Edgewater Soaps - Life and Soap

Scientific soap making part III: essential oils vs.fragrance oils

2011-03-23T19:38:00.005-05:00

As I prepare to teach a couple of soap making classes in the coming weeks, one of the topics I'll be covering is essential oils vs. fragrance oils and the pros and cons of each in cold process soap making. My clear preference is essential oils because they're natural and have beneficial properties that fragrance oils don't have. But first, let's clarify what the difference is between the two.

Essential oils are natural scents extracted from the leaves, bark, roots, flowers, and fruits of plants. Fragrance oils are synthetic blends of the aromatic compounds found in essential oils and elsewhere.

Is one preferable to the other? Strictly in terms of cold process soap making, it's a toss-up.

Essential oils have an edge in that they have benefits beyond just a scent. Tea tree is a great example because its natural antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties are well researched and documented. Eucalyptus essential oil's value in relieving symptoms of respiratory infections can make it a beneficial additive in skin and bath products. Many beneficial claims are made for other essential oils, although most are poorly researched and largely unproven. Fragrance oils, however, have no such additional benefits.

A field of Bulgarian lavender, considered by many to yield

the highest quality lavender essential oil.

It's a toss-up between essential and fragrance oils in that both can be problematic to use in soap making.

A problem with some essential oils is that the temperature at which their scent vaporizes (i.e., the flash point) is so low it won't survive ordinary cold process methods. Eucalyptus, unfortunately, is a prime example. With a flash point of around 110 degrees F, it can only be used in a soap that is prevented from heating up and going through gel phase, and preventing gel results in inferior soap texture and appearance. The Lavender Oatmilk bars pictured below are a perfect example of a soap that did not go through a proper gel,

See the rind-like appearance of the outer edge? It's noticeably lighter than the center of the bars, and it has a somewhat chalk-like texture.  Bars like these I either use myself or give away.
Fragrance oils, on the other hand, generally have very high flash points -- far higher than the temperature of soap in gel phase -- so that's not an issue. The problem with fragrance oils is that some accelerate the saponification process and cause the soap batter to become so thick so quickly that it cannot be poured. With some I've used, the window of time between when the fragrance is added and when the soap becomes so thick it glops out of the pot rather than pours is less than a minute!

Fragrance oils have an edge in cost and lifespan. With just a few exceptions, fragrance oils are less expensive than essential oils. Those with which I've been happiest cost around $1.50 per ounce, and their scents hold up for years, both in the bottle and in the soap. Essential oils, on the other hand, range from as little as $1.00 per ounce to hundreds and even thousands of dollars per ounce, with the average for many popular scents ranging between $1.50 and $4.00 per ounce. Essential oil scents also fade faster. Citrus oils are especially short-lived in soap, with noticeable scent degradation in as little as six months.

One thing I personally like about fragrance oils is that I can use or experiment with scents that are either too costly to buy as essential oils -- like jasmine and sandalwood -- or that aren't available as essential oils. I do love the fresh, clean, crisp, slightly astringent scent of cucumbers, but there's no such thing as cucumber essential oil. In the bigger picture, however, this is a mixed blessing. Many scents that don't exist as essential oils are better off left unused in soap making, in my opinion. Cookie dough.  Pumpkin pie. I cringe.

An open question is whether one is safer for skin contact than the other.  Because essential oils are derived from natural sources, some are actually more likely than fragrance oils to trigger adverse skin reactions. Lemon essential oil, for example, is known to be irritating or sensitizing to some people's skin, as are spice essentials oils such as cinnamon and clove.  Synthetic fragrance oils . . . well we usually don't know how safe they are because the compounds used to make them do not have to be itemized on product labels. We do know that the phthalates used in fragrance oils and many plastic products have been linked to a number of health risks, and most fragrance oil manufacturers have reformulated their products to be phthalate-free.

But whether scents are natural or synthetic, their effect and power is something I find endlessly fascinating.

I recently invited a friend to smell the scent blend I used in a new soap I formulated. She sniffed and appeared to have no reaction at all, just a funny kind of blank look on her face.

"It reminds me of playing with Barbies," she finally said, completely unable to say why, or even whether that was a good or bad thing. The most she could add was that she didn't mean the soap smelled like a Barbie doll, just that it reminded her of playing with Barbies.

Science can help to explain how we perceive and process scents, but it can't account for the uniquely personal associations we make with them or the emotions they trigger. That is beyond both the art and the science of scent development. And that is the reason every soap maker should continue to experiment with new scent ideas, natural and synthetic.

