1) Such a good informational site that I have to list it twice.  http://www.ziggurat.org/soap/

2) Be sure to scroll all the way down to find the good links, including the history of soap making. Her lye calculator is more lye heavy than the one at Mountain Sage, not necesarily a bad thing, but just be aware they are different: http://hometown.aol.com/oelaineo/history.html

Fun Soap Sites for inspiration

1)  http://uncommonscents.com/

2)  tp://www.soapstuds.com/soap.htm

Ingredients & Where To Find Them
Though we are limited in the ingredients we can use, there is still a large selection. Many existing recipes you find on-line or in books can easily be adapted to include only these ingredients, and hence be sal-free. This list of sal-free ingredients comes directly from the sal-lists and is only a list of POTENTIAL ingredients. Most likely you will use only a few of them.  Don't purchase anything until you have recipes and know what you want to make!

Where To Find Them
ALL ingredients can be found at soap making supply companies. See web addresses for a variety of such companies. However, many can be found cheaper locally, such as in your local grocery store distilled water, soy (Sal-Neg^TM) oil, tallow (beef fat), lard, rice bran oil, wheatgerm (Low-Sal^TM) oil, petroleum jelly.

Pharmacies, health food stores or raw materials suppliers citric acid, rice bran oil, wheatgerm (*Low-sal) oil, shea butter, cocoa butter (sometimes), mineral oil, liquid paraffin, lanolin, Vitamins including panthenol.

Beeswax try your local craft stores in the candle section and be sure to get the non-colored variety. Both white or natural colored are fine. I have also found cheap beeswax at specialty honey stores, though in New Zealand and Europe. In the US beeswax in small blocks is available in health food stores and co-ops, and online at raw materials suppliers. 

Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) You can buy this in bulk for cheaper than buying capsules and emptying them.

Panthenol (B5) is found in health food stores often, usually in little clear glass jars. It is a clear sticky gel. 

Cocoa butter bakery supply stores, candy makers.

Stearic acid candle suppliers 

Fragrances; Essential oils are out for us. However, there is a huge selection of Fragrance oils (FO's) available from the soap making supply companies. Essential Oils are plant extractions and sal-full, but Fragrance Oils are combinations of largely synthetic chemicals and sometimes a few plants materials. These are just like fragrances in regular products and will not block. They may contain a small amount of sals, but are used in small enough quantities not to block. I personally stay away from mint, root beer (sweet birch) and citrus smells just to be extra safe, however and it wouldn't be a bad idea to find out from your supplier if the FO you are interested in contains a large proportion of plant materials. Artificial vanilla or vanillin is a great scent/flavor and is cheap and available everywhere, and I am sure you can find some others. Have some fun! (I just read a news story about a recently developed vanilla scented patch that is supposed to reduce chocolate cravings. One whiff and your cravings are gone.

Perhaps using some yummy scents can help with the HG diet!) I will warn you the selection of fragrances is overwhelming and can quickly get expensive with fragrances you 'have to have'!!

Note that Fragrance Oils (FO's) should not be used for flavouring, no matter HOW tasty they smell! They can contain some serious chemicals. Lip balm flavours can be purchased, and these follow the general sal rulings on flavours. You may have to ask the suppliers details about individual flavours and only use some for gifts, but I think cocoa butter and beeswax smell and taste great as is. Specialty shops may have FO's, but be aware that those made for potpourri, etc. are not approved for cosmetic use.

Cosmetic fragrances also tend to smell much better and purer. If you venture into making soap from scratch, there are some FO's that are better than others. Some will disappear or cause your soap to seize. I will discuss that in more detail in the soap making section.

Containers; I really find that packaging matters. I feel far more luxurious using something that comes out of an elegant container. I have even moved all my commercial products into matching nice containers, and it just FEELS nicer. There is a big variety of containers, including lip balm tubes available from on-line soap making suppliers and often at health food stores. If you want to feel pampered or that you are using something special, even though you made it yourself, it is worth a bit of investment.

