If you are looking for an solid foundation of information for the cold-process method of soapmaking, get this book and its companion, "The Soapmaker's Companion" by the same author. This book provides a great deal of information to making cold-process (mostly vegetable-based) soaps. Some of the material is a little heavy (the parts on the chemistry of soapmaking) but is very important information if you want to learn to be creative and create your own recipes. The recipes are quite large, as some other reviewers commented, and the great thing about the companion book is the smaller recipes. You will not be able to find most of these ingredients at your local supermarket (e.g. pomace olive oil and palm oil). The recipes call for the real ingredients used in the industry that you will have to find but with the popularity of the Internet, finding these ingredients is much easier than it used to be. This book may not be a one-stop-shop for information, but this book and the Companion come VERY close!
I really enjoy the straight forward writing style of Ms. Cavitch. She speaks to you like you're having a conversation with a good friend.
In the Introduction she gives some basic chemistry of soap lessons which are very easy for the non chemist to understand. Then she goes on to explain different types of soap, different fats and oils what when you might want to use each. All through the beginning are charming, little stories about real soap makers and their businesses. What a nice touch.
This seems to be a very well thought out book with just oodles of information on just about every aspect of making soap. She's even included a small section on blending essential oils and give some suggested blending for certain scents.
The coloring section isn't as lengthy as I think it could be, but it is a good start for the beginner, especially for those who want to start using herbs for coloring soaps.
I can't say I agree with Ms. Cavitch on her temperatures explanation. But that does seem to be more of a preference thing. She feels that vegetable soaps made over 95 degrees F are problematic, but I have never found that to be the case. Actually... I have found the opposite to be true.
Weighing your essential oils in advance as she suggests you do in Step 1, is going to give you a problem unless you tightly seal it. I learned right away that they will evaporate into the air. What you weighed out before you started stirring will be partly gone by the time you use it! She does however, later in another section, mention that you should tightly seal the container.
A picture, an actual photograph, of what 'trace' means would be nice. Would it kill these authors to say something like, "thick like pudding"? No one can ever figure out what is meant by the word trace. Newbees sort of freak out about it, and I can understand that.
There is one thing that I really don't like about her recipes. That is, some of the items are in pounds and some of the items are in grams. Unless you're good at converting or your scale does both, you're going to have a problem. It would have been much nicer had she offered all items in both grams and ounces and then you could use what you use. I can see why she's doing it. Grams offer much better accuracy with those items like lye and grapefruit seed extract. But many who aren't interested in doing conversions, won't use the recipes. :(
Cavitch is working with that old, bothersome method of matching your lye solution temp with your oil temp at about 80 degrees F. I don't recommend this method as it causing a soap separation many times when the temp drops and saponification slows to a crawl. But a good many people still use this method.
Her suggestions that a mostly olive oil soap can trace in about 7 minutes I don't agree with at all. I have hand stirred more like 3 hours for mostly olive soap. I wouldn't want anyone to think that they can actually accomplish this and not have under stirred soap. Pomace (a lower grade of olive) will trace quickly, but I don't think that can be done in less than 1/2 hour with hand stirring.
I guess the really big problem people have with Susan Cavitch is her method of figuring lye. What she does works, however, soap makers don't 'discount' lye, they add more fats/oils. It is quite confusing if you talk to someone who figures things with her discount method. It is just one of those annoying things. Some say the glass is half full, others half empty. Well, for Cavitch alone, the glass is half empty.
There are many recipes in this book and also a section on things you can add to the recipes and how to add them, such as herbs, superfat oils, etc., to make some varied soaps. There is a chapter on suggestions on wrapping soaps decoratively which is fun too.
All in all, I think this is a high quality book. I think the actual method of making soap is outdated now, but aren't they all? We have finally gone beyond the Ann Bramson book, but the authors have not caught up yet.
I have my little pet peeves about the book, but I think everyone should have a copy. All that chemistry is good to have so that you can talk to Dr. Bob later and actually understand him! :) . . .
Buy The Natural Soap Book: Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps Now
I have been making soap for about 3 years and I have had a lot of botched batches of soap along the way. Most of my mistakes were by following the advice of "experts" who have written books about how to make soap. At the beginning I bought Susuan Miller Cavitch's book on how to make Natural Soap and Herbal Soaps and I tried to follow her advice. I couldn't figure out how to calculate the lye. You have to be a "rocket scientist" to figure it out if you try to do it her way. I followed her advice on putting wax paper in the bottom of my box and the wax paper turned to mush and I couldn't get the soap out without mashing it all up. I started out by making huge batches of soap like she said and I found that when a batch of soap doesn't turn out you have wasted huge amounts of time, effort and money. And what do you do with all that soap unless you are in the business of selling soap? And what beginner is? I think l-2 pound batches are much better. You can experiment and learn your craft and not have huge amounts of money lost if it fails. She has no recipes for small batches. Also I think 80 degrees is way too low for the fat temperature. I have found that ll0 degrees works out for me every time. Soap making is really easy, not nearly as scarey as she makes it look. I did like the sources at the end of the book and have found some really good suppliers from it. All in all, I think her book is interesting to read, but just don't take it too seriously if you are a beginner. If you have been making soap for a while, then pick it up and read it.
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The only problem I have with this book is the sheer quantity of soap each recipe makes. I have never made 40 bars of soap at one time and cannot imagine ever doing so. I'm not sure what I would do with 40 bars of soap. It's more fun for me to make several small batches of soap for variety. It would have been more helpful had Cavitch included information on making half batches as well.
The author uses no animal products in her soap, which may be a plus for some, but I find lard and tallow to make nice soaps for much less money. Of course, this is a matter of preference to the soap maker.
Frankly, I wish I had bought another soap making book.
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This long overdue book is a great credit to this subject! Co-authors Kavasch & Baar have delved deeply into this vast therapeutic subject with sensitivities and real passion for this work! This book will change the way people think about Native American healing traditions! Plus, a portion of the author's royalties flow back into Indian education at many levels of benefit.
