Title: The Best Natural Homemade Soaps
Author: Mar Gómez
ISBN: 978-0-7788-0490-1
Published by Robert Rose in fall of 2104
Suggested Retail: $24.95 US
This is now a few years ago, but I once took a course on making your own soap. We used lye and it did not form a nice bar for all of us so I knew there was a learning curve, but loved the idea of making my own and being able to control the ingredients used plus figuring it had to be economical.
The Best of Natural Homemade Soaps showcases a simple way to making soap with only three key ingredients – water, olive oil, and caustic soda (lye). This book starts off with giving you a history lesson on soap making, preparation, ingredients, additives, and uses for different types of soaps. Did you know that ‘suds’ are a modern-day creation in soaps?
Now if you have not worked with lye before, it is caustic so you have to use some safety precautions and wear gloves and goggles when handling. The book will go over handling lye (sodium hydroxide) in more detail. When the lye is combined with fats, it makes fatty acids and glycerin leading to a beautiful hard soap.
The Best of Natural Homemade Soaps provides a wealth of information on soap making with several beautiful color images. I am waiting for some warmer weather to open the windows and start experimenting with this book. 🙂
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book to review. No other compensation was received for this post. The thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.