One customer told me she absolutely loved a soap she bought that smelled like leaves burning in the fall. I can't imagine wanting to use a soap that smellled like that, but I totally understand her special association with that scent. I share it. Fond memories of a simpler time.

I'm a user, I'll improvise

2011-01-01T20:33:00.000-06:00

Just saw Tron: Legacy this weekend. Loved it and loved the line "I'm a user, I'll improvise." Users are customers, and if they want to use my soaps as sachets, who am I to tell them otherwise! Great movie.

Eczema and soap

2010-10-17T11:43:00.003-05:00

Since my TV debut on the Channel 7 news, there's been a lot of interest in Edgewater Soaps. It's kind of amusing that, having seen and heard me on TV, many of my new customers seem to feel they know me.  And I'm sure that feeling is reinforced by the fact that they also know something personal about me. They know I've had problems with eczema. And knowing that enables them to talk freely to me about their eczema and other skin issues, or to seek my advice on behalf of a friend or family member with skin problems.

What I hear from so many of them is frustration. I share it. It's frustrating to deal with a chronic condition that may not be life-threatening, but definitely interferes with quality of life. It's frustrating to research the condition you have and find, as with eczema, that the causes aren't very well understood and the remedies are limited. And it's frustrating to have to use prescription products -- especially when, as I know from my experience and many others', they're often not very effective -- for something that ought to be treatable or controllable another way.

I didn't start making soap because I knew it would help with my eczema. I had no idea that it would. But I know that ever since I started making and using natural soap products, I've never had a problem with eczema like I used to. You'll find the reasons why on my FAQs page.

Others have also found it helpful. One of the people who saw the Channel 7 feature bought a Sensitive Skin Formula and a Lavender Oatnilk bar online a day or two after it aired. She called me earlier this week and left one of the most remarkable voicemail messages I've ever received. She had been using my soap for the past ten days, she said, and already her skin was starting to clear up. She was thrilled.

It turns out she's had an eczema-like skin rash that she thinks was brought on by some medication she was taking.  She's seen five or six skin doctors about it and gotten a number of different prescriptions, and so far nothing has really helped. But since she's been using my soap, it's starting to improve.

"The places where it already existed are still there," she said, "but it's stopped spreading! I'm not developing any new patches, and the old ones aren't getting worse."

"Even my husband has noticed I'm doing better," she said. "The other night when we went to bed, he said, 'Debbie, you're not itching!' And I said, 'I know!'" I could just picture her with her fingers crossed, hoping the improvement continues.

I know that a lot of my new customers are like Debbie, and I'll be following up with all of them to get their feedback and comments.  I'll share them with you here in future posts.

Living Green with ABC 7

2010-10-10T16:12:00.002-05:00

"Hello, this is Sylvia Jones from ABC Channel 7, and we're interested in filiming you making soap for ______ . . . "

Wow! How cool! And completely out of the blue. The top-rated TV station in Chicago wants to feature me on something! I didn't hear a thing she said from that point on, except that she wanted to schedule it in two days' time and I knew that wasn't going to happen. Fortunately she was willing to schedule it a couple weeks later.

And when I say fortunately, I mean it! TV cameras in my house? Bright hot lights exposing every bit of dust, random scrap of paper, and smudged fingerprint? Let's just say major housekeeping ensued. Including washing windows and walls, and repainting woodwork.

When the big day came, however, I was ready. And everything went smoothly.

We started with the interview, and then the cameraman filmed me making soap. The producer had been very specific about wanting to film the entire process,from start to finish, and that's exactly what happened. The cameraman frequently asked me to stop what I was doing for a moment -- measuring oils into the pot, for example -- so he could change positions and film it from a different angle. Sometimes three or four different angles. Fascinating.

The result is pretty impressive, I think. You can see it here: "Edgewater Soaps uses natural ingredients" on Living Green With ABC 7. Enjoy!

Scientific soap making part II: curing soap and water discounting

2010-03-31T20:35:00.001-05:00

First, let's be clear that we're not talking about "curing" in the sense of helping to get over an illness or disease. We're talking about curing in the sense of aging and mellowing: storing or keeping something under controlled conditions for a period of time long enough for it to develop certain desirable or unique qualities. Like complexity of flavor in an aged cheese or fine scotch.

With cold process soap making, the time spent actually making the soap is minimal. What takes time is curing the soap once it's made, and that's four to six weeks depending on the soap. Or is it?

Curing soap does two things. It ensures that the soap is fully saponified, and it allows moisture to evaporate so the bars become firmer. If the soap goes through a full gel stage, saponification will be nearly complete within 48 hours. If it doesn't, it may take longer. But in no case should full saponification take longer than two weeks, so after that it's just about letting it dry out and become nice and firm.

