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Natural Soapmaking (once Soap Naturally)
Soapmaking: soap making information, methods, soap recipes and reference sites
Soap Naturally - Ingredients, methods and recipes for natural handmade soap, by Patrizia Garzena and Marina Tadiello, is the new soapmaking book that addresses all aspects of natural soapmaking. Further information and ordering details are available from the Soap Naturally Book page.
First published on the Internet in September 2000, with the intent of offering a handy "one-stop-repository" of the available resources on the Web, the Natural Soapmaking (once Soap Naturally) soap making information section hosts a regularly updated collection of links and short descriptions of the most authoritative soapmaking sources.
With the advent of "commercial Internet" and the resulting disappearance from the Web of personal (non-commercial) pages, contributions from Natural Soapmaking (once Soap Naturally) members now cover an increasingly wider area of topics of interest. Whether you are new to soap making, or simply looking to widen your expertise in this area, this page is the most complete and updated index to everything soapmaking.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L
M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Soap information, soap supplies: Main Index | Top
Natural handmade soap recipes and reference resources on the Internet
For recipes, see also Natural Soapmaking (once Soap Naturally)'s recipe index.
- Alcohol - Basic chemistry by Mary Anne
- Amber/ambergris
- Aromatherapy
- Blending suggestions
- Calculators - conversions,pricing, saponification values etc.
- Chemistry and safety issues
- Colours - reference and suggestions
- Commercial guidelines and regulations
- Dragon's blood
- Fragrance and essential oils reference
- Herbs and plants reference
- History of soap
- INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) sites
- Natural remedies
- Properties of some oils and soap additives
- Recipes: handmade soap & shampoo recipes, skin care recipes
- Soap information - general
- Soapmaking history
- Soapmaking methods
- Soapmaking tools (molds, cutters etc.): designs, instructions, plans etc.
- Trade publications
A
Amber / Ambergris
- Description of Amber: Earth Science Department
- Description of Ambergris: Encyclopedia news article
Aromatherapy
- Marina maintains a special section on her AquaSapone Website with general information and blending suggestions for Australian essential oils.
- Listmember and supplier Rebecca offers safety and usage information about essential oils.
- Michel Vanhove's Aromatherapy International, hosting AGORA, The Aromatherapy Global Online Research Archives.
- AromaWeb offers information and resources especially useful to those interested in essential oils and aromatherapy.
- Aromapedia is a software application (Win) providing beginning and intermediate users of aromatherapy with vital data about essential oils and their methods of use.
- Nature's Gift: Marge Clark's informative pages about aromatherapy and essential oils.
- An interesting article about the olfactory system and the impact of aromatherapy essential oils.
- See also: Fragrance and essential oils reference
- See also: Recipes: handmade soap & shampoo recipes, skin care recipes
Soap information, soap supplies: Main Index | Top
B
Blending suggestions
- Ersilia and listmember Maree give us an interesting insight into perfume notes and the subtle art of blending.
- Listmember and supplier Rebecca offers blending suggestions for essential oils.
- Marina maintains a special section on her AquaSapone Website with general information and blending suggestions for Australian essential oils.
- Azenta Products on fragrance mixing.
- For those who'd like to emulate famous perfumes: Parfums Raffy describes the different fragrances in commercial perfumes.
- See also: Aromatherapy, Essential and fragrance oils reference
- Cat Turner is a goldmine of information about blends, and is generously sharing her knowledge in her special blending suggestions section of this site. Thanks Cat!
Soap information, soap supplies: Main Index | Top
C
Calculators - conversions, pricing, saponification values etc.
- Therese Lott's "standalone" sap calculator is now available in four different file formats. Very handy, thank you Therese!
- Ida describes in wonderful detail how to recalculate a given recipe for different batch sizes or different units of measure. Simply precious!
- List member Kathy Arenz is generously sharing her special calculator for creams and lotions, available as a downloadable Excel spreadsheet.
- Majestic Mountain Sage (MMS) online calculator
- Listmember Lisa C has put together 2 useful batch cost calculators: Clicking on these links will ask you to save a copy to your computer. May we suggest that when you are using the calculator for your own batches, that you select "Save As" and rename your new file. This will ensure that your original copy remains as the Master copy. Of course, you can always come back here to obtain another copy of the Master.
