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Rating: 
Summary: For serious soapmakers.
Review: An excellent reference manual that's good for years of use. It's the only consumer-level soapmaking book I've seen that was written with the assistance of a professional chemist. None of the usual folk wisdom and clumsy techniques. Cavitch discusses the physical reasons for batch failures and provides solutions using personally tested formulas. Information on balancing saturated and non-saturated vegetable fats is especially good. Basic information for starting a small business is also included. However, the 40-bar recipes are way too large for average home users and measurements are based on the metric system. Reducing high yields to reasonable levels and converting measurements to the U.S. system will cause the failures you're trying to avoid. Also, many of the raw materials suppliers listed are industrial wholesalers who don't sell to consumers. Given the amount of use this book will receive, it should have been published in a hardcover edition, on much better paper and loaded with color photographs. Well worth the additional cost.
Rating: 
Summary: A soapmakers bible!
Review: Definately a book you should keep around for reference! Very simple, detailed information and great recipes as well. They are NOT lye heavy at all like some other books can be. Great tables, pictures, how-to, explanations and easy to understand everything you need to know to help you make the best soaps even probelm solutions, too. I highly recommend this book to anyone and evryone intersted in learninghow to make soap, the process and values of ingredients as well. She even goes into the scientific asspects of the processes as well.
Rating:
Summary: Great, but not for absolute beginners
Review: I bought this book right after I took a class in cold process soapmaking, so I was a beginner, but not an absolute beginner. As of this writing, I've made about 6 batches of soap, and this book has been a big help. I've used The Soapmaker's Companion as a reference for things like properties of various oils and herbs. There are a couple of charts that I constantly refer to when creating new recipes. I have not, however, used any of the author's recipes, and I doubt I ever will. They tend to be rather detailed as well as sometimes refer to ingredients in grams - sometimes listing an ounce equivalent, sometimes not. I wish the book had a hard cover, too, for the spine isn't holding up well. My other complaint is with the ink and printing process. Two colors are used throughout the book: an evergreen color, and a salmon color. The intensity of the colors vary throughout my book. In places where the headings are in the salmon color, some pages the print is so light that I have trouble seeing the headings, yet I can turn a few more pages, and it's nice and dark. This may just be a fluke with the printing of my book. All in all, The Soapmaker's Companion has been a wonderful resource for me. I've only had two questions that I couldn't find the answers to in the book: (1) The SAP value of monoi oil, and (2) Guidelines, a rough range, or any discussion whatsoever on how much essential oil to add per pound of soap. I recommend absolute beginners don't buy this book with thoughts that it will teach the soapmaking process. Either take a class first or find a better first book, and then buy this one once you've learned the basics.
Rating:
Summary: Best book to buy, all recipes work great
Review: I have been making cold processed soap for 2 years, and this is by far the best book I have bought. Every recipe I have made from the book has been successful. It has basic to advanced recipes. Will not go wrong buying this book. Highly recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: The best of slim pickin's
Review: I selected Ms. Cavitch's books because they appeared to be the best of a mixed lot. They could, however, still use some improvement. The Soapmaker's Companion is generally more valuable than its predicessor, The Natural Soap Book, and most of the descriptions of process, oils, colorants, and fragrance remain identical. The recipies are considerably improved in quantity for the new soapmaker, down to 3.75 lbs per batch from 10 lbs in the original book. And the newer book includes detailed chemistry with SAP values for most fats, fatty acid percentages, and a detailed lye calculator to assist in making your own recipies or modifying other's. Unfortunately, the instructions, recipies, and troubleshooting have a way to go before they are foolproof. I just made my first batch of Soap Essentials II, and it took over two hours to trace. Mixing by hand. It was NO FUN. And, unless the recipie was wrong to start with, I have absolutely no idea WHY. This may very well be the most complete book available for vegetable-based soaps and the easiest to follow, but it is not foolproof enough to be a sole resource for the beginner.
Rating: 
Summary: comprehensive with some serious limitations
Review: It really is too bad that the author published her first book before anyone else could publish something with more accurate and flexible information, because she is now regarded as an expert in the soapmaking realm. Some basic problems with Cavitch are logistical and procedural. No one has to weigh water, no one needs to use some of the ingredients she calls for in every single recipe, such as grapefruit seed extract. Her recipes call for GSE because her overly superfatted soaps will go rancid without addition of this preservative. Why does she superfat so greatly? Some speculate she had a lousy scale and poor math skills in terms of calculating amounts of lye and accurate fat measurements back when she was learning this craft, and never bothered to perfect her science nor correct the recipe problems (and if you can get it in print and people buy it, well, you must be doing something right), it certainly is a logical reason for the way she does things. Cavitch is a good example of a good resource with serious limitations, she's done her homework on vegetable-based oils/fats and you get all kinds of great info on these, but it's clear she never researched thoroughly enough to make statements on things like the use of animal fats, using a stick blender rather than spoon for stirring to trace, etc. Soaping isn't rocket science, but it isn't a very strict methodology either, and there are far better resources on the web and mailing lists therein, where one can learn much more than this book promises, with a multitude of perspectives and approaches. Please don't buy into the hype and buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: A good technical manual...
Review: This book has great charts and Susan Miller Cavitch does a great job of explaining the science of creating soap - fascinating. I only wish chemistry had been this interestingly explained when I was a college student; I would have had a much better grade. BUT... The recipes in this book are really annoying. I am a veteran soapmaker and enjoy writing/making my own recipes, but I love to expand my knowledge and skill by making other people's recipes from time to time, too. The source of irritation in this book is the way the amounts of oils, liquids, scents, additives, etc. are delineated. The recipes veer wildly between English and metric measures and I find this very haphazard. I think it could be a real source of confusion to many. It sure confuses me, and I have made a LOT of soap. I will say, though, that if you can work around the measures, the recipes she has presented do make some nice soap. Since the confusing recipes comprise much of the book, I can't rate it as highly as I'd like to, considering the bounty of great technical info Miller imparts. So, three stars. But it is worth buying just because of the thorough explanation of the artistic science of soapmaking.
Rating:
Summary: Should be called "Soapmaking for the Independently Wealthy"
Review: This book is interesting, but it was low on recipes and high on information overload. If you and some soapmaking friends want to go in together on this book to share among you it would probably be worth it as an additional resource. She does have a good discussion of why you should label soaps when you make cosmetic-type claims, and whether it's worth it to be in business. But--I can't see too many hobbyists trying out her ideas, because most of them would land you in the poorhouse pretty quickly, even if you're bulk-buying with friends. There are cheaper recipes in other books and on the internet. Also, I'm somewhat leery of claims concerning most of the expensive oils. I mean, we're talking about something (soap) that is washed down the drain, not worn like creams or perfumes. I'd rather save the expensive stuff for other cosmetics, so as to really get my money's worth. The last complaint I have is that almost all of the measurements are in grams, and while it is probably more accurate, it is not practical for many of us to own two scales, which she recommends. I will say that if you have to choose between this and her other book, choose this one, as the recipes are much more manageable for the home soapmaker, size-wise, than in the first book.
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