Melinda Coss - Handmade Soap Book: Easy Soapmaking with Natural Ingredients

For my soaplist buddies:
May all their bubbles be bountiful.

Published 2016IMM Lifestyle Books
www.IMMLifestyleBooks.com

IMM Lifestyle Books are distributed in the UK by Grantham Book Service.

In North America, IMM Lifestyle Books are distributed by
Fox Chapel Publishing
1970 Broad Street
East Petersburg, PA 17520
www.FoxChapelPublishing.com

1998, 2016 text: Melinda Coss and IMM Lifestyle Books
1998, 2016 photographs: IMM Lifestyle Books
1998, 2016 IMM Lifestyle Books

Produced under license.

Handmade Soap Book, Updated Second Edition (2016) is a revised edition of The Handmade Soap Book (1998), originally published by New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.

The formulations in this book are copyrighted and may not be made for re-sale.

eISBN 978 1 6076 5201 4

Printed in China
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the following people for their valuable contributions to this book: Yvonne McFarlane for faith and hope (no charity required), Coral Walker for stylish overseeing of the whole shebang, Jane Struthers for creative nitpicking, Emma Peios for her stunning photos, Jack Buchan for a great book design, Elaine White for her saponification table, Elaya Tsosie for her hair care information, House of Crafts for supplying moulds and glycerine soap, Verdant for colouring liquid, moulds and glycerine soap, Lush for their Floating Bath Soak recipe, and all my friends and neighbours for guinea pig services.

A Note about Measurements
To allow simple use of metric or imperial measurements the recipe quantities have not been directly converted. They have been calculated to give you 1kg soap when working in metric and 2lbs of soap when working in imperial, so work in either one or the other, do not mix the two.

It has been seventeen years since I wrote the first edition of this book and I could never have imagined then the impact it would have on my own life or on the lives of the many soapers throughout the world who continue to tell me of the inspiration they gained from it. Soaping has come a long way since then, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to now revise the recipes and incorporate the new knowledge I have gained in the many years I have been soaping.

I, like many others, started soapmaking in my kitchen, but just one year after the publication of this book, I found myself running a workshop employing 25 people and supplying soap to prestigious stores throughout the world. I sold my business in 2000 and semi-retired to my lovely home in southwest France.

I have been privileged to lecture in the United States and have used my skill to set up social enterprises in three African countries. These days, I continue my work teaching soapmaking around the world and helping others to build their own businesses and brands. If you would like to find out more, please check out my website at www.makesoap.biz or join the Makesoap page on Facebook.

For the uninitiated, this book contains all the original recipes and processes from the first edition, but they have been reformulated to allow imperial users to make 2lb batches and metric users to make 1kg batches. All the formulas now have 3 per cent free oil to ensure they are super mild. Unfortunately, the strict rules that govern cosmetic legislation mean that you cannot sell these soaps, but I hope they will still bring pleasure to you, your family and your friends. For those who get hooked and wish to start soap businesses, much information on the legislation in your country is available via the internet. I also cover some of the business aspects in my more recent book, Natural Soap.

WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOAPMAKINGENJOY!

Marketing directors worldwide will tell you that in order to sell a new product, people must be convinced that:

It will enhance their sex drive.

It will lengthen their lives.

They will be socially unacceptable without it.

And so it came to pass that some biblical whizzkid spotted a gap in the market and proclaimed Cleanliness is next to godliness, sending people the world over in search of purifying and cleansing agents (see Jeremiah 2:22 and Malachi 3:2) with which to improve their lot.

In those early days, tree bark and herbs such as soapwort were used to enhance ablutions, but in the 8th century, the Italians and the Spanish set about creating what we now call soap from goat fat and beech tree ash. The French (a stylish bunch of people) introduced the concept of replacing the animal fator tallowwith olive oil, while the pioneers of America traditionally treated soapmaking as a homecraft, creating sodium hydroxide (caustic soda/lye) by leaving rainwater to drip through a perforated barrel filled with hardwood ash. The resulting solution was then boiled until it was concentrated enough for a fresh egg (still in its shell) to float on the surface without sinking. Fat was rendered from whichever animals happened to be around at the time and grandma-style soap was created, although rough skin and holey socks were often unwelcome by-products of this rather caustic brew.

In England, in the early 17th century, the soap industry was developing at a rapid pace and King James I (a man very supportive of small businesses) granted soapmakers special privileges. By 1791, the French were ahead again with the discovery, by the chemist Nicolas Leblanc, of a process that extracted soda from ordinary salt. By this time the findings of Louis Pasteur had also firmly established that personal cleanliness reduced the spread of disease and the hygienic movement was born.

Andrew Pears was one of the first people to define the need for soap as a cosmetic aid. The son of a Cornish farmer, he trained as a hairdresser and then established himself in his own salon in Londons Soho where he also manufactured and sold rouges and other cosmetics. He set about refining the existing harsh base soaps and eventually produced a transparent soap perfumed with the flowers of an English garden. In 1835 Andrew brought his grandson, Francis Pears, into the business. Francis became his partner, a relationship which continued until 1838 when Andrew retired.

Some years later, Franciss son-in-law, Thomas J Barratt, joined the company as a partner and brought with him the flair and marketing skills required to turn Pears Soap into a worldwide commodity.