Chemistry and safety issues
- Ersilia's DOS on DOS, a research into what causes the Dreaded Orange Spots.
- Marina's Soap safety, or how to survive close encounters with LYE!!!
- Vermont Safety Information Resources offer an MSDS searchable database. [If you'd like to know what MSDS stands for, we have included a description here]
- Another searchable MSDS database from Cornell University.
- For the chemistry freaks, the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford offers an online Chemistry Information Technology Centre.
- Information about fragrances and the levels at which they should be used, and other standards from the International Fragrance Association: select
Standardsin the pulldown menu and an alphabetic list appears. Click on the one you want and the info appears in the other frame. - See also: Commercial guidelines and regulations
Color cosmetics, mineral makeup
- Free formulas, detailed instructions and raw materials for colour cosmetics you can make yourself at home from DIY Cosmetics, listmember Rebecca Midkiff's new company: learn how to make your own foundation, lipstick, rouge, eye shadow.
Soap information, soap supplies: Main Index | Top
Colours and clays - reference and suggestions
- Listmember and supplier Rebecca offers usage suggestions for color additives.
- FDA's (US Foods and Drug Administration) approved color additives listed for use in the United States in foods, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices.
- Position of the Australian Society of Cosmetic Chemists on colouring agents used in cosmetics and toiletries; also includes a list of colours approved for cosmetic use in Europe.
- Straight from the horse's mouth, the European INCI list of approved colours for use in cosmetics and in hair dyes.
- Discussion about Cosmetic Grade Color Additives.
- A list of herbs and spices that offer natural ways for colouring soap.
- See also: Commercial guidelines and regulations
Commercial guidelines and regulations, INCI sites
- [AUS] The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission's Web site is a good start for understanding the Australian rules. In particular, you can download from here, as a PDF file, the official guidelines for labelling cosmetics and toiletries.
- [AUS] The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration is probably more relevant to those who make toiletries, however there are a few sections relevant to soap, especially medicated and "aromatherapy" soaps. The Cosmetic Claims Guidelines are of particular interest and are also available for download as a PDF file.
- [AUS] For specific information on chemical substances used in soap and cosmetics, check out the NICNAS site, which is part of Worksafe Australia.
- Of particular interest to all those who would like to sell soap and toiletries in Australia, the Australian Society of Cosmetic Chemists position paper on cosmetic safety and manufacturing guidelines is recommended reading for all those who have commercial manufacturing in mind.
- [AUS] Ready to go commercial and register a business name?? Search the Australian Securities Commission's database to make sure the business name you've chosen is available!
- [AUS] For business information in general, don't forget to check out the Australian government resource Website for small businesses.
- [USA] FDA sets the rules for cosmetics in the US.
- [USA] US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition - Cosmetics is the starting point for those who sell soap and cosmetics in the US.
- [USA] The current list of colourants approved by the FDA for use in cosmetics sold in the US can be found here.
- [USA] Another interesting link from FDA is their Cosmetic hand book
- [USA] Interesting information, particularly for US soap and toiletry makers, from the Cosmetics, Toiletry & Fragrance Association (CFTA).
- [Europe, UK] The European INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) index is also an excellent starting point for investigating European requirements for soap and cosmetics makers.
- [Europe, UK] The Soap Naturally Book includes quite detailed information on European and UK requirements.
- International: Information about fragrances and the levels at which they should be used, and other standards from the International Fragrance Association.
Soap information, soap supplies: Main Index | Top
D
Dragon's Blood
- Botanical.com, Description of Dragons Blood.
- Dragonsblood, Another link about the origins.
F
Fragrance and essential oils reference
- Check out our Natural Skin Care Handbooks for information on essential oils and their uses.
- Listmember and supplier Rebecca offers blending, safety and usage suggestions for essential oils.
- Marina maintains a special section on her AquaSapone Website with general information and blending suggestions for Australian essential oils.
- Listmember Ann Grady has put together a useful classification table of EO's by skin type.
- Information about fragrances and the levels at which they should be used, and other standards from the International Fragrance Association: select
Standardsin the pulldown menu and an alphabetic list appears. Click on the one you want and the info appears in the other frame. - Stony Mountain Botanicals' website features several herbal and aromatherapy recipes. Thanks to Mary Anne, who suggested this link for some good insect repellent blends!
