The Natural Soap Book: Making Herbal and Vegetable-Based Soaps

Rating:
Summary: Okay beginners book
Review: This book has good beginner information. Has information about many kinds of oils. Good scent blends and info on where to buy stuff. Also has several recipes.

This author takes quite the animal rights slant in her book. She does not have much good to say about using tallow or lard. There are good properties to each that she downplays. I was not impressed by her slant as I prefer a more unbiased approach for my sources of information. I can make my own choices, thank you.

Rating:
Summary: A very thorough and useful book
Review: This is _the_ book to acquire if you are planning to make vegetable oil based soap. There's a lot of information packed in this book. It presents all the elements of soapmaking very systematically, and explains the simple chemistry and logic behind the recipes and techniques. It specializes on the best ways to make vegetable oil soap -- which can differ from animal fat based soap. I'm a beginner. I made my first batch last night and it is happily solidifying in the molds as I write. I would buy this book in addition to whatever other soapmaking books you feel inspired to buy, because it covers just about everything and is a really good reference. It includes a large appendix of suppliers and a reassuring table of what to do when things go wrong. My only complaint is that it doesn't have a good description of what "tracing" looks like -- tracing being the sign that your soap is ready to pour into the molds. But, none of the other books I read did either. It's subtle, and I think it's the sort of thing you learn to recognize after you've made a couple of batches. Note that each of the eight basic recipes makes 40 bars of soap, so be prepared to share with friends!! If the amount of info in this book seems a bit overwhelming, beginners might also want to consider picking up a copy of Ann Bramson's book.

Rating:
Summary: Recipies are too big for beginers!
Review: Very good, informative and explicit. The only flaw that I found is that the recipies are not appropiate for a beginer in soapmaking since these ones are too big. This book is my primary reference in my soapmaker library! I believe is a great book for soapmakers in which I go back to when I have troubles on the batches of soaps I make. Another thing, if you are looking for pretty pictures in color, don't expect to find it on this one!