Liquid soap making can be a beast to conquer.
Jackie Thompson had a booth next to mine at the Texas Seminar. Jackie is a wonderful leader and contributor to the soapmaking industry. She gifted me with her book, Liquid Soapmaking. You can find it on Amazon here.
I’ve been making liquid soap for a number of years and became quite obsessed with it several years ago. I help others formulate liquid soap recipes and learn the process. As much as I thought I knew, I still learned a ton from this book!
I was simply blown away by the content. This book has clear and concise steps and photographs of every process that it talks about.
One of my pet peeves is a how-to book with no pictures. I personally am a visual learner and I know many creatives in our industry are as well. Check out these great photos! The book is full of them.
This is a thick a meaty book full of excellent content. It is 212 pages total!
Here are some of the highlights for me.
The photography – I’ve already mentioned this but the photos in this book are excellent and are great to help you visualize the steps and the process that she talks about.
The process instructions – Jacqui very clearly walks through two different liquid soap methods including:
- The Paste Method – This is the traditional way to make liquid soap.
- The No Paste Method – What?!?! Yes! I love this method and will be trying it soon. This is a more streamlined method for making liquid soap and only modifies the paste method slightly. But the results are great!
She talks about making soap gels and jellies! I’ve always been a bit confused about how to make these, but she explains it very well and provides several recipes to try!
The section on scenting soap using natural essential oils is excellent. She talks about different essential oils and explains their usage guidelines according to IFRA. She then gives us 30 scent blends to try out!
She talks about using additives, oil infusions and more. One of the most beneficial topics that she discusses is preservatives in liquid soap. This can be a confusing topic but I love the way she works it out scientifically and explains her thoughts on the subject.
This book is full of great recipes!
If you are wanting to make soap, or if you just want to understand liquid soap better, get this book. I am so impressed by the amount of work that she put into it, how much content she created and how well it is written.
You can find it on Amazon here.
Happy Soaping!
-Amanda Gail
hi . thank you for sharing i want buy this book i m from algeria and there is no way to buy it enligne ….now i m looking for some one who send me a book and i will paied an anouther way by post for exmple .
Have you got it?
Is there cold process liquid soap recipes in Jackies book
Wanting to try this method
I’ve ordered this book and thanks for the review and your site. Meanwhile from youtube videos and recipes around I’ve made my fist batch of castile liquid soap and adjustted the pH with citric acid (0.5%) but that caused precipitation! Clearly the castile soap (which was beautifully clear and dissolved) was not soluble in citric acid or visa versa, creating milky solution and lumps. Any quick obvious fauxpas I’ve made??
Hey, Heidi, I’ve been there.
You have 2 possible scenarios here.
1) Too much citric acid – if you don’t calculate the exact percentage of citric acid, the soap will be milky and gelationous. And then you’ll have to calculate the percentage of lye solution to correct that and I just don’t think it’s worth it (but Jackie explains this process in the book)
2) Normal reaction to citric acid that will go away. When you add citric acid the soap looks a mess. but let it rest for a day or two and it will become clear again.
I hope it helps!
i read the heading part of your book ,and i lie it
Great review. ? I to have the book. It’s a wealth of information. Just to find time . . .
Does the book show how to use goat milk in liquid soap?
Thank you Amanda for that beautiful review
Hi Jackie
Could I ask why you didn’t include ethanol in any of your recipes? Just curious!
I have her book and enjoyed reading it. Now to carve outdone time to actually make some
Thank you for sharing this resource!! I’ve dabbled in liquid soap, but am not quite there with it.. I have lots of questions! I’ll be looking into this!!