- See also: Aromatherapy, Blending suggestions
Soap information, soap supplies: Main Index | Top
H
Herbs and plants reference
- A good start for your investigations on herb and plant properties is Botanical.com, the Home Page of Mrs M. Grieve's "A Modern Herbal". This book, originally published 1931 and entirely available on the Internet, is now considered a bit outdated, but the basics are good and the site offers lots of other interesting (and more up-to-date) links.
- Herbal skin care chart from the Natural Soapmaking (once Soap Naturally) Natural Skin Care Handbooks section.
- Henriette's Herbal Homepage, Herbal medicine and culinary herbs is one of the oldest and largest herbal information sites on the net. Includes a searchable database for plant names.
- Searchable database of 7,000 useful plants from PFAF - Plants For A Future, a resource centre for edible and other useful plants.
- [CA] Up to a couple of years ago, Richters, Canadian supplier of herbs and herb seeds, used to maintain *the* reference site for herbs. Due to economically rational reasons, they decided to deprecate the service (pity!). However, they still have some interesting links.
- Neem "The Village Pharmacy", information about neem oil in Ayurveda.
- See also: Natural remedies
History of soap and traditional soapmaking methods
- The following links are also collected in our Soap Natch History of Soapmaking page.
- List Mum Ersilia, with list members Jeannie and Linda, have collected a series of links to sites that show how our forebears made soap in their time, using potash from plant ashes.
- List member Ida shares her discovery of her Grandmother's traditional soap recipe
- John Kercher always lives in our hearts, and we treasure his gift of translations of old soap recipes
- List member Patrizia has researched the true history of soapmaking from Babylon to the Industrial Revolution
- List Mum Marina shares her memories of how soap was made in rural Northern Italy in the late 1950's.
- Soap history from the Soap and Detergent Association of North America. It is interesting to note that the non-existent Mount Sapo is mentioned as the reference for the origin and derivation of the word "soap".
Soap information, soap supplies: Main Index | Top
N
Natural remedies
- Alternative Nature Online Herbal looks like a great herb and natural remedy site.
- See also: Aromatherapy, Herbs and plants reference
P
Properties of some oils and soap additives
- Kathy Miller has extensive information on this subject.
- Mary Anne describes the difference between hard oils and soft oils, and how to decide how much of each oil to use in order to obtain a nicely balanced recipe.
- Ron's shea butter nut articles on Natural Soapmaking (once Soap Naturally) (shea butter is also known as karite butter).
- Fatty acid properties of some (not so common) soap making oils, kindly supplied by Mary Anne [sudsylady] and other members.
- A table that compares fatty acid content between different oils, which might be useful when looking for causes of DOS to see if there might be some link.
- Rita Scheu's carrier oil descriptions from TLC Soaps has interesting information about common and not so common soapmaking oils.
- Meadowfoam Seed Oil - Natural Plants Products offer extensive information on this rare oil, extracted from a herbaceous winter annual plant native to the pacific Northwest area of the United States.
- Snowdrift Farm
Soap information, soap supplies: Main Index | Top
R
Recipes: handmade soap & shampoo recipes, skin care recipes
- First thing - Check out the index of original recipes from our members.
- Marina describes her methods for making laundry bar soap, and laundry and shower gel from natural lye soap. Other recipes are available.
- Aromatics & More offers an extensive recipe formulary for handmade creams, lotions, shampoos, soaps... and a lot more!
- Ida describes in wonderful detail how to recalculate a given recipe for different batch sizes or different units of measure. Simply precious!
- MMS recipes and tips: Majestic Mountain Sage.
- Snowdrift Farm.
- Kathy Miller's site includes several soap recipes (all vegetable soaps, soaps containing animal fats and castile soap recipes), as well as suggestions on how to create one's own recipes.
- Herbal Accents Lotion Bars (or Solid Bath Oil Bars).
- Loretta's Kitchen Cosmetics, a good personal site with lots of homemade natural beauty recipes.
- Herbal recipes from Mama Yasmini's Place.
- Green Sense, green living hints including soap.
- Make Stuff is a huge commercial site with recipes and information that may be of some interest.
- AllCrafts.net - Free Crafts Network: a guide for all types of crafts. New free projects added weekly.
