Have you ever made your own soap or purchased homemade soap?

I've made fancy little soaps for gifts.

I haven't tried making liquid or bar soap, but I probably should.

I have made my own laundry detergent for years. It's easy, economical, and much better for the environment.

I'm terribly allergic to almost every commercial laundry soap I've tried. There are a few bar soaps that I can use for bathing, though.

(edited to add recipe:)

Laundry Detergent Recipe

1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated
2 cups washing soda (use only 1 if you have soft water)
1 cup Borax
¼ cup Ultra Dawn dish detergent (optional)

You’ll need a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.

In saucepan over medium heat, melt grated Fels in 4 cups of hot tap water, stirring constantly.

Pour into bucket. Add the other ingredients and 3 gallons of hot tap water.
Stir until mixture is no longer gritty.

Let set overnight. It will gel. (If it looks like snot, you did it right.) Use approximately 1/4 to 1/2 cup per washload.

*notes:

- we do a ton of laundry daily (my husband is a massage therapist.) One batch lasts us 3 or 4 months, so it may last longer in other households.

- I spent $11.36 to make a full year's worth of detergent.

- I bought an extra grating blade for my food processor just for grating soap. I have to wear a mask when I grate the Fels Naptha. But, it is dissolved and distributed so well in the final product that it doesn't aggravate any of my allergies.

If you have any questions, just let me know!

I have done both. Making soap is great fun, and actually a very economical way to have high quality soaps without the nasty ingredients used in commercial soaps. You can play with scent and color, and they make great gifts!

I haven't made any in a while, but definitely have bought several homemade soaps in the last year!

Making your own soap.... Sounds like making your own beer. Some people do it, but, why going through all that trouble when those items are cheap and easily available everywhere? No, I have never made my own soap. I got better things to do.....

Yes, I made homemade soap for awhile.......Laundrey detergent. I got tired of doing that....probably cost less just to buy what I had been buying that was already made. Plus extra work to be making it all the time.

+5

I used to make excellent bathing soap using coconut oil and caustic soda.
I also used to make body talc using purified talc and starch.
Never sold any of it, though.

No.


Something about it that brings to mind concentration camps. It gives me the heebie jeebies and I just can't do it or use them.

No

I only eat homemade soup, made with my own good hands!

yes, and i ended up in the emergency room.

i used an organic soap bar that i purchased from a local lady. my face swelled up and was 3 times the original size! it looked as though i smeared red lipstick randomly all over my face, which looked like a red balloon. my entire face was burning and itchy and very puffy.

apparently, i had severe allergies to a "secret" ingredient the soap maker neglected to list on the package. only after i called her listed number at the doctor's office did she confess she added another ingredient, which happened to be the only one i had allergies to. i had to be given an antibiotic and an injection in my ass and i had to be wheeled out of the hospital. i had to take medicine for about 11 days.

i no longer use organic soaps...

only made glycerin soap but I would love to make the creamy kind

I used to make soap all the time, even made my own lye with wood ashes. It's easier to just buy it lol!! I love goat milk soap or adding honey. Remilling soaps lets you add all sorts of things to it and really specialize what kind of bar you may need.

I made some oatmeal facial soap once.

I always use a body wash that a friend makes for me.

No, but I've seen it being made...it's cool but stinky.

sure! I've been making my own soaps for five years now. and loving every minute of it. nothing like the handmade:)
~Norma's Bath and Body

guys..
handmade soap rules! I've been making soap for five years. and there is nothing like it.. period:)

I buy it.So far,so good.