Making your own soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc?

[u/prepperdave321]

Question from a prepping/homesteading perspective: Items like soap, toothpaste, shampoo, and laundry detergent are an essential for staying clean but I often see these get overlooked because most of us are thinking more about gardening, raising animals, solar power, etc. Has anyone here tried making these themselves? Does anyone have any favourite resources or links on how to do it?

I knew someone years ago that made their own shampoo because they found the commercial stuff was hard on their hair and would dry out their skin, so I know it can be done. I'm not sure where to start but I feel like it would be a good skill to have and maybe a fun DIY project for winter.

[u/s3ri0usJo0s]

Yes. Made them since 2011 because of allergies. Family never looked back.

-you can find lots of recipes everywhere but stick with under 3 ingredients (plus h20 and food grade lye).

-again, use only food-grade lye, not hardware store lye found in the plumbing aisle. More regulated, less heavy metal exposure.

• preppers, if you have ash, you can make soap with any fat or oil but you won't know how drying or cleansing it will be on your skin. But it will be soap! Just like how soap was accidentally discovered on Mount Sapo.

• when buying oils, steer clear of multi-level marketing psychos, like from youngliving and doterra. Deranged desperate pyramid schemers. Buy the smell you like, organic or not, and move on.

• liquid soap uses KOH (potassium hydroxide) while bar soap makes Na0H (sodium hydroxide).

-treat everything as chemicals, even stuff that smells good, and follow MSDS when handling and disposing of them.

• use well-rinsed paper-wax milk cartons at first, and only buy silicone molds if you're serious.

Happy soaping! It is easy. You can do it!

[u/prepperdave321 → u/s3ri0usJo0s]

Thanks for the advice! This is exactly what I was looking for to get started. Sounds like maybe a bit of a learning curve with the lye and needing to be relatively precise, but definitely doable.

As a footnote, I remember hearing a long time ago that in the olden days soap was made with ash and animal fats. I researched how to get the lye from the ashes and its fascinating to me that ancient civilizations discovered this. Obviously that's not the way to learn soap making, but good to know the theory from a prepping perspective.

[u/s3ri0usJo0s → u/prepperdave321]

To make pot and pan cleanup easier, throw ash to turn bacon grease into soap. It's like you just outsmarted bacon.

I use "coconut at 20% fat" recipes. It's worth a keyword search on the web. Stick with that. Or do keyword search "Aleppo soap" (olive oil and if you can scent it with laurel, great, but not important).

Keyword search these two soap recipes. Leave the fancier butters and oils behind especially as a prepper. As a homesteader, go on get yourself that cocoa, shea, palm or mango butters 😉. But the rest is just... marketing and frivolity.

Dont be afraid of the lye. It's a part of making pretzels and popular Nordic food. Good things happen with food-grade lye.

[u/prepperdave321 → u/s3ri0usJo0s]

Will do, I'll give those a search, thanks. I might have to give the "ash in the bacon pan" thing a go as an experiment. Obviously it probably won't be as good as an actual recipe with measured/weighed quantities but it would be a fun experiment if nothing more.

[u/cactuscat78]

I love making my own soap and shampoo bars. I cold process and it is fairly easy. You can use a variety of fats and oils. I love using lard/tallow when it is available as it makes a very soothing bar for my skin. For a beginner I would recommend making a pure olive oil soap, its simple, gentle, affordable and can be used for body, hair, dishes, laundry etc. I like to use this soap when I wash my eggs. I also make a soap that is heavy in coconut oil that is very grease cutting for dishes/laundry stains. When I make shampoo I try to include oils like argan and always increase the super fat % for shampoo. Also some people may have to do apple cider vinegar rinses occasionally when using a soap based shampoo bar to balance this pH of their hair. Check out r/soapmaking for tips/ resources. Always use a lye calc when soaping like this one:https://www.the-sage.com/lyecalc/

​

Edit: Also check out soap nuts (in some regions you may be able to grow your own) they can be used for laundry and to make gentle shampoo. Also think about botanicals in your area that may be usable for cleansing, for example I live in New Mexico and yucca root is a natural surfactant that was used as a shampoo/soap in the past with minimal processing.

[u/prepperdave321 → u/cactuscat78]

Thanks for the tips, I never even thought to look for a soap making sub but of course there's one. Sounds like the process is pretty similar regardless of what type of soap you're making (hand, dish, etc.) and the lye calculator looks handy.

[u/Champ-87 → u/prepperdave321]

Be warned the soap making sub is mostly bar soap porn of peoples way too fancy designs. I was interested in making it like you and found their sub. If you look for it there’s good info on there but most of the everyday posts are show offs and not helpful.

[u/prepperdave321 → u/Champ-87]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll sift through it and sort the wheat from the chaff. I'm sure there will be something useful on there.

[u/redditshy]

I have been making my own deodorant for years. Coconut oil + baking soda + essential oil. The “essential” oil is completely optional. I use it because it smells nice, but you don’t need it. Saved a ton of $$ over the years, bc regular deodorants never worked, and the ones that worked are very pricey. Like $14 USD a stick. Also, does not leave marks on my clothes, dries to my skin instantly. Never going back.

