u/SandMaleficent8211

I made these laundry soap bars using a NaOH/KOH blend.

Recipe:

Coconut oil — 80%

Palm oil — 18%

Castor oil — 2%

Citric acid — 2%

Sodium gluconate — 1%

Washing soda — 2%

Baking soda — 1%

Note: The NaOH amount was calculated to fully neutralize the 2% citric acid.

I added washing soda because I heard it can help with stubborn stains, and baking soda for its deodorizing effect.

I’ve been happy with its performance on everyday laundry so far, and I’ve noticed a nice deodorizing effect.

I also tested it on an old blouse with stubborn stains, but the soap was only two days old at the time, so I think it’s too early to judge its full cleaning performance.

I’ll use it more after it has cured longer and see how it performs. If using washing soda separately turns out to be more effective, I may not add it to the soap at all. I’m also considering testing a higher percentage, but I want to see the results first.

One thing I noticed while making it: washing soda is surprisingly difficult to dissolve! 😅

I made my first Olive Marseille soap,

and I truly enjoyed every step of making it.

Now I just have to wait a whole year for it to cure... I’m not sure how I’m going to be patient! 😅

I stamped a little four-leaf clover on each soap bar as a small gift, hoping that good luck will find whoever receives one. 🍀

I’m really happy with how this little batch turned out.

Made these cute bear and paw print soaps.

I used instant coffee powder to create the brown color, adjusting the concentration for different shades. The eyes and paw pads were made by mixing a little charcoal powder into the soap.

I made 10 single-oil CP soaps to learn more about how each oil behaves and to help me when creating future recipes.

Oils:

0. Grapeseed oil

1.Coconut oil

2.Palm oil

3.Olive oil

4.Rice bran oil

5.Sunflower oil

6.Avocado oil

7.Canola oil

8.Soybean oil

9.Castor oil

I kept the recipe as simple as possible: just oil, distilled water, and NaOH. I didn't add salt, sodium lactate, or chelating agents that could affect hardness or unmolding. I wanted to see the characteristics of each oil as clearly as possible.

Most of the oils were mixed at around 35°C (95°F). Palm oil was mixed at 41°C (106°F) because it needed a little more heat to melt completely.

I unmolded all of them after about 24 hours to keep the conditions consistent.

After 2 days:

Hard: Coconut, Palm, Castor

Medium: Rice bran, Canola, Avocado, Olive

Soft: Grapeseed, Soybean

Very soft: Sunflower

The sunflower soap is especially soft — it feels almost like handling a cube of cream cheese. 😅

Interestingly, the castor soap unmolded very easily and feels quite hard, but in my previous experience, it softened and dissolved quickly when exposed to water.

I made two sets because I want to observe them over a long period of time and share the results as they cure. I'll compare them again at 4 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year, looking at changes in hardness and lather.

I'm curious to see what I can learn from them along the way, and hopefully the results will be useful to other soapmakers too.

I love coffee, so I made these kitchen soaps using espresso extract.

I added a little dried coffee grounds to the soap as well, and the coffee beans on top are actually soap too!

I adjusted the amount of espresso extract to create slightly different shades of brown.

They clean dishes really well, and somehow doing the dishes feels much less stressful when I’m using a soap I made myself.

I made my first terrazzo soap using natural powders.

I made the terrazzo chips first, then cut them the next day and incorporated them into the soap.

I wanted to create something that could sit in my kitchen like a little decorative object.

I’m really happy with how they turned out.

This is Part 2 of my fatty acid soap experiment.

The first photo shows the stearic acid before mixing, since it would no longer be visible once combined with the lauric acid.

This soap was made with 70% lauric acid and 30% stearic acid.

Stearic acid melted at around 65°C (149°F) and took a little longer to combine with the lye solution than lauric acid.

After adding the lye, the mixture quickly became very thick with a texture similar to mashed potatoes.

Like in Part 1, I poured it directly into the mold without insulating it. The unmolding time was about the same.

I also noticed that the surface appeared slightly smoother than my 100% lauric acid soap.

While washing the tools after making the soap, it already produced foam.

I'll compare all of these soaps after a four-week cure and share the results in Part 3.

I finally made a 100% lauric acid soap as the first step of my experiment.

I started mixing at 51°C (124°F).

The soap batter reached trace almost immediately and turned into a thick, Styrofoam-like mass. After pouring it into the mold, the temperature rose above 60°C (140°F) on its own, even without insulation.

One interesting thing I noticed was that the soap batter left in the bowl produced a surprisingly rich lather while I was washing my tools.

The soap became firm enough to unmold after only 5–6 hours.

I started this experiment because someone commented on my previous post and wondered how a 70% lauric acid / 30% stearic acid soap with citric acid would perform.

So I decided to make four versions:

* 100% Lauric Acid

* 70% Lauric Acid + 30% Stearic Acid

* 70% Lauric Acid + 30% Stearic Acid + 2% Citric Acid

* 70% Lauric Acid + 30% Stearic Acid + 2% Citric Acid + 1% Sodium Gluconate + 1% GLDA

I'll share the performance comparison (lather, cleansing, rinsing, and overall feel) after about 4 weeks of cure. I'm excited to see how each version performs!

