What are the legal aspects of selling homemade soaps?

Here is the answer to your next soap making question:

Thankfully since you live in the United States, not many. The legal aspects covered in the course relate to the need in the European Union to have a full toxicology test carried out on all cosmetic products before they are offered for sale.

The same cannot be said for the US, where your only obligation is a moral one, to supply good quality, natural products.

There are however legal limitations over the storage of certain chemicals and Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) is one such chemical, but unless you decide to produce so much soap that you need to store large quantities, this will not be an issue for you either.

More soon.

Need a soap for skin with constant acne.

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

The principles for theraputic soaps are covered in the course on Day 3, this is then followed up with some cold process recipes on Day 8. I believe that your question will be answered for you, but if the lessons don't provide you with a fair idea how to proceed, please let me know and I will do my best to get you an answer.

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Are the ingredients tested on animals?

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

One of the great things about soap making is that you get to choose the ingredients you use, I have to be honest at this point and admit that aside from trying to choose natural ingredients and vegetable based ingredients where possible, I haven't focused specifically on trying to discover whether any of them have been tested on animals, but I would guess not.

However, it would be a simple matter when setting up your first order with a soap ingredients supplier to pose the question and if the answer is not convincing either way, you can take your business elsewhere.

More soon.

How can I make soap with my chemistry class?

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

I have to make many assumptions before I can offer you an answer:

I can't tell from your question, whether you write as a teacher or a student, I'll assume as a teacher.

The age of your students makes a difference too, but I'll assume they are teenagers (my logic being that a Science class doesn't become a Chemistry class until High School).

I will further assume that you are not interested in melt and pour since there is no chemical reaction in making melt and pour.

The one assumption I really can't make is whether you will be making soap as a demonstration, or whether you will be supervising the students making their own batch of soap.

Then assuming that you don't have to prepare and deliver the lessons immediately, I would suggest that you use the course lessons as the basis for your familiarisation, I believe that during the course of the lessons the means for delivery to your class will begin to form in your mind.

I suggest that if my assumptions above have been largely correct that you will need to focus on Day 3 - Techniques, Day 6 - Cold Process and Day 8 - Cold Process Recipes.

Then drop me a quick email to ask any remaining questions that you have and if you wish to send me a brief outline of your proposed plan I would be happy to look it over for you in case I can add any useful comments or observations.

More soon.

Soap Noodles?

"This will be my very first attempt at soap making. I will be using soap noodles. At what point in the process do I add fragrance?"

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

Soap Noodles are a version of melt and pour soap. The melt and pour soap making technique is described in detail during the course.

In brief though, I suggest that you add the fragrance (and any color) once you have melted the soap noodles and are about to pour them into the mold.

More soon.

I love goat milk soap. Are there different kinds of this same soap and how is it made?

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

Goats milk soap is cold process soap (this will be described later in the course), where instead of mixing lye crystals with water, the water is substituted with goats milk. The goats milk is only one ingredient, different combinations of fats and oils and fragrances and even colors can be used to make goats milk soap with many different qualities.

More soon.

How dangerous is lye?

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

In the wrong hands, very!

But I don't want to scare you, if you take some sensible precautions, it's not dangerous at all.

It is a concentrated alkali (a chemical which is the opposite to an acid, but just as corrosive) and stores usually sell it as a drain cleaner because it will cut it's way through built up grease very effectively.

Here are some useful precautions which may give you a better understanding of how it should be handled:

Cover the immediate area with a few layers of newspaper, buy some cheap latex gloves or washing up gloves and if you are worried about splashes, a pair of safety glasses.

I frequently use a heatproof plastic measuring jug containing the water, the water should be cooled in the fridge to limit the amount of heat buildup when mixing.

Put the lye flakes or pearls into another small jug with a spout to help with pouring and while stirring the water with a stainless spoon slowly add the lye. Ensure the room has adequate ventilation. Stop when you want to and if the mixture heats up too much it will start to give off steam, if this happens, stop for a few minutes before continuing.

The key is slow and deliberate, it is also sensible to keep children and pets away while you are mixing.

The lye flakes draw moisture from the air, so if you do spill any on the newspaper, after 20 minutes or so you will be able to see where they are because they will appear as little damp spots on the paper, which should be carefully folded in on itself and put in the trash when you are finished.

I believe that the very fact you are concerned makes you less liable to have an accident than other people who are more complacent and remember, once you have done it a couple of times, the process will be demystified for you and hopefully it will no longer be a problem.

There are more safety tips in my free online course All About Soap Making, click here to learn more.

More soon.

Do you recommend superfatting? If so can you use plain butter?

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

I do recommend superfatting, if you don't superfat your soaps they can be a bit astringent (drying) to the skin, in fact if you want a luxury soap? superfatting is the only way to go.

...only don't use plain butter!

I'm assuming you will be making the soap yourself and using the cold process (the combination of oils and lye), in which case you calculate the quantity of fats required, decide which of the fats will be used to superfat, an example...

Say you plan to make a soap with the following:

40% Olive oil
25% Coconut oil
20% Palm oil
15% Shea butter

You decide to superfat 5% and use Shea butter for its unique skin care properties. Simply measure out an additional 5% (making a total of 20%) of Shea butter, but keep it separate from the rest.

Do your mixing of the oils and lye and when you reach trace, then stir in the additional 5% Shea butter, incidentally this is when you add fragrances too, so you may wish to warm and mix the shea butter with the fragrances before adding to the traced mixture.

I have gone into a fair amount of detail here, but I appreciate that I have also skipped over a few important areas. I am offering a completely free online course called All About Soap Making that can fill in the blanks, depending on your skill level with soap making you may find it of interest.

Ok, I confess, the course is free, but along the way I do offer some products that aren't, but you are under no obligation to buy anything.

If you are interested, click here.

More soon.

I need a recipe for making goat milk soap.

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

I suggest that you find a basic cold process soap recipe which has the qualities you require, i.e. olive oil for gentle moisturizing qualities, coconut oil for it's hardness and lather, then instead of using distilled water to mix with the lye, substitute it with an equal quantity of goats milk.

It is important that you add the lye flakes slowly to the goats milk, because if you add it too quickly and overheat the milk it could discolor the mixture.

There are a number of recipes included in the course, you may be able to adapt one to provide the qualities you require.

If you simply require quick access to a goats milk soap recipe, then I suggest that you do a Google search for "goat milk soap recipe".

More soon.

How do I make soap to sell?

Here is the answer to your next soap making question.

It's not clear from your question whether you want to turn soap making into a business, or simply sell a few bars that you have made, it can be very effective either way. My ebook Soap Making for Profit, goes into the detail with easy step by step instructions of how to turn this popular hobby into a profitable business, but assuming you're not yet convinced, please read on...

You have taken the first steps to making soap for a profit just by signing up for my e-course. Look out for the lesson called "The Business", it's quite late on in the course, so to give you a quick insight here is a very brief excerpt:

"There are those who open a conventional store, or sell their wares at craft shows, sell in bulk to specialty stores which feature hand crafted items, sell online using a website, sell online using eBay^TM. Then there are others who build a business around the sale of soap making ingredients, such as soap making kits, oils, fragrances etc. and those who provide tuition in the art of soap making, in the form of attended soap making courses and people who write books about soap making, sharing their expertise to all who want it.

There is one universal thing that each of the above have in common... to be successful, you must have a "unique selling proposition." This means something that causes customers to choose your product over anyone else in the market - It's critical! more about this in a minute..."

I hope this has given you a few ideas, there is more detailed advice in the lesson and much more in the ebook.

More soon.