Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

Hi everyone! I am completely new to soapmaking. I have done a loot of research, but haven't made anything yet. I was wondering what supplies I would need to start?

Hello and welcome.

Looking at a few recipes will give you an idea which oils etc. - you are going to need is Sodium Hydroxide (check out a local hardware/ironmongers for Drain Cleaner, look at "purity").

Decide on your views on using palm oil - otherwise you may need Shea Butter.

Handy online lye calculator Soapcalc (http://soapcalc.net/calc/soapcalcwp.asp) has some hints and tips for beginners.

(other people have other preferences)

Hello and a really warm welome to the forum.  There's quite a lot of posts and threads on the forum from those just starting out.  I am not an experienced soaper but have dabbled a couple of times.  I think starting off with a really simple recipe (just a few ingredients) is a good place to start - you learn so much from giving it a go (even if it fails - there's lots to learn from producing a good bar of croap - I refer you to http://www.forum.fresholi.co.uk/index.php/topic,3928.0.html (http://www.forum.fresholi.co.uk/index.php/topic,3928.0.html) examples of which you can find here http://www.fresholi.co.uk/galleries/croap.html (http://www.fresholi.co.uk/galleries/croap.html)  ;)   :mwaha:)  :buttrf:

Hello and welcome. The only thing I will say is prepared to become addicted.

hello and welcome from me.

for starting off with soap, you don't really need too much;
- sodium hydroxide (NaOH)
- distilled water (but not too critical for starting out)
- some oils; coconut and olive oil are good start
- a stainless steal pot, but you can actually use plastic bucket
- silicone spatula
- handblender (unless you want to do a lot of stirring)
- fragrance oils or Essential oils, but entirely optional
- protective gear (googles to protect your eyes is most important)
- mold for soap (can just be ice cream tub or takeaway plastic containers)

or you can go for M&P option, where you just buy the base and heat it in the microwave and pour it into a mold

Hi, you will love it here  :buttrf:

Never made soap but balms in my thing. And live experimenting with anything homemade  ;D

Hello!   :hi:

My one piece of advice would be to make sure that whatever fragrance you put into your first batches of soap won't accelerate them.  You can often find information on the seller's website about acceleration and discolouration, but not always.  Don't risk it until you're more practised.