Field notes on historical soap
Lye safety, oil properties, the wood-ash tradition, and the arithmetic old recipes never had. New entries as we make them.
Browse by audience
- Beginners
Start here — your first safe batch
New to soap? Begin with lye safety, the gear you actually need, and a foolproof first recipe. Everything here assumes you've never made a bar before.
- Formulators
Formulate with confidence
Dial in superfat, water and oil blends, swap ingredients without guesswork, and read your bar's qualities before you pour. For makers who want the numbers right.
- Heritage
Soap the old way
Wood-ash lye, tallow and lard, and the methods our grandparents used — reconstructed honestly, with the test-batch caution the old books left out.
- Natural living
Palm-free, low-waste, gentle
Make a kinder bar: palm-free oil swaps, zero-waste habits, and gentle recipes for sensitive skin and a lighter footprint.
- Formulators
How to Swap an Oil Without Ruining a Recipe
Out of olive oil? Learn the apothecary way to substitute fats by their properties and recompute the lye so your soap still sets true.
30 July 2026 · 2 min read - Formulators
Sodium Lactate for Harder, Longer-Lasting Bars
A gentle salt of lactic acid that firms cold-process soap, eases unmolding and extends a bar's life. Here are the usage rates, benefits and cautions.
27 July 2026 · 2 min read - Beginners
What Temperature to Mix Lye and Oils
A beginner guide to soaping temperatures: the ranges that suit most recipes, and how warmth shapes trace, gel and the look of your bars.
23 July 2026 · 2 min read - Beginners
Help, My Soap Will Not Harden
Soft, weeping, or stubbornly soft bars? Here are the usual culprits — soft oils, too much water, false trace — and gentle ways to rescue them.
20 July 2026 · 2 min read - Beginners
The Soap-Making Starter Kit (and What You Can Skip)
You need far less than the catalogues suggest. Here's the gear that earns its place for your first cold-process batch, and what can wait.
16 July 2026 · 2 min read - Beginners
Setting Up a Safe Soap-Making Space
How to ready a corner of your home for soap-making: airflow, guarded surfaces, a plan for kids and pets, and a spill kit kept within reach.
13 July 2026 · 3 min read - Formulators
How to Read the Calculator Quality Bars
A friendly guide to hardness, cleansing, conditioning, bubbly and creamy — what each quality bar means and the ranges to aim for.
9 July 2026 · 3 min read - Formulators
Preventing Dreaded Orange Spots and Rancidity
Why soap develops orange spots and goes rancid, and how fresh oils, chelators, and dry storage keep your bars sweet for years.
6 July 2026 · 2 min read - Formulators
The Soap Oil-Properties Cheat Sheet
A quick, honest reference to the soaping oils and butters in your cupboard, and the bar quality each one quietly lends to a batch.
2 July 2026 · 2 min read - Beginners
Is My Soap Safe to Use? The Zap Test and pH, Explained
How to tell whether a freshly made bar is lye-heavy or gentle: the old zap test, what pH really means, and why patience matters.
29 June 2026 · 3 min read - Beginners
Hot Process vs Cold Process: Which Should You Start With?
An honest look at the two classic soap methods, with one clear recommendation for the true beginner standing at the workbench for the first time.
25 June 2026 · 2 min read - Formulators
Gel Phase: Force It or Prevent It?
What gel phase does to a bar's colour, texture and feel, and the simple ways to encourage it or hold it back.
22 June 2026 · 2 min read - Formulators
Fragrance and Essential-Oil Usage Rates
How much scent to add to cold-process soap — safe percentages, acceleration, and flashpoints, explained for the home soapmaker.
18 June 2026 · 2 min read - Beginners
Ten First-Batch Soap Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
The ten errors that trip up nearly every first soap batch, and the simple corrections that turn a worrying pot into a clean, lasting bar.
15 June 2026 · 3 min read - Formulators
Citric Acid, Chelators and Hard Water
Why a pinch of citric acid keeps soap fresh in hard water, and how to add the extra lye it quietly demands.
11 June 2026 · 2 min read - Heritage
Aleppo Soap and the Laurel-Oil Tradition
How olive oil and laurel berry oil came together in one of the oldest soaps still made by hand — and what the old method teaches us today.
8 June 2026 · 2 min read - Natural living
Palm-Free Soap That Actually Lathers
Drop palm carelessly and your bar goes soft or your lather goes flat. Here's the palm-free lather trinity — coconut, castor, and a butter — plus a recipe to start from.
5 June 2026 · 2 min read - Formulators
Superfat, Explained: Why Good Soap Leaves Oil Behind
That '5% superfat' in every recipe is the most useful dial in soap-making. What it means, why you always want some, and how to pick a number.
3 June 2026 · 1 min read - Heritage
How to Make Lye from Wood Ash, the Historical Way
Before caustic soda, soap-makers leached their own lye from hardwood ash. Here's the traditional method — and why it always demands a test batch.
27 May 2026 · 1 min read - Beginners
Is Lye Dangerous? An Honest Soap-Maker's Safety Guide
Yes — lye is caustic and deserves respect, not fear. Here's exactly how to handle sodium and potassium hydroxide so your first batch is a safe one.
20 May 2026 · 1 min read