Helping you undersand soap and cosmetic regulations — in plain English.
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Category: History & Trivia
The history of soap and cosmetic making is fascinating. Along with the history, there is so much interesting trivia about all things connected to soap and cosmetic making.
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EO Blends for Soap from 1904
Back around the turn of the (last) century, synthetic fragrances were just making their debut. Soapmaking manuals and books for the time still gave recipes for scent blending based on essential oils. My Manual of Toilet Soap-Making by Dr. C. Deite lists a number of scent blends for what were “traditional” toilet soaps at the […]
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Wool and Soap
I found a reference in The Art of Soap-Making by Alexander Watt (1918) which describes “fulling soaps.” Being unsure of what, exactly, “fulling” really was, I wasn’t sure whether the soap he described would be suitable for washing woolens as well. Turns out not, but I did make some interesting discoveries along the way. And […]
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Manhattan Garbage & Soap
Imagine New York City and the island of Manhattan in the 1840’s. The city was rapidly expanding with an influx of immigrants from all over the world. Industry was expanding with the rise of the Industrial Revolution. The northern portion of the island was still providing the city with dairy products and meat. Sewage disposal […]
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Kitchen Grease Into Hand Soap
It seems that “what goes around, comes around,” even with soap. What was once a distasteful chore of country housewives or the task of garbage entrepreneurs has now become the new eco-friendly activity of chefs. According to a recent article at Food and Wine there’s a new line of soaps made from the byproducts of […]
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The Many Careers of Soapmakers
Of all the soapmakers I know, not one started out young in life saying,”When I grow up, I’m going to be a soapmaker.” While some have said they “always had an interest,” most were in other careers when they discovered (and got hooked on) soapmaking. Pre-soapmaking careers include accountant, journalist, engineer, chemist, housewife, teacher, internet […]
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What We Watch – Television and Soap
It’s interesting how the American public is so fascinated with and influenced by the trials and tribulations of fictitious families. The success of all soap operas (daytime and prime time), as well as shows like LOST, is all about getting people vested in a form of imaginary voyeurism. And it started with … soap! Earlier […]
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Soap Bubble Close-Up
Ever wondered what a soap bubble looks like close up … VERY close up … like 50x magnification? Absolutely, amazingly beautiful! This image is “Soap Bubble in a Petri Dish,” taken at 50x magnification. Photographer: Viktor Sykora Mr. Sykora won Image of Distinction in the 2008 annual Nikon Small World photomicrography competition. And rightly so! […]
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Census Records of Soapmakers
You can find information about soapmaking in the oddest places and by the strangest methods. Recently, I found out about the numbers of soapmakers around the turn of the (last) century while celebrating my birthday! Birthdays in our family are a day when you can do (or not do) whatever you want. In the past […]
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Sunlight Soap – Botswana
Last night I watched the HBO series “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.” If you missed the pilot, it is soon to be released on DVD. It’s very cute, retains the feeling of the original books and actually looks like it was filmed in Botswana. And how does this relate to soap?
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Raise The Bar, Use Handcrafted Soap
That’s what the license plate holder on my truck says now. I just put the new Handcrafted Soap Guild license plate holder on my truck. Required a little cleaning up of things to get the mud off, but I think it looks pretty nice! It’ll be cool to drive around and have it be known […]
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Making Soap (with pictures!)
When I make soap, I break it out into in several stages: Preparation, Melting, Mixing & Molding, Unmolding & Cutting, Trimming, and Packaging. Generally there is a time gap between the different stages—sometimes hours, sometimes days, and even sometimes months. This is just how I do it.
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The Art & Science of Making Soap
Making soap is both a science and an art. For me, it’s the combination of the two that makes the whole thing so fascinating. That, and the joy of having my own custom-made, custom-scented, just-perfect-for-me soap. Add to that the fact that I can share it with other people and make some income while doing […]