redskies wrote:Aye, I haven't bought soap, shampoo or toiletries for three years now, and I trade my soap on a regular basis.
A basic shampoo is really, really simple. Find traditional soap - that's the stuff with the glycerin still in it. Grate it. You'll need something to make a base liquid with. I use a combination of calendula and rosemary. You can use almost anything. If you have scalp problems, you might want to consider chickweed - very soothing for the skin. Put the herb(s) into a jug, and cover with just off the boil water. Never use boiling water. Leave them to steep for about twenty minutes. That bit is a decoction. Strain - I use coffee filters over a jug for that bit. Or you can put a coffee filter into a funnel if you have one. Put the soap gratings into a slow cooker (crock pot), and pour in just enough of your decoction to cover them. Put the lid on, turn the heat to slow and just leave it be for a couple of hours. You'll have to fiddle a bit with the liquid addition - I always use my own soap, so I know how that works. Commercial soap will be different. Just check it every hour or so, you'll see when it's ready. As you turn the heat off, you can add a little extra oil - grapeseed is good, just a tablespoon or so. And once the heat is off, just leave it in the pot. Mine stays in there until it's all been decanted into the bottle in the bathroom, then I make more.
I know I'm not the only one that makes soap - I think Lil does too? - and I'm always happy to share that knowledge. I can do both hot and cold process, and whilst you need to be careful with the caustic soda, it's very simple.
That's a very interesting recipe - need to try it. Is that shampoo still runny after you've mixed it up with the base soap?
I started cold process soap making in December last year after one of the girls on here showed me a good book about it. I've made over 260 soaps as xmas presents and most of them came up really well (just the egg soap didn't - the yolk went bad for some reason). I really enjoyed it and now I only make my own soap. Next task is shampoo
