Acknowledgements
Table
of contents
Index
of photographs
Introduction
Part
I: Fundamentals, ingredients and methods
Chapter
1 - Rediscovering good soap
1.1
Soap defined
1.2
A short history of soap
1.3
Industrial soap
1.4
Industrially made natural soap
1.5
Non-soap cleansers
1.6
Natural handmade soap
Chapter
2 - Ingredients
2.1
The essential ingredients: sodium and potassium hydroxides
2.2
Soapmaking oils and fats
2.2.1
Bulk oils and fats
2.2.2
Superfatting oils
2.2.3
Infused oils
2.2.4
Less common superfatting oils
2.3
Storage and shelf life
2.4
Soap characteristics
2.5
The wonderful world of essences
2.5.1
Selecting essential oils
2.5.2
Essential oil safety and handling precautions
2.5.3
Using essential oils in soap
2.5.4
Creating essential oil blends
2.5.5
Synthetic fragrances, aka fragrance oils
2.6
Colouring soap
2.6.1
Plant colours
2.6.2
Mineral and synthetic colours
2.7
"Live" additives
2.7.1
Aloe vera juice
2.7.2
Beeswax and honey
2.7.3
Clays
2.7.4
Coffee
2.7.5
Eggs
2.7.6
Flours
2.7.7
Fruit and vegetables
2.7.8
Herbs and flowers
2.7.9
Liquids
2.7.10
Milk powder and evaporated milk
2.7.11
Seaweed
2.7.12
Seeds
2.7.13
Silk fibres
2.8
Anti-oxidants, preservatives, fixatives
2.8.1
Benzoin and orris root powder
2.8.2
Grapefruit seed extract
2.8.3
Rosemary extracts
2.8.4
Vitamin E
2.9
Other additives
2.9.1
Sodium lactate
2.9.2
Stearic acid
Chapter
3 - Step-by-step soapmaking methods
3.1
Safety rules, tools and work area
3.1.1
Safety rules
3.1.2
Organising tools and work area
3.1.3
Forbidden materials
3.1.4
Moulds and molds
3.2
Choosing a soapmaking method
3.3
Cold Process method: CP
3.3.1
Olive and coconut oil soap - cold process
3.3.2
Mixing temperatures
3.3.3
No heat applied Cold Process method
3.4
Hot Process methods: HP
3.4.1
Double Boiler Hot Process method: DBHP
3.4.2
Oven Hot Process method: OHP
3.4.3
Crock Pot Hot Process method (CPHP)
3.4.4
Microwave Hot Process method (MHP, MWHP)
3.4.5
In The Mould Hot Process, Cold Process Oven Process methods: ITMHP
and CPOP
3.5
Discounted Water Cold Process: DWCP
3.5.1
Calculating water discounts
3.5.2
Important warnings
3.6
Hand milled and rebatched soap methods
3.6.1
Commercial bases
3.6.2
Natural soap bases
3.6.3
Tools and moulds
3.7
Recycle and reuse
3.7.1
Wrong amounts
3.7.2
Highly caustic soaps
3.7.3
Soap scraps and rejects
3.7.4
Cleaning pots and tools
3.8
Glycerin Melt & Pour bases: M&P
3.9
Liquid soap
3.9.1
Special ingredients
3.9.2
Special tools
3.9.3
How to proceed
3.10
Troubleshooting
3.10.1
The soap did not come out as expected
3.10.2
The soap mix does not trace
3.10.3
The soap, after unmoulding, shows bright white, hard spots - or, the
soap is hard, brittle and crumbly, or has pockets that contain a
cloudy liquid
3.10.4
How can one be sure that soap is not too caustic?
