Deborah Niemann – Coming Clean

What’s in your soap?

• Does store-bought soap make you itch or sneeze?
• Does it dry out your skin?
• Do you want to reduce the amount of chemicals in your life?
• Do you want to save money while using natural products?

Learning to make your own soap can solve all of those challenges for you!

I ed making my own soap in 2003 because there was only one unscented soap that I could use from the health food store. Everything else made me itch and sneeze. At that point, I was also on a mission to remove as many toxins as possible from my home because I didn’t want my children to grow up as sick as I had been as a child. However, being a stay-at-home mom, we were on a strict budget, so I couldn’t buy all of the expensive products at the health food store. So, I learned to make my own all-natural products, including soap.

Although it might sound daunting and scary, you can learn to make soap, and I can help. I’ve been teaching soapmaking classes for more than a decade. Not only have I made a few mistakes, which I will share with you, but I’ve also heard about mistakes made by students, so I can share those with you too. (There’s no reason you need to make the same mistakes — especially like the woman who blew up her microwave!)

Here’s what you’ll learn …

• You’ll see the entire soapmaking process from begining to end
• Learn to make your own free or inexpensive soap molds
• Discover the difference between essential oils and fragrance oils
• Learn how to avoid having your soap seize
• Save money when buying essential oils to naturally scent your soaps
• Learn how to create your own soap recipes, choosing oils specific for your goals

Bonus! Although this is not a complete course on ing a soap business … if you want to sell your soap, you’ll also learn these biz basics …

• How to slice your soap so that each bar is the same size — without spending $300 on a soap slicer
• How to label your soap so that the FDA doesn’t get mad at you
• How to package your soap based upon your sales goals
• And how to figure out who your customer is, so you can make soap they want to buy

The difference between this class and a book or a YouTube video is that all of the steps are laid out for you from to finish. You won’t have to waste time searching online to get each question answered. Once you making soap — or even before you’ve ed to buy your supplies — you can ask questions, which will be answered by someone experienced in not only soapmaking, but also teaching soapmaking, including via the Internet. Making a batch of soap is one of the requirements for my Raising Dairy Goats Sustainably class that I teach online through the University of Massachusetts, so I’m accustomed to troubleshooting soapmaking challenges via discussion boards.

Your Instructor

Course Curriculum