A Soap Makers Guide To Dress For Success!

If you take a hard look at a soap makers fashion, you might mistake them for an illegal drug manufacturer (think Breaking Bad!)  But in actuality, they are dressed for success!  They are dressed to make the best darn soap they can make!  Our attire gives us soap makers a sense of pride and protection as we produce our product. To have a better understanding of our "uniforms," I think a case study is appropriate here.  Let's examine this picture... It is of me (duh!)... Notice my 'essential dress for success.'

 Let face it, splatter happens in soap making.  Whether it be from your lye mixture, or your oils, a soap maker can get splattered at anytime. And boy do I know you need to be protected!  Hence the get-up in the picture above.

1) Face Shield: It is important to have something cover your eyes (a pair of glasses will do just fine!)  However, I use a face shield because I have gotten lye mixture on my face. By accident, I wiped my face with my gloved hand and to my surprise, there was lye solution on it. The face shield may be overboard for some, but it's a way to remind myself not to touch my face!

2) Gloves: These obviously protect your hands from the sodium hydroxide when adding it the your liquid or when you add your lye liquid to your oils.  They are also crucial when pouring your soap into their molds!  Oftentimes you will have to scrape out remaining soap (getting every last bit!) from your mixing container. These gloves will protect your hands from getting oily or burned.

3) Lab Coat: Protects your clothes. I have two different kinds. The first is my standard cloth lab coat. I don't recommend this.  Any splatter goes through the material.  And the wrists often get in the way, getting saponified oils on it.  Eventually the oils soak through the lab cloth and comes in contact with your skin.  The next thing you know, you are feeling a tingling, itching sensation and you know you have come in contact with your lye solution.  So, I suggest a disposable lab coat (I've been using the same one for the past year and it holds up to a machine washing, so who knows why they are considered disposable.)  The coat is made from a non-tearable paper and lined with plastic.  The wrists are elastic, so your coat wrists can't "hang" and get oils on it.  IT'S AWESOME!!!!

4) Closed Toed Shoes:  So the picture doesn't show this, but PLEASE wear closed toed shoes.  I've learned this the hard way in one of my 'cocky' moments.  Thinking I've been doing this for a while and that I was being careful enough, I stupidly wore flip flops while making soap.  The toe of my flip flop got caught underneath itself which caused me to trip.  While saving the lye mixture I was holding, some of it splattered out of it's container and landed on my other, uncovered foot.  Lesson learned!

These are just a few ways soap makers dress for success.  How do you do it?

From Grains to Soap Part Two: Making Cold Processed Soap

Freshly Cut Oatmeal Stout Beer Soap

At Handbrewed Soaps, we believe that brewing beer and soap are both a science and an art.  Just like a science experiment, you must follow some basic rules in order to produce the desired outcome or product—in our case, beer and soap.  And, as with art, individual interpretation, experimentation, and improvisation are encouraged and expected.  While many brewers feel that they have found the “best way” to brew beer, there are so many variables in the brewing process, that there’s a good chance that a homebrewer in your own neighborhood is doing something radically different or just subtly unique enough that you could apply to your own brewing process to make more interesting or flavorful beers… and soaps!   At Handbrewed Soaps, we have developed our own unique style of brewing and soap-making by reading, researching, and hanging out with fellow homebrewers and soapmakers.  We hope that you enjoy the methods, tips, and tricks that we use in our brewing and soapmaking process!

If you are new to brewing beer or soap, and want to learn more about the basics of either (or both!), we highly recommend How to Brew  by John Palmer and The Soapmaker’s Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch.  Of course there are hundreds, if not thousands, of resources online to help you get started and support you every step along the way.  Below is an overview of how Brew Master Eric Swihart brews the beer, and how Soap Lady Alyson Swihart transforms the beer into soap.  Don’t worry, we don’t use all of the beer to make soap-- we drink a lot of it too!!!

Enjoy a tasty cold beverage and Make Some Soap!

At this point (please refer to Part One in this series, Making Homebrewed Beer) we take the beer for our cold processed soap, as we do not want it carbonated. Cold process soap is the act of mixing a few oils (olive oil, coconut oil, and sustainable palm oil in our case) to an alkali (Sodium Hydroxide: aka Lye).  When oils and sodium hydroxide are mixed together, it goes through a chemical process called saponification ultimately creating what we know as a bar of soap.  Due to this chemical process, it is important for the soap maker to take safety precautions (wearing gloves, eye protection, and being in a well ventilated area).  Through the chemical process, no lye remains and a great bar of soap is made!  

Preparing Lye Solution

Step One:  Prepare your Lye solution, which includes a liquid and sodium hydroxide. For our liquid, we use our homebrewed beer (again making sure the carbonation is completely out of it or it will volcano.) The ratio of liquid to Sodium Hydroxide depends on your recipe.  Always remember to pour the Lye into the liquid, not the other way around!  This solution will reach almost boiling point so make sure to be careful with it!  Wait for it to cool to under 130 degrees, I prefer 110 degrees.

Step Two:  Select your oils and melt them! Once they are is a 10-degree range of your lye (that is under 130 degrees,) start mixing your oils with a hand mixer and add your lye!

Mix, Mix, Mix

Step Three:  Mix, Mix, Mix!  Once you’ve noticed the soap thickening add any essential oils and exfoliants.  You are going to keep mixing until everything has ‘traced.’  Trace is when your soap has emulsified and looks like pudding.  You can check for trace by pulling your hand mixer out of your soap and if it leaves “trails” on top, it’s traced!

