THE HUNT IS ON!

Holy information! I've been searching the net for how to make homemade soap and, I admit, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. There are a million different recipes and all the ones I've found thus far seem a tad too advanced for me, the novice. I'm even having a hard time finding exactly what tools and supplies I'm going to need.

The few things I know for sure are that I'm going to be making cold-process, all natural vegetable oil soap. Cold-process means I will not be using heat for anything. This came as a nice surprise since I assumed I'd have to use the stove. I should note that my stove and I are not the best of friends (my wonderful husband does all the cooking in our house.) I also know I will not be using tallow or lard as ingredients. I've gathered that tallow and lard were the main ingredients used back in the day but modern studies have shown them to be pore cloggers. That's no good! Plus, I'm not keen on using animal products. Vegetable oils are much more beneficial to the skin and easier to find.

I've also learned that I'm going to have to use sodium hydroxide (lye) in this process. The thought of using a chemical is a bit unnerving because I'm pretty sure I caught something on fire in my high school chemistry class. One good thing is that by the end of the process the lye will be completely dissolved and therefore will not harm the skin. 

BrambleBerry.com came up during my hunt for soap making knowledge. This is a fun, user friendly site that seems to offer many of the ingredients and supplies I'm going to need. Bramble Berry was founded by a woman that calls herself The Soap Queen. I get the sense this chick is going to help me sort a few things out!