Patience!

I am the most impatient person ever and want everything yesterday!

Why is it so important?

When it comes to making soap, unfortunately patience is one of the most important ingredients.

With that in mind, today I’ll be sharing some tips where patience is key:

• Give your lye and oils time to cool – You need to be patient and wait for your oils and lye to cool. Cooling to the correct temperature before mixing. I know this because countless times I have gone full steam ahead and mixed too quickly. It ended up getting a thick trace and having to make “rustic” looking soaps. Or even worse, they have seized altogether from the heat (that was a nasty one!).
• Hand mix your fragrances – Especially if it’s the first time using a mix of essential oils or a fragrance oil. So many times I have added my fragrance to then have the whole lot seize. Adding it in bit by bit and hand mixing is the key to finding out how a fragrance oil reacts in your soap mixture. Most websites will give you an indication of what it’s like but that doesn’t compare to the reality of the situation.
• Have patience when the soap is setting and curing – There is no point in packaging your soaps when the water still needs to evaporate. Sometimes you can’t tell until you cut into a bar. Seeing an uncured middle, most people would stand back and say “Nah I’ll let it sit for another day”. Not me, I say “oooooohh pretty, what about the next slice, and the next, oh look I’m done”.
• Don’t reveal your soap until it’s ready – Most annoyingly, you need to be patient. Try not to rave on about a wonderful new soap to everyone too soon. You will have to wait until you can actually sell or give them away. I found this out the hard way when I made a soap I called Gin & Tonic and Cucumber please. It was made with a friend in mind, who as you can probably tell, loves G&T’s. They all wanted to see or buy one. That was brilliant, just what I was hopping for. But foolishly, I had to keep them waiting until the soap had cured. Kind of an anti-climax in the end.

Let me know what you think

Are you like me? Just want to tell the world about you soap before it’s ready? Comment below with your stories, I’d love to hear some!