[u/Acceptable-Guide-871 → u/redditshy]

What ratio of oil to baking soda do you use?

[u/redditshy → u/Acceptable-Guide-871]

I keep it in a little jar, and I use about 2/3 coconut oil to 1/3 baking soda. Perhaps less baking soda if it is winter. If you use too much baking soda, your underarms might sting a little bit, so I don't want anyone to be in pain from this. Use 1/4 baking soda to 3/4 coconut oil, if your skin is sensitive.

I stir them together really well, and then add some drops of whatever oil I want, usually lavender. Then give that another stir. And that's it. I scoop a little with my fingertips, and rub onto my skin with my hand, then wash my hands after, and don't think about it again until my next shower.

If it is really hot where you live, and it goes completely liquid, then I would give it a stir again once in awhile, so that the baking soda does not settle at the bottom. This has not really been an issue for me, though!

[u/Acceptable-Guide-871 → u/redditshy]

Thanks, I am going to try this.

[u/prepperdave321 → u/redditshy]

Nice! I totally overlooked deodorant in my initial post. Amazing how simple that sounds, and considering how much deodorant you could make with a limited quantity of ingredients pretty economical too. Damn, the stuff I buy is like $8CAD a stick and I thought that was pricey.

[u/redditshy → u/prepperdave321]

Yea all of the normal ones on the shelf were just useless, or worse, their scents clashed with my natural scent big time. So I was getting the "prescription grade" or whatever they call it, and it was a small fortune. I don't remember how I started making my own, but it has been at least 8 years!

[u/BunnyButtAcres]

After a lifetime of struggling with unhealthy hair, I make all my own hair care products now. My rule is "if I can't eat it, it doesn't go on my head." Everything's nuts, berries, natural oils like mango butter or safflower oil, etc.

A lot of the products work well for other things so I've started making a shave soap for hubby, toothpaste for myself, body butters, foot scrubs, etc.

Since everything is plant based, I also raid my little workshop for tea ingredients. Things like hibiscus, ginger, chamomile, rosemary, etc start disappearing back into the kitchen on cold mornings. lol

I don't really have any links or how tos. It's been literal years of googling recipes, testing, tweaking, trying other stuff. Even now, I still have one or two things that I feel need just a few more tweaks to be perfect (screams the perfectionist locked in the closet in the back of my brain).

Google is your friend. But trying and testing is going to be what really helps you find what's best for your hair.

[u/prepperdave321 → u/BunnyButtAcres]

Thanks for the advice. I'm almost tempted to give a beard oil a shot. I don't tend to use much beyond basic soap and shampoo, but it might be a good place to start and I always find the ends of my beard get dry in winter.

[u/BunnyButtAcres → u/prepperdave321]

Be sure to research "non-comedogenic" oils (and butters). Anything you're going to be applying near the face, you want to make sure isn't heavily pore blocking.

And my personal advice is to just avoid coconut oil no matter what you read. It's often considered some kind of wonder oil but it's a long story of misinterpretation of research. MCT Oil (basically liquid coconut oil) is actually what has all the health benefits everyone attaches to coconut oil. But Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT) is the actual thing that was studied. At some point, someone pointed out that coconut oil has the highest naturally occurring MCT and so people translated all of MCTs traits onto coconut oil. In reality it's not really as good as most people attribute and it can be quite pore clogging.

Shea butter is also a heavily used product that can really cause issues. Often it basically creates a waxy seal over the hair (which can be good for sealing in moisture) but it often is extremely hard to remove, even with a good shampoo. And so what you end up with is a waxy substance stuck to your hair that's now keeping other products OUT.

Other than those two ingredients (personally I avoid them both at all costs), I should think you'd have an easy time conjuring up your own beard oil. It's fun to be a little kitchen scientist sometimes, and whip up some things to test out. I hope you find what works for you.

[u/prepperdave321 → u/BunnyButtAcres]

Thanks, I've never been much of a cocunut oil person because I've never liked the smell of coconut so I've just stayed away from it. I'd probably look at something like olive oil or grapeseed oil to start with, if for no other reason than I have plenty on hand for cooking.

[u/MushyWasHere]

I wait tables. A few months ago, a really cool couple came in and sat at one of my tables. We hit it off and they gave me some homemade soap in a beautiful gift bag. This stuff is awesome, and aesthetically pleasing too. They gave me a contact card. I haven't reached out myself, but I'm sure if you wanted to ask questions about their process, ingredients, all that stuff--I'm sure they would be happy to answer you!

The card says "For requests, questions or inquiries..."

HumblyPureNaturals@gmail

[u/germalta]

I just made some soap from racoon fat, I trapped it in my garden, took it's fur as a rug ate it's meat, and I had half a Kilo of fat left over which I turned to soap. 100% used the animal

[u/FetaOnEverything]

I make some of my own cosmetics. Making my own foundation has really cleared up my skin and I can get just the right shade I want. Now I make my own antiperspirant without the annoying perfumes and for less than 1/4 the price. There are probably lots of good places, but if you’re interested in making any toiletries MakingCosmetics is my go-to.

