Soap

One of my new hobbies is making soap. I like the mad scientist feel of stirring my boiling cauldron and then having to let it sit for a long time before I can test it. Some day I will have enough confidence in my soap to let people try it or maybe even sell it to unsuspecting victims. For now I will just mass product soap and store it until we use it all.

I've made a variety of soaps. The first was a basic lard and lye soap which was OK. Then I made a mint soap that was a little better, but still didn't turn out exactly how it was supposed to. The third soap I made was green apple scented. I liked that one, it works great on my hair, but I really liked the idea of not using scents.

The last soap I made was my first vegetarian soap and I made it with oatmeal and honey. I really liked the way it turned out. I made it with oils that would make it good on the hair, but the little chunks of oatmeal stick in your hair which is less than desirable. The honey makes it rough so it's a good exfoliate. This was a pretty good soap, but while it keeps my hands moist, it makes my face all oily and I don't like that. I do like using the oatmeal and honey soap on my hands and the green apple soap for my body, face and hair.

OK, I really like making the soap, but I'm really bad at judging them.

My ultimate success in soap making is with the shape. In my 32 years of life, I have noticed that bar soap is the wrong shape. It fits nicely into your hand when you first open the package, but then within a short time it's long and thin so that it breaks and just doesn't work out right. When I made the oatmeal honey soap, I cut it into almost a cube shape. When you first start using the soap, it's a little awkward, but it fits nicely in the hand in no time at all. And it keeps a nice shape until it is almost gone. Right now a normal bar of soap would be so thin that it would break, but with my not-yet-patented soap shape, it is still usable and convenient.

Tonight I'm going to try and make a citrus soap.