The Best Natural Homemade Soaps: 40 Recipes for Moisturizing Olive Oil-Based Soaps

I am a veteran soap maker. I bought the book thrilled that i would learn something new. However ALL of the recipes are the same with the exception of step # 6 which supposedly creates the differences in the soap. Anyone who has any experience with soap making will soon find that the soaps pictured are NOT the result of the recipes given in e book. If you look at the first page there is the list of photo credits given to iStockPhoto.com and Oceana Amber archives. The photo of bay laurel soap even bears the Syrian manufecturer's stamp IN ARABIC!! Majority of soaps shown are clycerin based soaps that are IMPOSSIBLE to make following the recipes in the book I could not find anything on the author, nor did anyone interviewed her in person. This book is based on many pretty pictures and nothing else! I wouldn't even donate this book to a public library for this book is a shinig example of nicely packaged FRAUD

This book has simple recipes and beautiful pictures, unfortunately the soap does not look anything like the pictures when it is made. Different color, different texture. Also the temperatures they use in this book are too high and the soap can take forever to set up. I do however like the recipes, I have made 5 types of soap and I like them all!

Good informational book and lots of recipes for making soaps.

GreatMore than expectedEasy to follow instructionsWilling to recommend to others

I am new to soap making and this book is perfect for me. I am really enjoying soap making. The recipes are easy to follow and you can add a personal touch to them to make them your own. This is by far the best soap making book around.

haven't made anything yet but the recipes all look very easy to follow with easy to get ingredients for the most basic of soaps

I think it would've been helpful if Ms. Mar Gomez had included the colorants and techniques featured in the soaps pictured in her book in the actual recipes she provided. But, oh wait--that would have been impossible, because many, if not all, of these photos are from stock pics taken from the internet. What's worse, many of the soaps pictured simply could not have been made using the recipes she provided. Case in point: if you follow her recipe for the lavender soap (pg 112) what you will end up with is a cream-colored opaque bar with brown lavender buds speckled throughout, NOT the electric purple colored translucent bar of melt-and-pour soap that is pictured. Same thing is amiss with the Dead Sea Salts recipe on pg 196--the soap pictured is a bright electric blue, a color only possible to obtain with the use of laboratory-produced synthetic colorants, which are nowhere mentioned in the recipe. What a nasty trick to play on a beginner soapmaker who'd have no way of knowing this by looking at the recipe. Who knows what any of the soaps created using this book's recipes are supposed to look like, or which (if any) of the photos are reasonably representative of the final product?The reason I care enough about this to write a review is that I started off as a beginner soapmaker two years ago only using "natural" colorants and essential oils in my soaps. For a variety of reasons I no longer restrict myself to these things in my soapmaking, but I do respect the choices of other soapmakers to work only with "natural" ingredients (however defined) and, truly, some beautiful creations are possible using only clays, botanical products, etc. to color your soaps. I know very well what IS and what is NOT possible using these natural colorants. Therefore it makes me pretty upset that this book does such a great disservice to the idea of "natural soapmaking" by promoting misleading images. Furthermore, as others have stated, most of these recipes are virtually identical. You will read the same steps, over and over again, for each of the 40 recipes presented, and helpful hints (like watching out for overheating when working with milks or sugary ingredients) are entirely absent for those recipes where those tips would have been most useful. Lastly, each recipe for each of these basically 100% olive oil soaps ends the same way: "Dry bars for one month..." Excuse me, but has Ms. Mar Gomez ever actually USED a bar of olive oil soap after only one month of cure time??? It will have no lather, be slimy and gross, and dissolve into mush within days. A minimum of six months of cure time is what I've usually seen recommended, and I personally like to wait a full year before use. Olive oil soaps simply aren't for those seeking instant gratification.One last thing: I almost sympathized with Ms. Mar Gomez. I mean, she is supposedly a naturopath and natural soapmaker--she sounds well qualified to write this book--perhaps she got taken advantage of by an unscrupulous publisher. However, the following quip from her "Helpful Tips" on pg 47 made me see things in a different light. She states, "Natural is best...People do not need soaps with bright colors or artificial scents..." As someone who unapologetically has made the decision to consider using all the colors of the rainbow and all fragrances known to the world of chemistry in my soaps, I find it offensive and also ludicrous that she would state such silliness in her book and then borrow images from soapmakers who clearly do use synthetic colorants, premade soap bases, and who knows what else in their soaps. I guess she's laughing all the way to the bank, though, because lots of uninformed folks will buy this book regardless. So, please be informed! Avoid this book!

I was gifted this book and I have already made two of the soaps (Rose and Orange soaps). I love them!First of all, this is a book of OLIVE-OIL based soap (it even says it on the cover)...the recipes are similar yes. You are basically making 39 variations of castile soap, with the first recipe being for pure Castile soap. Which isn’t bad if you know beforehand what you’re getting and you don’t mind. Some of the variations are absolutely splendid, such as the Honey soap and Vanilla soap.Second, this book was written in 2009, so the technique she tells you to (stirring by hand instead of using an immersion blender, soaping at really high temperatures) may be out of date for some. If this is you...just use a dang immersion blender and soap at the temperature you want. Just watch out if you have to use beeswax.Third, the pictures. There seems to be a lot of soapers up in arms about this, and I’ll admit that I didn’t really realize that there was no way the lavender soap could be that color, nor the electric blue Dead Sea salt soap. Some of the pictures are actually true-to-soaping-experience, such as the Rose and Orange soaps, but any others I can’t comment on. You should assume that your soap will look like Castile soap with a hint of color from the botanicals you use for that particular soap. Nothing more, nothing less.Overall, if you want to spice up your Castile soap making with different recipes, this is a very good resource if you can get past some of the ...fanciful photos.

With all soap making books trial and error is a big factor. Not everything is a match even done time and time again. Like the layout, easy recipes and olive oil base.

very beautiful pictures and very nice recepies,there are some additives in the pictures, not mentioned in the recepies,

good

Great book.super easy to follow.very clear directions.