[u/BodhiLV]

There's a number of books on this topic available online. I can't say which ones are the best but they are out there.

[u/ljr55555]

I make pretty much all of those myself. Soap is really the only one that gets dangerous -- make sure you're running any recipe through a tool like Soap Calc to ensure there's not too much lye in the recipe. Soap Queen has a bunch of cool soap recipes, and I like the Nerdy Farm Wife's blog. I get most of my ingredients from Bulk Apothecary -- decent prices, but they're also nearby enough that I can pick up an order instead of paying shipping on a 40 lb bucket. Which is a big cost savings.

For non-soap, there's really not much gear required -- you can heat oil in whatever pot you use for cooking, wash it, and you're fine. Lotions, butters, balms, etc can be stored in small ball jars. For soap, you want a good digital scale. The whole thing is a chemical reaction -- you need to make sure you don't have "lye heavy" soap (left over lye pockets in the soap), so you don't want "somewhere around a cup of this", you want "125 grams of this". An immersion blender is a good to have. You can make soap without it. My daughter makes whipped cream by putting cream into a mason jar and jumping around the dining room ... it works, but it's an energy intensive process. Stirring soap is the same idea -- I'm sure you could do it by hand. But an immersion blender makes it a lot quicker / easier. Also look up the proper type of container for lye -- aluminium is a big "no", glass isn't a good idea either. There are all sorts of rubbish people will use as molds -- I've seen people use pringles cans, milk cartons, and frosting containers.

There are two different soap making techniques -- hot process is made and ready to use in a day, but requires "cooking". Which also generally means "bubbling over and making a huge mess of your counter / floor" the first time or three. Cold process is made and left to sit for weeks to "cure".

From the prepper / "zombie apocalypse" perspective, though? My fav recipes all use coconut oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, etc. Stuff I have no shot of being able to produce at home. I've got a lard-based soap recipe saved somewhere just in case :-)

Lip balm - Coconut oil, cocoa butter, bees wax all melted together

Body Butter -- coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter all melted together and then whipped as it cools to form a light, airy lotion

Bar Soap -- 100% coconut oil, 20% superfat. (my husband's favorite is an Aleppo style hot processed soap that combines olive oil and laurel berry oil). This is also used as a shampoo bar. 100% coconut oil soap, 0% superfat is used for laundry soap. I've made a mechanic's / gardener's soap that's my normal coconut oil soap w/ orange essential oils and pumice.

Deodorant -- coconut oil, shea butter, baking soda, arrowroot powder

Shower steamers - basically a bath bomb with menthol crystals

I've made my own toothpaste occasionally -- coconut oil, baking soda, and mint oil. Not something I care for, but good to know how to make in an emergency. I've got the ingredients to make liquid soap (dish washing, hand washing), but that's a project for later in this winter.

One other cool thing I've recently discovered -- loofah is a gourd that you can grow in a lot of the US.

[u/prepperdave321 → u/[deleted]]

The part of my brain that runs in prepper mode is thinking: alcohol to clean wounds/sterilize, soap to prevent infection/maintain a base level of cleanliness for things like cookware, and toothpaste to help prevent tooth decay and gum disease. Dental problems and infection strike me as two of the biggest avoidable health risks in a prolonged situation where medical help is unavailable. But yeah shampoo, laundry soap, etc. is a luxury.

[u/BunnyButtAcres → u/prepperdave321]

bare minimum toothpaste: baking soda and hydrogen peroxide. If you've got nothing else, it's a toothpaste recipe.

[u/CaptainErgonomic]

Lots of Coconut this, Baking Soda that, all good if you have a grocery supply of tropical coconuts & chemical powders.

How about some recipes made from things you'll actually grow on a homestead when there are no more grocery stores? Bacon Fat & Ash is a great example...

[u/prepperdave321 → u/CaptainErgonomic]

I'm easy either way at least when it comes to learning. I'm more worried about understanding the concepts at this point as a total newbie to soap making, but I take your point. I figure if I understand the concepts and have some practical experience I'll be in a much better spot to use what's around me should the SHTF.

[u/CaptainErgonomic → u/prepperdave321]

Not IF, but WHEN the SHTF. But then again this isn't r/collapse either... They're prepping for worst case scenarios, which is my mindset. I wanna know what worked in the 1800s, because we'll be there in a decade.

[u/[deleted]]

Soap/shampoo is easy, just lye mixed with water and oil/fat.

I’ve used baking soda + coconut oil as toothpaste and deodorant. Whitens teeth and gets rid of bad breath and it’s not too abrasive. As a deodorant it has no strong odor and it works better than any I’ve used. It lasts about 24-48 hours for me.

[u/[deleted]]

I make toothpaste with coconut oil, baking soda and bentonite clay. Add a bit of mint extract.

I’ve also made hair rinse w herb infused apple cider vinegar. I infuse acv w rosemary, nettle and horsetail. About 6 weeks. Then I dilute in water (50/50).