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Scientific Soapmaking: The Chemistry of the Cold Process
Until now, there were just two kinds of books on soapmaking. Books for the commodity soap industry emphasized the economical production of soap by the ton and were written for those with a background in chemistry and chemical engineering. Books for the emerging craft industry emphasized the production of high-quality soap by the pound and were aimed at those familiar with the format of cookbooks. Makers of handcrafted soap often wish they had paid more attention in chemistry class so that the information of the commodity soap books would be accessible to them. Scientific Soapmaking answers that call by bridging the gap between the technical and craft literatures. It explains the chemistry of fats, oils, and soaps, and it teaches sophisticated analytical techniques that can be carried out using equipment and materials familiar to makers of handcrafted soap. Presented in a college textbook format, Scientific Soapmaking guides students and individual soapmakers alike to formulate questions about soap and design experiments to answer those questions scientifically.
- GenresScience
431 pages, Paperback
First published March 16, 2010
28 people are currently reading
332 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 18, 2014
Scientific Soapmaking is to soapmaking as Sun Tzu's Art of War is to war.
February 3, 2011
Goes into great detail of the chemistry behind making soap yourself safely and with knowledge of why it does (or doesn't) do what it does.
A chemistry instructor first, Kevin Dunn covers everything right from the beginning, such as how to measure amounts in two scientific methods, synthetically & analytically, the importance of knowing what is in as well as why you should have an MSDS for everything you use in soapmaking, more specifically the caustic materials, but even the less likely suspects like table salt.
This is a teacher, after all, so there are problems to solve within the pages of this nifty, well written instruction manual. Of course, there's no pop quiz at the end, so you aren't pressured to do the problems, but they do help you to fully understand what you've just read.
I love this handy reference quality book for the information it imparts that most of use never would have known unless we, too, were chemistry teachers. What are the odds of that among the vast numbers of us out there who just love to read being chemistry teachers or professors? But it's a great book of the mystery behind the when, why and how of making our own soap at home exactly the way we want it.
A chemistry instructor first, Kevin Dunn covers everything right from the beginning, such as how to measure amounts in two scientific methods, synthetically & analytically, the importance of knowing what is in as well as why you should have an MSDS for everything you use in soapmaking, more specifically the caustic materials, but even the less likely suspects like table salt.
This is a teacher, after all, so there are problems to solve within the pages of this nifty, well written instruction manual. Of course, there's no pop quiz at the end, so you aren't pressured to do the problems, but they do help you to fully understand what you've just read.
I love this handy reference quality book for the information it imparts that most of use never would have known unless we, too, were chemistry teachers. What are the odds of that among the vast numbers of us out there who just love to read being chemistry teachers or professors? But it's a great book of the mystery behind the when, why and how of making our own soap at home exactly the way we want it.
May 12, 2025
Kitap sabun yapımı için hazırlık ve test süreçlerini oldukça bilimsel metodolojiler ile neden ve niçinleriyle çok güzel açıklamış. Sabun yapımına yeni başlayacaklar için süreci anlamak adına harika bir rehber…
November 24, 2022
My rating here is quite subjective, and by all accounts it’s reasonable to give this book 4 or even 5 stars. However, I felt this book wanted to teach the general soap-making public about the science behind what they were doing, and add method to the madness, but instead ended up being a highschool/bachelor textbook on soap. I therefore think it failed to adapt to the audience it wanted.
As a beginner textbook, it’s great. There’s homework assignments, detailed explanations about everything, and very accessible explanations of sometimes hard concepts. As a scientific guide to what is happening during soap making, it is also really helpful; most soap makers know almost nothing about what is going on except what was verbally passed on from non-chemist to non-chemist. Furthermore, this book resolved a lot of open questions on what are the best ways to solve common problems. I only wish there was more about “debunking” or addressing all the supposedly beneficial properties of different oils and additives that people claim when making fancier soaps. This book just addresses basic soap.
However, 50% of this book I just skimmed. It went into way to much detail about chemistry, which I didn’t find helpful in practice for making soap. I recognize that many people would have gotten this book exactly for that and I don’t think there’s anything better on the market. In a similar vain, a lot of the suggested tests and at home experiments were more for the joy of chemistry in general than strictly soap making. It also gave me false-cheer school vibes which I didn’t appreciate.
The only reason I’m so critical is because in cooking/eating there are some absolutely amazing books explaining the science to the general audience, in such a way that they can improve their cooking/dieting on their own. Unfortunately soap making is several orders of magnitude less popular, so there isn’t the same market competition driving better and better Science communication. This book deserves credit for even existing.
As a beginner textbook, it’s great. There’s homework assignments, detailed explanations about everything, and very accessible explanations of sometimes hard concepts. As a scientific guide to what is happening during soap making, it is also really helpful; most soap makers know almost nothing about what is going on except what was verbally passed on from non-chemist to non-chemist. Furthermore, this book resolved a lot of open questions on what are the best ways to solve common problems. I only wish there was more about “debunking” or addressing all the supposedly beneficial properties of different oils and additives that people claim when making fancier soaps. This book just addresses basic soap.
However, 50% of this book I just skimmed. It went into way to much detail about chemistry, which I didn’t find helpful in practice for making soap. I recognize that many people would have gotten this book exactly for that and I don’t think there’s anything better on the market. In a similar vain, a lot of the suggested tests and at home experiments were more for the joy of chemistry in general than strictly soap making. It also gave me false-cheer school vibes which I didn’t appreciate.
The only reason I’m so critical is because in cooking/eating there are some absolutely amazing books explaining the science to the general audience, in such a way that they can improve their cooking/dieting on their own. Unfortunately soap making is several orders of magnitude less popular, so there isn’t the same market competition driving better and better Science communication. This book deserves credit for even existing.
January 15, 2018
A must read for hobbyists interested in understanding their craft.
March 12, 2018
every soapmaker should read this.
September 2, 2021
Very good
July 6, 2015
This is an awesome read!!! For anyone looking at making soap for home or business will greatly benefit from this bookl.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews