# MADE MY FIRST SOAP!!!!



## midkiffsjoy (Feb 27, 2008)

I made my first soap this morning!!!! I wore hubby's old meat cutters smock, yellow dishwashing gloves, & goggles and looked JUST like the professor in back to the future (minus the white hair. I wore a babuska)!!!!! I found out that I REALLY stress details!!! Do I have to wear the goggles & gloves the WHOLE time???? What do I do with my spoon after I mix the lye water?? After I mixed the lye I washed my gloved hands and then thought about throwing away the towel I dried my hands on "just to be safe"!!!! I think all those warnings have really gone to my head!!!!!
So the soap itself looks GREAT!!!! A nice creamy ecu color. I found that although weighing my mold with water said it'd take just under a 4lb batch, a 4 lb batch didnt quite fill it up! 

Does EVERYONE go through a stage where they wander through the house looking for anything that could be used as a mold???? I have a cigar box lined and ready for a small test batch (gonna try coca-cola....if they can make beer soap, I should be able to make soda soap!!!)

Joy!!!


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## MiaBella Farm (Jul 22, 2008)

CONGRATULATIONS!

I usually only wear goggles while dissolving the lye...along with one of those painter's masks and a fan on blowing the mist away from me. Then the mask and goggles come off.

I have my stainless steel bucket in a sink of cold water, I place my stainless steel spoon in that water until I am ready to pour lye in with oils (after cool). Then I drain the water, fill the bucket I had lye in with some vinegar, warm water and dish soap then put the spoon in that and just let it sit while I finish my soap.

I use paper towels to dry my hands, but have used a cloth towel before, it is fine, no need to throw it away. Just be safe as you feel comfortable with, then as you soap longer, you will know yourself. I don't remove my gloves until the soap is in the mold...well, minus measuring out stuff like Essential Oils and clays...they are not going to harm you...and is usually done before I ever touch lye.


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

I mix my lye water in a pitcher in my sink. When I take the spoon out I rinse it well in the other side of the sink. I wear a mask when I'm mixing the lye but not after that. I wear safety glasses the whole time. I've had a small bit of soap splash up on my face (only 2 times in 3 years of soaping) so I think it's very important to have your eyes protected. The two times it hit my cheek I just washed it off real well with water. But in your eye and who knows the damage that can be done in a split second. 

I don't wear gloves. I would rather know if something is splashing so I can rinse it off and be done with it. If I had gloves on and got lye water or soap on them and didn't realize it then went and touched something else it might get spread around unknowingly. But that is *me*. I have gotten raw soap on my skin a few times but never the actual lye solution. I also get a clean towel out when I start and toss it in the laundry basket when I'm done. And since I do all my lye handling over the sink I take the spray nozzle and rinse everything down really well before proceeding.

Congrats on your first batch!


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## midkiffsjoy (Feb 27, 2008)

giggle....the question about the gloves came to me when the microwave handle started getting slippery!!!! giggle. I wound up soaping in the bathroom. The kids get scared whenever I start to do something new and trash the house so I wont have time to do it. I've been trying to make soap all week then this morning I walked into my kitchen, found it retrashed, said the heck with it and started making soap in the bathroom before they got up!!!

Mommy's must be sneak sometimes!!! grin


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

LOL....I make lotion at 4 in the morning. It's the only time I can get the kitchen to myself for the length of time it takes.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

I wear the goggles for the eyes but nothing else. Can't stand gloves for anything. I don't have kids, so just have to work around DH 
Congrats on your soap making it is addictive.


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## tmfinley (Feb 21, 2008)

I don't wear gloves at all. If I do I will end up getting lye solution everywhere because I don't know I'm spreading it. I probably get lye on me, be it through the solution or from raw soap, every three times I soap. Especially when I'm trying something complicated and new. It is really no big deal. Just wash your hands and your fine. I keep vinegar around also in case washing isn't enough. I have a stack of large plastic Rudy's cups that I use for soaping. Spoons and blenders get stored in them while I am soaping. Towels with lye solution or raw soap on them are fine to wash and keep.

Tiffany


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## mill-valley (Feb 22, 2008)

I only wear gloves while mixing the milk and lye, I can't stand gloves after that. I planned to wear goggles...but never got around to buying some, it's still on the list. I haven't found fumes to be bad at all, so I don't wear a mask either. 

I've never gotten lye on me, but raw soap a couple of times; it stings a little and leaves a red mark on my arm but nothing horrible.

Congrats on your first batch!
And yes, I also went around the house looking for mold possibilities.


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

I used an empty oatmeal container to put the spoon & stick blender in...


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

I only use my stainless spoon for mixing the lye so it simply stays in the stainless lye bucket in the sink. My spatula sits on the edge of my countertop and I use it for stirring in picky FO's and for scraping my bucket when I pour. My stickblender goes in a container in my window, and after I soap it goes into the fragrance oil glass measuring cup in my sink. Once you get a routine down it's really hard to change it up....like when I use my big stick blender for ever, it is on th fritz right now, so I am back using my little stick blender (braun) that I have used a million times, it feels like a toy now! But I am very organized when I soap, everything lined up in order of use so I don't forget anything. Vicki


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

> after I soap it goes into the fragrance oil glass measuring cup in my sink.


I had to chuckle... I am making such small batches I have been doing my fo in a shot glass!

nod... on lining things up... I figure otherwise I'd forget something too easy...


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## Kalne (Oct 25, 2007)

Same here.....I do everything in the same order and things get put just so before and after. Only in the end I have to clean it all up and put it away so we can use the kitchen again. I can only imagine how much nicer it is to have a dedicated space. If things keep going as they are I'm hoping maybe next year.


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## Xtra (Jan 1, 2010)

Congrats on your soap endeavor!

I'll give it my first shot this spring...

Christina


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