And, of course you will reuse your containers. It can turn some of your efforts into great gifts too!

Tools
The tools for making your own products are very basic. For measuring your ingredients, a set of measuring spoons, dry measure cups, eye dropper, and if you can get one, a small postal scale is great. It will measure small amounts very accurately. You can get them at discounters like Costco now for around $15-20. A good scale is critical if making soap from  scratch.

For mixing I am partial to my stick blender. It is one of those 'milkshake' blenders that you stand upright in a bowl or pot. I wouldn't make soap without it and it makes blending lotions a breeze. Bridget suggests a little Cuisinart style food processor for blending. She uses one for everything that requires mixing. (Though it is not recommended for soap.) It's cheap, they're around $20 now, and it's enclosed, so no mess, and blends at high speed. Things emulsify much better than they used to! It's just a little bit of a mess cleaning it up. She wipes it out with a paper towel(s) first to cut down on the mess in the sink.

Making Lip Balms & Massage Butters

Variations

Basic Lip Balm

Massage Butter
This is the simplest of creams to make since there is no water, no emulsifying, and no preservatives. The Vit E will help slow the oxidation of any vegetable oils, but store this in the fridge. It is wonderful for massage, though pretty greasy for hands except at night. I prefer a mixture of the same ingredients, but more beeswax for a great bedtime cream for hands and feet. It leaves my skin feeling silky in the morning and is great for lips as well.

2.5 oz soy (Sal-Neg^TM) oil, 2 Vit E capsules, 1/4 oz cocoa butter, 1/4 oz beeswax. 

Melt together and pour into sterile containers as per general instructions.

Remember cautions. Measuring does not have to be terribly accurate, so just do your best if you do not have a scale. Refrigerate.

Variations:

1) Other liquid oils: mineral (with mineral oil/paraffin you don't need to be as concerned about refrigeration).

2) Add some fragrance, though I like the soft scent of the cocoa butter and beeswax.

4) Increase the beeswax (double) to get a thicker wax-like cream, ideal for really rough 'after-working' hands or feet before bed. It will not disappear into the skin, but by morning your hands and feet will be soft and silky.

5) This is fine without the cocoa butter if you don't have any on hand. Just increase the beeswax.

Lotions & Creams
Just like lip balms, there is a general formula for making lotions and creams. The instructions at the Mountain Sage website (www.the-sage.com) are just great, including general instructions for creating your own recipes. My version here is much simpler, but works fine for me. 

Note that the MS lotions contain chemicals in the form of Germaben II, a preservative. This is the general type of preservative normally used in products for sale commercially, including those claiming to be natural. It is very effective. Just be aware that some people prefer not to use such preservatives when making products for themselves. In particular, many people are sensitive to the urea component of Germaben II. Germaben II can be replaced with parabens (other chemical preservatives) or instead, use other less effective preservatives, keep the products for a very short time and refrigerate. (I am not recommending any particular approach, just making you aware of the issues should you wish to investigate further.) For those of us currently using commercial products, even with Germaben II there will still be less exposure to toxic ingredients in our homemade creams and lotions than in most commercial alternatives. Also, remember that by making your own lotions, you have control over how much or little preservative you want to add. (I can't resist adding that since we are not using alot of whole plant ingredients, our need for preservatives is less than many commercial 'natural' products.) There is a large range recommended by MS for the use of Germaben II. Since I know that my lotions will be used cleanly (squeezed rather than scooped from a container), are made with sterile equipement, and will not be kept for very long (I make small batches), I choose the lower part of this range. Refrigeration would decrease the need for preservative even more. You can choose a place in the range for yourself based on  your expected use of the lotion. Most commercial products contain enough preservative to last through 2 years of regular use. 

Note that Tina at MS has specific instructions for the use of Germaben II which must be followed carefully, and of course MS and other soap making companies sell it as well as the parabens. As always, carefully follow all safety instructions!