- Goldenfey: suggestions about EO blends, list of skin care friendly EO's and a couple aromatherapy beauty recipes.
- For those who suffer from acne: Absolute Acne Info.
- Becky's Herb Patch: "I started this to share my experience (HA!) and knowledge (HA! again) on gardening and herbal therapy. I can laugh because every good gardener knows that you never have enough knowledge or experience..."
- Recipe Source (new address of the Internet pioneering project once called SOAR - Searchable Online Archive of Recipes at Berkeley University) offers some beauty recipes together with thousands of food recipes. Warning: my personal experience is that most beauty recipes there are better taken with a pinch of salt... (Marina)
- Assorted natural recipes from Planet Pretty (Note: the site looks like it's been "discontinued").
- Bath bombs: Brenda Sharpe's method.
- Mother and baby recipes.
- Soap bubbles: Bubblesphere, the most complete information about bubbles available in the world.
Soap information, soap supplies: Main Index | Top
S
Soap information - general
- First thing - Check out the Soap Naturally Book, the most complete guide to learn about natural handmade soap.
- Kathy Miller's is a very good site to start with, and includes saponification charts, properties of oils, how much liquid to use etc. (although in general we don't agree with using crayons for colour).
- If you would like to start making your own soap, but are really worried by the idea of having to work with strong alkalis (lye, caustic soda), the soap safety suggestions described by ListMum Marina will hopefully help you overcome your fears - and give you precise directions on how to avoid problems.
- Refer to the Properties of some oils and soap additives section for information on how to choose and combine base oils and fats.
- Listmember Debbie Vidinha, of Coconut Coast Natural Products, has put together the Glossary for the Modern Soap Maker.
- Listmember Marie Chandler's Glossary of terms of soaps, soapmaking, cosmetics and body care products.
- A "soap site" written just for kids; includes a few simple fun recipes
- Information about soap from the Soap and Detergent Association of North America. It is interesting to note that their soapmaking history incorrectly gives the non-existent Mount Sapo as the reference for the origin and derivation of the word "soap".
- Sabrina's Soapmakers Resources Site
- (From Mary Anne) There is a webpage for an american chemical engineer who makes soap, it includes some info I'm not happy with (like colouring soap with kids tempera paint powder!!), but it has a wonderful animated picture of the chemistry involved in changing lye + oils to glycerine + soap. He actually uses and recommends DPG to speed trace, especially when doing large quantities at demonstrations. See Making Soap With James Hershberger.
Soap making methods
- Instructions for CP (cold process soap), HP (double boiler and oven hot process methods) and DWCP (discounted water cold process soap) are available from Marina's site.
- Rebatching (hand milling) soap instructions are also available from Marina's site
- Listmember and supplier Rebecca offers rebatching instructions and tips.
- Paul Norman describes some traditional methods, how to make soap with rain water and wood ash.
- Kathy Miller's stick blender method.
- Listbud Virginia Craig's Cleopatra's Bath lists another way to rebatch.
- Blue Aspen Originals' rebatching instructions (double boiler process) - with pictures!
- Debora Yavas' page shows our listbuddie's way to do crockpot soap, with lots of pictures!
- Listbuddie Theda's microwave soap instructions.
- Karen Stark's microwave soap instructions (with pictures).
- Pat Prenty at Essence Supply describes how to make liquid soap, with lots of pictures. Nice page, very informative.
- Soap rocks or jewels: check out Listbuddie Chris's creations - wonderful, eh? For instructions, see also Alphabet Soap and Irene's House of Soap.
- Good site with great photographs and instructions on how to felt over soap.
Soapmaking tools (molds, cutters etc.): designs, instructions, plans etc.
- Chestnut Farms plan for making 4x15 inch soapmaking mold.
T
Trade publications
- [AUS] Markets and Fairs. Australia's online guide to Markets, Events, Festivals, Expos and Fairs.
Soapmaking Books: |
Editors & maintainers:
Ersilia Vitale
[ ccdream --at-- iprimus.com.au - Cosmetic grade colours: oxides and ultramarines ],
Marina Tadiello
[ Soap book co-author, Soap Naturally - Ingredients, methods and recipes for natural handmade soap ]
[ AquaSapone - natural soap, essential oils, soap making supplies & kits ]
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