Soap making as part of preps?

[Nosferatu]

Isn't this what Hoppes #9 is for?

 

[Camelfilter]

I like to spend money on soap that has more than one use, and then purchase it when there is a discount.
One Example Below

Peppermint - Pure-Castile Liquid Soap

Buy Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap! 18+ uses including face, body, pets, laundry, dishes, house cleaning & more! Fair trade, organic & no synthetic ingredients.

shop.drbronner.com

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Edit to Add: Mom made soap at times. It requires quite a bit of energy/power. She also repurposed the soap bar remnants dissolving them into a "thrifty person" hand soap for the non-guest washroom.

On sale at BiMart in this weeks flyer.

$9.99 32oz liquids, or 2 for $6 bars...

 

[Member 18201]

Anyone remember this ?

The Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing; Log Cabin Building; Mou…

In the late 1960's, Eliot Wigginton and his students cr…

www.goodreads.com

 

[Camelfilter]

Anyone remember this ?

The Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing; Log Cabin Building; Mou…

In the late 1960's, Eliot Wigginton and his students cr…

www.goodreads.com

Have heard of the series, never got hands on any though.

Do have Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country living. Recommend.

 

[AshWilliams]

Anyone remember this ?

The Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing; Log Cabin Building; Mou…

In the late 1960's, Eliot Wigginton and his students cr…

www.goodreads.com

Yaaas! I used to peruse the whole series available at my local library when I was a teenager.

 

[Member 52301]

Anyone remember this ?

The Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing; Log Cabin Building; Mou…

In the late 1960's, Eliot Wigginton and his students cr…

www.goodreads.com

I do.

I donated my FOXFIRE books to my former library before I moved.

Cate

 

[pdx210]

Like others have said it makes more sense to buy than make, In a situation that soap-making makes sense, you will probably lack access to lye.
Lye can be made by dripping water through hardwood ash in a container with holes in the bottom. The water is then boiled to drive off the water and concentrate the lye/ caustic soda.

Since the topic of sanitation was mentioned I would suggest you buy some pool shock (Calcium Hypochlorite or Sodium Dichloro-S-Triazinetrione) it's a dry powder and stable much longer than liquid chlorine and without the issues, a product like Clorox has the most notable a strong caustic soda stabilizer.
At 68% available chlorine 1 Pound dichlor treats 12,000 gallons of water, a few grains of pool shock in a gallon of water is enough to kill any microbes a few more and you turn that gallon of water into a sanitizer for hard surfaces, dishes, clothing..whatever. It's cheap a 1 pound bag is under 10 bucks

 

[pdx210]

I do.

I donated my FOXFIRE books to my former library before I moved.

Cate

I have them on CD's somewhere

 

[pdx210]

It's out of print but if you can find it Kurt Saxon's "granddad's wonderful book of chemistry" has lots of methods to make chemicals lye, potassium Nitrate & chlorates, acids, gasses, In reality, he collected bits from 18, 19, and early 20th-century tech manuals and how-to books on various subjects.

[h3][/h3]

 

[shibbershabber]

For most stockpiling bars makes most sense.

If you like a project, making it can be fun and you can have a variety of different scents and textures...

My ex wife made soap from breastmilk left in the freezer after my daughter moved on to solids.

Milk, Lye, Olive oil is the base.


The only part to watch is the lye... it will burn you. Bits of it too small to see will get on your skin and irritate the hell out of you... long sleeves and gloves, unless you want to be hardcore.

Have some vinegar on hand to rinse your skin if exposed. Straight water will make it worse.

On a side note, Lye makes a great drain cleaner... just pour the powder into the drain and chase it with hot water.

 

[American123]

I'll probably have more pressing matters to attend to than make my own soap. The dollar store has soap, not that hard to set aside enough soap to keep you from getting swamp bubblegum.

 

[DivCurlGrad72]

My ex wife made soap from breastmilk left in the freezer after my daughter moved on to solids.

 

[American123]

For most stockpiling bars makes most sense.

If you like a project, making it can be fun and you can have a variety of different scents and textures...

My ex wife made soap from breastmilk left in the freezer after my daughter moved on to solids.

Milk, Lye, Olive oil is the base.


The only part to watch is the lye... it will burn you. Bits of it too small to see will get on your skin and irritate the hell out of you... long sleeves and gloves, unless you want to be hardcore.

Have some vinegar on hand to rinse your skin if exposed. Straight water will make it worse.

On a side note, Lye makes a great drain cleaner... just pour the powder into the drain and chase it with hot water.

If she took the time to make soap out of breast milk, she sounds like a hardcore broad.

 

[shibbershabber]

If she took the time to make soap out of breast milk, she sounds like a hardcore broad.

You'd think...

 

[American123]

You'd think...

No matter what woman you think about, somewhere, there is a man completely sick and tired of her bubblegum.

I was just meaning from the standpoint that many women today don't even know how to cook, so the concept of making soap from breastmilk seems way beyond that.

 

[shibbershabber]

No matter what woman you think about, somewhere, there is a man completely sick and tired of her bubblegum.

I was just meaning from the standpoint that many women today don't even know how to cook, so the concept of making soap from breastmilk seems way beyond that.

Yeah, I get it.

 

[Stomper]

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Don't forget they also offered craft-made lampshades, too.

 

[Stomper]

To quote the immortal words of Ace Ventura, "Congratulations on all your success, you smell terrific!"

OK, more seriously, hygiene is of critical importance in a disaster, as in other times. I recently watched a documentary about the internment of American (and Allied) civilians in Manilla during the war. One of the major challenges they faced was stretching out and supplementing their meager soap rations to maintain at least minimal sanitation. This was exacerbated by relatively close quarters living, tropical diseases, and dwindling supplies as the Axis powers fell back.

So, is soap making part of your preps or is it just easier to buy it cheap and stack it deep? If you do make soap, what is the best way to make bar soap? How about softer type of shaving purposes?

During a disaster (or in a field environment) you ration soap and water by only washing "pits and slits" with a dampened slightly soaped cloth, rinse with a damped non-soaped cloth, and keep yourself as dry as possible.

 

[BPOR11]

Don't forget they also offered craft-made lampshades, too.