Dating your soaps is very important so you know when it was made, and will know it’s age and about when would be the best time to begin using that soap. Any cold process soap and each variation of it as well as hot process soap really does need about 3-6 weeks to sit on a shelf to what is known as cure. But even though the soap can be used within days it does get much better and less harsh as it ages.
But it’s more than that. What I failed to do with my first number of batches was to date each batch with the year it was made! You may wonder why the year can be so important. It’s because if you want to go back and look at a particular batch you know not just the month and day it was made but the year as well. This can be important if looking at a soap that might be 2 or 3 year old! As we ring in the New Year I thought it would be a good time to mention this important step.
One other very important step that I do feel that is almost critical is to give each batch that you make it’s own batch number as well as it’s own recipe sheet. This sheet has evolved a lot since my first one, as I decided what info I wanted there and what order to put it in.
Then this is printed off on card stock paper because it’s more sturdy than regular copy paper and I use a three ring hole punch to put it into a binder for future reference. Any notes can be hand written on the sheet that you feel you may need later. I’m on my 4th binder now! And there are times when I do go back to my first and second binder to look something up!
This is what I happen to do myself and how I set it up now. I use the “tables” option to set the lines up to make it look neater and more professional. You can adjust the size and width of the lines as well. This works with both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org. I took two screen shots to show the top portion of the paper and the bottom portion.
click on photo to enlarge
You will notice there isn’t a spot for the batch number. I just hand write that in on the top right corner of the page. Under the scent I also hand write the mold that was used as well as the number of bars that it made. That way I can go back to get that info later if it’s needed.
I also give each and every recipe I formulate a number. That way I can go back and look at the recipe as a whole as well if I need to.
You will notice on the top right portion I write the number of grams of oil used for the recipe, and the lye solution strength on soapmaker 3, on soapcalc you can enter the water as % of oils or use the lye concentration percent. This number has to do with the amount of water that is added to your recipe. If you want to use more or less water depending on your recipe and what your comfortable with. Below that I write the lye discount or superfat. I personally prefer to soap at 7-9 percent rather than the typical 5%. Then again this also depends on the recipe and the oils used. Some oils go rancid faster than others and if your superfat is too high you can set yourself up for DOS. (dreaded orange spots)
Below that stretching across the page I add a table to write down the hardness, cleansing, conditioning, bubbly lather and creamy lather benchmarks that are found on soapcalc. This helps me to get a feel for the soap before it’s even made, but also to compare recipes at a glance after they are made by the feel of them.
Next you can see I leave a space for each ingredient. I type in the percent of each oil used, the oil actually used and the number of grams needed. I don’t type anything in the last column. Instead the numbers are hand written in here when the recipe is made up. That way if the recipe calls for 149 grams of coconut oil, I can add the number that was actually put in. Sometimes we over pour slightly one oil and may compensate by under pouring another.
click photo to enlarge
Now for the bottom half of the page.........
Shown in the purple font I write the amount of liquid the recipe calls for as well as the weight of the lye required.
I prefer to use the 50/50 solution as it saves me time when I make soap, but if you do not use that method then just add in the amount of liquid used and the lye amount. Still keep that bit above in the purple because you will often find you will like to split your liquid rates up. I suggest mixing water with your lye. Use the same amount of water or a little more than the amount of lye required. Then as you see below I had additional water added.
Because I want a one stop page for all recipes I do figure the batch for the grams needed as if the batch did require a vanilla stabilizer added. But if it’s not needed it’s crossed out and the math is already done as you see the number in brackets to the side. I also add sodium lactate to every batch and you do want to consider this number as part of your liquid used. So the match numbers of the sodium lactate, additional water, vanilla stabilizer and the amount of water that was used and was mixed with the lye must equal the number of total liquid used that is between the grids. I hope I wrote that out to be clear enough to understand.
You will notice that I have three amounts listed for the powdered milks that I use. If you change the size of your batch then these numbers will need to be updated. I do that so I can make any of the three with this recipe and have one sheet with the math already done. I cross out the two not used and write in the number I need to use and also how much was actually used. The advantage of using powdered milks is that you can have the total amount of the liquid figured as powdered milk and still use water to mix with your lye. So the amount of powdered milk used is based on the number of the total liquid amount used in the purple as shown.
At the very bottom of the recipe sheet I have the usage rate for each milk written down.
I also like to add other additives into each soap batch. For the most part these don’t change but if they do I would just cross them out or hand written them in at the bottom of the page. Note I don’t have any colorants written down as part of the recipe. This can change batch to batch so I just hand write them in on the bottom of the page as well.
Because I like things to be as accurate as possible for the additives I like to figure them in terms of PPO. Per Pound of Oil. That way I can make a small test batch and if I like it I can go back and figure a larger batch and the additives will always be the same regardless of the mold used. After all we don’t always use even number of pounds for the oils for every recipe and batch or mold! So to figure these numbers for example for my test batch of 300 grams of oil and I want to add 4% PPO of sugar I multiple 300 times 4% to get the number of 12 grams of sugar to add. With the exception of eggs, they make soap more moisturizing so I do figure that up to 1 egg per 300 grams of oil give or take depending on the size of the batch. I don’t use partial eggs in a recipe.
On the back of the recipe sheet I place a sticky label that I printed out. On that 3x4 inch sticky label I type out the ingredient list in proper order using the tables. This make it easier to go back when I need that info to copy it down onto my soap label. Because I don't make any claims about my soap other than it's soap and that makes it so it can be labeled as a soap rather than a cosmetic I don't go into detail about the soap colorant added other than the name of the soap colorant. If you make claims about your soap that it will need to be labeled as a cosmetic. But most of all don't make any medical claims about your soap because that makes it an over the counter drug and you don't want to go there with the FDA.
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