should I just go with these ratios? They seem like very round numbers, and I know that he's quite casual sometimes. Is there a way to know, or to test if there's enough oil to consume all of the NaOH?

@uhoh First, why are you doing this, i.e. do you have a specific goal in mind? For example, if you're trying to make a soap that's milder on your skin? Do you have, e.g. exzema? Or is this just for fun?

Soap takes about a day to use up all the lye if you mixed it up very well, what soapers call "trace". depending on what you want to do next (pour into a plain mold vs. a fancy one, or add botanicals, etc.), if it's a plain mold, you can go for a hard trace. Let me watch that video. If you want to use it to wash cloathes or dishes (I made a grapefruit essential oil soap just for dishes), you want less superfat (the extra 2-8%), but you still have to neutralize all the lye.

Ok, watching it, he covers the basics well. About lye: don't handle it like he does. That's asking for trouble. I didn't use gloves, but I was very careful. Also, the lye solution gives off an irritating vapor, so keep your nose away, and for big batches, make your lye water outside and let it cool off a bit. If it's hot when you add the oil, the liquid will come to trace more quickly and you'll have less working time.

I did use eye protection, and splashes at this point are very caustic. He's nuts to put his finger in the lye water. It will eat through several layers of skin cells pretty much immediately, and your (finger? Whatever) will feel slimy, and it takes a lot of rinsing to get all the lye off.

Trace is when you lift your mixing utensil and the liquid leaves an elevated line that stays on the surface. He mixed his to a medium trace. (I'm still watching. It's a good video.) Is this too much detail?

Some of his additives are not wise. The poppy seeds are wonderful in soap. I loved that.

@anongoodnurse Oh this is definitely for fun. I remember as a child a million years ago learning about lye and lard (and ashes?) making soap - it was my first exposure to chemistry and since then I've always wanted to do it.

OK, well, that's a very good video, even if he's not too careful.

yes Nile Red is a chemo-tainment channel, he just does stuff he finds fun and somehow lots of people have fun watching him do it. There was one video (now deleted I think) where he poured nitric and then sulfuric acid on his hand (briefly) but I think they made him take that one down.

There are lye calculators online; different oils call for different amounts of lye, depending on how much of it is a triglyceride. Some oils have non-saponifiable esters and other stuff, so the lye needed changes.

I just want to make some bars of soap as a bucket-list type activity, but if I succeed, I do think I will start experimenting with additives

lye calculators! Ah yes that sounds really helpful

and no, this is not at all too much detail! I really appreciate hearing all there is to hear about this :-)

It is addicting, be warned. Brambleberry and Majestic Mountain sage have lye calculators.

My day job is in a physics lab, but mostly calculating things. So doing some hands-on activities at home will be a nice diversion.

It's my pleasure! I haven't thought about this in ages!

It seems the only equipment I need is some glassware or other containers, some ways to warm things, to measure weights, and some molds.

So, double check your lye requirement with a lye calculator, and use at least 2% more fat than needed.

...and of course the ingredients. I don't understand what the poppy seeds are doing.

(OK will do)

Nah, you can use aluminum mixing bowls. Oh, the poppy seeds exfoliate: you'll be rubbing your whole body with that bar of soap, it feels so good!

That's the thing, too.... you'll be standing udner the shower for twice as long with your own soap, because it either feels so good or smells so good! Lol!

A blender or hand mixer/beater is fine to start, that's how I started.

Are you thinking of making hot process? You only need to melt solid oils.

The lye water is plenty hot, and if you add it to hot oil, I'd stand far back.

In other words, don't hurry.

Um, I think that's about it. Oh, I'd reserve a bit of olive oil to add after trace, to try to saponify as much of the coconut oil initially as possible. I'm not sure if that really works, but that's how I superfatted my expensive soaps.

Oh, cheap mold? Shoebox lined with parchment paper.

Of any long, skinny box lined with freezer wrap, I meant to say.

Oh, and the soap will mostly be done in a day or two, but will be too soft to use. You can test for doneness (all the lye has been used) by touching it to the tip of your tongue. Lye stings. If it stings, wait a couple more days. The rest of the cure time is just waiting for the bar to get hard enough not to melt into goo on getting wet.

Do you have any other questions?

Let me know if you do. Have fun! You'll love the product!

And please let me know how it all turns out!

OK that's enough to digest for tonight, thank you!

I will use the cold process first for sure, then if I get enough confidence I'll "expand" my capabilities

@uhoh - Sorry, I made a mistake. My mixing bowls are stainless steel. Apparently lye reacts with aluminum, so sorry!