Made these little soaps with the leftover batter from my watermelon soap instead of letting it go to waste. I’m happy with how they turned out.

I recently made this watermelon-themed cold process soap.

The oils I used were palm oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, castor oil, shea butter, lauric acid, and stearic acid. I had run out of coconut oil before making this batch, so as a temporary solution, I used the lauric acid and stearic acid I had on hand. This made the soap batter trace much faster than usual, making the design a bit more challenging.

The watermelon flesh was colored with red oxide and paprika powder. The white layer between the rind and the flesh was made with uncolored soap batter. The rind was colored with green oxide and chlorella powder, and the seeds were made with activated charcoal.

These are all made from the same recipe and cured for 12 weeks. The natural color gradient comes from using different amounts of pumpkin powder, cocoa powder, and brewed coffee as natural colorants.

I wanted to see how well my combo bar would perform in real-world cleaning, so I intentionally left my workshop sink uncleaned for about three days before using it.

This stainless steel sink has been in my workshop since 2013. Over the years, mineral deposits and everyday grime had built up, especially around the grooves.

I cleaned it using only my combo bar and a sponge. It took some scrubbing, but much of the built-up residue came off. The scratches are still there, of course, but the stainless steel looked noticeably cleaner afterward.

Left: CP shampoo soap

Right: Syndet shampoo bar

I've made and used both for several months.

On my long, color-treated, slightly wavy hair, the CP shampoo soap felt gentle on my scalp, but even after an apple cider vinegar rinse, my hair stayed stiff and tangled.

My first syndet shampoo bar also didn't work well for my scalp because of the conditioning agents and fragrance. After simplifying the formula, it became much gentler on my scalp, and my hair was much easier to manage.

For me, the best shampoo bar is the one that works best for your own scalp and hair.

One of the things I love most about handmade soap is how natural colorants change over time.

This bar has been curing for 10 weeks, and the colors have gradually become softer and more natural. I never get tired of watching that transformation.

For me, a bar of soap truly comes to life when it meets water. Watching the first soft, creamy lather appear never gets old.

I was curious whether adding lauric acid would improve the cleaning performance of a high-coconut soap, so I compared two 12-week-cured soaps.

Left: High-coconut soap with added lauric acid (90% coconut oil, 6% lauric acid, plus small amounts of rice bran oil and tamanu oil)

Right: 100% coconut oil soap

I used two identical plastic takeout containers with dried gochujang-based sauce and grease from a spicy Korean tteokbokki meal that had been left for about three days. Since plastic is generally harder to clean than glass, ceramic, or stainless steel, I thought it would make a better comparison.

I tried to keep the test conditions as consistent as possible.

In my experience, the soap with added lauric acid produced more lather while scrubbing and felt slightly more effective at removing the dried residue. However, it traced very quickly, making it more difficult to work with during soapmaking.

Some staining remained because the sauce and grease had dried onto the containers over several days.

These batches have now cured for about 9 weeks.

One is made with goat milk, honey, and pumpkin powder for a warm, natural color. The other is made with goat milk, honey, and oatmeal.

After curing, both produce a rich, creamy lather and feel gentle on the skin.

After an 11-week cure, I finally got to use this soap during some hot summer weather.

I made it as a summer body soap with a higher percentage of coconut and palm oils to help it stay firm in the heat. It also contains 10% SCI, 1% menthol, and 2% menthyl lactate.

I know there's ongoing discussion about whether SCI remains chemically stable in CP soap. I'm not claiming that it does or doesn't—I'm simply sharing my experience with the finished bar.

The lather was rich and creamy, and the cooling sensation was refreshing without being overwhelming.

I made two kitchen soaps using the same recipe. For both soaps, I used frozen Americano as the water phase. The only difference was that the soap on the right contained dried spent coffee grounds.

To compare the lather, I rubbed each soap with the same sponge five times and collected the foam in a 16 oz cup.

For the cleaning test, I used the same 4-year-old stainless steel food container. I applied 1 tablespoon of roasted gochujang and 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, washed it with the foam, and rinsed it once with cold water.

Both soaps produced similar amounts of foam and showed similar cleaning performance.

I also tested dried spent coffee grounds at 0.1% to 2.4% of the total oil weight. I didn't notice any meaningful improvement in cleaning performance. As I increased the amount of coffee grounds, rinsing took longer and more coffee particles stuck to the dishcloth.

An unscented facial bar for sensitive skin and a charcoal facial bar for oily skin.

Both were cured for just over 10 weeks.

Tamanu oil was used as the superfat.

I was organizing my soap shelf and came across some of my first batches.

Looking back, I realized how much experimenting I did with different oils, natural powders, and recipes. Some worked out better than I expected, while others taught me valuable lessons.

It's also been interesting to see how the natural colors have changed over time.

Just thought I'd share a few of them here. I'd love to see some of your early batches too!