3.10.5
The soap is covered in a white, somewhat sticky and powdery film
3.10.6
The soap mix goes solid (or too thick) in the pot
3.10.7
The soap does not come out of the mould
3.10.8
After 24 hours from pouring, the soap appears to have two layers,
with an oily layer floating on top
3.10.9
The soap looks mottled or speckled
3.10.10
The soap remains slimy, spongy and soft several days after pouring
3.10.11
The soap mix is lumpy
3.10.12
The soap has dark brown spots and appears to be "sweating"
dark droplets
3.10.13
The soap "sweats"
3.10.14
The surface of the soap has one or more dark spots, softer to the
touch than the rest of the soap
3.10.15
Soaps that lose their scent
3.10.16
Examples of visible problems
Part
II: Recipes
Chapter
4 - Soap recipes
4.1
Basic recipes
4.1.1
Three aces
4.1.2
Castile bubbles
4.2
Milk and honey soaps
4.2.1
No-freeze goat's milk soap
4.2.2
Milk and chocolate
4.2.3
Oatmeal, milk and honey
4.3
Soaps with herbs and spices
4.3.1
Lavender linden castile
4.3.2
Christmas scents
4.3.3
Vegetarian bubbles
4.4
Shampoo bars
4.4.1
Rosemary and nettle
4.4.2
Luxuriously hemp
4.5
Special soaps
4.5.1
Sea lather
4.5.2
Rice and shea delish
4.5.3
Coffee deodorant bar
4.5.4
Soothing emu soap
4.5.5
Bambino
4.5.6
Massage bubbles
4.5.7
Pet soap
4.5.8
Shower cream
4.6
Household soaps
4.6.1
Marseille
4.6.2
Laundry gel
4.6.3
Cream cleanser
4.7
Liquid soap
4.7.1
Liquid castile
Chapter
5 - Creating your own unique soaps
5.1
Creating new recipes
5.1.2
Choosing the base ingredients
5.1.3
Iodine and saponification (INS) values
5.2
Formulating special and problem skin soaps
5.3
Rendering animal fats
5.4
Calculating caustic soda and liquids
5.5
Colouring, perfuming, enriching
5.5.1
Suggested amounts
5.6
Your first recipes
5.7
Obtaining consistent results
Chapter
6 - From soap to skin care
6.1
Natural beauty from natural ingredients
6.2
Choosing anti-oxidants and preservatives
6.2.1
Anti-oxidants
6.2.2
Preservatives
6.2.3
Responsible choices
6.3
Lip balms
6.3.1
Lip balms: tools
6.3.2
Lip balms: ingredient ratios
6.3.3
Lip balms: additives
6.3.4
Lip balms: method
6.3.5
Recipe: Summer lip balm
6.3.6
Recipe: Vanilla soothing lip balm
6.4
Massage bars
6.4.1
Massage bars: tools
6.4.2
Massage bars: ingredient ratios
6.4.3
Massage bars: additives
6.4.4
Recipe: Tapioca pearls massage bar
6.5
Skin balms, salves, ointments and pomades
6.5.1
Skin balms: tools
6.5.2
Skin balms: ingredient ratios
6.5.3
Skin balms: additives
6.5.4
Skin balms: method
6.5.5
Recipe: Hand and foot rescue balm
6.5.6
Recipe: Beach balm
6.6
Beauty, massage and cleansing oils
6.6.1
Beauty, massage and cleansing oils: additives
6.6.2
Recipe: After bath massage oil
6.7
Creams and lotions
6.7.1
Creams and lotions: tools
6.7.2
Creams and lotions: ingredient ratios
6.7.3
Recipe: Cold cream (W/O emulsion)
6.7.4
Recipe: Macadamia vanishing cream (O/W emulsion)
Part
III: Reference
Chapter
7 - Soap in the world: international and local factors
7.1
Soap and the law
7.1.1
European Union
7.1.2
Australia
7.1.3
Canada
7.1.4
United States
7.2
Soap on the Internet
7.2.1
Reference sites and e-mail mailing lists
7.2.2
SAP (saponification) calculators
7.3
Conventional supply sources
7.3.1
Supermarkets
7.3.2
Hardware stores
7.3.3
Craft stores
7.3.4
Cash and carry
7.3.5
Health and ethnic food stores
7.3.6
Chemists and pharmacies
7.3.7
Cake shops
7.4
Online suppliers
7.4.1
Australia and New Zealand
7.4.2
Europe
7.4.3
United States and Canada
Chapter
8 - Useful tables
8.1
Saponification values
8.2
Soap characteristics
8.3
Properties of common oils
8.4
Shelf life of oils and fats
8.5
Common acronyms and abbreviations
8.6
Conversion tables
8.7
Essential oils by skin type
8.8
Essential oils to be avoided
8.9
Essential oils to be used with caution
8.10
Essential oils by perfume note
8.11
Essential oil blends for various applications
8.12
Decyphering labels
8.13
European INCI names
Bibliography
Index
