Self-sufficiency Soap Making

by Sarah Ade

Our skin is our largest organ. We often think about how the things we put into our body effect us, but how much time do we take to consider how the things we put onto our body effect us?
This timely book is packed full of helpful advice about how to make your own luxurious and beautiful soaps at home, using only the best natural ingredients. Not only are the soaps good for you, they look great and are wonderfully indulgent too.
Sarah Ade begins by listing the natural ingredients available and their properties before describing how to put ingredients together for a specific purpose. She also discusses the benefits of a macrobiotic lifestyle and holistic skin care, and why your body will thank you for it. The recipes range from the fun and frivolous to sensible and serious and the text is packed with home-made skin care ideas.
An essential guide for anyone interested in what they put onto their body as well as what goes inside.

Genres: Crafts, Nonfiction

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 25, 2009

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall there is a lot of useful information and cautions about using the various materials for soap making. I appreciate how the author explains things simply as well as offering troubleshooting. There are lots of recipes with a variety of scents, but that is a negative for me. I had hoped to find a really good base recipe, with no fragrances. There is one that uses a water infusion but I am not confident enough to replace that with plain water. The author says the finished soap has a clean and fresh scent, which may be accurate but as someone with a sensitivity to fragrance, it is not worth the risk.

If you want a detailed manual for soap making and lots of different recipes, you will probably benefit from this book. There are no photos of the soaps though.

[February Four · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful, tons of recipes and good ideas.

[Stephen Huntley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant little book, down to earth, practical, well laid out and informative.

[Jennifer Koch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really informative and was exactly what I was looking for to tell me the different properties and benefits of using different ingredients

[Jessica]

The author provides a thorough description of the saponification process as well as various ingredients used in soap-making. Ade takes the time to describe the properties of the different base oils used as well as essential oils, herbal infusions and dry ingredients (herbs and flowers visually present in soaps). All of Ade's recipes require a combination of coconut oil, palm oil, and olive oil as well as other ingredients.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short read packed with lots of information!

[Terrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple, well explained process for cold-processed soap. Has a good explanation of the properties of various oils and additives.

[Kira · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good ideas and information, however, recipes are not by weight. My batch was lye heavy and couldn't be saved. Be sure to run recipes through a reliable lye calculator if you use them.