If you use less water to make it, however, there's less moisture to evaporate, right? And that should shorten the drying time, right?

To test this, I tracked the weight loss of three different soaps over a six-week period, and found that the soaps made with a lower percentage of water (a solution of about 60 percent water, 40 percent lye) reached a stable weight in about 3 weeks. Those made with a higher percentage of water (about 66 percent water, 33 percent lye) took about 4 weeks to reach a stable weight. Clearly, using less water shortens the drying time.

Some soapmakers maintain that drying time is bascially immaterial, and that curing soap for six weeks or longer somehow makes it even milder and better.  One even suggested that a soap that has cured for a year is about as close to the ultimate as you can get.

But what happens to soap in a year that doesn't happen within 3-4 weeks of having made it? Soap isn't cheese, and the chemcial and biological processes that are key in aging cheese or wine are irrelevant when it comes to soap. The only thing that really happens over an extended period of time is that the soap's scent tends to fade, and the bars themselves become extra hard. That's about it.

My conclusion is that reducing the amount of water in the recipe shortens curing time and results in soap that is ready to use sooner rather than later.  To learn more about water discounting here's a link to a detailed description of the process.

Blame it on the soap fairies

2010-02-15T19:48:00.000-06:00

A customer who's interested in learning how to make soap recently asked how I dealt with the frustration of soap batches that didn't turn out right.

That’s a great question because I’ve never been able to overcome the disappointment of having wasted valuable ingredients. Soaps that failed frustrate and disappoint me just as much today as when I made them, no matter how long ago that was. But that’s just how it goes. Some experiments work, others don’t. Usually when a soap fails it’s due to an error in the formulation. Something was left out, something was mismeasured, or something was calculated incorrectly.

I rarely have failures now, I'm happy to say. But I do have experiments don't come out as well as I had hoped. A new fragrance blend doesn't smell quite the way I wanted it to, for example. Or something I tried to enhance the appearance of the finished soap didn't work as well as I had hoped. Or one of the fussier soaps I make decides to be extra fussy and not gel properly, resulting in a soap that's just not up to par in terms of appearance or texture. Most of these soaps I either use myself or give away.

My personal favorite explanation for soap failures, however, is that sometimes it’s the work of the soap fairies. They’re quiet and benign most of the time, lurking in the background, watching but not interfering. When they decide to act up, however, there's no telling what will happen. The result can be an unaccountable failure or a magnificent success. Both have happened to me. All I can do is scratch my head and wonder.

DIY bath bomb making video

2010-01-12T17:24:00.000-06:00

I made my very first video and posted it on YouTube! It's me demonstrating how to make bath bombs with recipe details and step-by-step instructions. The recipe is the same as that on the DIY page of my website. It's just tripled for making a larger size batch.

I love it spite of its total amateurishness. It was filmed with the video camera that's built into my cheap little laptop, and edited it with the "Movie Maker" software that was on the laptop when I bought it. Neither can be described as high tech . . . But I had great fun doing it. Enjoy!

Scientific soapmaking: sulfated castor oil

2010-01-05T16:47:00.000-06:00

On a liquid soapmaking group list I subscribe to, someone recently asked whether other soapmakers consider sulfated castor oil a "must have" ingredient for liquid soap.

Is it a "must have?" No. Is it an ingredient worth adding? Yes. Sulfated castor oil (also known as sulfonated castor oil or Turkey Red oil) is a water soluble form of castor oil that soapmakers often add to make liquid soaps especially mild and gentle to the skin.

The soap I make that uses sulfated castor to greatest effect is my liquid dog shampoo. Dogs, much more than people, need oil for their skin and coat to be healthy, and the sulfated castor seems to be especially helpful in preserving the right balance. The customer feedback has been 100 percent positive. Glowing even!

Castor Bean Seeds

When I decided to develop a bar version of the dog shampoo, however, I ran into a roadblock. Sulfated castor can be added to liquid soaps without being figured into the lye calculation because it's water soluble. Its saponification (SAP) value -- or the question of whether it has one -- doesn't seem to matter. But it does matter with a bar soap because it will potentially ruin the batch if it's not included in the lye calculation.

The simple question Does sulfated castor oil have a SAP value? was difficult to answer. I searched for the information every way I could think of. I checked a number of very reputable websites. Some assigned it the same SAP value as regular castor oil. Others gave it a SAP value of 0.  But I couldn't find a third party source to susbstantiate either one.  I left it out of the recipe.

