The Soap Blog - Page 3 of 3 - Whit & Wick, part of Wobbly Pins Ltd

Zero Waste at Whit & Wick

ocin3t Uncategorized August 22, 2018 0 Comment

Supporting Zero Waste

By nature we are often drawn to a product by some fantastic bright sparkly packaging but quite often this is thrown away after opening the product and sometimes we are disappointed with what we find inside. Here at Whit & Wick headquarters in our workshop we have tried to be more of a wise owl and use packaging that can be recycled or upcycled instead of the magpie approach with lots of glitz and glamour.

Over the last year we have introduced many changes: handmade bar soap – no plastic bottles, paper and hessian wrapping and wooden gift boxes, all of which you can use in your compost heap.

We will continue to reduce our footprint and are currently reviewing options for the outer packaging including the use of wood straw or paper padding for all packing. We are also considering how to offer an exchange service with a discount for all our candle glass jars and tins that are returned to us.

If you have any other ideas to help us please get in touch or if you would like to support Zero Waste in your area there are some good resources at https://www.zerowasteweek.co.uk/

Have you tried Goats Milk Soap?

ocin3t Soap July 31, 2018August 4, 2018dry skin, gentle, goat, handmade, luxury, milk, soap 0 Comment

The benefits of drinking goats milk are very widely publicised but have you tried it in soap? Earlier this year I wanted to broaden our natural range of soaps with some new products and an opportunity arose to try Goats milk soap again.

A lot of people love goats milk soaps and have had success when using it to relieve symptoms of problematic and sensitive skin.

Goats milk is a beautiful creamy shade of white – sounds like something on a paint chart!

What shall we make?

So the next part of the journey was to decide which base oils to use, everybody has favourites and preferences when it comes to the choice of hard and soft oils. Should I go Palm oil free?. Should I include extra butter to give the soap a creamy moisturizing finish? So after a lot of deliberation the base recipe would be made up of Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, and Shea butter.

Which scents to choose – fragrance or essential oils?

Not a difficult choice here – I went for essential oils, the difficult part was the selection and combinations. Weeks later and I came up with my choice, my husband has never smelt so good as he had all the oils on his socks!

A few favourites, Lavender, Lime and Patchouli but also a few different touches with Vanilla, Vettiver and Fennel. I also tried some different combinations of additives settling on turmeric for it healing properties and activated charcoal for its cleansing power.

Into the Workshop

So once I had settled on my new recipes I sent these off to be checked by a chartered chemist and get the legal cosmetic safety assessment which is required to sell soap in the EU.

So with certificate in hand it was down to the workshop and a week later I had produced the first batch of each soap.

Goats milk soap takes a little longer to cure to become the mild creamy soap we love but it is worth it!

So which will be your favourite Goats milk soap!

Handmade Soaps – The Gel

ocin3t Soap June 2, 2018August 4, 2018cold processed, gel, gel phase, handmade, heat, natural, process, soap 0 Comment

Shall we gel?

This is a question that each soap maker has a choice over. So what is the gel phase when making soap you ask and why do we get so excited or exercised by it?
Each batch of soap made with the same set of ingredients will have a slight difference in the appearance depending on the gel phase.

Gel Phasing

I make cold processed soap and the gel phase is the reference to the saponification process when the soap gets to a certain temperature and becomes gelatinous, this can occur up to 170 degrees ( not a good idea to put your fingers in the soap at this stage to see if it really is hot!).
Gelling is a common occurrence when making soap. If I have gelled my soap then in the first few weeks of pouring the batch it will become quite hard as it evaporates the water. If I did not gel the soap it will take a little longer to harden and will also develop a slight translucent appearance.

In this age of appearance it is down to personal choice as to gel or not as it does not have any effect on the quality of the fully cured bar of soap.

How Do I Gel?

So if I want to gel my soap I insulate it soon after pouring, this entails placing it in a cardboard box and then covering it in some old towels and left in a warm draught free area for 24hrs. Now what do you class as a warm room I hear you ask? This is personal to you and the environment you live in – however too hot and the soap can ‘volcano’ or tunnel or just explode ( only happened once with some Honey & Oat soap) so watch your temperatures.
If I don’t want to gel my soap then I soap at colder temperature and then place the soap in the freezer or cold area immediately after pouring, I also leave it uncovered except for a top cover to prevent soda ash ( story for another day).

When to gel?

Up to a few months ago I have always preferred to gel with 2 exceptions.
If I am making Honey & Oat soap I do not gel – the sugars in the honey already add heat and I like the paler colour when it is not gelled.
I have also just started to make goats milk soap: gel phase and milk soap are not friends. Any type of milk soaps are best soaped cold (very cold), or else you run the risk of scorching the milk proteins and sugars. From first hand experience this results in a brownish soap that doesn’t smell great!

Also from personal experience I can confirm that it can result in a huge soapy fudge like mess as milk soaps are already prone to getting too hot. I was still able to use the goats milk soap it was just a darker colour thank I had aimed for.
So the question to gel or not is a bit like the marmite question – do you love it or hate it?

To gel or not to gel – that is the question.