soapcalc, there are help pages for it on the site, they might help.
A simple juice or goats milk carton are an excellent choice for a first soap, you can just rip the cardboard off them when they're ready.
Good luck  :buttrf:

Hi Jasmine and welcome!

Think Dizzy is going dizzy!  :)  The recipe I suggested was 500g Olive oil, 300 Palm Oil, 200g Coconut Oil, it's a pretty basic but reliable recipe.

All you need to do on soapcalc to input grams is click grams under no. 2 at the top, then click grams to the right of % on the right hand side ........  hope that makes sense!  

 :buttrf:

Hi again Oh thank you I have just been back and I see what you are saying,  :-[ so glad to have answers to my newbie questions, just put your recipe through the calc and it showing 138.25g lye and 380g water I chose 100g shea butter, can you tell me how much F.O.in grams to add and how this is calculated?
Thanks again.

 well mine works as well  lol ., Im not sure on FOs but know i was told the EOs should be 1-2% of your oils so dependent on the strength 10 - 20 g xxx

You know, now I can work the soap calc things seem a bit clearer lol. I am going to get all the ingredients ordered this weekend so I will let you know how I get on, I am fancying trying those allergen free fragrance oils in the Fresoli shop anybody else tried them? just wondering what percentage to add...anybody know? Thanks guys for all your replies. x

Your local ironmongers/hardware shop may have caustic soda (check out non-liquid drain-cleaner).

The recipe with shea butter will be fine but shea can accelerate trace........ as do quite a few fragrance oils!    :buttrf:

Hello and Welcome  :hi:

 :hi:

Hello Jasmine and welcome!  :buttrf:

Hello and welcome Jasmine - look forward to sharing your soaping journey

Hello and welcome! :buttrf:

Hi there

 :buttrf: Nice to meet you

Welcome!   :)

Welcome! Looking forward to see your creations. (hint, wink wink)  ;D

Hi Jasmine and welcome to the forum

Thanks everybody for your warm welcome, I am having a good browse round the forum and enjoying looking at all your lovely soap creations. Dizzybug your first soaps are truly amazing. I am reading up on everything as much as I can and have decided to go with the recipe from Nature and dizzy as I have read posts on here stating, to get a feel for the soap first and add extra ingredients in your following batches, so you can note any changes, I am only interested in making soap for myself as I hate using the chemical bars you get from the supermarkets, even the natural "simple" ones contain so many nasties it is unbelievable that they are allowed to market them as natural.

Oh just a quick question, once the soap has cured, does it have an expiry date?  beacuse I may have a load to use. 

Once I have made my soap I will upload some photos.

It may eventually lose it's fragrance - but should be useable for a few years; this can depend on whether you use oils with a tendency to DOS (Dreaded Orange Spots) many people say that Sunflower oil will do this but I use 25% in my basic recipe and have never had any DOS.