Hi Andrew,
I make soap in my kitchen as well. Although I have to admit that I don't do too much food cooking there. LOL! I always clean off the countertop prior to making soap and I use clorox clean-up for this. Also, I always freshly wash the soap bowls and utensils in really hot soapy water prior to using them.
As for the soap having a shelf life, soap only gets better with age. You just have to make sure that your oils and butters are fresh and not past their expiration dates. If I'm making soap with fresh avocado puree or cucumber puree I'll sometimes us an antioxidant like ROE or Rosemary Oil Extract. ROE and grapeseed oil are not preservatives but antioxidants. They help the oils from getting rancid. Soap doesn't need a preservative. I have bars of soap that I made four and five years ago that are still wonderful, moisturizing, with lots of lather.
I've found with Orange EO the scent fades fairly quickly unless I anchor it with a little bit of clay, like kaolin or another eo like litsea cubeba or patchouli. I LOVE orange and patchouli eo's together! I'm not familiar with using wintergreen eo. I also really like adding ground oats or even baby oatmeal at trace and haven't experienced any problems with rancidity, even with goat's milk soaps where I add oats or baby oatmeal.
Alot of my soaps are scented with eo's and eo blends.
I hope this helps with some of your fears that you're having. I'm not an expert by any means. I've been making soap for nearly six years now and love every minute of it. I'm sure there are lots of folks out there with much more experience than I have that will chime in and help you out too.
Sue D.
www.TheSkinYoureIn.com
--- On Thu, 4/24/08, anjen1@??? <anjen1@???> wrote:
> From: anjen1@??? <anjen1@???>
> Subject: mms_soap Working environment
> To: soap@???
> Date: Thursday, April 24, 2008, 11:01 AM
> Hi,
>
> My girlfriend and I have been making soap for about a year
> and a half
> now, and like Vicki, we would like to start selling soap,
> as opposed
> to just giving it away. However, we are finding that we
> have a bit of
> a problem with shelf-life. This has forced me to put a hold
> on our
> plans, as I don't want spoiled soap to bite us in the
> proverbial ...
>
> SO...Are there any tips that people can share regarding
> improving the
> shelf-life of hand cast soaps? We use the cold-process to
> make a
> variety of soaps using essential oils for fragrance,
> generally
> coconut and palm oil as bulk of oil (with added specialty
> oils in
> certain recipes) and use lye crystals for making our own
> lye
> solutions. Particular problems are experienced when using
> essentials
> like orange and wintergreen, (loss of fragrance and minor
> problem
> with ?rancidity?) and really bad problems with shelf-life
> when making
> Castile soaps or when adding things like oats after the
> soap has
> suponofied, as they often seem to go rancid after only
> about a 1-1/2
> months after the soap is cured. (Originally started making
> soap as a
> hobby and giving it away but made more than we could gift
> to friends
> and family just experimenting with various ideas and
> recipes...)
>
> I have heard a lot of conflicting information on using
> additives like
> grape seed oil as a preservative. Some say use it, some say
>
> don't....so the same story with other additives.
>
> Finally, are there any special considerations that you use
> in your
> preparation areas to maintain cleanliness? We usually
> perform the
> cold process in my kitchen, and while we endeavor to make
> the area
> and utensils as clean as possible prior to making soap,
> I'm beginning
> to wonder if we're doing something wrong in making it
> there
> (proximity to food ingredients, etc.) that results in its
> going
> rancid prematurely. Do any of you have a special soap
> making
> "kitchen" that you work in?
>
> thanks,
>
> Andrew
>
