Expert: Stephanie - 4/21/2006

Question
I ask you about the industry of the soap
Pleas sent to me how I make soap with An olive oil
The amounts from olive oil and the caustic soda and the ascription of the perfume  

Answer
Hello!

I'm sorry, but your question is a little bit confusing. I understand from it that you are interested in soap making and using olive oil in soap.

Well, congratulations! Soap making is fun and a great hobby, and I hope you can get a good start to it. Just so you know, I only specialize in melt and pour soapmaking. This means I buy blocks of glycerin, melt it in the microwave (or a double boiler) and add my additives, then pour it into a mould. If you are interested in cold pressed soap or rebatching, I recommend finding a good book or website on it, and learning about it first because it is quite a bit more difficult.

Olive oil can be added to melt and pour soaps, and is actually great for sensitive and dry skin. You can also buy glycerin base with olive oil already added. If you want to add your own, use 100% cold pressed virgin olive oil and add about a tablespoon to a 4 oz bar of soap. If you add too much, your soap might turn out greasy and too soft, so be careful.

I am not sure what you mean by caustic soda, but if you would like to explain further, please feel free to contact me again.

For the perfumes, you can use two different kinds in soap making- essential oils (EO) and fragrance oils (FO). Essential oils are natural, but can be quite a bit more expensive. They are extracted straight from plants. Fragrance oils are not natural, but come in a wider range of scents and scent blends, and work just as nicely in soap. I personally prefer fragrance oils, because of the more reasonable pricing and some of the scents are just so lovely! You should never use any commercial perfumes to scent your soap, as the alcohol in them can ruin it.

If you are interested in browsing through or purchasing some good soap supplies, I recommend Brambleberry. It has the most reasonable prices and wonderful materials. You can find them at
http://www.brambleberry.com

If you want to learn more about the different kinds of soap making (other then melt and pour), you may be interested in checking out Brambleberry's affiliated soaping site, Teach Soap. It can be found at:
http://www.teachsoap.com

I hope this helps, and if you have any furhter questions about melt and pour soapmaking, feel free to contact me again!

Good-luck,

From Stephanie