The Natural Soap Book: Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Soap can be made from fats and oils, sodium hydroxide, and water..." (more)
Key Phrases: soapmaking pan, breath while stirring, oily puddles signal, Soap Essentials Bar, Rosa Mosqueta (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An inspiring exploration of the goodness of chemical- and additive-free soap. 102,000 copies in print.

From the Back Cover

It's fun to make your own natural soaps at home! Susan Miller Cavitch takes the mystery out of soapmaking, sharing her formulas for making high-quality vegetable-based soaps that are good for your skin -- and free of synthetic additives. The Natural Soap Book gives you:
* Clear directions and illustrations to guide you step-by-step through the entire process -- from buying supplies to cutting and trimming the final bars.
* Recipes for old favorites like oatmeal/honey and avocado soaps to Susan's unique recipes for goat milk, borage, and even a tropical shampoo bar.
* Creative wrapping and gift packaging ideas.
* Formulas for exotic specialty scents like Holiday Spice, Sweet Earth, and Southern Summers.
* Profiles and tips from professional soapmakers.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (January 8, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882668889
• ISBN-13: 978-0882668888
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #49,892 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #10 in	Books > Home & Garden > Crafts & Hobbies > Soap Making
  #13 in	Books > Science > Chemistry > Industrial & Technical
  #16 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Beauty & Fashion > Skin Care

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

96 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good, but........, November 24, 1999

By A Customer

I am a beginner soap maker and found this book to be extremely informative. There is a great amount of information regarding the different types of oils and additives you can use. But, being a beginnger, I found the recipes waaay to intimidating and extremely large. I almost got turned off of soap making thinking that I would need a scale to measure lye to tenths of grams! (i.e. lye weight 567 7/10 gm) Also her recipes call for you to make batches of at least 40 bars each, an amount I was not interested in making. There is a lot of good information in this book, but I think that this book is for people extremely serious about soap making.

70 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars some basic misinformation problems with these books, September 14, 1999

By A Customer

People either hate these books by Cavitch or they love them,and there's little room in between. Her book is a very valuableresource for technical info on oils/fats and their properties, and for basic ideas for recipes, however, if you follow all of her instructions you are missing out on some basic facts and better ways of doing things (i.e. you do NOT need to use GSE, just don't superfat your soap so dang much; USE a stick blender, the author probably had a batch trace too quickly and/or seize and thus swore off the stick blender; you do NOT need to use oxides nor are they "natural" colorants, they're metal-based and synthesized in labs; don't swear off the use of tallow or lard, and don't rely on the author's stats on them either; don't mistake her saponification table for potassium hydroxide as being one for sodium hydroxide, this will lead to disaster). You don't need to weigh your water either. These aren't serious procedural snafus, but the author obviously picked them up early in her soapmaking and has not let go of them. You will need GSE if you follow her recipes exactly and don't recalculate the lye, because her recipes produce soap that has enough excessive fat to make it go rancid after some months.

60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very thorough and useful book, January 30, 1999

By A Customer

This is _the_ book to acquire if you are planning to make vegetable oil based soap. There's a lot of information packed in this book. It presents all the elements of soapmaking very systematically, and explains the simple chemistry and logic behind the recipes and techniques. It specializes on the best ways to make vegetable oil soap -- which can differ from animal fat based soap. I'm a beginner. I made my first batch last night and it is happily solidifying in the molds as I write. I would buy this book in addition to whatever other soapmaking books you feel inspired to buy, because it covers just about everything and is a really good reference. It includes a large appendix of suppliers and a reassuring table of what to do when things go wrong. My only complaint is that it doesn't have a good description of what "tracing" looks like -- tracing being the sign that your soap is ready to pour into the molds. But, none of the other books I read did either. It's subtle, and I think it's the sort of thing you learn to recognize after you've made a couple of batches. Note that each of the eight basic recipes makes 40 bars of soap, so be prepared to share with friends!! If the amount of info in this book seems a bit overwhelming, beginners might also want to consider picking up a copy of Ann Bramson's book.