Always!! There are too many sad stories that start with, "Just this once I won't...." By the way, for measuring and dispensing the Germaben II or other chemicals, I use a dedicated dropper, keeping it in a tightly sealed ziplock bag between uses.

Basic Ingredients
Lotions and creams are a blend of oils and water. The water moisturizes the skin and the oil provides a moisture barrier. See the MS website for a more thorough discussion.

Water: Distilled water is always the best option and can be purchased at your local pharmacy or grocery store. 

Oils: Oils can be anything sal-free, liquid or solid, and have been discussed in other posts. Note that oils/waxes which are liquid at room temperature will disappear into the skin more readily than those which are solid or waxy. Most sal-full oils you see in recipes elsewhere can be substituted with sal-free ones, just be aware of the different consistencies of oils so that if you substitute with an oils with different characteristics, you will get a different result.

Emulsifier: The last necessary ingredient in lotions/creams is an emulsifier; something that can stick the water and oils together to create a stable mixture. The most common ones are borax, beeswax, and emulsifying wax.

Other: Other common ingredients include glycerin which will draw water to the skin and is a lovely ingredient for lotions, citric acid which can help preserve and lower the pH, stearic acid which thickens, and fragrances.

Again, I refer you to the MS website for a thorough discussion of each.

Remember that you can add any sal-free vitamins to make your own lotion with Vit E, C or A.

Process: There are several potential ways of making lotions/creams.

First, clean and sterilize all your equipment...everything that will touch the lotion/cream. This is very important even though it sometimes takes as long as to make the product itself. You will never reproduce the sterile conditions under which commercial products are made, but do your best. The preservatives will do the rest.

Second, measure the ingredients. Get this as accurate as you can, but there is some leeway for error or variation within which your lotion/cream will still work. Again, you have to decide on your style of lotion/cream making.

I happen to be a little-of-this-and-a-lot-of-that cook and am happy to get something a little different each time. Most on-line recipes will list measurements by weight, which is most accurate and give you the  most reproducable results. Get it as close as you can, but the dire cautions for weighing exactly pertain mostly to soap. It may be a bit difficult for some of the lower proportion ingredients however. For instance, I add my Germaben II with a dropper, sustituting a volume measurement for a weight one and 'hope for the best.' This would not be appropriate if I were making my lotion for anyone but myself. I like my fragrances very subtle so add them a drop at a time. Some are much more powerful than others so you have to be careful to not get it too strong.

1) One can heat up the oils (carefully over a double boiler) and the other ingredients separately, and then add the other ingreds to the oils while stirring, whisking or blending until it emulisifies. Emulsification is the blending of the oils and water into a stable 'cream.' Just like making hollandaise sauce, only easier.

2) Alternatively (my personal method), you can just throw all the ingreds together and heat them up (carefully with all the cautions mentioned in the lip balm post). When the solid ingreds are melted give it a few bursts with a *stick blender (see below) or other blender. Let it cool and every so often give it another shot. Be aware that you may get a bit of splattering from the blender, so be careful. This method also can work without a stick blender, but will require more vigorous stirring. My one attempt to do it without a blender was a bit frustrating and I wondered if it would ever emulsify. The blender makes it easy and no-fail, and also prevents bits of wax from hardening before full emulsification which can create a grainy texture. It is also perfect for those of us with limited energy or concentration. Keep in mind that you can always reheat your mixture and re-emulsify. Once it has cooled enough add your preservative and fragrance (if any). Pour into your sterilized containers. See the previous lip balm post for cleanliness guidelines.

*A stick blender is one of those upright milkshake blenders that you just stick into the pot or bowl. Note that other types of blenders and mixing equipment can be used for lotions, but not soap. Be aware that bubbles provide a perfect environment for moulds and bacteria to grow. My  stick blender was my best investment in making my own products. It is not necessary, but does make life easier.

