Soapmaking from Scratch part two: Soft-soap and Bar Soap

Following on from part one: Making Woodash Lye, this video uses potash lye that has been stored for a full year to make both soft and hard soap, taking inspiration from early Eighteenth Century documented recipes.

This is not modern soapmaking! It relies on a lot of manual testing which should only be attempted with caution once you are comfortable with the materials being used.

[rand]

My grandmother made all her own soap all of her life. She enlisted me at eight years old to help. She made a year's worth of soap (laundry, bathing, and house cleaning) once a year. I have fond memories of grating soap for her laundry. A handful of salt made bar soap from her wood ash lye and tallow. I am now 65 and have rarely used commercial soap. I just made a year's worth of soap yesterday. Loved this video!!!

[BonnibelLecter]

Complaining about historical methods being used on a historical methods channel? Well, that's youtube for you. Lovely to see part 2, Sally!

[yetanotherentity]

People complaining about you demonstrating historical procedures are watching the wrong channel.
It's possible they came for the soapmaking, and were unaware of the practical archaeology basis of your channel.

I'm just sorry you had to respond to them at all.

Thank you for this episode. Parts 1 and 2 have gone a long way to boosting my own confidence with soapmaking. Humans have managed this for thousands of years without technology aids. I should be able to manage as well!

[FireSilver]

I’m Navajo and just dug up some narrow leaf yucca root for hair washing. Other tribes in the area have used it for millennia! A little maceration and water and you have shampoo or body wash. Very effective! Other tribes used soap lily.
This was fun to watch though. When I get a fire pit going I’ll try this! Axhe’hee.

[tineditmarunnerup]

I AM interested in the soap making, but even more I'm just enjoying listening to your voice while knitting.

[gudruneinarsdottir]

Thank you Sally for this video. I have waited for it because I wanted to know how soap was made in the old days. Now I am wandering how people found out how to make soap?? - I have made cord from horseradish after watching one of your videos and I love to try some new (old) ways of making things. I live in Iceland and we don´t have wild bramles or nettles to use, so I will try some other plants this summer. I am a pensionist and just playing, enjoying and learning a lot from youtube channels from people around the world. Have a nice trip to Italy

[AndreaIris]

I used to make soap with modern lye and techniques, I knew it was different with woodash lye, but i had no idea how much different it actually is! Thank you for the video, top notch as usual :)

[markedis]

Thank you Sally. Don’t listen to the haters. Your channel is amazing, I love learning from you

[michaelsohocki]

Sally I really love how your videos never seem canned or prebaked. When your result is a surprise to you, it's a surprise to us too. :) It comes off as very natural and sincere. Thank you.

[kaitnip]

My only comment is that at some point people had a pretty good idea of how much lye to use for how much tallow. My grandmother made soap each autumn in a huge cauldron - as a 6 yo I could step inside and crouch down, so yeah, it was big. She didn't have any books or written recipes as such. What she had was her own grandmother's pot as a measure: this many pots of lye to this many pots of fat.
Yes, she would test it as she cooked it, but an experienced crafter wouldn't make too many adjustments.
She also never made soft soap. All her soap was salted to harden and cured for about a month before use.
About the use of historical methods : I would leave even the soft soap to cure a good long time before using it. For as long as it has moisture the unreacted lye and fats will continue to neutralize each other, although at a very slow pace since there's no stirring and the temp is too low.

[cindyharrison]

This is great. I have a wood burning stove, so now I know what to do with the ash. I can heat and clean with no waste. I've been using ash to clean the glass of the stove so I'm truly grateful thanks

[dustinsmith]

Fellow archeologist here. Another brilliant video! I always look forward to your new videos. I know I'm going to learn something new and relax at the same time!👏

[Reszig]

Sally I just want to say you’ve been such a huge inspiration to my interest in history. I’ve always been incredibly interested in just the daily lives of ancient people and how we started creating things and you actually encouraged me to get a history degree. I would have gone into something I hated if it wasn’t for you inspiring me and showing just how amazing these things are and how happy studying history makes me. So thank you for genuinely changing my life.

[Beryllahawk]

Good clean fun! Haha! This is brilliant though. Having just spent most of my week washing dishes as if it were 1924 (drain trouble and the plumber couldn't get here for AGES)... it was strangely nice to watch this video, and someone ELSE boiling huge pots of water!
You are exceptionally patient! And I suppose back then folks didn't feel a need to hurry through anything. Such a simple process but with such great results, very cool!

[dharusiokay]

The salted soap looks a bit like a well-aged runny cheese in the end, which kinda-sorta makes me want to taste-test it myself.

The Videos are wildy interesting, thank you, Sally!

[mrsmscuriositycabinet]

Thanks for this video, Sally. Absolutely fascinating! I have been using traditional Black Soap from France for years so it is interesting the see the process behind it and it has whet my appetite to try this. (I already make basic soap using modern lye.) 

The time this process takes and folks' squeamishness about the 'zap test' made me think of something my mum always said when I was growing up: "we don't know we are born..." If households still had to go to such efforts to achieve a basic cleaning product, maybe we would really appreciate what a luxury soap and being able to keep things clean actually are.

[salerherman]

The most thorough process of soap making I've seen so far. Very educational.

[LolitasGarden]

This is so helpful. I've been stumbling through wood ash lye soap making for years. It's a winter pasttime for me. But I have rarely gotten good results because my methods are modified modern methods. Thank you for the advice!

[onstr]

I am so glad I found your channel. This has been informative and looking through your videos, I can tell this channel is right up my alley. Good work!

[fabrizio]

Hello Sally! Thanks for this precious research and experiment! Very well done
I'm usually making liquid soap with pure store-bought Koh
You are almost the only one making soap the way should be with Koh!!
One useful thing to add ... When you get the paste you want to do a clarity test before using it. You dissolve a tiny bit of soap into pure water(distilled or rain) and you see if the solution is cloudy or clear... Normally we let the paste sit at warm spot for some days and it will continue to set
Your lye is made with rainwater and it looks quite clear originally ... So you should have quite an accurate test!