Several weeks ago, I remade the dog shampoo bars, and before I did I searched once again and came up empty-handed once again. So I took a chance and added it to the recipe without figuring it into the lye calculation. I used a slightly lower lye discount just to be safe. The soap came to trace nicely, went into a good gel, and the next morning I had what appeared to be perfectly good -- albeit a little soft -- dog shampoo bars. (They are hardening nicely as they cure, I'm pleased to add.)

But I still didn't have an answer to my question and it was bugging the heck out of me. Then it hit me. There's one person I know who might actually have the answer.

I know someone who's writing the most in-depth book on the science of soapmaking that's ever been attempted. I'm on the list of soapmakers and others who've had the oppportunity to review drafts of the book, offer comments, look for typos, and generally be amazed (and, in my case, intimidated!) by the level of scientific scrutiny he brings to the process of soapmaking. When it's published, I guarantee that no serious soapmaker will be without it.  An invaluable resource.

I met and talked to the author very briefly at a soapmakers convention a couple years ago, and on the basis of that very tenuous connection I e-mailed him my question. I hoped it was something he knew off the top of his head and that it would only take 5 seconds of his time to reply.  What I received was considerably more detailed.

It turns out that he didn't have a definitive answer because he had hadn't yet had the opportunity to actually measure the SAP value of sulfated castor oil himself. And he also hadn't come across anything in his reading or studies that substantiated it one way or the other. But he had done a quick experiment, he said, that "led me to believe that sulfated castor oil is already saponified and therefore has a SAP close to 0." In the following paragraphs he lead me through the entire process, starting with the premise for the experiment, the proven facts that formed the basis for it, the hypothesis he was working with, and the experiement itself.

Long story short, he found that the sulfated castor reacted the way saponfied oil would react in the test he performed, not the way unsaponified oil would react. As he said, this is not a definitive answer, but it does suggest one.

Shortly after that I found some tantalizing information to support his idea. I came across several websites stating that once castor oil is treated with sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide is used to neutralize the acid. This quote, for example, is lifted from an online patent application:

Turkey Red Oil is prepared by adding concentrated sulfuric acid (93%) to castor oil at 25°-30°C. From about 15 to 30% sulfuric acid is added to the castor oil. After all of the acid has been added and reaction is complete, the reaction product is washed with water and then neutralized with sodium hydroxide solution.

Isn't that interesting! My author acquaintance may be right on the money. Note that he said "a SAP value close to 0," not a SAP value of 0. For my purposes, though, close to 0 is close enough.

New product photos part II.

2009-12-20T11:08:00.000-06:00

Got a couple more new photos to post. The first is my senstive skin bars. I liked three of the pics I took, but I think this is my favorite.

The second is my kitchen special soap, the one made with coffee. For this batch I left out the coffee grounds I normally put in, and added a little cocoa powder for a deep chocolate brown just below the tan outer surface. The soap was made just two days earlier, and the photo shows three freshly cut bars on top of the rest of the uncut soap loaf. One is beveled and stamped, one is only beveled, and the third is neither beveled nor stamped. I like the idea of showing soap at various points in the process, and I like the sense of mass that you get from the soaps in both photos. These might make it onto the website.

Milling soap part II

2009-12-16T13:05:00.000-06:00

A couple months ago, I wrote a blog entry about milling soap and what that means for a handcrafted soapmaker vs. a commercial soap manufacturer.

Huge difference. Commercial soap milling is a manufacturing process that involves removing the skin-softening, moisturizing glycerin that's a natural by-product of soapmaking so it can be used more profitably in lotions, creams, and other cosmetic and skin care products. That's why so many commercially-made soaps are harsh, drying, and even irritating to the skin.

With this in mind, it was especially interesting to stumble across this little press release from a company in Dubai that does exactly that -- removes the glycerin from soap and sells it for substantially greater profit to cosmetics manufacturers.

Makes me wonder who buys what's left over. Proctor & Gamble? Unliver? Henkel International?

Soapmaking & social media

2009-12-08T17:42:00.000-06:00

I am WAY behind the curve when it comes to using social media, whether for personal or business purposes. But I'm becoming a convert. I've got a Facebook page now. I've got a Twitter account too. And there's egg on my face because it wasn't too long ago I thought both were frivolous.

Are either of them proving useful? Yes. Facebook is a vehicle for connecting and communicating with customers, potential customers, and friends/associates. I'm still in the process of figuring out exactly how I want to use it and what I want my Facebook presence to be -- I'm studiously observing how others use it to get a better feel for its potential. And I'm seeing that it actually is a useful tool for creating and building relationships.