Recipes I tried MS's Granny's Favorite Lotion, but changed the liquid oil to something sal-free and reduced the Germaben II. It was wonderful! A thick rich lotion. Tina's instructions for creating your own recipes are good too, though I have to rework some of mine before I send them to you all. My worst mistake with lotion so far was to use too many solid at room temperature ingredients, which made the lotion kind of sticky. Oils that are liquid at room temperature disappear better into the skin. Having said that, shea and cocoa butter are wonderful sal-free ingredients for lotions. Just don't use too much. If you want to be adventurous and make lotions with specific characteristics, have a read of the properties of oils website info. Just don't get too jealous of all the wonderful oils we can't use! If you want to play around with them you can always make things for friends.

Sunscreens

Suggestions:
Somerset Cosmetics Company

Since I am in Europe and can't yet get my hands on this concentrate (shipping and importing costs are incredible) I will have to deal with this section theoretically. Please post any of your successful concoctions! 

However, this is an easy way to create great sal-free washes, shampoos and bubble bath.

To start I refer you to http://www.chemistrystore.com/

www.Essentialwholesale.com and

Auroma have several different ready made base formulations for body wash, handwash, shampoo and bubble bath. The Chemistry Store ones are concentrated and more basic, while the other ones are pretty much ready made and only require you to add any special ingredients you might want such as fragrance, oils or vitamins. I wish I were able to try each of these out and let you know what they are like, but will have to leave that up to you.

The Chemistry Store has several different formulations available, all at very reasonable cost. You can choose to order by the gallon (that is a LOT of shampoo when you dilute it), or in trial packs of quart sizes of 2 or 4 different concentrates. Just keep in mind that you are working with chemicals here. They are the ones normally used in shampoo/detergent preparations, but be careful with them. If you are really adventurous they also have some formulas for making even these from scratch. 

With the Essential Wholesale products be sure to check the 'Ingredients' section before ordering. Many of their old formulations are sal-free, but their new ones tend to be sal-full. There are good basic formuli though.

What To Add:

These websites also have some suggested recipes and explanations for using their products so I will not go into details here. With a bit of easy surfing you can learn most of what you need to know. To the Auroma products you need only add ingredients that you want. They are good basic products already. To the Chemistry store products, you add distilled water, a fragrance if desired, colour if desired, salt if you feel a need to change the viscosity, perhaps a preservative, and possibly citric acid to adjust the pH. Likely you will also want to add conditioning agents. (All of these additives and pH testing papers can be bought from the various soap making suppliers, and some from the Chemistry Store itself. Websites were given in an earlier post.)

Please click here to e-mail me with any submissions of ideas and recipes!  I welcome them!

Soap & Shampoo From Scratch
There is a great deal of soap making information on-line, so I will not recreate it here. Be sure to read thoroughly (at least 2 long soap making descriptions) before you attempt your first batch of soap. It is not difficult to make soap, but it is a different ballgame from lotions and balms, and you do need to follow instructions closely and have some background knowledge of the whole process. There are also many fabulous internet lists for soap makers. I have learned a great deal just following one list for a couple of months. Be sure to follow all safety advice! Lye is a dangerous substance and must be handled with extreme care. 

Here are a few safety tips, but be SURE to carefully read complete safety instructions from a book or online source before making soap. 1) NEVER leave it accessible to children or pets, and ALWAYS wear goggles, long gloves and full clothing when using it. 2) Do not breathe lye fumes, and it will give off fumes when mixed and cooling. It is safest to do these steps outside somewhere, or in the garage, and certainly outside of the kitchen. Lye also does very nasty things to Formica. 3) Lye and soap batches that don't work out, are considered hazardous waste and must be disposed of properly, according to your community's guidelines. It should not be thrown out in the regular trash.

