Does anyone make their own soaps?

I make my own bath soaps, I find it fun and rewarding.

I'll make my own crap and hand soaps as well. Are primarily of use the cold process method. I would love to exchange recipes for those willing to share.

Also would be interested in knowing a good basic recipes for a solid shave soap.

Nope. I figure the guys making them are putting in way more time, effort, R&D and money then I'm willing to. I'll let them do all the work and buy from them.


All evidence has been buried. All tapes have been erased.

I have made cold proccess bath soap and it works out fine.  The problem is that it costs me more than buying from a vendor.  Since I am not selling it I buy the ingediants in smaller batches and the price point doesn't make it worth the payback.  Last batch cost about $4.00 a bar to make and I get soap from a vendor in bulk (10 bars) for around $2.48 a bar.  

That said though - if there is a scent you really like - make it.  But make sure you do your research and educate yourself.  I have a number of books on soapmaking:

The Everything Soapmaking Book
Smart Soapmaking
Soap Maker's Workshop: The Art and Craft of Natural Homemade Soap

The last book has a great section on tallow.  Any shave soap in these books are variations of hard bath soaps so be warned.  But if bath soap is all you really want to make then they are great references.  Also go to Youtube and seach for soap making - there are hundreds of videos - some good and others not so much.  There isn't a lot of information out there on using both potassium and sodium hydroxides for soft shave soap making but dig around if that is the direction you want to pursue.  

And all the vendors here will tell you that you have to take lots of notes - especially experimenting so you can replicate a batch in the future.  

Finally the only draw back to making your own shaving soap is that if you scale your batch down to say a pound - you end up with four - 4 oz. containers of the same scented soap and you know how hard it is to get through just one 4 oz. container so you better love the scent.

Nope.  I figure the guys making them are putting in way more time, effort, R&D and money then I'm willing to.  I'll let them do all the work and buy from them.


All evidence has been buried.  All tapes have been erased.

Precisely the way I think.

Nope.  I figure the guys making them are putting in way more time, effort, R&D and money then I'm willing to.  I'll let them do all the work and buy from them.


All evidence has been buried.  All tapes have been erased.

Precisely the way I think.

same here. I can't be bothered with all the trial and error.