Same for Twitter, except I'm so new to it that I don't have much to show for any of my tweets -- yet. But I've got a lot to show from having read other's tweets. One guy I'm following, for example, tweets all the time on a whole range of subjects in technology and innovation. Some fascinating and very useful stuff.

And I like Twitter's libertarian spirit. You can follow or stop following whoever you choose whenever you choose. Anyone else can do the same in choosing to follow or stop following you. People can block individuals from following them if they want, though I can't imagine that happens very often.

What I've come to realize in all this is that I'm behind the curve in using these tools because I didn't understand them, and in my mind that became a reason to ignore them rather than a reason to learn about them. Embarrassing to admit, but a valuable lesson!

New product photos

2009-11-29T11:16:00.000-06:00

I was so impressed with the photos Lydia Krupinski took of my soaps that I'm going to experiment with redoing all my soap pics. Having just made several fresh batches of bath bombs, I decided to start with them. Whaddya think of this one? Thumbs up? Thumbs down?

How to name a soap

2009-11-23T16:01:00.000-06:00

As I was packaging a new batch of jasmine sandalwood soaps today, I was reminded of one my favorite farmers market stories.

It was late morning, and two young men wandered through the market. One looked like a very ordinary kind of guy. The other was anything but ordinary. A vintage English driving cap on his head, artfully unruly long hair sticking out below, sunglasses, chains around his neck, black fingernail polish, black pants with zippers all over them. Let's just say a young man who enjoys being on the cutting edge -- or the lunatic fringe, depending on your tastes -- of fashion.

So the two of them stop by my table and the flamboyant one is checking out the soaps, sniffing and offering his assessment of each soap's scent. The overall verdict? "I LOVE your soaps. And they have such great drag queen names! I think I went to high school with Rosemary Lemon!"

What a HOOT! And he was so right. One of my other soaps at the time was Ginger Lime, a tart and spicy drag queen name if I ever heard one. And the innocently sweet but voluptuously curvy Cucumber Melon.

I remembered this because when I first made the jasmine sandalwood soaps, I was wondering if that was what I should call them. But when I realized that Jasmine Sandalwood is just about the most fabulous name a drag queen could have, the decision was made!

Aspiring drag queens who haven't yet settled on a stage name, this might be you . . . but Peppermint's taken. Don't even think about it. She's fierce.

Edgewater Soaps in feature interview on Sprout Chicago blog!

2009-11-20T17:48:00.000-06:00

Many thanks to fellow Edgewater resident and craftperson Lydia Krupinski of Pierogi Picnic for featuring Edgewater Soaps in an interview for the Sprout Chicago blog! Described as An Urban Guide to the Green Life, Sprout Chicago " . . . takes you into the heart of good and green life in Chicago. From local news and restaurant reviews, to interviews with green go-getters and profiles of eco-events, Sprout Chicago is your source for sustainability in the city."

The interview is great and the photos -- which Lydia took -- are stunning. Got me thinking I should retake all the pics on my website . . . ! (Or hire her to do it, maybe? What do you think?)

How we make buying decisions

2009-11-19T15:50:00.000-06:00

This is amazing. It's about how people make buying decisions. If you don't see yourself in it immediately, it's only because you -- like me -- do this all the time without being conscious of it. I guarantee that you will soon start to catch yourself doing exactly what he describes.

The first part of the video is Siamack Salari, the ethnographic researcher who analyzed and identified the buying decision process. It's a little dry when he explains the process, but keep watching. The videtaped examples that follow are truly uncanny. If you were to see them in a different context and without the benefit of his narration, you'd say, "So what? A woman buying some hamburger buns." But she's doing more than buying hamburger buns. She's going through a very specific thought and decision-making process. The same one you and I do almost every time we buy something.

Establish a reference point. Compare to the alternatives. Make a decision. Do a final check to be sure.

If you'd like to check out his website, which is also very interesting, it's called Ethnosnacker.com

Chicago's DIY Trunk Show!

2009-11-18T10:28:00.000-06:00

Just three more days to the 2009 DIY Trunk Show! Do Not Miss It! Saturday, November 21, 10:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse in Wicker Park, 1419 West Blackhawk. Just a couple blocks away from the Milwaukee & Division el stop on the blue line.

We'll be there along with more than 100 independent Chicago-area artists, artisans, and craftspeople. It's a one-of-a-kind show and it's great fun. It's organized by a committee of dedicated, hardworking volunteer craftspeople -- no one benefits from this except the craftspeople themselves. And it's one of the few shows that gives priority to local artists and craftspeople. Admission is free! Come out and discover how vibrant and vital the Chicago-area craft scene is.

