The Complete Soapmaker: Tips, Techniques and Recipes for Luxurious Handmade Soaps

I decided to start soap making in an attempt to get a certain somebody to wash his hands. This is the first book I bought on the subject, but I don't see myself needing any more. It makes very mild soap, and it turned out perfectly, but as it turns out we just have very hard water. At the end of the day this book gave me a year's worth of toxin free soap and a fun group activity to do with mother, worth every penny.

I've read a few of the reviews for this book, and I was quite surprised to see unfavorable ones! I love this book! I've been making soap for the past 7 years, so I'm not new to it. I've found this book helpful, and I've adapted my way of preparing my basic soap to this book's way - adding the lye is not any more dangerous then lye is inherently dangerous. Wear rubber gloves, and be careful! Lye is very caustic! I love the hand-milled soap recipes - I've created almost all of the ones in the book. The process of adding herbs, scents, & colors after the soap has cured is much more rewarding than adding these things to the lye/fat mixture (remember, lye is very caustic and will 'eat up' most additives). Hand-milled soap is very luxurious and quite easy to make - very exciting! I have lots of soap books, and this is the one I come back to most often. Try the olive oil castile soap - a nice soap that doesn't require special ingredients; and it's wonderful as a base for the hand-milled soaps, too!

It's cheaper to make soap from The Complete Soapmaker than other books because the ingredients you need (chicken grease, beef lard, olive oil, for example) are readily available and fairly inexpensive. I've been silently appalled at the cost of ingredients for recipes in The Soapmaker's Companion -- you can't find cocoanut oil or palm oil at the grocery store. The ingredients tend toward the exotic and have to be ordered via mail order. I guess I have a pioneer mentality -- I like the idea of using waste grease for something useful. I've been happy with the quality of the soaps I've made from both books, though I tend to favor The Complete Soapmaker because the recipes are more completely saponified. I don't like the slightly greasy feel of superfat soap from Soapmaker's Companion.

From start to finish a very colorful and promising book! Author constantly reminds of safety. Very affordable book. Tells how to make translucent soaps - very detailed!Troubleshooting and adjustment chapter is great! Learned things from this book that I did not learn from other soap books. Author is VERY creative and encourages the reader. Gives many different options for molds,colors, ideas,etc. Wide variety of soap recipes,you pick the one that's best for you! 44 recipes for hand milled soaps. Great detailed chapter on decorating,storing,wrapping and displaying your soaps! Conversion chart short and sweet. Acknowledgments short and sweet also,no addresses for the companies listed. Recommended for the begginner! Top notch!