A couple of good books are the following, though of course there are many more 

The Soapmaker's Companion by Susan Miller Cavitch, and her earlier book (different recipes)

The Natural Soap Book Susan Miller Cavitch

It is easy to create your own sal-free soap recipes. The websites we have listed contain one or more with descriptions of various oils and directions for creating your own recipes. Mountain Sages (www.the-sage.com) lye calculator makes it extremely easy. Have fun and remember that I warned you.....Soap making is addictive!

Brief Description of Some *Sal-Free Soap Making Ingredients

Tallow creates a good basic hard bar of white soap. Some lather, quick trace. I use it as a part of all my soap oils. On my soap list someone reported on a brief experiment she did with her relatives, having them blind test a few of her soaps. Those that everyone chose as numbers one and two, contained tallow. The all vegie soaps followed in various orders. You can make perfectly good soap out of vegetarian ingredients though.

Liquid soy (Sal-Neg^TM) oil a lovely cheap conditioning oil. Little lather, soft bar, long trace. Best in combination with other oils such as tallow. I LIKE my gentle soy (Sal-Neg^TM) soaps!

coconut oil Medium sal. coconut oil is how you get wonderful fluffy lather. 

Sal-safe as up to 10% of base oils since it is rinsed off quickly. Best in small proportions anyway because it tends to create harsh soap.

Cocoa butter a wonderful luxurious soap making fat. To superfat use about 1oz per pound of oils added at trace (melted).

Stearic acid makes soap harder and trace quicker. Almost a must if you only use the liquid oils that are available to us. Not need though if you use tallow or lard.

Oatmeal ground. Great for exfoliating and adding texture to soap.

Fragrances any synthetic fragrance oils, though would be safest to stay away from mint, root beer, or citrus smells. Many companies sell fragrance oils, but those from Sweetcakes are reputed to be among the best for making soap.

Colorants mineral pigments, clays and dyes are all *Sal-Free

Recipes

Kirstin's Basic *Sal-Free Soap

(A hard white gentle soap-great for adding colors and fragrance. I find that it is has enough lather, even without any coconut oil.)

Making Liquid Soap From Hard NaOH Bars

-hard soap makes ALOT of liquid soap - I got over 11L of liquid from one kg batch of tallow soap - START SMALL and have lots of water handy! Be aware that the resulting liquid soap will feel kind of 'slimy' and a bit different from the liquid detergents that you are used to. With enough water though, it produces a good product that dispenses well.

-grate your soap and place in a large bowl or pot (a salad shooter works well for large quantities)

-if there is no animal fat in your soap pour in some milk

-cover the rest with distilled water

-cover and place in oven (100degrees F) or in a slow cooker

-leave until melted and stir gently-you can check and stir every hour or  so - it can take several hours to completely melt

-if your hard soap was not cured before you melted it, leave the liquid soap to sit for a couple of days, THEN add your fragrance

-if your hard soap was cured, add fragrance and color and use immediately

-add enough water to reach the desired consistency.

 Baby/Toilet Wipes

Lori in FL:  Baby Wipes: Mix 1 part baby oil, 1 part warm water and 1 part favorite lotion like baby lotion. Shake well and pour over a good quality paper towel roll like bounty that has been sawed in half (ok,  this is the part that is hard). I put it in a plastic little tub and have a hole cut in the plastic top.  When the liquid is all soaked up the center tube  pulls out easily and then pull the center towel out to start the roll. This way you always have Sal-Free^TM wipes and can carry some in a sealable baggie in your travel bag too!  You can play with the ratios if you like less greasy or more liquidy. Good for hand wipes too!! 

Shirley in Louisiana: Carry a large ziploc bag of wet baby wash clothes in the diaper bag.

Dusting Powder

Lou Ann: Sift 2 cups cornstarch with 1/2 cup baking soda through a colander.

Put in empty powder container and you have great foot, underarm and any other body part refreshing powder.

I have found that lotion moisturizes my underarms and the "powder" keeps me smelling and feeling fresh-and since I started using guai I noticed stronger body odor so this is great!

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