Pour into Molds

Step Four:  Pour the soap into your molds, and then cover with a towel to keep it warm.  Your soap will continue to saponify.  Leave in the molds for 24- 48 hour, after which you can cut.  But you will have to wait another 4-6 weeks before using, as the soap needs to cure.  During the curing process, excess moisture evaporates from the bars, leaving a harder, longer-lasting soap!

Soap Equipment Upgrade: New Mixer

For the past three years I have been mixing my oils and lye with a stick blender.  Recently, part of the attachment piece that secures the attachment to the motor broke.  Of course this happened while I was getting my mixture to trace.  Luckily, as long as I put pressure on the motor to keep the attachment from falling off, I successfully made a batch of soap, but I knew I had to buy another.  Needing a new
one desperately, I went out to Bed Bath and Beyond (with my 20% coupon) and bought a new one that afternoon!  Problem solved.

Fast forward to the next week...  I asked my soaping assistant (my awesome retired dad, who always thinks of how to do things better!) to come over and help me make soap. (Side note: Did I tell you I'm pregnant with with our third?  Yep, I am. So I've had to modify my process of soap making a bit...it's called, call your retired father to help. More on that later!)  What did he notice about the process? Quite a few things! The problem that needed the most attention though, was that I twerked my back (insert bad Miley Cyrus joke here) in a weird position when I mix my oils, which in the long run, pregnant or not, is not good.  His solutions:  new mixer from soapequipment.com.

He actually surprised me with it.  He came over for our next soap making playdate with a drill and this rubber blade, called the Willow Way Soap Pot Whipper. At first, I didn't think it was going to work.  It was to big for the amount of oil I was mixing, but I gave it a try and it worked fine.  The one difference I noticed was that though I could control the speed of the blade more, at a certain point, the speed would cause the bucket to spin.  So I had to slow the blade down which doubled the time for the oils to trace.  Working with beer, this is great because the alcohol accelerates it, but using water or other liquids, takes a VERY long time for trace to occur.  Which then brings in the back problem issue thrown in with a wrist ache.

The next dad solution... building or buying a contraption that 1) secures the bucket (allowing me to have lighting fast mixing capabilities) and 2) holds the drill for you so there is no bodily pain to your wrists or back.  I didn't think this was possible, but my dad found one...  really expensive...  but then he found one on Craigslist....  life is good!  I'll let you know how this works...

Our New Packaging: From Cigar Labels to Boxes

Our first label

I just calculated how much time it takes me to wrap my soap. From design, to print, to cutting, to wrapping for 60 bars of soap… three hours!  Clearly, I am not very efficient in the area.  Our first label was vellum paper with my logo and ingredients on the label.   It was secured with double sided tape.  The tape wouldn’t hold the label past three weeks.  

Our second label

So the next version was created.  This time, it was printed on Kraft paper and secured with an ingredient sticker.  It gave the soap the look I wanted, but… if it was a hot day and my soaps started to sweat, it would affect the cigar band with wet spots.  Plus, I was cutting labels and stickers out myself which took HOURS!

The Box! 

So now, I’m on to boxes.  It took me awhile to streamline the packaging, but I’m happy with the design.  It tell’s our story, and answers the question I get the most…  Will I smell like beer?  These boxes have cut hours off my wrapping process!  So what do you think of our new boxes? How you have streamline processes in your business to make life easier for yourself?

Soap Equipment Upgrade: New Baking Racks

Before

I'm getting a complete soap workshop upgrade.  I'm going from making soap in my basement to making soap in my new soap studio in the backyard. I'm also going from making soap using wire bakers racks to being a 'big dog' and investing in some lasting equipment.  So today I spent the day at a restaurant auction getting commercial baking racks for curing! I scored two... (Yea!!!) , but I must admit it was an eye opening experience!

After

First off, I was the only female there, which REALLY surprised me.  Second, never being to an auction before, everything moved fast. The auctioneer talked fast, the people bid fast...  you really had to pay attention.  Third, almost everyone I talked to asked me if I was a baker.  I really had no idea why.  I had not bid on anything yet; I was nowhere near the baking racks I wanted, so where was this idea coming from?  Finally I asked someone.  His response, "Most woman are bakers!"

AH HA!!! An eye opener!!  No frigin' way! But the more I thought about it (my only reference is the FOOD NETWORK so ignore any assumptions I make past this point); most 'successful' cooks/chefs are men. And the 'successful' women tend to bake.  Whether or not this IS true, it was the tone of his voice that got me. It was like he was saying, "You throw like a girl, or you run like a girl." (Which in any situation this comes up, I make sure I give a reply that says- thanks for noticing that I'm female, and yes, I am very good at what I do!) 

So I embraced his comment and responded, "Actually, I AM a baker.  I'm also a chef.  I'm the chief Saponifier at Handbrewed Soaps."  And that was it, he said, "Oh! Well, good luck today," and walked away.  There was no, "What the hell is a Saponifier?"  The conversation had ended, for whatever reason.  

So, I learned something today.  Not only how to bid, but of the hierarchy within the cooking field. And so, I happily went home with two backing racks.  Now I can cure 600 bars per rack instead of just 150 bars with my wire ones!!