Do It Yourself skin care recipes

2009-11-11T09:53:00.000-06:00

This is so fun! I've added a page to my website for do-it-yourself skin care recipes, and my first two DIY recipes are for hand sanitizer and a seaweed facial mask.

"A seaweed facial mask?" I hear you ask incredulously. Yep! And I really like it. I'm not much of a spa treatment person myself, and I'd never experienced a facial mask until I tried this. I was quite surprised by how good it made my skin look and feel!

Maybe I'm more of a spa person than I thought . . . perhaps a closet spa person. All I know is you gotta love anything so simple that makes such a difference. I'm a new man. See?

Global Handwashing Day!

2009-10-19T11:55:00.000-05:00

Of course you -- being the well-informed and up-to-date person that you are -- already know that today is Global Handwashing Day. And you've probably planned some especially festive handwashing activities to celebrate the occasion.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I did NOT know today was Global Handwashing Day until I ran across the L.A.Times article posted just below this entry. And while I have no celebratory activities planned, I do at least have a handwashing song to contribute. Let the festivities begin!

It's Global Handwashing Day! (Do you know where your soap is?)

2009-10-19T11:38:00.001-05:00

It's Global Handwashing Day! (Do you know where your soap is?)

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Soap addiction

2009-10-03T17:53:00.000-05:00

It's true that some people are addicted to soap. They LOVE soap, and when they pass by my table they always stop and they always buy something. Or several somethings.

"Addicted" is their word, not mine. Just last week a customer asked how she could get my soaps once the farmers markets were over. I told her she could get them online through my website, and also mentioned the stores that carry them. "Good," she said. "I just want to make sure I can still get it, now that you've got me hooked on your CRACK soap!"

Crack soap! I laughed about that one all day long. I'm cracking up all over again even as I write this. I love that she's a true fan, though the comparison to crack cocaine isn't exactly flattering . . . !

Well here's a new twist on addictive soap. From the Northwest Florida Daily News online police blotter:

14-year-old sells cocaine, actually soap
October 2, 2009 2:30 p.m.
Angel McCurdy
FORT WALTON BEACH — A 14-year-old boy was arrested for felony charges of selling counterfeit controlled substances.
According to a Fort Walton Beach Police report, the juvenile sold a quantity of suspected crack cocaine to an undercover police agent.
The boy sold the supposed cocaine for $145 and then fled the area.
He was arrested at his home on Wright Parkway on Sept. 11.
Officers found that the sold drugs were not cocaine, but that it was pieces of soap.
The boy admitted to officers that he cut up a bar of soap at his house and then sold it as crack cocaine.

Now why didn't I think of that. $145 dollars for a truly addictive bar of soap! I've gotta raise my prices.

DIY soap making

2009-09-20T19:45:00.001-05:00

When I first started making soap seven (eight?) years ago, my soap mold was a shoe box. I'd line it with plastic grocery store bags that I'd cut down both sides and try to make fit into the box so the loaf of soap would have nice edges and corners. It never really worked. The bottom edges were always rounded and the corners were even more so. And the bottom of the soap loaf was always wrinkled and crinkly.

In time I got more particular about it and made a form out of styrofoam planks that I cut to fit snugly inside the shoe box. I wrapped the form with duct tape so the edges wouldn't crumble off. Then I folded freezer paper around the form and taped it into shape so I could just slip it into the shoe box to make bars with sharper edges and corners. It worked pretty well.

The shoe box, along with all the things with which I experimented and the many lessons I learned along the way, is part of my soapmakng roots.

And it's a good thing I still have it.

Just the other day a customer told me she really loved my Luxury Bar soap, and wondered if I could make it for her in a larger size. I said, "Yes, of course!" not having any idea how I would actually do that. When I got home and started to think about it, however, I remembered the shoe box. I got it out, dusted it off, took measurements and made calculations, and figured out that it would work perfectly. Voila!

I just think there's something charming about the idea that my old beat-up DIY shoe box mold is being brought back into service. Thinking about it even as I write this is already bringing back many fond memories!

The shower head study

2009-09-17T18:15:00.000-05:00

Doesn't that title sound like a must-read blog entry? NOT. But you should read it anyway.

A story that recently made a splash in the news isn't much of a story for most of us. But it is a story for people with compromised immune systems. It's about shower heads that serve as incubators for bacteria and result in people literally being sprayed with bacteria when they step into the shower. You can read it here if you haven't heard about it already.

