I have been making soap using a pre-made base for quite some time now, but what I really wanted was to make my own soap from scratch.
The soap making process involves a chemical reaction between oils and sodium hydroxide (lye). It is important to have accurate measurements of the oils and lye in order to make sure that all of the lye is fully saponified, since lye is caustic.
Since an accurate digital scale can cost upwards of $50, I figured that soap-making would have to wait.
Then I starting getting ad revenue from my blog, She’s Right, so I used some of it to buy a scale.
All of the soap-making books and websites I have read say that you can buy lye in the grocery store. As it turns out, since lye is used to manufacture the street drug meth, there are now lots of regulations on it and many stores no longer carry it. Not the grocery store. Not The Home Depot. Not Lowes. Not Wal-Mart. (At least around here.)
So, I ordered some online from a website called Summer Bee Meadow – and got scammed! They took my money, but did not send my lye and coconut oil.**
Then yesterday, I found 100% lye drain opener on the ACE Hardware website. I called a local store and they had it! I went and picked up a 16 oz. can of it today for under $4. That is enough to make 7 1-pound batches! Yea!
I cannot wait to get started!
** I filed a complaint with PayPal and I received a refund. Steve from Summer Bee Meadow claims that I was not scammed. His explanation is in the comments section of this post, along with my response. I’ll let you decide.
Congratulations! It’s addicting.
Might I recommend making a 4-pound batch to start? A batch that is larger than 1 pound will give you some room with the lye. A 1-pound batch requires extremely close measuring with the lye. Just a thought.
Amy
So “from scratch” doesn’t mean leeching the lye from the ashes like “the good old days?” I don’t know what my fascination is with that, and I doubt I ever actually try it, but I can’t imagine making my year’s supply of soap that way.
Dana: I read about how to do that on About.com’s soap-making site. Definitely fascinating!
Amy: Thanks for the tip. I’ll have to think about that.
You wrote:
“So, I ordered some online from a website called Summer Bee Meadow – and got scammed! They took my money, but did not send my lye and
coconut oil.”
I beg your pardon, but you were not “scammed”!
As we explained to you (our message to you is copied below), Summer Bee Meadow was inundated with hundreds and hundreds of unanticipated orderds from automotive interest group members (“hydroxy” – making “fuel out of water” folks!). In fact, we’ve received over a THOUSAND orders from these people, none of them from our usual soapmaers customer base. The result was that our business was virtually paralyzed by this inundation and orders were delayed. We explained this to you when we refunded your order to you upon request.
This is hardly “scamming”!
Kindly remove this libelous statement from your webpage.
Copy:
From Seller – SBM Websales
8/6/2008 22:06 EDT
Kindly note that we’ve experienced a relatively sudden over-ten-fold increase in orders for hydroxide chemicals from “hydroxy” group members.
This has caused serious disruption to our ten years’ long-standing business and extra delays for our usual customers as well as for our many new customers outside of our normal customer base.
This increase is entirely due to orders from the Hydroxy interest groups.
With respect to the PayPal dispute you have filed, we have elected to have your package returned from our shipping agent and have canceled and refunded your order.
(A Refund was issued)
Well, I call BS, Steve.
1. You require any order of lye to include an order of another soap making ingredient. So, you expect me to believe that a THOUSAND people ordered soaping supplies, just to order lye from you? Doubtful.
2. You did not respond to any correspondence from me UNTIL I filed a complaint with PayPal.
3. I asked for my shipment OR a refund. You expect me to believe that you actually recalled my shipment from the shipping agent and issued a refund instead of just letting me get the items I ordered? Again, doubtful.
4. Your internet reputation is very poor, including, but not limited to, issuing a fake shipping number to a customer whose order you never shipped.
My only regret is that I did not do my research before I placed the order – a lesson I will not have to learn twice!
I will not remove anything from my post. I will, however, add that I did get a refund (after I filed a complaint with PayPal) and let your comment remain here in your defense.
At the time I wrote this, I had not received my order and you did not respond to my numerous messages, nor did you answer your phone. After doing an internet search and finding numerous similar stories, I considered myself scammed. I am not convinced that I would have ever received my order, had I not filed a complaint with PayPal.
If you care about your internet reputation, I suggest you make it more clear that you do not ship the products in a timely manner.