After my kid was born I went into helicopter mode and made my own laundry soap (along with baby foods). It was mildly effective, but short-lived. Pinterest sucked me in with all their aesthetically pleasing photos of mason jars covered in nice handwriting labeled “soap”.
I live on a meat farm with an abbatoir now, so I have much access to animal fats in the fall, from sheep and beef, free. That was the hardest part for me to get back in the city. Also when I started soapmaking 20 years ago there wasn’t much interest of information as widely available. 
Pinterest gets me every time... Then when I look at my completed projects it looks like a hot mess
Just ONE time I’d like my Pinterest project to look like the photo I’m trying to emulate.
...because you'd give gifts of unsafe soap, right??Yay more reading!!! One of my favorite books on soap, the one I got for Christmas one year (thanks mom!), that actually started off my soapmaking adventures, is “Soap” by Ann Bramson. It also provided many traumatic gifts the next Christmas to all my relatives “is it even safe to use?” “I didn’t think it was possible to make it at home?!?” There was nothing wrong with it, it was lovely soap, they just had no confidence in me...
Ironically, what's actually bad is the plethora of additives in many commercially-produced products.
...because you'd give gifts of unsafe soap, right??
Lovely - and the fragrance sounds yummy! The problem is that the soap looks good enough to eat.
It was really nice but not like you wanted to eat. It was mixed with white grapefruit and ylangylang and some other Essential oils.