The story was picked up from the newswires and run with headlines like "Is Your Shower Making You Sick?" That kind of headline followed by highlights from a study conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder make it sound like SARS all over again. Except this time it's not Chinese people who are the carriers, it's the shower head in your very own bathroom!

Most people can just relax. For one thing, the study was based on an analysis of 50 shower heads from nine U.S. cities, and the bacteria of concern was found in just 30 percent of the shower heads tested. Significant, but not exactly cause for panic. For another, healthy people have nothing to worry about.

The article goes on to say, however, that people with compromised immune systems due to HIV or immune system-repressing drugs or medical treatments are the ones who may be at risk. That's critical information, and it should have appeared within the few paragraphs of the story. But you have to go about two-thirds of the way through it before you find that out.

I understand that journalists need to sell the story to the widest possible audience, but they also have an obligation to inform the public. Or in this case, to target the message to the segment of the public that most needs to hear it.

Having said all that, however, it seems to me that there's a very simple solution for anyone who is or should be concerned about this, which was not even mentioned in the story. Every few months take your shower head off and rinse it out thoroughly with bleach. Problem solved, right? Or am I missing something?

Urban wildlife

2009-09-14T18:48:00.000-05:00

Pic of the day. Sixteen years living in Edgewater, and maybe three times -- always at night of course -- I've seen an opossum on our back porch deck. They're very unnerving, as they look at first like enormous rats, and the Lord gave them the ugliest tail of any animal on earth. They're relatively benign creatures, though, so I've always just let them be. But this is a first.

This one was apparently feeling a little too tired to go home last night -- maybe a few too many cocktails? -- and decided to crawl up into one of our potted purple fountain grass plants to sleep it off. Been there all day, too, completely unfazed by the workmen who are going up and down our back stairs all the time as they rebuild our chinney. Kind of cute, in a way, but find somewhere else to crash tomorrow, buddy!

There's another part to this, however, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Chicago's urban environment is overrun with animals that have no natural predators. Squirrels. (Rats with bushy tails.) Pigeons. (Rats that fly.) Opossums that spend the day sleeping in people's potted plants.

But if natural predators were around, that would be a huge issue. Foxes in the city? Coyotes in my back yard? No way. We've got peregrine falcons for pigeon control downtown, but that's clearly ineffective.

So we have a quandary. We have animal pests we need to control but we don't have an acceptable natural solution. Suggestsions anyone?

2009-09-05T18:34:00.000-05:00

I just love this video. It's an ad, but it's very clever and fun. Enjoy!

Milling soap

2009-09-04T13:54:00.002-05:00

At one of my markets the other day, a woman politely but firmly told me that she only uses triple milled soap.

I wanted to ask whether she had any idea what milled soap really is. But instead I smiled politely and a little wistfully, as if to say, "Oh well, I guess you've got me on that one! I only make natural handcrafted soap!"

Milling soap is one thing for a handcrafted soapmaker, and a very different thing for a commercial soap manufacturer.

For a soapmaker, milling or hand milling soap is rebatching. You take soap you've already made, grate it up, add some liquid, heat it until the two have uniformly combined, add whatever extras you're going to put in, and pour it into molds.

Personally, I've never seen the sense in making soap twice, but rebatching has its uses. Its greatest asset is that you can add certain ingredients without exposing them to the chemical reaction between the lye and the oils, or the heat that the reaction generates. Milk added to rebatched soap will not discolor it. Rose petals will retain their color instead of turning brown and ugly. Essential oils (eucalyptus, for example) whose fragrance would otherwise be evaporated by the heat during saponification will be unharmed and delightful to the nose. And you can pour rebatched soap into individual molds that would be difficult or impossible to use with standard cold process soap.

(Rebatching is also a technique for salvaging a failed or improperly formulated batch of soap, but I'm not even going to touch that. If it's bad soap, dispose of it properly.)

Commercially milled soap is an entirely different matter. Briefly, french or triple milling is a manufacturing process that involves extracting the moisturising, skin-softening glycerin that's naturally in the soap, and drying the soap into pellets. Inexpensive chemicals are usually added to make up for the loss of the glycerin, and the pellets are then passed several times through a rolling mill, producing a paste that can be compacted into nice hard bars. The extracted glycerin is much more profitable to the manufacturer when used in lotions, creams, and other cosmetic products. (And if you have any doubts, check this out!)

In essence, the notion that triple milled soap is somehow better or of higher quality than soap that's milled twice or -- oh my god! -- a soap that is NOT EVEN MILLED ONCE is simply advertising spin. A process that adds to the manufacturer's bottom line and significantly decreases the benefits to the consumer is touted as one that increases it.

It's . . . what was that phrase that caused such a flap during the last Presidential campaign . . . ?

Also, check out our December 2009 update, Milling soap part II.

The joy of making liquid soap

2009-08-29T18:57:00.000-05:00

I just have to say this: I LOVE making liquid soap. I love it!

Bar soaps can be so touchy. The temperatures of the lye solution and the oils need to be within a certain range before you can combine them. Depending on the oils used, trace can happen quickly or it can take forever. ("Trace" is the soapmaking term for the point at which the soap batter is sufficiently thick to pour into molds.) Adding certain essential or fragrance oils can dangerously accelerate the saponification process and result in soap batter that thickens so quickly it can't even be poured.

In short, there are a number of problems one can run into when making bar soaps, you can't always predict them, and you've always got to be on your toes.

Liquid soap, on the other hand, is wonderfully low-maintenance and very forgiving. The oils just need to be very warm to moderately hot. No thermometers necessary. Just touch the side of the stockpot. And the potassium hydroxide solution doesn't need to be cooled down before it's mixed with the oils. As soon as it's dissolved, pour it in. None of the potential or unanticipated problems that can happen with bar soapmaking are applicable to liquid soapmaking.

Having recently made a number of small batches of bar soaps to test new fragrance blends for the fall and holidays, all of which were touchy and nerve-wracking, it was a particular joy yesterday to make a no-fuss, predictable, and wonderful batch of liquid soap.

Just wanted to share with this one. Thanks for indulging me . . . !

How to find out whether chemical ingredients pose health risks

2009-08-28T09:08:00.000-05:00

Ever wondered or tried to find out what sodium lauryl sulfate really is? Or dipropylene glycol? Or any of the other mysterious chemical compounds on the labels of personal care products?

If not, I can hardly blame you. Researching things like this is normally pretty low on my to-do list.

But there are times when I do want to know, and one of the best resources I've found is the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. You can search it for information on any and every ingredient used in cosmetic and personal care products. I have a link to it on my website's Links & Resources page. Each ingredient is rated for it's level of toxicity and potential harm, which is useful for people who are interested in reducing their level of exposure to some of the more more questionable chemicals found in everyday household products.

One caveat. Keep in mind that the toxicity ratings are often based on tests that involve substantially higher exposure rates than one would experience in normal use of whatever the product is.

But that said, I think it's a useful resource for consumers and an especially valuable resource for soap makers who use pre-made soap or lotion bases or add chemical detergents, surfactants, preservatives, and so on to anything that they make.

And the site has the most beautiful soap bubble image! Isn't this gorgeous?

Edgewater Soaps has been Yelped!

2009-08-26T14:46:00.000-05:00

I must thank my good friend Julie for Yelping Edgewater Soaps. As you may know, Yelp! is one of those websites like CraigsList that's national but has local sub-sites for cities and towns across the country. Yelp! enables anyone who wants to submit their own personal review of anything from a restaurant or retail outlet to an event or just about anything else.

So when my friend Julie, who loves my soaps and is just a terrific person, offered to write a testimonial that I could use on my website or in an e-mail newsletter, I said "You are WONDERFUL! And if you really will do that, I'd love it if you would do that as a review on Yelp!"

And here's why, I told her: just type the words handcrafted soap chicago into Google, and what's the very first site that comes up? Yelp! And if your testimonial is on Yelp!, I can link to it on my website or from an e-mail newsletter. Kill two birds with one stone, as they say. (But please don't tell the PETA people I used that horrible expression that treats violence toward innocent creatures so casually and ought to be stricken from the English language! I have never killed even one bird with a stone.)

If you'd like to read the review or add your own, just Yelp!

2009-08-07T14:41:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog! It's named Life and Soap because the two intersect in many ways. A perfect example is this article, which I e-mailed to everyone on my Edgewater Soaps list and posted to my facebook page. http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/triclosan-and-dolphins
It's about triclosan, which is the primary ingredient in practically every commercial antibacterial soap product. It's in nearly 1,000 consumer products, according to the Skin Deep database. Tons of it are washed down the drain every day, and it's now showing up in the ocean food chain.
And what really gets me is that it's totally unnecessary for any normal cleansing need. You don't need to kill germs and bacteria, you just need to wash them off. Plain old soap does that very effectively.
Regrettably, people think they're actually doing something healthy when they use these products, not realizing that they've been sold on a need that doesn't exist . . .