murgy
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making soaphow can i make soap, and what do i do to change the main ingredient. A recipe for nettle soap would be good, because the area around are garden is flooded with them
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sally_in_wales
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Soap is a chemical reaction between a fat and an alkali. Normally, this means mixing a fat such as lard, olive oil, sunflower oil or whatever, with lye made by adding caustic soda to water (there are other ways, but this is the most usual for home use). You have to get the quantities absolutely exact, as lye is very dangerous to work with- but going slowly and taking care is usually fine.
Once the chemical reaction has taken place to give soap and glycerine, you can add other ingredients, so for nettles you might shred them very small and add them to give a green speckly soap, alternatively, you can make 'nettle tea' and use that instead of water to mix up teh lye, but for nettles I think I would add them as dried and crumbled herb myself.
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murgy
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what could i add that doesnt cost the world to make it smell nice
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sally_in_wales
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do you have any essential oils inthe house? lavender flowers are also nice. Depends a bit on whether you jsut want it as a hand/bath soap or if you want to use it for laundry too, in which case putting 'bits' in is overkill. You can also make a batch plain then grate it later and mix it with herbs to make scented washballs, this is great if you want to use delicate scents like chamomile as they hold much better in soap that has been rebatched this way than if you put them in when its still hot and liquid
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gil
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Do you need to add a perfume ? Soap unscented by anything other than its own ingredients is pretty good as it is.
If you want, though I guess you can get small bottles of essential oils, such as lavender, rosemary or citrus [lemon, orange, or grapefruit] from places like Baldwins the herbalist [they've got a website, just google for them] that are quite cheap to buy, and use a few drops in a batch of soap - no need for anything more fancy or expensive.
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murgy
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i dont have any essentials and it is only for hand/bath soap
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gil
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Got any dried herbs in the kitchen cupboard ?
Rosemary, mint or thyme could be nice to add.
I think nettles smell quite good, if you were going to make nettle soap.
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sally_in_wales
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Why not make the first batch plain, its good to get to grips with how it all works, and then you can get really creative with later batches.
I'm going to keep saying it though, safety, safety, safety, soap making needs a bit of space, time and care, so plan carefully and take your time when you come to do your first batch and I'm sure you will do just fine 
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cab
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I've played with lots of nasty chemicals in my time. Few of them require that you give them more respect than sodium hydroxide, which you use in making soap. Such a simple chemical, but potentially one of the most harmful. So listen to Sally when she talks about safety, it really, really matters.
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murgy
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i am gonna be realy carefull and do it out side. i might ask the skwl if i can borrow some of the saftey equipment. i know how to care to these type of burns because we mixed this at skwl
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sally_in_wales
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just keep a bottle of vinegar open as you work, and if you get lye or raw soap on you, sluice it don fast with vinegar. thats the simplest and most effective first aid. Borrowing goggles and apron or labcoat is an excellent idea though. If you can persuade your mum or someone to join in too, so much the better, things like this are often more fun with two and its simpler to deal with spills if you have a spare pair of hands available.
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murgy
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yeah my mums boyfriend will help
thankyou all for your help
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Chez
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I sometimes do what Sally says about rebatching it, now I've got more confident. If you use things like flower petals, they hold their colour better if you do that, too.
In fact, I may have some dried marigolds hanging round somewhere if you would like me to post you a few? I've also put a handful of porridge oats in sometimes, which is supposed to be good for the skin.
If you want to buy something especially to put in to scent it, I would recommend a few drops of lavender essential oil, when you rebatch. It's good for pretty much everything, reasonably priced and most people like the smell  .
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murgy
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thanks for the offer chez but my mum dont like marigolds unfrtunatly thankyou any way
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Chez
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You're welcome .
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